Gardner, John Read Online Free PDF Page A

coursing through his veins. It was a long time since M had addressed him as 007, and it signified that he could well be off into the real unknown again. He could almost smell the possibilities.
    'Well, what do you think?' M repeated.
    Bond lit another cigarette and looked up at the ceiling before he spoke. 'I should imagine you'll want me on the way to Scotland tonight.' M's eyes betrayed nothing as Bond continued. 'Not a healthy mix — an international terrorist and a renowned nuclear physicist. Been one of the nightmares for some time, hasn't it, sir? That some group would get hold of not only the materials but the means to construct a really lethal nuclear device? We suspect some of them have the materials — look at that fellow Achmed Yastaff I took out for you. At least four of the ships he arranged to go missing were carrying materials . . .'
    M snorted, 'Don't be a fool, 007. Easiest thing in the world to construct a crude device. Yes, they've almost certainly got the materials - and don't ask me who I mean by "they". You've got to think logically on this one. If any of the existing terrorist organisations wanted to use some crude bomb to blackmail a government, they could do so. But for a man like Franco to be consorting with an old devil such as the Laird of Murcaldy - well, that's a very different matter, and it could mean one of two things.'
    'Yes . . . ?' Bond leant forward.
    'First,' M ticked off the index finger of his left hand with that of his right, the pipe jammed into the corner of his mouth, held tightly between his teeth as he spoke. 'First, it could mean that Franco is setting up a very sophisticated operation, and is soliciting Anton Murik's specialist help and knowledge. Second'-the fingers moved-'it could be the other way around: that Dr Anton Murik is seeking Franco's aid on a little adventure of his own. Either of those possibilities is going to take more than five short visits from Franco.'
    'And Anton Murik is capable of either of these things?' Bond's brow furrowed. He could read absolutely nothing in M's weatherbeaten face, and that was always a danger signal. There was far more to all this than the information brought to them by 'The Opposition'.
    'Not only capable of it, but also a most likely candidate.' M opened a drawer in his desk and dropped another file on top of the one provided by M.I.5. 'We've had our eye on Dr Anton Murik, Laird of Murcaldy, for some time now.' He tapped the two files. 'What Ross told you is a slight understatement — the business about Murik resigning from the International Atomic Energy Commission under some sort of cloud. They don't have all the facts. We do. Murik resigned, 007, under a damned great storm. In fact the man was kicked out, and didn't take kindly to it. He is a man of some brilliance, and very large resources.'
    M took the pipe from his mouth, looking Bond straight in the eyes. 'Even his title - Laird of Murcaldy - is more than highly suspect, as Ross mentioned. No, I don't intend to send you scooting off to Scotland, 007. It's my job to see that you're properly briefed, and given good support and cover. The hell with "The Opposition" and their surveillance team. I want to get you as close to Murik as possible. On the inside; and before we get to that, there's a great deal you should know about the so-called Laird of Murcaldy.'
     
-4
DOSSIER ON A LAIRD
     
    IT WAS OBVIOUSLY going to be a long evening, and Bond thought he should not surprise May, his able and devoted housekeeper, by returning suddenly and late to the flat off the King's Road.
    Before M could launch into the details of the dossiers which lay, full of secrets, in front of them, Bond asked permission to leave the office for a moment.
    M gave one of his irritated old-fashioned looks, but grudgingly nodded his consent for Bond to make a telephone call from the privacy of his own office.
    In the end, it was easier for Bond to dial his own number on Miss Moneypenny's extension. May had