Bond Movies 07 - Die Another Day

by Raymond Benson

  ' ‘Not that one!’ Jinx cried. The laser she was referring to was now an inch from her cheek, burning a crevice into the table.

  Kil grabbed Bond by the throat and squeezed. Bond attempted to push him off with one hand while grappling for the remote with the other. He finally succeeded in shutting off the beam that in another second would have destroyed Jinx’s beautiful face. The robotic arms didn’t stop moving around.

  Kil picked Bond up by the neck and pushed him hard against the back of the door, slamming it shut. Jinx saw the desperate situation Bond was in and made a frantic attempt to reach the knife that was hidden in the small of her back. She was able to grab hold of the hilt and withdraw it. Taking careful aim, she hurled it at Kil.

  The knife stuck in Kil’s left arm. He turned to her, grimacing in pain, but he simply pulled the knife out. With one hand clutching Bond’s throat, Kil twisted the knife in his other hand so that he could plunge it into Bond’s chest.

  Bond saw that one of the robotic laser arms was rearing up and pointing at the back of Kil’s head. Kil raised his arm to stab his victim just as Bond pushed a button on the remote.

  The laser drilled into the back of Kil’s skull. His eyes widened and his mouth opened in a silent scream. Smoke drifted out of his mouth and he fell to the floor with a massive thud. Bond hit the remote again and shut off the laser.

  ‘You killed Kil,’ Jinx said.

  ‘A real hothead,’ Bond quipped. He gave her a leisurely smile and considered her situation.

  ‘So, the girl who hates to be tied down. . .’ He made no effort to release her.

  ‘Get me off this thing!’

  He was enjoying this. ‘You’re CIA?’

  ‘NSA. We’re on the same side!’ She struggled with the remaining cuff.

  ‘Doesn’t mean we’re after the same thing.'

  ‘Sure we are,’ she spat. ‘World peace. Unconditional love. And your friend with the expensive acne.'

  ‘Zao.’ Bond remembered and set about freeing her.

  ‘I’d have nailed him back at the Beauty Parlour if you hadn’t shown up.’ she said, getting off the table and rubbing her wrist. ‘Now he’s back there with his weird psychedelic light mask. Must have brought it from the clinic.’

  Bond thought about this. ‘He couldn’t have brought it. It was already here. It belongs to another Korean... his boss.’

  They went to the door but discovered that it was locked. Bond examined the biometric palm scanner beside it.

  ‘I think Kil might have to give us a hand getting out of here.’ He went over to the corpse, grabbed him by the arms and dragged him across the floor. The man was incredibly heavy. Bond heaved him upright against the wall and Jinx placed her boot on the dead man’s chest to keep him there, but it was no good. The weight of the corpse kept pulling him down.

  ‘There is an easier way,’ Jinx commented. They exchanged a glance and Bond read her mind. He stepped back and positioned one of the robotic laser arms so that it was aiming at Kil’s wrist.

  ‘Shame he’s dead,’ Jinx muttered.

  Bond punched the remote and the laser zapped on.

  A minute later, the door slid open and Bond and Jinx crept out of the office. Bond looked out into the hothouse.

  ‘Coast is clear.’

  They moved quickly to the closed door to the tunnel. Bond pressed Kil’s severed hand against the security scanner one more time and opened the door. He then tossed the gory appendage into the foliage. ‘I’ve got to get back,' Jinx said.

  ‘Go to Miranda first,’ Bond said. ‘She’s MI6. Warn her to get out.’

  Jinx stepped through and looked back at him. ‘And where are you going?’

  ‘Unfinished business.’ He closed the door between them.

  15 - Betrayed Again

  Jinx moved through the crowded lobby, passing departing guests and on to Miranda Frost’s room. She found it easily enough and knocked on the door but there was no answer.

  ‘Miss Frost?’ she called out.

  She tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. Jinx carefully went inside and called Miranda’s name again. She went straight to the bedroom but found it empty, the bed not slept in.

  Where was she?

  Jinx heard a noise in the sitting room. She whirled around and took cover against the wall beside the bedroom door. She carefully peeked around the edge but didn’t see anything in the other room. Perplexed, she moved out of the bedroom and went straight to the door of the suite.

  She was locked in.

  Gustav Graves walked into his glass office, flicked on the light and found James Bond sitting at the desk. The Walther was aimed directly at him.

  ‘So you lived to die another day, eh, Colonel?’ Bond said.

  Graves remained strangely calm. ‘At last,’ he said. ‘I was beginning to think you’d never guess.’

  Bond gestured for him to move away from the door. Graves complied.

  ‘Was it painful?’ Bond asked. ‘The gene therapy?’

  ‘You couldn’t possibly imagine,’ Graves replied, his memory stirred.

  ‘Glad to hear it.’

  ‘There have been compensations, however. Watching you flail around in your ignorance. Granting you life, day by day, just to see if you’d get wise, when the answer was staring you right in the face. It’s been such fun.’

  Through the doorway Bond could see Miranda approaching the office.

  ‘Well the fun is about to come to a dead end,’ Bond said as he stood.

  ‘We only met briefly, but you left a lasting impression,’ Graves continued, ignoring the gun. ‘You see, when your intervention forced me to. .. present a new face to the world, I did my research - and chose to model the disgusting Gustav Graves on you. Just in the details, the arrogance, that unjustifiable swagger And your quips; a defence mechanism concealing such woeful inadequacy.’

  ‘My defence mechanism is right here,’ Bond quipped, indicating the Walther.

  Miranda came into the room and without a word, drew an identical P99 and pointed it at Graves.

  Graves smiled and said, ‘So Miss Frost is not all she seems.’

  ‘Appearances can be deceptive,’ Bond said.

  ‘By the way, did you ever find out who betrayed you in North Korea?’ Graves asked.

  ‘Only a matter of time.’

  ‘You never thought of looking inside your own organisation?’

  Bond narrowed his eyes. He glanced over at Miranda and saw that she was now pointing her Walther at him.

  ‘She was right under your nose,’ Graves said.

  Bond kept his gun levelled at Graves and pulled the trigger. But instead of a bang he heard only the hollow click of a bent firing pin.

  ‘It was so good of you to bring your gun to bed with us,’ Miranda said.

  Bond looked at her and repeated, with venom, ‘Occupational hazard.’

  Zao and several guards had been waiting just outside the door-they rushed in and relieved Bond of his weapon.

  Graves was enjoying this. ‘I have a gift for sensing people’s weaknesses, Mister Bond. And Miranda’s weakness is her strength - a most unhealthy appetite for winning. Ever since I arranged a lethal overdose for the true victor at Sydney, she’s been my very own MI6 agent, using everything at her disposal: her brains, her talent, even her ... sex.’

  ‘The coldest weapon of all,’ Bond said to Miranda.

  Just as coolly, Miranda ordered, ‘Hand over the props.’

  Bond realised that he had no choice. He removed his wristwatch and handed it over.

  ‘There’ll be others after me,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, you mean your American friend, Jinx?’ Graves asked. He looked at Miranda for an acknowledgement.

  Miranda replied, sardonically, ‘She’s chilling in my room.’

  ‘Soon to be a victim of a tragedy. An Ice Palace can be such a dangerous place,’ Graves said, relishing the moment.

  The world was caving in on Bond and there was only on
e thing to try. He looked at Zao and taunted him.

  ‘You know, I’ve missed your sparkling personality.’

  ‘Very funny,’ Zao said. ‘But I’ve got a better punch line.’ He moved to Bond and hit him hard in the stomach. Bond doubled up and dropped to his knees. Zao punched him again, sending him to the glass floor. Bond could see the shrubbery of the hothouse below.

  ‘Kill him,’ Graves said to Miranda.

  Bond surreptitiously slipped Q’s ring off his finger. Miranda moved to him and raised the gun, pointing it at his head.

  ‘I enjoyed last night, James,’ she said. ‘But it really is death for breakfast.’

  Bond activated the ring and pressed it against the floor. The glass suddenly began to shake, as if an earthquake was gripping the world around them. The men in the room grabbed onto solid objects to steady themselves, but Miranda was thrown off balance. Then, the floor shattered completely, causing Bond and Miranda to fall to the level below and disappear in the shrubbery.

  Miranda was dazed but was able to stand after a moment. Her gun was lying a couple of feet away. She picked it up, looked around her and thought she saw Bond running away through the foliage. She levelled the Walther at him and fired.

  Up above, Graves rushed to the gallery, followed by Zao and the guards.

  ‘Get him!’ he cried. ‘But try to keep it quiet! The guests are leaving.’

  The men screwed silencers on their weapons as they ran down the stairs and disappeared into the jungle. Miranda joined the hunt as they fanned out. Every now and then one of them saw a flash of Bond running.

  He’s heading in the wrong direction, Miranda thought. They would have him cornered in a matter of minutes.

  The fwip sound of a silenced pistol caught her attention. One of the guards was firing through the trees. She joined him and saw Bond running to the centre of the hothouse.

  ‘He’s in the middle. Surround him!’ she commanded.

  The guards moved around the perimeter of the dome and began to close in. Zao joined the posse and gestured for the men to move in more quickly. The circle tightened and Miranda was certain that Bond was trapped.

  All of a sudden, Bond shot up out of the greenery, flying.one hundred and sixty feet up to the top of the dome on Jinx’s descender wire. Zao and the others were caught by surprise, but they immediately raised their weapons and fired at him. Nevertheless, Bond made it to the cut-out octagon and clambered through. They could see his silhouette through the translucent material and continued to fire.

  Bullets zipped through the membrane all around him as Bond scrambled down the side of the dome. Keeping the descender wire attached to his belt, he threw himself down, a trail of bullets tracking his plunge. He touched down on the icy ground unharmed, detached the wire and ran for the crowd of guests coming out of the palace.

  He moved quickly to the car park, where many guests were getting ready to leave. The Aston Martin was still there, safe and sound, but two guards were standing near it. Bond thought he could take them, but then he saw several more come out of the palace and head in his direction. Instead, he doubled back and headed for the first tee of the golf course. Perhaps he could take one of the Ski-Doos that were parked there.

  As he approached the course, bullets ricocheted off the ice in front of him. The guards had spotted him and were set on cutting him off. Bond swirled around and ran in yet another direction, followed by a hail of gunfire: Then he saw the icejet and bolted for it. Silenced bullets chipped into the ice as he leapt into the cockpit. He took a few seconds to study the controls, pushed a button and hoped for the best.

  The rockets blasted on and the vehicle shot forward.

  Back at the palace, Graves witnessed Bond zooming off and turned to Zao, saying, ‘The pleasure of the kill is in the chase. Bring the generals in.’

  Vlad, standing behind Graves, pulled out his stopwatch and clicked it.

  The icejet soared onto the frozen lake and wobbled recklessly. Bond struggled for a moment with the controls but he soon got the hang of it. It levelled out and accelerated up to two hundred miles per hour in no time. But in the rear-view mirrors he saw that two of the ski-mobiles had been launched and were on his tail. They were fast little movers, but Bond was confident that the icejet could outrun them. The only problem was that the henchmen on the ski-mobiles had automatic weapons and were firing at him.

  Vlad watched through binoculars from the upper level of the hothouse as Graves ushered in the three Asian men who had been at the demonstration the night before.

  ‘General Han. General Li. General Dong,’ he said. ‘I promised you a demonstration.’

  The man called Li said, ‘General Han here may have faith in you, but I have seen nothing to make me believe you are who you say. All you seem is . . . unwell.’

  Graves lost his temper and shouted in Korean, ‘I have created this facade for you! And now you doubt me! How dare you!’

  The generals were shocked by this arrogant outburst. Graves moved to the case and removed the brassard. He donned it and put on the visor, then turned to a large screen beside him.

  ‘Here, gentlemen,’ he said, ‘is your proof.’

  The screen came to life, displaying a satellite view of the Vatna glacier. Graves manipulated the controls and the camera zoomed in closer ... closer... until the screen was completely bright white. A black dot was moving against the whiteness and the men realised that it was the icejet, seen from Icarus. Graves punched more buttons on the gauntlet, opening the mirror sail on the satellite and directing its aim over the lake.

  In file dragster cockpit, Bond felt a sudden wave of warmth. A bead of sweat trickled off his brow. He looked around him and noticed that the snow had grown brighter. Then he saw that the icejet was casting a second shadow! Bond turned and looked at the sky.

  There were two suns.

  Around him, wisps of steam curled up from the ice. It was becoming incredibly bright and it was difficult to see. Then without warning a localised wind spiralled up, much like a small twister. The air was shearing, causing the vehicle to jolt about.

  Graves and his spectators watched all of this on the screen. He kept manipulating the brassard, following the icejet’s every move.

  ‘The Western spy runs ... but he cannot hide. Icarus will lock onto the heat signature of his chariot,’ he announced.

  The screen showed a huge circle of light focused on the area through which Bond was passing. The heat haze and evaporating snow seemed to warp the air around the icejet, creating a surreal image that was disorienting.

  Bond squinted against the painful light as the paint on the icejet blistered in the heat. He changed direction, trying to avoid the intense beam, but it kept following him. He set his jaw, attempted to increase his speed and turned again but he just couldn’t escape the deadly circle of light. Then, through the fierce glare. Bond saw something at his ten o’clock. Making a quick decision, he turned the icejet towards the edge of the glacier. He knew it was madness - it was a sheer drop of six hundred feet to a lake filled with icebergs.

  Graves watched the dot on the screen and understood what Bond was going to do. Just like an English gentleman, he thought. Better to die in a blaze of glory than boil to death at the hands of his enemy.

  Vlad clicked the stopwatch and said, ‘He beat your time.’

  Graves snorted derisively. ‘So he’s going out — at his peak.’

  Bond struggled with the controls, willing the icejet to keep steady. The glacier’s edge was racing towards him. Timing had to be absolutely perfect. . .

  He fired out the anchor just as the dragster plunged off the edge and into thin air. The anchor skidded and scraped against the ice, desperately trying to latch on to something. The rope played out as the icejet continued to fall. Bond shut off the engine and clung to the cockpit, waiting for the jolt he hoped would come.

  The anchor finally caught the ice and embedded itself right at the edge of the drop. The rope jerked the icejet hard, causing
Bond to slam against the dashboard. Sudden darkness overcame him for a brief moment and then the next thing he knew was the sensation of eerie near-silence. There was just the sound of the wind and the creaking rigging of the dragster as it twisted on the anchor line. He thought he must have passed out for a few seconds.

  Bond looked down. Six hundred feet below, the icebergs were like teeth in an icy mouth that was waiting to swallow him. He looked up and saw that the glowing cliff edge was fifteen feet above him.

  He carefully pulled himself out of the cockpit and clung to the body of the icejet. Slowly, painstakingly, he crawled inch by inch along the vehicle’s exterior until he reached the anchor rope. Bond took several deep breaths and concentrated once again on his heart, forcing himself to stay calm arid alert. He then took hold of the rope and began to climb up, towards the cliff edge.

  Back at the palace, Graves studied the new development on the screen. The circle of light was straddling the glacier’s edge. He could see skid marks in the ice leading to the glowing red heat trace of the hidden hot rocket motors concealed by the ice face. Graves smiled and drew his finger over the trackball. On the screen a red line graphic cut across the edge of the ice cliff.

  ‘Time to draw the line,’ he said.

  Bond felt the light intensify and move across the ice just behind the cliff edge. He heard a terrible cracking noise above him.

  The cliff face was going to give!

  Instinctively, he slid down the rope and landed on the suspended icejet. A sharp report resounded like a cannon’s boom and a huge crack snaked across the top of the glacier. As a hail of icy debris fell around him, Bond ripped open the parachute brake cover panel behind the driver’s seat. There was another loud snap and disintegrating lumps of ice and snow bombarded him.

  Then the entire top half of the ice face detached from the glacier and began to slide downwards - with Bond and the icejet still clinging to it.

  16 - Fire and Ice

  The huge ice slab crashed down into the water, throwing up a gigantic wave into which Bond and pieces of the vehicle disappeared.