Bond Movies 07 - Die Another Day

by Raymond Benson

  The plan had worked beautifully and fell into place even faster than any of them thought was possible. A week before Bond’s release, the Icarus satellite was launched into space. Gustav Graves enjoyed the support of Iceland and the United Kingdom as well as that of the media and the jet set to which he catered and moved within. He had accomplished the impossible. Colonel Moon had become a completely different person, created a favourable public image, built a weapon of mass destruction under the very noses of his opponents and had fooled the world.

  He had pulled off the most audacious infiltration into enemy territory since the days of the Trojan Horse.

  19 - Korean Stand-off

  A week passed before Bond was back in South Korea at the edge of the Demilitarized Zone. After extensive de-briefing with both MI6 and the NSA, he and Jinx had finally convinced their superiors that Gustav Graves was in fact Colonel Moon and that he was up to something of international concern. Details of the Icarus satellite were examined and there was much debate as to whether it should simply be destroyed.

  In the meantime, it was apparent that North Korea was amassing a large military force on its side of the 38th Parallel. South Korea responded in kind with their own build-up of defences. M and Robinson had flown once again to the area to oversee the situation and were working with the United States advisors to the South Koreans.

  Jinx flew into Seoul from Los Angeles and met Bond at the US army base where he had spent the few days recuperating from his ordeal in prison. He had not enjoyed being reminded of those dark times, but he did his best to bury the memories. The days since the events in Iceland had been spent with various high level British, US and South Korean military personnel in an effort to outline a sensible strategy against Graves. Bond had also used the time in the base gym and shooting range to work out sore muscles, strengthen his body and hone his firearms skills. As for Jinx, she looked well and rested after the week’s leave in America. Bond thought that she looked beautiful, even in army fatigues.

  ‘Hello handsome,’ she said, giving him a big kiss. 'I've missed you.’

  ‘Likewise,’ he replied. ‘Come on, they’re waiting.’ He led her to an army Jeep and threw his duffel bag in the back. The driver couldn’t believe his good fortune when Jinx got in the front beside him.

  ‘How did you get on with your people?’ she asked.

  ‘You mean convincing them that Icarus was a viable threat?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘M is taking it seriously. I’m not sure about the military.’

  ‘My boss Falco refuses to acknowledge my report. He’s probably waiting for a demonstration,’ she said.

  ‘Let’s hope he doesn’t get one.’

  The Jeep drove north to the command centre just south of the Demilitarized Zone. They entered the United States-controlled bunker and passed two watchtowers, more Jeeps, helicopters, manned antiaircraft positions and dozens of soldiers. The driver took them into a vast hangar filled with more helicopters and military vehicles. The place was buzzing with activity as Special Forces Soldiers geared up for action. Finally, the Jeep stopped inside a covered bay. A signal was given and the platform lowered into the bunker, where Charles Robinson was waiting to greet them.

  'James,’ he said. ‘Jinx.’

  ‘Mister Robinson. Bring us up to speed, please,’ Bond said.

  They headed down a corridor as Robinson spoke. ‘Another division’s just mobilised north of the DMZ. Eighty thousand troops and counting.'

  ‘And another million in reserve,’ Jinx commented.

  ‘Moon’s father won’t let this turn into a war,’ Bond said.

  ‘General Moon is under arrest,’ Robinson said. Bond stopped walking. ‘The hardliners staged a coup last night They’ve got him under lock and key.’

  Bond’s face turned grim and then he continued moving.

  They went into the bustling Operations Room, where South Korean and American intelligence and military analysts were busy studying satelite images and a large illuminated map of the 38th Parallel. A two-star US general seemed to be dominating the centre ground with his Korean opposite number. Keeping back in the shadows was NSA chief Falco, who was standing with M. They appeared to be in the middle of a tense discussion.

  M was attempting to keep her voice down but it still carried across the room. ‘The fact remains that you deliberately misled me by implicating Bond. If you’d told us about your agent at the Cuban clinic—’

  ‘—She’d be dead by now,’ Falco countered. ‘Your mole would have made sure of that.’

  'We wouldn’t have had a mole at all if you’d disclosed the fact that Miss Frost and Moon were on the Harvard fencing team together.’

  She turned and saw Bond and Jinx. Her last words were perhaps meant for Bond’s ears as much as for Falco’s. ‘Knowing whom to trust is everything in this business,' she said.

  Falco followed M’s gaze and turned to Bond and Jinx.

  ‘Ah, James Bond,’ he said. ‘Just in time for the fireworks.’

  Jinx shrugged and said to Bond, ‘Everyone has a boss. This is mine.’

  Bond fixed Falco with a hard gaze. This was the man who’d had M lock him up and then had him falsely identified as the destroyer of the Beauty Parlour. Falco dropped the smile, realising it wasn’t working.

  ‘Don’t believe everything she told you about me,’ Falco said, unnerved. ‘I’m not all bad.’

  Bond wanted to hit the man, but instead he said, ‘Let’s get down to business.’

  Falco nodded and cleared his throat. ‘We’re at DefCon Two but the good General Chandler over there isn’t worried. Just another manoeuvre to see if we blink. And if the North does go South - it goes south big-time. You don’t just stroll through the world’s biggest minefield.’

  ‘No,’ Bond said. ‘You need some kind of edge. Icarus.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, your giant space mirror,’ Falco said dryly-‘We’re taking care of that. ASAT launch in one hour.’ He looked at Jinx and rolled his eyes. ‘Though I hate to waste a good missile.’

  Jinx flared a little. ‘Icarus isn’t like our lame-assed covert weapons. It actually works'

  ‘I’ve seen your report,’ Falco commented.

  ‘I’ve seen what it can do,’ she countered evenly. Bond ignored this exchange and moved to look at the screens.

  ‘There’s only one way of being sure,’ he said. ‘Where’s Graves?’

  M pointed out a screen featuring a satellite view of an airbase. Bond recognised the distinctive shape of the Antonov.

  ‘In the middle of a North Korean airbase,’ she said.

  ‘Right where we can’t touch him,’ Falco added. ‘You can’t,’ Bond said. ‘But I can.’

  He turned to M and looked into her eyes. All that had happened between them had just been a prelude to this moment. After she had doubted him, after she had used him once he’d proved that he hadn’t cracked. Would she now show some faith?

  Falco broke the silence. ‘We’re here in case things escalate, not to make sure they do. No incursions into the North. The President gave me a direct order.’

  ‘So when did that ever stop you?’ Jinx muttered. M hadn’t taken her eyes from Bond’s. Finally she said, ‘You make your own decision, Mr Falco. But I’m sending in Double-O Seven.’

  Falco winced and said, ‘You think I’d leave this in tiie hands of the Brits?’ He looked at Jinx and ordered, ‘You’re going with him,’ as she spoke up simultaneously and said, ‘I’m going with him.’ Falco controlled his desire to reprimand her for her forwardness, then nodded curtly.

  The United States Air Force Chinook helicopter flew over the Demilitarized Zone after loading its special cargo. Bond and Jinx put on camouflage gear and armed themselves with pistols, combat knives and grenades. Bond was additionally equipped with an L42A1 sniper’s rifle. After checking co-ordinates and radioed the Operations Room that they were ready, the couple went into the back of the helicopter where the cargo was.

  The ramp lower
ed and two Switchblade jet gliders rolled out backwards, Bond and Jinx riding them like low motorcycles. The two sleek black craft dropped a few feet before jet engines kicked in, thrusting them both forward.

  They flew quietly and at low altitude. As the Switchblades were made of stealth material, there was little chance of being seen by radar, but because it was still daylight there was always the possibility of a visual sighting.

  Below them was the surreal landscape of the war-torn no man’s land that Bond remembered from his earlier experience in Korea. The bombed-out terrain, with its tank traps and derelict vehicles, looked like the remains of a long-lost civilisation, the victim of its own mindless self-destruction. Down there was where the dreams and lives of countless men and women had ended, creating a land of sorrow, despair and ghosts.

  Before long they jettisoned the Switchblades and parachuted into a dense wooded area, just as the sun was dipping below the horizon. Jinx’s chute caught on the branches of a tree and she was jerked hard by her harness, but then the branch broke and she landed on the ground.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she said before Bond could ask.

  They removed the parachutes, bundled them up and hid them in some bushes. Without another word, they started moving through the woods towards their target.

  Back in the Operations Room, Robinson received confirmation from the Chinook and repeated, ‘They’ve entered North Korean airspace.’

  Falco noted that the young man’s hand was shaking slightly as he wrote down the time of the message. ‘Relax,’ the NSA advisor said. ‘If our radar can’t see those Switchblades, the North Koreans sure as hell can’t.’

  Robinson nodded and concentrated on the exchanges on the radio.

  Falco turned to a large screen that displayed the position of the ASAT missile, closing in on the Icarus satellite. He looked back at M, who stood behind them with her arms folded.

  ‘Hope you’re not superstitious,’ Falco said. ‘This is one big mirror we’re about to break.’

  M ignored the comment. She was restless and unable to sit still. She had sent Bond into dicey situations before, but surely this was one of the most dangerous She didn’t want to see him stuck in another military prison, or worse.

  Still.. she knew that he was aware of the risks.

  The North Korean bunker where Gustav Graves was studying battle plans with Generals Han, Li and Dong was a stark contrast to its US equivalent. It was decidedly low-tech, with very little sophisticated equipment. The hardliners now in charge of the military were united in purpose. Colonel Moon knew that the will to win was more powerful than expensive materials that rarely functioned properly.

  Vlad approached his boss, who was now dressed in a North Korean uniform. ‘They’ve launched against Icarus,’ he warned.

  Moon/Graves considered this but was unfazed. ‘Leave it on automatic,’ he said.

  High above the earth, Icarus picked up the ASAT’s signal and suddenly re-articulated and focused its reflectors on the threat climbing out of the atmosphere. The manoeuvre took twelve seconds. The sun’s rays, invisible to the naked eye in space, hit the mirror and bounced towards the missile with power and heat. The missile began to shear and shake, its skin glowing with intense heat. The vibration increased until the missile ultimately tore apart in a massive explosion. Icarus then returned to its former articulation, unharmed.

  Vlad noted the flashing lights in the open control case and proudly announced, ‘Threat eliminated.’

  Graves nodded casually, but the generals were dearly impressed.

  In the Operations Room south of the 38th Parallel, Falco and General Chandler watched the event on the screens, which now depicted Icarus alone in the sky.

  ‘Now why don’t we have one of those?’ Falco asked, wryly.

  The general picked up a phone and gave an order. ‘Mobilise the South Korean troops.’

  A few feet away, M looked at Robinson and asked, ‘Still no news on Bond?’

  Robinson shook his head and pursed his lips.

  Bond and Jinx cut through the perimeter fence surrounding the North Korean airbase. Communicating through tiny headsets, they moved stealthily in the dark, sticking to the shadows. The Antonov stood on the asphalt some one hundred metres away. Its loading ramp was down and was the centre of activity. Dozens of troops occupied the area and many high-ranking soldiers were in the process of boarding the plane.

  ‘What now?’ Jinx asked through the headset ‘There are a lot of men.’

  ‘See the shadow of the hangar?’ Bond gestured to a long shadow cast by a tower floodlight. Between the edge of the shadow and the plane was a wide-open space of about thirty feet. ‘If we can get over there, the shadow should give us plenty of cover. The trick will be to move to the plane without being seen. Underneath it’s dark.’

  ‘We’ll be exposed for a few seconds.’

  ‘We have to take the chance. Come on.’

  They ran along the fence and then moved to the hangar. Staying the shadow, they waited until most of the troops had turned away to gather more cargo.

  ‘Now!’

  Bond and Jinx bolted into the brightly lit open space and made it to the nose wheel in three seconds. They remained still until it was certain that they hadn’t been seen. The timing had been fortuitous; seconds later a Ferrari roared out of the hangar and approached the Antonov, escorted by three Jeeps. Bond swung the L42A1 off his shoulder and aimed it. Now was as good a time as any to take out the prime target.

  ‘Do you have a clean shot?’ Jinx asked.

  He didn’t. The Jeeps blocked the sports car, but Bond got a glimpse of Graves as he drove straight onto the ramp and into the hold. Then the ramp started to rise.

  ‘Damn,’ Bond muttered. ‘We’ll be seen.’ He slung the rifle back on his shoulder and moved to one of the rear wheels. ‘Come on.’

  He leapt onto the downstrut of the wheel just as the plane began to taxi. He held out a hand to Jinx, who was running alongside.

  'You’ve got to be kidding,’ she said.

  ‘I’ve done it before. Easier than it looks.’

  He pulled her up onto the wheel strut as the plane accelerated down the runway. They clung to each other and to the strut as the wind pummelled them, threatening to rip them away. The plane lifted off and began to climb into the night sky, but the two stowaways held on as the wheels were pulled in.

  Jinx followed Bond through a hatch and into the darkened hold, where a Mil Mi-34 Hermit helicopter sat in front of the Ferrari and a Lamborghini. After making sure there were no guards in the hold, they climbed a ladder that took them to the Antonov’s living quarters. They moved quietly down a passageway, turned a comer and stopped. Someone was coming. Jinx pulled Bond through a door just as Miranda Frost walked by in title company of a few guards. Jinx peered around the door and saw her enter a room at the end of the corridor.

  In the plane’s cockpit, Gustav Graves gave final instructions to the pilot and then descended a ladder to a specially built observation bay. Located in the Antonov’s nose, the room was dominated by a conical window. At the rear, the roof rose towards a giant angled semi-transparent glass screen that depicted the entire Korean peninsula and Japan. Several monitors and instrument banks occupied the walls and the gauntlet that controlled Icarus sat on a pedestal in the centre. Vlad stood over it, making some minor adjustments as the three generals stood behind him.

  ‘Excellent take-off, if I may say so,’ Vlad said to Graves.

  ‘Don’t grovel. You’ll never take Kil’s place.’

  Graves paid no attention to Vlad’s wounded expression and went over to study the screen.

  Back in the living quarters, Bond and Jinx continued their reconnaissance through the corridors and came upon the stateroom they were hoping to find. The sound of a guard approaching forced them into the shadows, where they watched as the soldier unlocked the door and held it open.

  ‘General Moon, come with me,’ the guard said in Korean.

  The elde
r Moon had dark circles under his eyes but otherwise appeared to be in good health.

  ‘Tell General Han I refuse,’ Moon said. ‘His coup wall fail.’

  Bond moved quickly and silently. He struck the guard from behind, pulled him into the room and shut the door. General Moon stared at Bond with incredulity.

  Bond looked around the room and said, ‘It’s not like the prison I was in.’

  ‘How did you get in here?’ the general asked.

  Bond ignored the question. ‘General Han is just a puppet. Your son is pulling the strings.’

  General Moon looked confused. ‘My son is dead, thanks to you.’

  Bond relieved the unconscious guard of his gun and pulled the body out of the way, behind a table. ‘No. He survived. He’s changed his identity - even his face. But he survived.’

  'You’re crazy.’

  ‘You’ll see who’s deranged.’

  ‘I have grieved all this time. My son would not let me suffer like that.’

  ‘Oh, he’s been planning this reunion, for some time. Four of your divisions are massed on the border.’

  Moon’s eyes narrowed. ‘The troops are still loyal to me. I will put an end to this.’

  Bond considered the situation and then handed the general the guard’s gun. ‘You’d better take this.’

  The two men stared at each another. Moon had allowed Bond to be tortured, faked a firing squad . . . and now the British spy was placing his trust in him. The general took the gun, still a little puzzled. Finally, he opened the door and walked out, followed by Bond.

  20 - Icarus Unleashed