Chapter 2 – Retribution
1pm
Before Bond has time to ask or respond a deafening noise enters the quiet bistro, a flood of glass flows over the waitress and the barman, James and Rene are already on the floor as the flaming car comes to a stop just feet away from them.
‘That was my driver’
‘He’s not driving us anywhere now, that was no accident and somebody is out there waiting for us, do you have a gun?’
The barman is dead, pinned under the car and the young woman has cuts over her body and is screaming in pain and for help. Around them, tables and chairs lay in waste, water is spraying over the fire, and the front of the bistro is in ruins, tourists and motorists are fleeing the area outside. Bond and Mathis had rising to a crouching position behind one of the overturned tables with a view to the outside both waiting for the killer to show himself. The restaurant has been destroyed and Bonds day is spiralling out of control, just moments ago he was told his long time friend is dead and now someone has tried to kill him, this can not a coincidence and to find out more and just to stay alive Bond will have to call on training not used in the last 4 years and push his aging body harder than ever before.
‘I have a revolver, you take it James, when was the last time you fired one?’
‘Three years’
‘Right well, get used to it you won’t got two chances’
‘Why is it Mathis each time we are together in a restaurant a bomb is detonated?’
‘This is not a suitable time for your famous dry humour James’
Bond held the heavy six-shooter, getting used to the weight of the piece, learning the balance and preparing himself to fire like he used to, starting by controlling his breathing, lessons drilled into him through years of services for his country and his dead friend. He looks around the destroyed bistro waiting for the sign of entry, then instinct told him to turn around, it didn’t make any sense the car the fire the publicity of it all, everyone attention will be on the front of the establishment, this is a diversion.
Grabbing Mathis roughly by his collar and pushing both of their bodies to the floor just as a rain a bullets rip about the space they just occupied. Laying there Bond has a view of two pairs of legs, a clear shot through the rubble and debris calmly bringing his right arm forward and taking a deep breath to steady himself and counter the recoil of the pistol. He releases two shots from the old handgun, as the echoing sound and smoke dies away; he quickly stands up knowing that he has not executed a fatal shot on either of the assailants. He runs forward past the flaming car and screaming waitress with the revolver aimed careful at the two would be killers on the floor; both of them have been crippled by the bullet and would be lucky to walk again. Mathis walks around the other side and collects a weapon from one of the men and Bond does the same as Mathis covers him. Bond stands for a second as adrenaline races through his blood stream, training floods back to him as he hurries to secure the entrance that the two men made, once certain that no back up team was there, he returned to Rene still covering both bleeding men. James knows he has 2 minutes before the emergency services get there and he doesn’t want to waste any time with paperwork. This is a controlled hit on him, if someone got to M then someone can get to him, the more time wasted here means that man gets further from him. So he holds the revolver by the smoking and hot barrel and leans over one of the men.
‘Who sent you?’
Is barked at the bleeding man, without waiting for an answer Bond brings the gun forcibly down onto the man’s bullet shattered ankle
‘Tell me and you may walk again’
A second strike follows 3 seconds of silence from the man then he screams out in pain this time so Bond hits him a third time and the crack of bones shattering start a duet with the man’s cry of pain.
‘Now you talk’
‘Never’
Bond lets another bullet enter the man’s other ankle without another question or any hint of hesitation and another scream of pain is released from his lungs.
‘You don’t have time and I don’t have patience, tell me before you lose your life’
The look in Bonds eyes is calm and focused, behind the calm is a well of rage waiting to be released and held back by Bond himself as he knows rage gets people killed, right now he has fight for control and stay cold and professional. The expression on Bonds face and in his eyes tells the man on the ground there is no way out of this with his life unless he tells him a name, he cannot stall until the police get there and sees little options open to him now.
‘Berkut’
Mathis looks quickly up at James, and shouts
‘It’s time to go James we can still reach him; you know where he will be’
Sirens are moving closer and concerned public are beginning to enter the vicinity of the car bomb that destroyed Mathis’s Citroën and killed his driver, time is short and for once Mathis and Bond have the avoid the attention of the police. Swiftly and without instructions both men bring the weapons down onto the heads of the two attackers and leave the burning restaurant by the back door through the kitchen and past the bodies of the kitchen staff, their throats slit by the two hit men, the crimson blood pooling on the stark white tiled floor of the kitchen, inside the aptly named ‘Le Rouge et le Blanc’ as the fire reaches the fuel tank of the car.
Later the waitress is found alive and the burnt bodies of three men are found inside and from then on the building will have a reputation for death.
The pair move with speed and skill through the crowds amassing in the streets around the shell of the restaurant, even with their ages the two agents of M16 and the Deuxième, they can push through the throng of the public.
‘This city will be locked down within minutes once the police get into the bistro we have to get out now’
‘Berkut is at the hotel he said he would take me for a closer look at the high speed boat in the marina after lunch’
‘Berkut knows who you are now and that is not going to happen, if he ordered this hit then he must either already be out of the city or have an exit for when the merde hits the fan, if you pardon my French’
‘We need a car’
‘Don’t you have one?’
‘Yes, it’s at the hotel, we will be seen leaving and details reported to the police, that car will bring attention to us, do you have another team in the area?’
‘No just the driver’
‘My boss, the head of MI6 is killed and you come to watch me with just a driver, is the Deuxième short of agents now?’
‘James I came here as a favour and since I respect you, I hope you afford me the same treatment, I have a clean vehicle parked 4 streets away as insurance you understand, remember we are in neutral Switzerland and Deuxième are not official here it will take too long to get authorisation and we don’t have that luxury.’
‘Good man Mathis, let’s get it’
The aging men move as quickly as the people allow them and soon as they get away from the scene the flow of the crowds lets up, police cars are racing to the scene and uniforms are walking the streets. The police in Geneva work quickly and efficiently, Bond and Mathis reach the car, both men feeling the strain of the last 10 minutes in the heavy lungs and tired legs.
As the two men sit in the swiftly moving Fiat 500, a small car for both those men, but with a specially tuned engine which gets power to the wheels and that is what they need right now. Bond has a minute to consider the events of the morning. First he kicks himself mentally for not listening to his once well honed instincts about Stanislav Berkut; he picked up on the history of the man but did not see immediate danger. As the streets and tourists of Geneva flow around the moving car Bond wonders, is he so far out of touch that something so obvious passed him by, how easily it must have been for Berkut to have killed him right there, poison in the scotch, a swift stiletto to the neck or a silenced pistol shot and of those could have happened and Bond would have been caught off guard. Not again Bond told himself, and why did Berkut not take the chance, what game is he playing with Bond, what message is he trying to send here?
‘Ok Mathis time to tell me everything I don’t know’
‘Yesterday M was meeting with ex Governor Trench in Monaco to discuss issues with the triads in Hong Kong, the whole thing was reported as a private holiday and no details revealed regarding the nature of his visit or M’s attendance there. A car bomb much like the one we were so close to took up both of the men, at the scene was found a message to MI6 and more specifically to you.’
‘What did the message say?’
‘That the snake heads will not accept any interference in triad affairs from England, they are making a move to regain the colony and that as a symbol of their message they will kill the favourite spy of the nation, namely you’
‘So I’m just a message, nice to be remembered of course.’
‘James this is not a joking matter, if the triads want put an end to you just to give current double o’s warning not to enter Hong Kong then you are in immediate danger’
‘How does Berkut feature into this? He is military right, ex KGB? Tell me what Deuxième have had him.’
‘Yes, came out of the training programme with high standards, driven by his deformity, something he killed one instructor over and three other trainees. He has a slight chip on his shoulder about it and has pushed hard to achieve the highest commendations within the KGB until his disappearance 4 years ago.’
‘Four years ago, could that have anything to do with my brief visit behind the iron curtain?’
‘Indeed it does James, the KGB soon found out about Dr Gorner and once it was revealed that you, Britain’s greatest spy had been on soviet soil and escaped without detection, the higher powers brought it down heavy on the staff, the field men, just like our superiors would on us. Very tough questions must have been asked and it’s believed at that point Berkut vanished.’
‘So now you are telling me he is working for the Triads on a contract to stop MI6 sending men in by eliminating M and myself out of a personal competition and a feeling of regaining respect inside the KGB, this sounds wrong, there must be more behind it’
‘James, you know what it is like getting information out of Russia most of this is speculation, informed speculation it may be but that doesn’t change much, the facts are we know he is out to kill you and has already got within striking distance twice. If want more information we have to ask directly.’
Bond falls silent now to consider again that he has been so close to death and unaware, also to focus his mind and his body on what has to be done, old sensations came back to him in the restaurant and holding a gun again, is he regaining some of his former self, only time will tell. Once the car gets to the Harbour he will have to find Berkut quickly and use all the strength and skills his trade has provided him with.
Whilst Berkut may have been on the outside of KGB for the past four years, it’s clear the man has had a target in mind and spent every day since then preparing for this moment and the on the other hand Bond has not.
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