Startled, she began, ‘How did you know I was…?’ Her voice faded.
‘Was that the first time you’d shot someone?’
‘Yes, it was. But how can you be sure it was your bullet?’
‘I’d decided at that range to make my target vector a head shot. Dunne had one wound in his forehead and one in the torso. The head shot was mine. It was fatal. The lower wound, yours, was superficial.’
‘You’re sure it was your shot in his head?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘In that shooting scenario I wouldn’t’ve missed,’ Bond said simply.
Jordaan was silent for a moment. Then she said, ‘I suppose I’ll have to believe you. Anyone who uses the phrases “target vector” and “shooting scenario” surely would know where his bullets went.’
Earlier, Bond thought, she might have said this with derision – a reference to his violent nature and flagrant disregard for the rule of law – but now she was simply making an observation.
They sat back and chatted for a time, about her family and his life in London, his travels.
Night was cloaking the city now, a kind autumn evening of the sort that graces this part of the southern hemisphere, and the vista sparkled with fixed lights on land and floating lights on vessels. Stars, too, except in the black voids nearby – where the king and prince of Cape Town’s rock formations blocked out the sky: Table Mountain and Lion’s Head.
The plaintive baritone call of a horn reached up to them from the harbour.
Bond wondered if its source was one of the ships delivering food.
Or perhaps it was from a tour boat bringing people back from the prison museum on nearby Robben Island where people like Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma – all of whom had become presidents of South Africa – had been locked away for so many hard years during apartheid.
Or maybe the horn was from a cruise ship preparing to depart for other ports of call, summoning tired passengers, carrying bags of clingfilm-wrapped biltong, pinotage wine and ANC black, green and yellow tea towels, along with their tourist impressions of this complicated country.
Bond gestured to the waiter, who proffered menus. As the policewoman took one, her wounded arm brushed his elbow briefly. And they shared a smile, which was slightly less brief.
Yet despite the personal truth-and-reconciliation occurring between them at the moment, Bond knew that, when dinner concluded, he would put her into a taxi to take her to Bo-Kaap, and return to his room to pack for his flight to London tomorrow morning.
He knew this, as Kwalene Nkosi would say, without doubt.
Oh, the idea of a woman who was perfectly attuned to him, with whom he could share all secrets – could share his life – appealed to James Bond and had proved comforting and sustaining in the past. But in the end, he now realised, such a woman, indeed anywoman, could occupy but a small role in the peculiar reality in which he lived. After all, he was a man whose purpose found him constantly on the move, from place to place, and his survival and peace of mind required that this transit be fast, relentlessly fast, so that he might overtake prey and outpace pursuer.
And, if he correctly recalled the poem Philly Maidenstone had so elegantly quoted, travelling fast meant travelling forever alone.
GLOSSARY
AIVD: Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst. The Netherlands security service, focusing on intelligence gathering and combating internal, non-military threats.
BIA: Bezbednosno-informativna Agencija. The Serbian foreign intelligence and internal security agency.
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency. The main foreign intelligence gathering and espionage organisation of the United States. Ian Fleming reportedly played a role in the founding of the CIA. During the Second World War, he penned an extensive memo on creating and running an espionage operation for General William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, head of America’s Office of Strategic Services. Donovan was instrumental in the formation of OSS’s successor, the CIA.
COBRA: Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. A senior-level crisis-response committee in the United Kingdom, usually headed by the prime minister or other high-ranking government official and composed of individuals whose jobs are relevant to a particular threat facing the nation. Although the name usually includes, in the media at least, a reference to Conference Room A in the main Cabinet Office building in Whitehall, it could convene in any meeting room.
CCID: Crime Combating and Investigation Division of the South African Police Service (see below): The major investigative unit. It specialises primarily in serious crimes, such as murder, rape and terrorism.
DI: Defence Intelligence. The British military’s intelligence operation.
Division Three: A fictional security organ of the British government based in Thames House. Loosely affiliated with the Security Service (see below), Division Three engages in tactical and operational missions within the UK’s borders to investigate and neutralise threats.
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation. The main domestic security agency in the United States, responsible for investigating criminal activities within the borders, and certain threats to the United States and its citizens abroad.
Five: Informal reference to MI5, the Security Service (see below).
FO or FCO: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The main diplomatic and foreign policy agency of the United Kingdom, headed by the foreign secretary, who is a senior member of the cabinet.
FSB: Federal’naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii. The domestic security agency within Russia. Similar to the FBI (see above) and the Security Service (see below). Formerly the KGB (see below) performed this function.
GCHQ: Government Communications Headquarters. The government agency in the United Kingdom that collects and analyses foreign signals intelligence. Similar to the NSA (see below) in America. Also referred to as the Doughnut, because of the shape of the main building, which is located in Cheltenham.
GRU: Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye. The Russian military intelligence organisation.
KGB: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti. The Soviet foreign intelligence and domestic security organisation until 1991, when it was replaced by the SVR (see below) for foreign intelligence and the FSB (see above) for internal intelligence and security.
Metropolitan Police Service: The police force whose jurisdiction is Greater London (excluding the City of London, which has its own police). Known informally as the Met, Scotland Yard or the Yard.
MI5: The Security Service (see below).
MI6: The Secret Intelligence Service (see below).
MoD: Ministry of Defence. The organisation within the United Kingdom overseeing the armed forces.
NIA: National Intelligence Agency. The domestic security agency of South Africa, like MI5 (see above) or the FBI (see above).
NSA: National Security Agency. The government agency in the United States that collects and analyses foreign signals and related intelligence, from mobile phones, computers and the like. It is the American version of the UK’s GCHQ (see above), with which it shares facilities both in England and the US.
ODG: Overseas Development Group. A covert operational unit of British security operating largely independently but ultimately under the control of the UK’s FCO (see above). Its purpose is to identify and eliminate threats to the country by extraordinary means. The fictional ODG operates from an office building near Regent’s Park, London. James Bond is an agent with the 00 Section of O (Operations) Branch of the ODG. Its director-general is known as M.
SAPS: South African Police Service. The main domestic police operation serving South Africa. Its efforts range from street patrol to major crime.
SAS: Special Air Service. The British Army’s special forces unit. It was formed during the Second World War.
SBS: Special Boat Service. The Royal Navy’s special forces unit. It was formed during the Second World War.
Security Service: The domestic security
agency in the United Kingdom, responsible for investigating both foreign threats and criminal activities within the borders. It corresponds to the FBI (see above) in the United States, though it is primarily an investigative and surveillance operation – unlike the FBI, it has no authority to make arrests. Known informally as MI5 or Five.
SIS: Secret Intelligence Service. The foreign intelligence gathering and espionage agency of the United Kingdom. It corresponds to the CIA in the United States. Known informally as MI6 or Six.
SOCA: Serious Organised Crime Agency. The law-enforcement organisation within the United Kingdom responsible for investigating major criminal activity inside the borders. Its agents and officers have the power of arrest.
Spetznaz: Voyska Spetsialnogo Naznacheniya. A general reference to special forces in the Russian intelligence community and the military. Known informally as Spetznaz.
SVR: Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedk. The Russian foreign intelligence gathering and espionage agency. Formerly the KGB (see above) performed this function.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All novels are to some extent collaborative efforts, and this one more so than most. I wish to express my deep appreciation to the following for so tirelessly assisting to make sure this project got off the ground and that it grew into the best book it could be: Sophie Baker, Francesca Best, Felicity Blunt, Jessica Craig, Sarah Fairbairn, Cathy Gleason, Jonathan Karp, Sarah Knight, Victoria Marini, Carolyn Mays, Zoe Pagnamenta, Betsy Robbins, Deborah Schneider, Simon Trewin, Corinne Turner and my friends in the Fleming family. Special thanks go to the copyeditor of all copyeditors, Hazel Orme, as well as Vivienne Schuster, whose inspired title graces the novel.
Finally, thanks to the operatives of my own Overseas Development Group: Will and Tina Anderson, Jane Davis, Julie Deaver, Jenna Dolan and, of course, Madelyn Warcholik.
And for readers thinking that Cape Town’s Table Mountain Hotel I mention in the book sounds familiar, that’s because its inspiration is the Cape Grace, which is just as lovely but is not – to my knowledge – populated by any spies.
IAN FLEMING
Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, was born in London on 28 May 1908. He was educated at Eton and later spent a formative period in Kitzbuhel, Austria, where he learned languages and made his first tentative forays into fiction writing. In the 1930s he worked for Reuters, where he honed his writing skills and, thanks to a Moscow posting, gained valuable insights into what would become his literary bête noire- the Soviet Union.
He spent the Second World War as Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence where his fertile imagination spawned a variety of covert operations, all of them notable for their daring and ingenuity. The experience would provide a rich source of material in the future.
After the war he worked as foreign manager of the Sunday Times, a job that allowed him to spend two months each year in Jamaica. Here, in 1952, at his home Goldeneye, he wrote a book called Casino Royale. It was published a year later – and James Bond was born. For the next twelve years Fleming produced a novel a year featuring agent 007, the most famous spy of the century. His interest in cars, travel, good food and beautiful women, as well as his love of golf and gambling, was reflected in the books that were to sell in their millions, boosted by the vastly successful film franchise.
His literary career was not restricted to Bond. Apart from being an accomplished journalist and travel writer he also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a much-loved children’s story about a car that flies, which has inspired both film and stage productions. He was a notable bibliophile, amassing a library of first editions which was considered so important that it was evacuated from London during the Blitz. And from 1952 he managed his own specialist publishing imprint, Queen Anne Press.
Fleming died of heart failure in 1964 at the age of fifty-six. He lived to see only the first two Bond films, Dr Noand From Russia With Love, and can scarcely have imagined what he had set in motion. Yet today, with a Bond film having been seen by an estimated one in five of the planet’s population, James Bond has become not only a household name but a global phenomenon.
For further information about Ian Fleming and his books please visit www.ianfleming.com.
JEFFERY DEAVER
In 2004, bestselling thriller writer Jeffery Deaver won the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts, and spoke in his acceptance speech about his life-long admiration of Fleming’s writing and the influence that the Bond books had had on his own career. Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, was in the audience and explained, ‘It was at that point that I first thought that James Bond could have an interesting adventure in Jeffery Deaver’s hands.’
Deaver said, ‘I can’t describe the thrill I felt when first approached by Ian Fleming’s estate to ask if I’d be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series. My history with Bond goes back fifty years. I was about eight or nine when I picked up my first Bond novel. I was a bit precocious when it came to reading, but I have my parents to thank for that. They had a rule that I was not allowed to watch certain movies, but I could read anything that I could get my hands on. This was ironic since, in the 1950s and early ’60s, you’d never see sex or violence on the screen. So, I was allowed to read every Bond book my father brought home or that I could afford with my allowance.
‘I felt Fleming’s influence early. My first narrative fiction, written when I was eleven, was based on Bond. It was about a spy who stole a top-secret airplane from the Russians. The agent was American but had a British connection, having been stationed, like my father, in East Anglia during WWII.
‘I can still recall the moment when I heard on the news that Fleming had died – I was in my mid-teens. It was as if I had lost a good friend or uncle. Nearly as troubling was the TV anchorman who reported that Bond, too, would die in the final pages of the last book, The Man with the Golden Gun. I was in agony until I could buy it the moment it was released. I read it in one sitting and learned the truth – at least I’d only have to mourn the loss of one of my heroes, not two.
‘I have won or been nominated for a number of awards for my thriller writing but the one that I’m the most proud of is the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The award is in the shape of a commando knife that Fleming is said to have carried in his days working for the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. The imposing award sits in the middle of my mantelpiece at home.
‘As far as any parallels between Bond’s life and mine, there are a few, I’ll admit. I enjoy fast cars – I’ve owned a Maserati and a Jaguar, and I now take my Porsche 911 Carrera S or Infiniti G37 to the track occasionally. I’m a downhill skier and scuba diver. I enjoy single-malt scotch and American bourbons – not vodka, though the spy himself drank whisky considerably more often than his “shaken, not-stirred” martinis.’
A former journalist (like Fleming), folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver started writing suspense novels on the long commute to and from his office on Wall Street. He is now the international number-one bestselling author of two collections of short stories and twenty-eight novels. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages.
He is best known for his Kathryn Dance and Lincoln Rhyme books, most notably The Bone Collector, which was adapted for film in 1999, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Standalone novel The Bodies Left Behindwas named Novel of the Year at the International Thriller Writers’ Awards in 2009.
Jeffery Deaver’s latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller is The Burning Wire. His standalone thriller Edgewill be published in paperback in September 2011.
Jeffery Deaver was born near Chicago and now lives in North Carolina.
To find out more, visit
www.007carteblanche.com
or
www.jefferydeaver.com.
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