THUNDERBALLS

Chapter I:  Special Statues

The guard turned to look out over the city in another direction.  From a top this skyscraper, the beautiful view of the city at night was very distracting and on this particularly clear night, the guard couldn’t help but stare out to the horizon.  The night was quiet and a peaceful breeze tickled the hairs on the back of his neck.  The cityscape was the last thing that the doomed guard saw as with a silenced whistle, Bond’s weapon exploded and dropped the guard with a single shot. 

Bond was still a short distance away from the surface of the roof as he parachuted down. Quickly he holstered his gun and prepared to make his landing.  As usual, Bond came perfectly in line and landed on the exact target he had aimed for.  Jool’s gathered up his chute and then hit the release switch on his chest harness.  Disposing of the chute in an air vent, Bond stealthily made his way across the roof to the exit.  His briefing had explained that roof security was only minimal and that there would be no cameras to hinder his progress, easily making this the best access point to the building.  Chastity Unlocked, (for she was now married and by shear coincidence her husbands name had only altered and not changed her own) was never wrong and was keeping up her consistency now.  Bond entered through the doorway and stopped to prepare himself.  He removed the rest of his harness to reveal his stylish dinner jacket beneath it.  From a pocket Bond produced a small sachet of Fahrenheit after shave and gently applied the contents to his cheeks.  Checking his weapon was secure, Bond made his way down the short flight of stairs and passed through the door leading him from the roof to the top floor of the modern skyscraper.  No sooner had Bond opened the door when another guard spun around, surprised by Bond’s appearance.  “Where did you come from?” barked the guard. 

“Do you know who I am?  I have just arrived via my helicopter after my pilot arrived nearly fifteen minutes late!  Now you dare to question me?”  The body language and the tone of his voice made Bond appear to be very convincing and the guard hesitated before answering. 

“I wasn’t informed of any guest’s arriving by helicopter.”

“Did you expect me to walk?” Bond answered sarcastically before gesturing in a manor which suggested he could no longer be bothered with this underling.  Jool’s made to walk past the guard, but the guard stopped him, standing his ground.  “May I see your invitation please Sir?”

“If you must” answered Bond in an impatient voice.  Jools reached into his pocket and drew out a small piece of paper.  As the guard studied the invite Bond held his breath.  Suddenly the guard collapsed into Bond’s arms and Bond dragged the unconscious body back into the stairwell.  Folding the invite, Bond once more replaced it into the compartment in his jacket.  Philip Herhole, one of Chastity’s men, had provided Bond with an invite to the party he now walked towards.  Bond’s invite though was written in a special ink, which if breathed would render a person unconscious in seconds. 

Bond’s shoes made no noise as he walked down the dimly lit, carpeted hallway towards the main hall at it’s end. 

Inside the large room were many glamorous people.  Champagne was being drunk by the case load and Bond casually picked up and drained a glass as he crossed the floor to meet his contact. 

The waiter recognised Bond on his way over and with a glance of his eyes in the direction of a closed door, showed Bond the room which housed the chemical Bond had been sent to retrieve.  001 handed the waiter his empty glass and whispered a ‘thanks’ for the directions.  Smiling all the while, Jools casually made his way across the room and through the door the waiter had indicated.  Closing the door behind him, Bond found himself in a short and narrow corridor.  There were no lights in the corridor, but just a few paces ahead was a second door.  The only other thing of note in this narrow space was the small alcove housing a beautifully sculptured statue, a portrait of a woman.  A shaft of light edged one side of the door frame ahead of Bond, as the door was just slightly a jar.  Bond listened to the barley audible conversation taking place within the room.  However, unknown to him, he too was being observed.  The statue behind Bond had followed his every move, it’s eyes far more seeing than they appeared.  Behind the glassed pupils were two very expensive miniature camera’s. 

Within the room, sat behind his huge desk in an equally huge leather cushioned chair, was a man no longer paying attention to his conversation, but to the screens built into his desk showing him the intruder just outside his door.  This man is Harry Muff, a powerful and well respected business man, with some shady under the table deals helping out his legitimate funds.  Muff’s current holdings were estimated to be in the region of several billion dollars.  But never one to waste money, he still wore a smart, but old and cheap suit.  His cologne - nothing more than tap water mixed with a few drops of after shave, this man did not give the image one would expect to see of a man with his financial holdings.  Harry Muff’s current business had been the theft of a chemical called ZXCV28.  This chemical by itself was not particularly dangerous, but when only a drop was mixed with any amount of gunpowder in any form, would increase the potency of the powder by vast amounts, making even a simple bullet into a much more dangerous projectile with the payload of a small rocket.  ZXCV28 had only just been discovered and Harry had managed to acquire the only canister in existence.  This canister is the reason that Bond now lurked just a few meters away. 

The other man in the room was an associate of Harry’s and was currently delivering a message to him on behalf of a very influential lady.  This man is Glong Dong.  An Asian man of great intelligence, he had been despatched by his employer and mistress to arrange an appointment with Harry Muff.  Wearing a very expensive and fashionable suit which complemented his muscular body.  Dong’s eyes observed all the small fidgeting movements that Muff had been making during their meeting from behind a pair of tinted glasses.  Dong had been the one chosen to attend the meeting in person because of his talents for spotting people’s reactions in conversation and his ability to work out what their true thoughts on a the topic are.  Now Dong could see that Harry was clearly distracted by something and so he stopped his polite conversation, waiting for Harry’s full attention. 

Muff’s eyes darted from his screens to the waist high statue of himself in the corner of his office, before he quickly pushed the panic button on the underside of his desk. 

The conversation in the room ended in mid sentence and Bond realised that something was wrong.  Without hesitation Bond burst in through the door and quickly stepped to one side, drawing his trusty Walther PPK in the process and pushing the door shut behind him.  Bond was in a large office, to his left was a waist high statue of the man he had come to see, with a large window covering almost the entire wall behind it.  A large desk was in the centre of the room with two men sitting at it.  With his weapon pointed directly at Muff, Bond asked in a stern voice “Where is it Muff?”

Muff began to sweat and loosened his collar “Don’t know what you’re talking about” he said in an all too shaky voice. 

Dong sat silently, realising that this had nothing to do with him or that Jools Bond clearly had no knowledge of who he was.  Dong’s mistress had briefed him well on exactly who this man was and Dong knew that if he played it cool, he could get out of here with some extra information that his mistress may well reward him for. 

Suddenly the door was flung open and in burst two of Harry’s guards.  They stepped forward, machine guns pointing in front of them.  As soon as they were in Bond stepped behind them and kicked the closest behind his knee, dropping him to the floor.  Stepping forwards Bond brushed aside the fallen machine gun and as the other guard spun around, he found Bond’s Walther pointing at his face.  Bond motioned and the second guard dropped his gun.  Unarmed, they were directed back into the far corner of the office.  Bond backed away and scooped up one of the machine guns, then pointing it at the two men in the corner of the room, hastily moved to Harry’s side.  While Bond’s newly acquired machine gun pointed at his two would be attackers, Bond moved his PPK to only millimetres from Muff’s face and asked again in a serious tone “Were is it?  Where is the canister?”

Again Harry acted dumb “Really, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  But Harry was not as calm under pressure as the other men in the room and his eyes betrayed him.  With one tiny glance behind Bond at the small statue of himself, Harry had given his game away.  Keeping his weapon only millimetres from Muff, Bond glanced over his shoulder at the statue.  Backing towards it Bond suddenly let Muff out from under cover and shot the statue in the head.  The silenced bullet pinged off it’s target and the head shattered.  Bond then tapped the rest of the cheap plaster and watched it crumble away to reveal the valuable canister.  Jool’s holstered his Walther and picked up the canister, he then looked back at Muff before tutting “You’ve been a bad boy Muff.”

“You’ll never get out of this building with that canister!”

“Watch me” said Bond in defiance.  Then aiming the machine gun at the large window he fired several rounds at point blank range.  The glass shattered loudly and blew out into the street below.  Throwing the gun to one side Bond leapt out of the window and plummeted downwards only meters from the side of the huge skyscraper. 

Glong Dong, Harry Muff and his two guards all rushed to the window ledge to see Bond’s jacket suddenly explode with air and expand from his back into a parachute.  The four watched helplessly as Bond made his escape with his prize, falling down into the night and before long the spec that was Bond became too small to see.  Muff was shaking with fury and shouted at his men, “Don’t just stand there, go get him!”

It was a futile command as the men would never be able to descend to the ground quickly enough to even see in which direction Bond had gone. 

Bond had touched down and his jacket sucked up to his back once more leaving no trace of it’s a alternate use.  With a smile on his ruggedly handsome face Jools Bond disappeared into the night with another successful mission tucked under his belt.