Zero Minus Ten

wanted a good view of the fireworks display scheduled for midnight. A free-for-all was finally allowed, so long as everyone kept their speed down and didn’t crash into each other. Along with the numerous police and Royal Navy vessels, there were sampans, junks, tugboats, cargo ships, ferries, sailing boats, yachts, motorboats, and rowing boats—all jamming what was at that moment the world’s busiest harbour.

Bond was looking for a dark brown sampan with a red hood. Unfortunately, most sampans were dark brown. He prayed that the red hood would give it away.

There was no sign of the Taitai, and Bond wondered where she could possibly be. Keeping close contact with Captain Plante, Bond had made enquiries about the ship’s movements. Records showed that the Taitai had indeed left Singapore two days ago and was headed for Hong Kong, but no one had seen her since. Bond could only speculate that Thackeray was lying low, probably lurking near one of the outlying islands. The sampan was probably flown to Singapore in the same cargo seaplane that Thackeray and Sunni took from Perth. It made sense—cargo seaplanes had long been used to rendezvous with and smuggle drugs on to ocean-going vessels. The Taitai had sailed to the waters near Singapore, where the sampan was loaded on to the seaplane and then flown to Australia. The trip was made in reverse to get it back to Hong Kong. The sampan would probably be sent in by itself, piloted by an unsuspecting minion.

“Can’t we get this thing going any faster?” Bond snapped.

“I am sorry,” Li said. “You can see the harbour is crowded. This is as fast as we can go.”

“We’ll never make it across to the other side at this rate,” Bond said. He felt utterly helpless.

A call came in on the radio for Bond. It was Captain Plante.

“Uhm, Commander Bond?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“You say you’re looking for a sampan with a red roof?”

“Yes!”

“Well, there’s an odd thing over here by us. There’s a cargo ship—a British one, I think. Called the Glory. They have a sampan fitting that description tied to the side like a lifeboat.”

Captain Plante was calling from the Peacock, which was directly in the centre of the harbour, facing Central. Bond turned and scanned the area with his binoculars.

“Where’s the Glory in relation to you, Captain?” he asked.

“Due north, about a mile.”

Bond found the ship. The Glory looked exactly like the Taitai, except that it had red stripes painted across the hull. The Taitai had been entirely white.

“The bastard painted his ship,” Bond said. “He’s disguised the Taitai and renamed her. That’s it there!”

Li barked an order to the man at the helm of the Statesman and they turned towards the Glory/Taitai. They had about forty-five minutes to find the bomb and disarm it.

TWENTY-TWO

NO TEARS FOR HONG KONG

THE STATESMAN APPROACHED THE GLORY AND STOPPED THIRTY METRES away. The sampan was tied and hung over the starboard side of the ship like a lifeboat, ready to be lowered into the water. Bond wasn’t sure, but he thought he could see the outline of a figure inside the small boat. Was it Sunni?

The Peacock had pulled away from its position as well, and was heading towards the Glory. The Royal Navy ship’s movement must have alerted the crew of the Glory, for Bond and Li saw men appear on its deck. A tarpaulin covered a large object amidships. The men pulled off the tarpaulin to reveal a 76mm OTO Melara Gun. They began to swing it towards the Peacock.

“Captain Plante,” Bond said into the radio. “The Glory has a gun aiming at you. Take defensive action immediately. We’re preparing to assault the ship.”

Plante acknowledged the call and wished Bond good luck. He was going to radio the other ships for back-up. Unfortunately, they were all deployed evenly across the harbour. Due to the congestion, it might take half an hour for the ships to work their way through to the site. If Thackeray was going to be stopped before midnight, it would be up to the teams aboard the Statesman and the Peacock.

“Li, give the order to begin the assault,” Bond said.

Li shouted in Cantonese to his small band of dedicated gangsters-turned-patriots. He then gave an order to the man at the helm. The Statesman was brought as close as possible alongside the Glory. Then, three men aimed M-16 .233 semi-automatic gunlines and fired grappling hooks, attached to long ropes, at the deck of the big ship. The hooks stuck, and the men, dressed in black, immediately used harness and pulley systems to pull themselves over and board the enemy vessel.

Bond followed behind the first wave of men. He heard a siren wailing on the deck of the Glory, alerting her entire crew that they were under attack. Then the gunfire started.

Thackeray’s men were leaning over the side of the ship and firing machine guns at the Statesman. Two of the men on the ropes were hit and fell into the harbour. Bond clenched his teeth and kept climbing. He felt the hot air of a few rounds whizz past his head, but he kept moving. He reached the rail on the side of the Glory and hauled himself up. He was met head on by a man who attempted to push him back overboard. Bond swiftly dispatched him by punching him hard in the stomach, then slinging him over his shoulder and into the water. He moved to a metal ladder and climbed it to a higher vantage point and crouched behind a smokestack. Armed only with his Walther PPK, Bond began to pick off Thackeray’s force, one by one.

Li held what looked like an M-16 and was firing from the deck of the Statesman. It was difficult to tell how many of the Triads were left to fight. The first barrage of gunfire had knocked off several of them. Bond could see at least four bodies lying on the deck, and he knew at least two had fallen into the water. The Peacock was still some distance away.

Suddenly, the Glory’s big gun went off. It scored a minor hit on the Peacock, setting the bow on fire. Damn! Bond moved forward from his position until he was above the Melara Gun. Bond shot the two men manning the weapon, then jumped down and ran for the sampan.

Thackeray’s voice boomed out over a loudspeaker: “Get them all, damn you! Take out that yacht! I’m lowering the sampan now!”

The man was probably at the helm or somewhere nearby. Bond would deal with him later. He had to reach Sunni first. The girl’s figure could be seen huddled just inside the sampan. She was tied up, unable to move. Another object was built into the sampan’s deck, beneath the hood. It was the bomb.

Before he could reach the hoist, however, Bond was confronted by one of the albinos, the big one he called Tom. 007 raised his gun to fire, but the albino adeptly kicked the Walther out of his hand. The man was big, but he had amazing agility. Bond attempted to return a blow with a back kick, but Tom grabbed his leg, twisted it, and effortlessly slammed Bond hard against the side of a cabin wall. He fell to the deck, only to be on the receiving end of three vicious kicks in the ribs.

Li Xu Nan was having troubles of his own. He had climbed one of the ropes on to the Glory and was struggling with the other albino henchman, Dick. They were of equal height and weight, and both of them were skilled martial arts practitioners. If their fight hadn’t been a life-or-death struggle, it would have been one of the most impressive displays of eastern fighting techniques imaginable. Each blow delivered by one man was calculated to kill or maim, but it was met with an equally considered counterblow from the other. They moved with great speed, forcing each other to think split seconds ahead of their actions.

Bond managed to get to his feet. He leaped for Tom and grabbed hold of the man’s head. The large albino simply locked Bond in a bear hug and picked him up off the deck. Bond used his free arms to deliver sword-hand blows to his opponent’s neck and shoulders, but they seemed to have little effect. Tom was squeezing him hard,