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[Quantum is Forever]

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IAN FLEMING'S
James Bond 007
in
ZC's Fan Novel

Sixty Seconds To Death

NOTICE:The names: James Bond 007, M, Q, Moneypenny, Tanner, Felix Leiter, Vesper Lynd, Tracy Bond, Quantum, and Marc-Ange Draco are not mine and I do not claim them to be.

James Bond investigates the murder of a Double O agent, found dead in Hawaii. His killer turns out to be working for Quantum and Bond finds himself in the iron sights of the organization. James teams up with CIA Agents, Felix Leiter and Jennifer Goods, in Africa to stop not only Quantum but the LRA, whom they supplied. Bond finds himself stuck with Sixty Seconds To Death, has he met his match?

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Prologue: Shot In The Dark (Not Written Yet, just an idea at the moment.)
Chapter One: A Sapient Move
Chapter Two: A New One Begins
Chapter Three: Business Before Pleasure
Chapter Four: Twisting With James
Chapter Five: The Boys Chase
Chapter Six: Worth Every Penny
Chapter Seven: The Sun of Red
Chapter Eight: There is Always a Bigger Fish
Chapter Nine: Some Run, Some Hide
Chapter Ten: Nothing Up His Sleeves
Chapter Eleven: Green Isn't My Color
Chapter Twelve: Nothing Like a Back Seat Driver
Chapter Thirteen: Felix You Old Fraud
Chapter Fourteen: A Rope, A Chair, and A Desert
Chapter Fifteen: Tell Me What Elements You Blend
Chapter Sixteen: Fool's Dream



Dedication: I would like to dedicate this Bond Fan Novel to the Invisable Children Organization

The Quantum series so far:
Sixty Seconds to Death
Double Knot
Blackheart
Codebreaker
The Fogs of War
Curtains of Fear

Edited by Quantum is Forever, 29 January 2009 - 03:07 AM.

[Quantum is Forever]

( 1 ) (Sapient Move)


The King moves behind his Black Knight in the left hand corner, out of fear and out of sapient moves, he had nowhere else to turn but to his knight in armor. The Bishop slides across the checkered field, where many lives were lost, and set up his post, a perfect line of sight. The Knight thinks it is heroic to move and block the White Bishop and save his king and country. Sadly, to the Black Knight’s surprise, the Bishop has him in his grip as the Rook makes it's move on the Black King finishing him for good. Lives were lost and not even a single Pawn is able to cross no man’s land to save their wounded allies. The pieces are placed back under the chess board and two men stand up from the table. They shake hands in a polite gesture and sit back down, the man on the right signals to a man behind him. A scrawny looking lackey wanders over with a silver briefcase in hand. He places it on the table and walks back to a window. The men, and their soldiers, sit inside a large hut style home; it seems to be put together with simple trees and branches. In a back room sits an armory containing practically every weapon a small army needs: RPGs, AK-47s, .45 Colts, as a side arm choice, and other weapons. The large hut is surrounded by numerous smaller huts, like a small military base. There was a vehicle repair shop, medical building, supply depot, and even a small store for soldiers to spend their military pay.

The man who lost the chess match, the one who signaled the man over, is Alphonse Montréal, a French business man who owns many weapon and jewelry factories. He has light brown hair that stops just past his ears and he wears nothing but the finest French clothing. His accent is very well hidden as he sounds almost American, which isn’t surprising since he makes most of his profit in the West. Alphonse sells mostly diamond jewelry, which he receives from his many diamond mines in Africa, and he sells copper bullets for simple gun stores. He works for Quantum, a terrorist organization, whom sent him over, to east Uganda, to speak with a man known as Abimbola; one on one, about a deal Quantum would like to make with him. Jamie Abimbola is one of several leaders of the LRA, The Lord's Resistance Army, and a man who would like to control both Sudan and Uganda. Jamie is a masculine man and has a very powerful demeanor, his hair is short and he’s wearing a white suit. Though because of his work and location he’ll wear anything he can get a hold of, though he has a taste for many styles of European clothing. Jamie runs his own section in the LRA and wants to show his true power by moving his forces into the southern parts of Africa. Quantum has had an eye on Abimbola’s movements for several months now and sees a perfect opportunity arising.

A man, on Abimbola’s side of the room walks over to the table and turns the case to face him; slowly he opens the latches, and raises the top half. Inside the man found several thousand dollars, in American bills, and a document that looked like a simple contract.

‘So do we have a deal Mr. Abimbola?’ asks Alphonse sitting on the edge of his chair.

‘Hold on a second,’ Jamie replies as he crosses his arms and thinks to himself, ‘Why do you want my old cobalt and copper mine and not the petroleum factories?’

`Oh, we’ll gladly take your petroleum too, but it’s not really what my organization wants. You see, we have uses for cobalt and with the copper I can make bullets, which of course you already know that I will. I could maybe use it to make some copper jewelry as well, but our interest is in the Cobalt like I said earlier. Do you want me to restate the deal?’ Alphonse questions as he relaxes back into his chair.

‘No, no I understand the deal you supply me with men and weaponry, which will greatly help me to invade southern Africa, and all you want is a cobalt mine.’

‘You see you’re getting a better deal then we are.’ Jamie thinks to himself again and feeling that he has nothing to lose he brings the contract in front of him. Alphonse reaches into the breast pocket of his suit and pulls out a silver pen with a Q on the side, he hands it to Abimbola who politely takes it. He signs his name and passes the pen back over to Alphonse who then places the pen back into his breast pocket. One of Alphonse’s men folds the contract and places it into his military jacket, then closes the briefcase, and walks outside. Alphonse shakes Abimbola’s hand and reaches for another briefcase and places it on the table. ‘It appears that your last name doesn’t lie.’ he smiles and walks outside with the rest of his men. Once outside they are lead through the base by several of Abimbola’s men and taken to a hangar where a private jet sits. The Raytheon Hawker 800 business airplane is a simple jet and should accommodate Alphonse and all of his men, accept one it would seem. As they reach a small set of stairs that lead up to the side door of the plane Alphonse stops and turns to face one of his men. ‘I thought I could trust you Brice, but I guess I thought wrong.’ He motions for two of Abimbola’s men who run over and grab the scrawny looking man. ‘Take him to Abimbola and tell him that this man has just chosen to stay and pay back the half a million he stole.’ Alphonse then turns away and boards his Raytheon Hawker 800, meanwhile one of his soldiers, Brice, is dragged away screaming for forgiveness. Alphonse sits down in his comfortable white leather couch that matches well with the rest of the interior. A waitress places a fine á I’eau on a metal coaster sitting on a glass coffee table in front of Alphonse. He reaches for it and sips it slowly as the Jet starts to take off. Addler, one of Alphonse’s main bodyguards, approaches him and sits on the couch alongside him.

'I hope you don’t mind me asking sir, but what does Quantum want with an old cobalt mine?’ He questions as he relaxes back into the leather couch.

‘All in good time my friend, all in good time. But we must move on, to bigger and better things.’ Alphonse tells him as he continues to slowly sip his drink.

‘Like what sir, Beauté and its profits?’

‘No, no I don’t really care how well my jewelry stores do, or my bullet factories for that matter. Soon I won’t even need those, hobbies. I’m more curious about my assassin, has he had the proper training, has he taken care of my minor inconvenience yet?’

‘Oh, not yet sir but his last report said he has it all under control.’

The sun sits straight above the golden sand at noon when the beaches are packed with gulls and tourists. Waves crash into large cement pillars that separate the stiller water from the true blue ocean. Surfers hang ten and feel proud to surf where The Duke first surfed, and people get their pictures take next to a statue of Gandhi just across the street from the beach. A man sits and sips tea quietly and alone at the Maitai Bar which is attached to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. He doesn’t know that he is in the scope of an assassin that has been watching him for days. The assassin knows everything about this man and the man knows nothing of him. A Mr. Max Braxton, a member of MI6 a Double O as a matter of fact, and Max has been the pain in Alphonse’s side for quite a while now. M sent Max to monitor Alphonse’s movements sense he is a suspected member of Quantum, though M doesn’t really know for sure. Every day, at noon, Max sips a simple green tea at the bar and goes over his daily reports; he then takes a stroll down to a restaurant known as La Dukes and eats a simple lunch. Sadly today isn’t going to be that simple for Mr. Braxton, or at least his assassin won’t make it that simple. Max stands up and leaves some money on the table; he pushes his chair in, and then heads down the street. As Max approaches La Dukes his instincts tell him that he’s being followed and they’re right, his assassin has grown lazy in his stalking and gives away his stealth and element of surprise.

Max plays along as he walks inside and tells the man at the front desk that he’ll be having his usual seat. The man bows, in acceptance, and leads Max to a small table fit for two people to dine at. Max notices a rather strange man at the buffet starring at him every once in a while. The man has a scar on his neck and it's only seen when he turns his head so that his short black hair isn’t in the way. The man is wearing odd clothes even, a Hawaiian flowered shirt, and khaki cargo shorts, obviously a tourists Max thought to himself as he stood up to head towards the buffet table himself. As he walks by the strange man he notices a holster in the man’s shirt and he now knows that this man was going to try and kill him. Instead of grabbing a plate to eat with he takes a china plate and heads into the kitchen and waits around the corner for his follower to come in. The assassin pulls out his gun slowly and pushes open the same swinging doors Max passes through. The minute Max sees the gun he smashes the plate into the wielders hand. The gun drops to the floor and Max kicks it across the tiles, the chefs ran from the kitchen as the fight starts and panic the guests who run like crows being chased from a field of corn. Max takes the man’s arm and pulls him into the kitchen where they could fight, not only one on one but, in private, as well. The assassin slid across the floor and slammed into the concrete wall. The assassin shakes his head to regain consciousness and stands up.

He grabs a cutting knife from the rack to his left and approaches Max. Max slowly walks backwards until he bumps into a counter. Once there, still facing the assassin, he reaches around for something to use in self defense. His hand lands upon a frying pan and as the assassin gets closer he smacks him with it. Again the man was on the floor disarmed and this time he decides to use his brute strength. He picks himself up and as the frying pan is swung at him again he grabs Max’s arm in mid-swing. He twists his wrist to disarm the frying pan and then head butts the Double O, making him collapse onto the floor. As a last resort Max kicks the man in the groin, tosses him aside, and decides to make a run for it. As he reaches a deep fryer he is stopped by the assassin who starts to choke him. They wrestle around and the assassin could feel himself losing his grip so he pushes Max’s head into the deep fryer. He holds onto the collar of Max’s dress shirt and drowns him in the burning grease. Max’s face is so severely scarred and burned that it would be practically impossible to identify him. The assassin places his hands on his knees and tries to catch his breath after the long fight that just took place. His gaze would switch from the floor to the dead burned body next to the deep fryer. He walks over to his .45 Colt and places it back into his gun holster. The sounds of sirens roar down the street then seem to have stop right outside of La Dukes. So the assassin rummages through the pockets of the dead man on the floor and swipes his wallet; he heads for the door and looks back at the body. The assassin takes off his shoes and socks, which were quite a hassle to remove in a rush, and switches them with the sandals that the Double O was wearing and sprints away down the street.

The assassin, later that day, arrives at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel at about ten o’ clock in the afternoon, around ten hours after killing Max Braxton, and wanders over to one of the many check-in desks spread about the lobby.

‘Can I help you sir?’ asks the clerk examining the man. He could tell there was something odd about him for sure, but he couldn’t directly point it out. Maybe the man has been wandering the island of Oahu looking for a place to stay, or maybe he got himself a couple of drinks at one of the many local bars. The situation soon dissipates from the clerks head as he realizes that this man was willing to either pay for a room or already was paying for his room, so his background no longer affected him. ‘Can I help you sir?’ The clerk asks again as the man seems to have lost his focus.

'Oh, yes it seems that my key won’t let me into my hotel room.’ The assassin replies as he remembers what he was doing. He pulls out his wallet and hands his key over to the clerk.

‘Might I get your name sir?’

‘Ah, yes the name’s Max Braxton.’ The assassin tells him as he puts his wallet into his back pocket. He pulls out the other wallet and held it while the clerk did some research on Max Braxton’s room.

‘Room number 342, correct?’ the clerk asks as he hands the card back to the man without removing his eyes from the screen.

‘Uh yes, thank you.’

‘Sorry for the inconvenience sir, and please enjoy your stay.’ The clerk replies looking up to give the man a friendly smile. The assassin started to head towards an elevator but stops about half way, he turns back around, and walks back over to the clerk.

‘I’m sorry but I just remembered that I found this wallet not to long ago. This poor chap is going to miss his plane too, his tickets in there.’ The assassin explains as he hands over the leather wallet.

‘Thank you sir, we’ll make sure the owner receives it.’ The assassin again heads for the elevator and takes it to the third floor. The clerk examines the wallet and tosses it into a box behind him, and starts to help the next customer in line. The elevator quickly packs with noisy tourists and businessmen alike, both groups were in Hawaii for the same reason, pleasure. The assassin soon felt like the only one on the island with purpose. The elevator stops at the third floor with people coming on, to meet up with those on the fifth. Those on the fourth move into the elevator just to take a long ride up and then down to reach the lobby, a man with his luggage moves into the elevator on the eighth floor just to find out later on that he has forgotten his key in his room. One of the businessmen stays on the elevator all the way to the tenth floor to go into his bridal suite to meet with his, young, beautiful, and lustful, secretary with whom he’s been tapping on the side, without his nagging wife knowing. Yes all are here for pleasure, except, the killer and his prey, whom sadly passed away earlier in the day.

He approaches room 342 and glances down both ends of the hallway to find that no one is even around; he quickly slides in then out the hotel key card and darts into the room. The door slowly shuts behind him and locks, with the hard part done the man flicks on the light switch to find a nice, clean, and organized hotel room. The closet held two suits, on clothes hangars in tailor bags, a suitcase, which contained a swim suit and some casual clothing and dress shirts. The bathroom contains a traveling kit with the typical hygiene merchandise that the man had most likely bought from a local ABC Store. The magazine rack next, to the toilet, contains a Hawaii Today magazine with Linda Lingle on the front; most likely an article on her new campaign is the headliner. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary to the assassin until he reaches an adjoining door. With a closer examination of the door he notices that it is slightly ajar and light is shining through.

Uncertain to what might be on the opposite side the assassin drew his gun from the holster and kicks open the door. No one, nothing, the only reason light was shining through was because the television was still on and the curtain was pulled aside leading to a balcony. Once again the assassin was left with nothing; the room was bare of anything out of the ordinary. He wanders back into room 342 and opens up the suitcase he found in the closet and tosses the clothing all over the hotel room floor. He places his .45 Colt on the bed and he starts to search for any hidden compartments, which MI6’s geniuses at Q branch often built in as an extra precaution. After about two minutes of searching he finally found a small zipper in the far right corner. As he unzips the bottom of the suitcase opens revealing several files. The files have pictures of Alphonse and several of his bodyguards, each one containing several bits of vital information.

‘I guess the higher ups at MI6 don’t tell their field agents to burn after reading anymore. No matter I’ll help my friend out.’ The man walks over to the second room and out onto the balcony. There he holds the papers out in front of him and pulls out a lighter from his pocket. With a simple flick the papers are gone, engulfed in a flame that hungers to eat them, and MI6 is left with nothing. The man pulls out his cell phone and dials the number for the local police; the phone rings about three times until the chief of police finally answers.

‘How can I help you sir, what's your emergancy?’ The voice asks over the phone.

‘Yes, hello, I’d like to report on a murder; it’s related to one that happened earlier today at La Dukes. A clerk at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel was seen carrying the man’s wallet.’ He explains to the chief of police.

‘I’d hate to sound as if I don’t believe you or that I'm accusing you or anything but how do…’

‘I’m a friend of his from the damn CIA, I tracked his killer here, hurry before he finds me too, He has men with him here and I think they've spotted me. Do your country a great favor man and come help me out, there isn't much time!’ he interrupts trying his best to make the story sound realistic.

‘We’ll be right there sir!’ The click sound of the man hanging up meant the assassin had about three minutes to escape, before the police arrived. He takes a long stare down below the balcony and lucky for him there is a pool below. The man takes several steps back, charges at the balcony, with a leap of faith he flies from the window, and dives into the pool. People woo and awe at the splash of the dive and clap, not knowing that he dived from the third floor and not the pathetic high dive. When he reaches the surface he hears the sirens of police cars pull into the round about and then suddenly turn off. The mission was a complete success, or at least he thought so. He pulls himself out of the pool and strips down to a swimsuit he was wearing underneath the entire time. He tosses the clothes into the garbage and jogs down the beach towards the airport.

A taxi pulls up to the docks, where several private yachts, a cruise ship for tourists exploring the islands of Hawaii, and small fishing boats have ported. The man leaves the taxi and pays the driver without actually checking out how much he hands over. The assassin heads down the docks until he is stopped by two men in black suits whom pull him aside.

‘Name?’ asks the bigger of the two men.

‘Gianni Stoats, I was hired by a Mr. Montréal.’ he starts to explain, ‘I would like to report on my mission.’ As he explains a man has been watching from the top of a yacht. He is wearing a form of German casual clothing and finally intervenes.

‘You have no need to interrogate that man; he’s the Italian we hired!’ Addler shouts down from the yacht, ‘Let him pass!’ The men move aside allowing Gianni to pass in between them and board the yacht. He walks aboard the ship and he is lead below deck to the bar room by Addler. Two men have just started to play pool on one of the several billiard tables, others sit on bar stools sipping down their favorite alcoholic drinks, and sitting in front of a large high definition television was Alphonse. The news is on and to no ones surprise, in the room; the news was chatting on about several attcks, by the LRA, on several small villages in southern Africa. Addler points in Alphonse’s direction and Gianni walks over to a leather chair examining each one of Alphonse’s men as he walks over.

‘I read the news today.’ Alphonse says as Gianni sits down. Gianni had jogged a couple miles so he far from the police and after getting a couple cramps, from the running, decided to call a taxi from his cell phone. It was no longer the same day that Gianni had killed Max Braxton and the newspaper had already shipped out its “hot of the presses”. The main article was actually about a brutal killing that took place in a local restaurant, La Dukes. ‘I knew you were the one Gianni, I knew I had hired the perfect man.’

‘It was nothing really.’ Gianni replies modestly.

‘Ahh, see that’s what I like about you Italians, so modest and you always get the job done, Quantum would like me to fill you in on some more details if you’re interested in staying with our organization.’

‘Oh I’m pretty sure I’d like to stay with…what was it again Quantum?’ The two laugh a bit and continue to watch the news. Addler says something over his wireless microphone to the captain of the boat and it starts to chug along the Pacific Ocean.

Edited by Quantum is Forever, 26 January 2009 - 08:13 PM.

[Quantum is Forever]

( 2 ) (A New One Begins)

Bond sits alone at a round table with what seems to be a white linen cloth covering it. He had examined it before he sat down and noticed that there were no stains or crumbs on the used table. They must have had some great manners to have left nothing behind Bond thought as he places his drink on the table. His concoction on the table looks very elegant in its martini glass which means he’s having his usual. It isn’t an officially labeled drink but it’s what he had called a Vesper, or at least that’s what he's been calling it since his mission in Montenegro at Casino Royale. A Vodka Martini with three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shaken very well until it's ice-cold, then a large thin slice of lemon peel is added. Bond never enjoyed drinking to much before a large meal, which he would be having very soon.

Bond sits in a large ballroom, which is part of Hotel Regina, the hotel in Calvi, Corsica near where Bond recently had a mission. Bond is actually there to meet with the old leader of Unione Corse, or his father-in-law, Marc-Ange Draco. Bond doesn’t particularly favor to get into contact with Tracy’s relatives. To Bond, Draco always seemed a little strange and especially now because he is no longer the leader of the Corsican Mafia.

‘Ah, hello James, I’m so glad you could make it here.’ says a man in excitement as he places his hand on Bond’s right shoulder. The man is balding a bit and has a small rim of hair around the top of his head. He has a thin mustache that makes him look like an Italian man. He is wearing an all white tuxedo and has a grin on his face that makes him look happier then a clown. The man sits in a chair next to Bond and stares into Bonds drink, examining it.

‘I decided that it has been way to long since we last met, Draco. I know I’ve been distant but you can only imagine why?’

‘James, I hope you’re not offended by what I’m about to tell you but your words are full of holes. I know it’s not because of your missions or because of the girls you often meet on them. It’s simply the fact that you cannot take the pain of losing a loved one, you loved Tracy and I'm sure you’ve loved other women. You have come here to discover whether or not any of them were really for you. James, please listen to me, you know deep down that you truly loved Tracy more then you give her credit for. You went out of your way to help her, and me as well, and too marry her. Please don't put too much guilt on yourself. You now know that you can't take it James and you must prove to those you've loved and those that you've lost that you'll carry them with you always.’ Bond looks down in heartache as Draco had hit him spot on in the heart. It hurt Bond deeply but it’s true that he never really had a deep intention of ever marrying Vesper, just to travel around with her for a while like he had done with all of the girls before her. He had a feeling that after all the traveling he would have done with Vesper, he would have grown a romantic relationship with her. Bond’s mind soon switched over to Tracy, his diseased wife and Draco’s daughter. He truly did love Tracy, so much that he married her, and not too long after, his dreams ended with Blofeld. Just saying his name made Bond burn inside; he was so happy that he had finally taken care of Blofeld, the leader, of SPECTRE. He thought he had all the time in the world and with the pull of the trigger his hopes and dreams had ended. ‘Come James, let us eat I’ve planned a beautiful meal with the most expensive ingredients I could find.'

Draco leads Bond into the second room where a large buffet table sits filled with French cuisine. There was coq au vin sautéed in the finest of red wines Draco could buy. Bond even found his favorite of soups, bouillabaisse, in a large bowl on the table and next to it was boudin blanc with the most beautiful smell, that sausage could possibly have, spewing from it. Bond grabs a plate and starts putting some spätzle in the corner of his plate and on top of the egg noodles some of the coq au vin. Bond was a fan of lamb so he saw no fear in placing a large heaping of baeckeoffe onto his plate. At the end of the buffet table Bond discovered the deserts; they had all of his favorite’s chocolate mousse, crème brûlée, mille-feuilles, and choux à la crème. Bond found a good piece of mille-feuille and places it in the center of his plate. All of the beautiful food he placed on his plate only complements his desert choice. Bond returns to his seat with Draco and his wife and sets his plate, on the table, in front of his drink. Before sitting down he removes the dinner jacket from his tuxedo and rests it on the back of his chair.

‘I knew you would enjoy my choice in food James.’ Draco says with a chuckle at the end. Bond and Draco share small talk and tell each other about their recent happenings. Bond would every now and then look around to see what other guests were up too. Apparently this was a reunion, and they always hosted it on the day of Draco’s mother’s birthday. All the male guests were wearing tuxedos, and the females had on very elegant and stunning dresses. Bond was actually supposed to have returned to London after his mission but he saw no point, seeing as he had finished it early. Bond's mission in Corsica, on the French side, was to find an art thief, which he originally thought would be a waste of time. Later on in the mission he learned that the thief was using the art stealing as a fraud plan to cover his real plan for destroying an embassy. James explains the whole mission to Draco who, at the end, gives Bond a simple congrats and a bravo, bravo my friend. Bond acts as if it was nothing though it really wasn’t compared to the thousands of missions he had been on. Again, Bond scans the room; he found that the guests were mostly from Draco's mother’s side, which meant they were French. Bond found them quite boring and acted like the “typical French” stereotype, conceited and obnoxious. Their laughter was like nails on a chalk board to Bond and in order to hush the sound of the guests he would sip small amounts from his drink.

‘I also came here for another reason Draco.’ James finally tells him with a straight face. Draco looks over at his wife and then back to Bond.

‘Alone?’

‘If you wouldn’t mind.’

‘Alright, Mariah please give us a moment alone.’ Draco says as he watches his wife disappear into what seems to be the ballroom, or more like an ocean of small groups chatting on about their wonderful lives. If only they knew, Bond would often think to himself. ‘Is this question, Quantum related?’

‘I wouldn’t think you would know who they are.’

‘We’ve done business with them several times over the years.’

‘And you decided to never bloody call me and tell me about them!’ Bond exclaims as he darts up from his chair. It is as if he is never heard, the crowd never motions to the loud yell and no one says a thing or stares at him.

‘I barely know anything about them, they're very secretive James.'

‘Sorry.’ Bond replies as he shamefully sits back into his seat. ‘Wait wouldn’t Matthis have told you about our interest in him.’

‘Matthis? Oh yes, I never knew you two had met, the last time I remember working with Matthis was when he was stationed at Casino Royale and after that I never heard from him again.’

‘Oh, yes that would be my fault, sorry about that. Did you also know that he had well, you know?’

‘Yes I did know that, I attended his funeral and it was magnificant.’ He said pronouncing magnificent with an Italian accent. Bond smiles and lets out a slight chuckle knowing that Matthis would’ve loved his own funeral and Bond felt ashamed that he didn’t attend. ‘He was a great field agent I will truly miss him. Now back to business, James what can I tell you about Quantum, though I doubt I can be much help?’

‘Hold on, how did you know I was even interested in Quantum, before we started this whole conversation?’

‘James do you really believe that I have no other friends in MI6 except you?’

‘True, do you know the names of any members that are part of Quantum?’

‘I’m very sorry James, but the only member I knew was a man named Gettler. He was on a mission in Venice when we last met, he wanted me to supply him with money for a big operation, but I simply couldn’t loan any to him. I'm sorry that I really can't help you any more then that. Enjoying your, baeckeoff James?’

‘You know I love lamb don’t you? Especially skewered lamb, it’s my favorite.’

‘Yes my friend, I do, now I’m afraid I must leave you now James, it’s time for me to dance, but I hope we can catch up again sometime.’ Draco tells him as he stands up and his wife comes gracefully walking over. ‘But first I must ask you, what is that you’re drinking?’

‘A Vesper my dear friend, a Vesper.’ As Bond crosses the ballroom he meets up with Draco one last time before he leaves. He interupts his dancing to shake hands with him. 'I'll always hold them close Draco, believe me.' James tells him as he breaks the handshake and exits the hotel.

Bond’s dark grey Lotus Evora flew down the curved roads bent and swerved like a snake. It's a peaceful day as the sun glistens off the ocean water and onto the sides of James’s car. There isn’t another car on the road and Bond feels like he is traveling down the autobahn. As he drives memories of Tracy and Vesper would come and go in his mind and one sentence would repeat itself in his head. The bitch is dead, over and over; it seems to be his only escape from the death of those he's loved. As Bond reaches the actual streets where cars were closer together, like bees in a hive, and people would wait for two red lights before they were finally able to turn or drive through the intersection. Bond glances at his dashboard and a red light appears, it is the sign that tells Bond that he needs to report to headquarters ASAP. Since it was red and not green it meant that they knew where he was and they wanted him to report at the Corsican outpost.

Bond takes several side streets and stops in front of what appears to be a small market where you could buy fish or fresh fruits and vegetables. Bond pulls into the alleyway behind the market and two doors close hiding his car from any unseen hazards. Bond gets out of his car, locks it, and goes inside through the back entrance. He was now inside the market and it smells of rotten fish with a mixture of Italian garnishes and herbs. Bond detests the smell of fish, though he doesn’t mind it in soup, and having just eaten he hurries to a small hand operated elevator.

He pulls a lever and a whining noise comes from behind him as he is slowly lowered down below the market. The elevator hits the tile floor of the head quarters below and Bond makes a nodding thank you gesture to the man who has to run the blasted machine himself. His heels click and echo down the tile halls of the headquarters and before James could even reach M’s room, she is already leaving. If Bond hadn’t have looked up when he did they would’ve ran right into each other.

‘Oh, I was just about to send Tanner out to call you, again, 007.’ M says as she enters back into her office with Bond right behind her. She sits at her desk and waits for Bond to stop looking around the room. ‘Take a seat 007.’ She orders in a stern voice and James gets a feeling the whole conversation was going to be her talking in her usual tone.

‘Must you say the number; I have a name you know?’ Bond asks as he sits down, hoping he’d lighten up the mood, ‘And why does your office always look the same, don’t you think you could…explore a little bit?’

‘If I wanted tips on interior design Bond I would have asked my hair stylist.’

‘You get your hair done to ma’am, I would have never known.’

‘Enough of your little quarks 007 it’s time to get down to business, since I let you have a little leisure time with your family I thought would be ready for your next assignment.’ Bond glances down at his feet and then re-situates himself in the chair to make himself look as if what M had just said didn’t affect him. ‘Sorry Bond. Now what do you know about a Italian gun-for-hire named Gianni Stoats?’

‘I’ve never heard the name, why is he important?’ Bond asks as he starts actually listening to the debriefing.

‘Gianni Stoats was hired to take out 002 last week, and sadly he succeeded.’

‘Max Braxton, I’ve done a couple missions with him, he’s tough, hard to believe anyone could kill him.’

‘Yes, well as you know I sent Max to Hawaii to monitor a Mr. Montréal, the man whom we believe is a member of Quantum. This assassin took out Max before Max was able to get anything valuable.’

‘If he was trying to hide the fact he was a member of Quantum he didn’t do a very good job. How did we figure out that Gianni was behind this?’

‘First we examined Max’s wallet and found fingerprints on it, and the other fault our assassin had was leaving his gun behind. Now what do you know about Africa, Bond?’

'Does this relate to Gianni?'

'Just answer the damn question Bond.'

‘Well I know the the basic statistics you can find on wikipedia or in an almanac, like for instance Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia of course.’

‘Thank you, for the history lesson Bond but there must be something else we don’t know that Quantum is so interested in it.'

‘Well Quantum does seem to enjoy helping out terrorist organizations, perhaps they’re trading with the LRA.’

‘LRA?’ M questions, obviously not know who they are. M was never really interested in African affairs. She left that up to the Americans since they always seemed to interested in Africa.

‘The Lord's Resistance Army ma’am, it is a rebel sectarian guerrilla army operating mainly in northern Uganda and parts of Sudan. Also, according to the American’s, it is considered a large terrorist group.’

‘What resources could Quantum want from Uganda and Sudan?’

‘Now that I’m not really sure about, Uganda has coffee, tea, bananas, copper, and cobalt, and Sudan has much of the same with the exception of petroleum.’

‘Well from what we’ve learned from past encounter with Quantum that they have no need for petroleum, so they’re basically getting nothing from this deal.’

‘Or so it would seem, if they're making a deal. Oh by the way did we find anything from the gun?’

‘Not yet, I’ve sent it over to Q branch so they could study it for anything of value.’ Bond stands up after that statement, M does as well. ‘Finding and stopping this organization is a top priority to us Bond, try not kill every lead we get like you did with the Dominic Green case will you?’ Bond smiles at her and in the usual tone he says what M dreads to hear.

‘I’ll do my best.’

With that Bond leaves M’s office and heads towards Q branch to see if they have found anything from the bullet. Q branch had a shortage of staff over the past few years, but they finally got their new technology up and running with a new man behind the wheel. Bond walks through the sliding doors and scans through the piles of failed tests and working scientists. Bond finds a smart wall with data compiled on it and walks over. A bullet is sitting in the center. Bond reaches to examine it until he hears discrete yelling from behind him.

‘Don’t touch that!’ the voice yells as the man gets closer. It is the new “Q” of Q branch professor Erich Doyle. ‘Don’t touch the bullet.’ The man repeats as he gets closer to Bond. He is a bit shorter then Bond and has lost some hair over the years. To Bond the man seems like an American, a man willing to try anything and do what must be done. ‘You must be Bond, the names Erich Doyle, but you can just call me Q.’

‘Alright then…Q? What have you found out from the bullet?’ Bond questions as he examines the bullet from afar.

‘Well by digitally scanning the bullet we found that it is made from a certain copper that, we recently discovered, only comes from Africa. Now, there’s only one man that we know of whom manufactures copper bullets in Africa.’

‘Our Mr. Alphonse Montréal?’ Bond asks with a small amount of sarcasm to say that Q had just stated the obvious.

‘Correct 007, now M told me you would be coming down here to examine the gun so she told me to give you your new orders. Apparently they tracked Gianni to Paris, France and that’s where they’re going to send you.’

‘That’s quite convenient isn't it.’

‘Yes, well they made contact with his girlfriend and she’s willing to help us out.’

‘Sounds like a pretty serious relationship.’ Bond replies and Q responds with a light chuckle.

‘You make a good point 007, anyways I’m also supposed to give you this; it’s our newest thing for Double O’s.’ Q says as he hands Bond a Omega watch.

‘It’s just a watch isn’t it?’ Bond replies as he removes his old watch and places on the new. He tosses his old watch onto one of the many metal tables nearby and examines his new watch.

‘That pin on the side, when you push it, the pin pops out, and can be used to pick your typical household locks.’

‘Well this should come in mighty useful.’ Bond says in disbelief as he doubts he'll ever need to use it. He gives Q a handshake and exits via the doors he came in and heads back toward the room where he was debriefed by M. As he passes he takes a quick glance into M’s office where he sees her talking with a younger woman about, well something. Bond really doesn’t care about anything M did or said. He returns back to the elevator and takes the rough ride up, back into the smell of fish.

As Bond drives down the roads of Corsica he would try to imagine the woman he would be meeting, the girl who was betraying her murderous boyfriend. He has no photo of her yet but he knew he’d get his credentials through the mail at the hotel he’d be staying at. Whenever he stops at a red light he’d examine the beautiful scenery that could be found in Corsica. There were small cafés where French citizens would sip coffee and eat bagels. The French were far from the English in many ways; the first difference Bond notices is that fact that most French dined in cafés alone. The English would also never drink tea or coffee outside; tea was a private indoor time and they often would sip it down with caviar, chips, fries to those in America, and friends. He thought about what he'd do with the girl once they met, nothing in a French way that's for sure. Maybe they’d eat at a small garden café and then move onto a stroll in one of the many parks or a trip to the Eiffel Tower. There were several different scenarios but he knew there was one he hoped she wouldn’t bring up, Bond did not want to go to the Opera.

[Quantum is Forever]

( 3 ) (Business Before Pleasure)

The Evora pulled up to the valet booth at Casino du Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice, France on 15 Promenade des Anglais. James hands his keys over to a French man, who didn’t look like he was really valet. Bond made sure he got the number card for his car, which he would have to present to get his car back, from the man. The man thanks James and gets into Bond’s new car and drives off down the street towards the casino's private parking. Bond is only going to be in Nice for a day since he has to wait for the next plane to Paris, so he thought he’d spend the night at a casino resort, pack in the morning, and head out to start his mission. The Casino du Palais de la Méditerranée is one of the most luxurious casinos in France. Bond was hoping to get a taste of the nightlife that France rarely offered. He had been in France on several missions and often spent a lot of time there even after his missions were over. He really didn’t really enjoy France, or its people, so that wasn’t the case. Bond actually stayed in France hoping that one night he’d be able to experience the great nightlife that only came around once in a lifetime. Bond enjoyed the nightlife and loved how the Americans seemed to have a party going on every night or how Irish and German pubs stayed open practically all night. The entrance itself was marvelous and James couldn’t help but bask in its glory. He wasn’t a very artsy person and he didn’t have a taste for fine art, but when it's incorporated into a building or home Bond simply loves it. Before entering and playing at the many table games Bond wanders the lobby and shops area and suddenly finds himself buying a cellular phone. It was a cell phone the French themselves designed to compete with other cell phone makers. It was apparently the newest thing going around in France just like the American's iPhone or LG Dare. Bond didn’t care what kind of phone he got, mainly because after a couple of days on a mission the phone would have either been destroyed into nothing or simply broken, breaking, or at least helping break, one of Bond’s many falls.

Bond grabs a business card and a pen from the desk and writes the cell phone's number on the back of the business card. He places his new phone into his left pants pocket and exits back into the lobby area, once again he looks like he's lost to those around him. He enters into the casino and it's like a wave of chatter and chips hit him, all of the sudden his ears are swarmed with sounds. James cashes in and is given a card, with the amount of money he paid up front, and heads for a Texas Hold’em Poker table with all but one seat filled with a player. Bond is not a huge fan of slots, mainly because there is no luck and no chance of ever winning the damn machines. They spin, lights and funny noises come out, and you get two bars, a lemon, and win absolutly nothing. To him slots were a waste of time and a big bore, and roulette was the same way. You place your chips on 00 or black 6 but you really never win the game, Poker on the other hand is a game of luck and a game of skill. Anyone can win at poker the odds are never against you, hell even Goodnight could win a game of poker.

As James sits down in the end chair he feels like he is back in Las Vegas with Tiffany Case and on the hunt for Blofeld, except this time it is different, he has no girl willing to do anything for him and whom is extremely clumsy and he isn’t seeking revenge, or at least not anymore. Poker has been Bond’s favorite table game, following Baccarat, since Casino Royale. You need to have good judgment to be able to discover if some poor soul is fibbing or not and you have to be prepared for whatever the last card may be.

Bond hands his slip over to the dealer who pulles out chips from below the table and slides them over to Bond. James counts the chips and nods to the dealer who slowly deals two cards, face down, to everyone. Bond lifts the two cards slightly to see what luck has given him; to his disappointment he is given a two of spades and a seven of hearts. It is up to him and he feels that he should keep in the game, since no one has bet yet, so he simply taps on the table, which simply meant he was checking. The dealer nods in acknowledgment and places one card under the deck and flips up the next three cards. First is a jack of clubs, following that is the ace of diamonds, and lastly an eight of spades. Again, to Bond's disappointment, the first to go raised so when it came to Bond he folded, lucky for him he wouldn’t have won anyways, he would’ve been stuck with high card and lost his money. Bond isn’t dealt to bad of hands for the next hour or so and starts to rack in quite a large amount of cash, mainly from his opponents bad hands and his luck.

As he continues to win the table starts to be absorbed with other players from within the casino, all hoping to see Bond either lose all his winnings or win all that's in the pot. The others, at the table, had stopped playing and it is now Bond and a beautiful women, across from him, fighting for the grand prize. Bond would glance up at her everyonce in a while and stare at her lipstick covered lips. They glisten in the light above the poker table and Bond would mentally check out as he day dreams about getting her into his hotel room. He’d take her to his room and move into kiss her, they’d make out for a while and Bond would slowly move in to remove her dress. Being shy and ambitious she wouldn’t help him, she’d find it more romantic to have the man do all the work. After her dress was off he’d undo his tie and remove his dinner jacket and the girl would finish the rest for him. The night would go on like this each of them taking a turn with one another until morning when Bond would leave for his plane to Paris leaving the girl with the memory of a very romantic evening.

When the dealer asks if he is ready to start the next round Bond snaps back into the casino. He glances over at the brunette woman, with whom he has been playing with for the past hour, she is smiling at him and he nods to the dealer once again. The game starts and James knew this would be his last hand for the evening. The girl across from him checks and Bond looks at his cards, and lucky for him he was given a six of clubs and a seven of clubs. James checks as well and the next three cards are laid out. The crowd at the table leans in to get a closer look at the three cards. They think to themselves what the two, playing, could possibly have. The four of spades, the five of clubs, and the jack of hearts, are what is the fate given to them. The only two cards Bond is interested in are the four of spades and five of clubs. If a two or eight came up Bond was all in and to James's surprise the girl raises and Bond sits wondering what she could possibly have.

He raises as well and as he waits for her to make a move he came to the conclusion that she must have the same two cards he has, except for different suits. She calls and the next card is placed on the table and it's the four of clubs. It isn’t really the card James had hoped for, and probably not the one his opponent wanted either. If he could get a straight flush he knew he could win it all and not have to split the pot. As he waits for the woman to take her turn he thought about what his next move could be to get her in bed with him if he won the hand. He thought about paying her, but that wouldn’t be very gentleman like and wasn’t Bond’s style so he tosses that idea away. The next thought that went into Bond’s head was just the mere fact that he had one everything from all the players at the table. The fact that he is the true winner would have her kissing his feet and under his covers. Bond smiles and not paying attention to the raise that she placed, he calls which puts them both all in.

Then it hit Bond that his fate all came down to this last card, to Bond it seems that everything around him was moving in slow motion and as the last card is placed down on the table. A smile crawls across Bond’s face, the eight of clubs was now on the table. James was right, about her having the same cards, because when she flips over her cards; she too has a six and a seven. Then Bond gracefully flips over his cards to reveal his straight flush and the crowd around them is struck by the surprise, not because the game is over or because Bond has won. It was because the game was so close and it all came down to a glorious end. The woman and Bond both get up from their seats and shake hands both complimenting each other for a great game.

The dealer takes Bond’s chips and hands over a card to him, with the amount of Bond’s winnings on it. Bond tells the dealer to keep a small amount of the winnings and then heads over to cash out. Fellow gamblers come up to Bond, complimenting him on a good show, and just as James suspected the girl he was playing with follows him from behind to the cash out window.

'Excuse me, but I never got your name Mr....?' the women asks him as she walks up to him as he's given his money from the cash out window. James tells the man to put it into his account and passes him a card with his account information on it. He then turns to the beautiful woman, smiles at her, and she smiles back.

'The names Bond...James Bond, might I ask for your name?'

'My name's Lyova Haskell Rosenthal, named after the great actress of 1963. I wanted to tell you that, you played a great game.'

'Thank you and I'd like to ask you if you would like to get some dinner. I'm afraid our game only wetted my appetite, it didn't quite fill me.' He says with the smile returning to his face. Lyova smiles back and wraps her arm around his. The evening went by and Bond was able to get lucky with the girl he had just met yesterday. James was surprised by how easy it was, all he had to do was have a romantic dinner with her, walk her to his room, and then there, on his bed, he made his move and it was just how his day dreams imagined it. Her warm smooth body rubbing against his and emotions floating in the air as the night got hotter. He liked how whenever they kissed or when he rubbed the back of his hand on one of her sensitive spots she would arch her back. James knew he had a certain "touch", he could find any woman's sensitive area. Just in case he needed to get her more outgoing James had a bottle of wine being cooled right next to the bed. This is exactly what James had hoped for, a night of romance and excitement that rarely came around in France. Not many woman, in France, were as willing as Lyova, most either want a serious relationship or want to get to meet you before anything happens. This was a one day thing so Bond didn't have time to do all that dating bull crap.

James got out of bed slowly trying not to wake Lyova and stumbles his way over to her side of the bed. He pulls the wine from the ice and takes a wine class from the end table next to the bed. The bottle is open and he realizes that he did open the night before. He pours a small amount into the wine glass and places the bottle back into the ice. James sips the wine quickly and gets his clothes out. He puts on a pair of white jeans and a blue polo; he slips on his socks and places them into his new brown casual shoes. He walks out onto the balcony and on a metal table on the balcony he picks up his aviators and puts them on.

Bond enters back into his hotel room and walks over to the closet next to the bathroom. The doors swing open and Bond grabs his pre-packed suitcase, it makes for great get a ways. He opens the door slowly and glances back into the room to get one last look at Lyova. She looks very familiar to him but he can't place his finger on it. The thought bothered him as he took the do not disturb sign from the inside and placed it on the outside door handle. The door creaked quietly as he closed it completely shut. He flicked his wrist and looked down at his watch. 10:00 a.m.. He only had twenty minutes to reach the airport and board his plane and with the thought of being late he hurried down the hall with his luggage. As he exits through the main doors he hands his number card over to the same valet man from the day before. He nods to James and gets into a car a couple feet away and drives off towards the private parking. As Bond waits he thinks back to later missions and how they've affected him. Ever since the whole SPECTRE situation, Bond never thought he would ever have to deal with another organization as big as them. Though it appears that Quantum isn't as bad as SPECTRE, it's much worse.

Unlike SPECTRE, Quantum's plans are very well hidden and not really dealt with until it's almost too late. SPECTRE tried to makes its money from diplomats and important officials and Quantum uses small schemes to earn large amounts of money in days. Quantum places their operatives right in MI6 and the CIA to retrieve information. Where as SPECTRE used MI6's and CIA's enemies to get information from them such as Smersh or black sun operatives from Japan. Quantum is far from SPECTRE in many ways and they seem to be more dangerous then SPECTRE ever was. Bond's mind went back to what was going on now as the Evora slowed down to a stop in front of the hotel. James gives the valet attendant a tip and is given his keys. The man bows as a gesture to thank Bond as he gets into his car. He doesn't look at the seat next to him as he roars off down the street headed for the airport. The drive seemed long but it really only took James three minutes to arrive at the airport and as he gets out of the car his eyes catch something in the passenger seat.

Sitting on the leather seat was a manila folder with the MI6 logo stamped on the front of the folder. Bond swipes it and heads for the exit of the parking garage. He hears his car start up and take off out of the garage; he didn't react because he knew it was another MI6 operative just taking the car to the airport in Paris so that when Bond arrived he'd have a car to drive. He reaches the elevator and finds that the elevator is on the 9th floor of the parking garage. Instead of waiting he opens the stairwell door and walks casually down the steps to the lobby.

The airport is filled with French people and tourists alike, and they were scattered around the lobby like seagulls in a parking lot. They were either running around trying to find what gate they needed to be at or they were in small groups having conversations. Bond has no need to purchase a ticket since he already has his so he continues to the security line and from there the entrance of his gate. As he waits for his row to be called he laughs quietly to himself as he listens in to two Americans talking about their stay. They pronounce Nice, France like how it is spelt and not how the French pronounce it. They were businessmen talking about well, the business meetings they had. Neither of them had ever been to France so they talked about the first meal they ate and not having a clue what it was.

Bond's row is called and he stands from his seat and gets in line behind a family heading for Paris to meet with relatives. He reaches the first woman at the ticket line who slides his ticket over a scanner. She passes it over the scanner about three times and hands it to the woman next her. She rips off the unimportant half and hands James his ticket stub and smiles. James smiles back to the woman and boards the plane, he walks down the narrow aisle to his seat, and relaxes for the ride to Paris. He opens up his suitcase, his one carry on item, and pulls out the manila folder. He opens the folder and scans over the files in the folder. The woman in the photo is just as attractive as Lyova, the woman he met at the casino. As he flips the picture over he laughs, he was right about Lyova, she is important. Lyova Rosenthal was Gianni's girlfriend. Bond is already in too deep and gets a cold chill up his spine by the sudden shock of the surprise and realization of the danger he placed himself in.

He had already slept with Gianni's girlfriend and knowing that he is a dangerous man with connections James has a feeling that Gianni already knew Bond is coming. James would have to play this game like poker except he's now playing the dealer. The dealer in this case is Gianni and he has all the cards in the deck and could stack it as much as he wants, in his favor. James would have to rely on his cards, or his skills and instincts. James's hand was dealt and the river was already flowing down stream to either Bond's fate or Gianni's.

And so the game begins....

Edited by Quantum is Forever, 27 January 2009 - 03:53 AM.

[Quantum is Forever]

( 4 ) (Twisting With James)

Bond has finally put his entire luggage away in his hotel room and walks into the bathroom in only his undergarments. He opens the door to the shower and turns the handle to medium hot. The water pours down on him from the ceiling and Bond lets out a sigh of relief that he's not burnt or being sprayed down with acid. As the water flows down his body he relaxes and bathes in the usual manor, shampoo, then conditioner, he then rubs his body down with, and lastly rinses off before the hot water goes out and he's stuck taking a cold shower. When he exits the shower the bathroom is like a sauna, steam has collected in his room like bees to honey. He puts his white jeans on, walks over to the window above the sink, and wipes the steam away, at that moment Bond knows that Gianni knows he's in Paris.

In the reflection Bond notices a man behind him so he grabs a towel and wipes his face dry of sweat and water. He wraps the towel while doing this; he turns to face the man and whips him in the face with the towel. The man yelps in pain and collapses to the floor. A gun falls from his assassin and makes a clicking sound as it bounces on the tile floor. The man struggles for the gun and as his hand reaches it Bond swings his right leg up kicking the man in the face. James squats down, picks up the gun, and puts it in his back pocket. He then examines his so called assassin and finds him to be unconscious. He stands up, looks back into the mirror, and fixes his hair. He grabs his blue polo from a hangar in the bathroom and slips it on.

After gussying up he finally drags the man out of the bathroom and places him on the bed. The man is still unconscious so Bond decides to waste more time. He takes the sheets off the bed and ties the man down to restrain him, in case he wakes-up while Bond is in another room. He returns to the bathroom, when he enters back into the bedroom he's in his tailored tuxedo, and fixes his tie as he closes the bathroom door. He sits in a chair across from the bed and pulls out a deck of cards.

As James starts to remove the cards he hears grunts coming from the man on the bed. He places the deck on the desk, the chair he's sitting in, is in front of. He pulls his issued handgun from the holster under his dinner jacket and twists on the silencer. He approaches the bed and the man continues to grunt as he tries to struggle from his restraints.

'Are you going to tell who you work for?' James asks as he points his Walter p99 at the man's chest. Still aiming the gun at the man, he leans over to the knot tied in the sheet, and tightens the knot. The man's grunts of struggle turn to grunts of agony as the sheets pull tighter on his body.

'Gianni knows you're here Bond, there is no escape for you now.' James already knew the answer to his question and he already planned on killing the man. He backs away from the bed and puts two shots in him. M has no need to interrogate a man of no power or importance, if he was truly valuable and a skilled assassin he would've did a better job of trying to kill Bond.

James removes the silencer and blows on the barrel and puts it into his back pocket. He slides the p99 down his dinner jacket and into its holster. Before he leaves his room he pulls open one of the dressers in his room and takes out his watch and a reservation slip for the World Place.

The Lotus Evora pulls over to the curb on Rue Marbeuf in front of World Place. The time is about eleven at night and the World place has started to fill up. The World Place often started to become packed around ten because of its world famous club and restaurant. As James gets out he is bumped by a group of young adults, probably in there early twenties, and they continue into the restaurant. Bond shakes his head to the disrespect he was just given, how rude so many people can be. He pulls out his reservation and enters through the main doors and into the hustle and bustle of the World Place. The building is beautiful, a mixture of modern style with a great taste of European mixed in. A line has formed at the clerks desk who respectfully asks everyone who appears in front of him for their reservation. After about fifteen minutes James is finally at the front of the line. He hands his reservation over the podium to the clerk who reads over it and passes it to an usher. James nods to the clerk and follows the usher into the restaurant. As he gets closer to his table he notices Lyova has already arrived, as he approaches he smiles at her, and takes a seat in the chair the usher pulled out for him.

'You're the agent from...' She starts to say then leans over the table. 'The agent from MI6?' she continues in a whisper as Bond leans in.

'Who were you expecting?' He replies and they both laugh as they relax back into their chairs.

'To be honest I wasn't expecting you to arrive; I thought we'd never meet again.'

'I thought the same until I opened your file.'

'You have a file on me?' She questions in shock as she hasn't done anything wrong unless dating a dangerous gun-for-hire is illegal.

'We didn't until you came to us for help, now back to business.' Bond responds as he sits at the front of his chair as a busboy brings water glasses to the table. Behind the busboy is a waiter who holds up a pad of paper at about the middle of his chest.

'Que puis-je recevoir pour vous deux, ce soir ?' the waiter asks as Bond picks up the menu and flips through the pages. He reaches the viandes section and looks up at the waiter as he places the menu back down on the table.

'J'aurai cote de veau rotie, ecrase de pommes de terre a l'huile d'olive corse' Bond replies as he looks over to Lyova, who raises her eye brows, as she's impressed with Bond's ability to speak French.

'D'accord et pour vous la madame?' The waiter asks as he finishes writing down the first order.

'J'aurai le même comme le monsieur à travers de moi, s'il vous plaît.'

'D'accord, je l'ai installé tout de suite et appréciez s'il vous plaît votre séjour.' The waiter puts the notepad away and starts to walk off when Bond calls him back.

'I'd like to order a Vesper if you don't mind?'

'Le pardon, mais quelles sont des Vêpres ?'

'Des Vêpres sont un Martini de Vodka avec trois mesures de Gordon, une de vodka, moitié de mesure de Kina Lillet. Tremblé jusqu'à ce que c'est glacial, ajoutez ensuite une grande tranche fine de peau jaune citron. Make sure it's shaken and not stirred.' Bond replies, to the question of what Vesper is.

'I'll have the same.' Lyova says as she handd the menus to the waiter who takes them politley from her. The waiter nods and then walks towards the kitchen.

'So do you help damsels in distress often Mr. James Bond?'

'You'd be surprised by how many women would like my help.' He replies as he sips from his glass of water. Lyova laughs at his comment; she pulls her purse up from below her chair and places it on the table. She rummages through her purse and in the process pulls her cell phone out and places it one the table. James notices this and also realizes that they both have the same phone. 'Oh, I wanted to give you this.' Bond says as he pulls a business card, the one he wrote his phone number on, and his cell phone out of his pocket. He places the cell phone next to hers and hands her the business card.

'What do I need this for?' She asks as he takes the card from Bond's hand.

'My number's on the card.' He responds as he reaches to put his phone back into his pocket. Instead of taking his phone he grabs hers while she's distracted by her purse. After putting on a fresh layer of lipstick she places all her belongings back into her purse, along with James's cell phone. 'So, what can you tell me about Gianni?' James asks as their martinis arrive at the table from the bar.

'Well he's a very dangerous man and likes to keep things private.'

'How private?'

'Lets just say that if you were on his list he'd make sure no one knew you were dead. He'd hunt you down like a pest.'

'You know, he knows I'm here right?'

'No I swear, I didn't know. He must’ve found out what happened in Nice. What are you going to do; he might try to kill you. Will you be able to execute your next, you know duty?'

'Trust me; execution is the first thing on my mind.'

The waiter returns with another man who is carrying the food, a plate in each hand. One at a time he places them on the table and James can tell he's going to enjoy this meal; it looked fresh from the oven and it smelt delicious.

'Le merci, pour dîner avec nous ce soir et nous espérons que vous venez de nouveau. Si vous avez besoin d'autre chose plase demandent à Pierce ici quelque chose si vous le semblez jamais autour de.' The waiter explains as he walks away with Pierce, the busboy. Bond picks up his fork and knife and starts to work on his meal. As they eat Bond gets sucked into a series of small talk conversations, such as "how is your food" or "Do you come to here often" and so on. As their meal comes to a close Bond decides to get back to the mission, not saying he didn't mind having small talk with Lyova.

'So, do you know who Gianni works for?' Bond asks as he picks up the cloth napkin from his lap. He wipes his mouth and places the napkin on the edge of the table, next to his plate.

'Well he mentioned going to Hawaii not to long ago to meet with his business partner.'

'Do you know who that is?'

'No, he never mentioned his name in front of me. I did listen into one of his conversations on the phone once, the only name he mentioned was Addler Worcester . It sounds German to me, but I really wouldn't know I'm not good with names.'

'It's fine you’ve got it right, I've heard of Addler before, he's a dangerous man, and so is his boss, Alphonse Montréal. Did he ever mention the name Quantum?'

'Yes, he said it was going to be the name of the new company he'd be working for. He said they did construction for factories, I was so glad when he told me he'd be quitting his job of being a gun-for-hire.'

'Trust me, you shouldn't be happy with his decision Quantum does more then construction.' Soon Bond notices a strange look on Lyova's face; she seems to be staring at something or someone behind him. 'Is something wrong?'

'He's found us.'

'Do we still have time to stop him, is he here in Paris?'

'Yes, but he said he'd be leaving after finishing an odd job.'

'I'm afraid Alphonse's gold finger has him targeting us making us his odd job, we haven't got much time. Do you have a car?'

'Yes.'

'Then come on,' Bond says as he leaves the money for his bill at the table and takes Lyova by the arm. In a hurried fashion he plows through the people around him and out the main doors. A man follows close behind and as he reahces the entrance doors he pulls out his cell phone and sends a text message to number 555-1634.

Bond and Lyova stand outside on the sidewalk in front of his car. He lifts his left arm up and pulls back the sleeve of his dinner jacket to glance down at his watch. The hour hand and minute hand just struck twelve and Bond puts his arm back down to his side. He walks over to the driver's side door and pulls out his keys.

'Do you have a car?' Bond asks as he unlocks the card doors by pressing the unlock button on his keys.

'Yes, it's right over there.' Lyova replies as she points across the street. James turns his head to get a glance of her car and quickly whips his head back around with his jaw dropped.

'A Smart Car, you've got to be kidding me.' Bond sighs after that comment and opens his door. He sits down on the leather seat, shuts the driver's side door, and rolls down the passenger window. 'Come on in, you're riding with me.' With that demand Lyova opens the Evora's passenger door and gets into the car. The car pulls away from the curb onto Rue Marbeuf and drives down the street and turns on Avenue des ChampsElysées‎. The road is filled with heavy traffic and the Evora just barrels through a red light to reach the out going traffic. Bond pulls out Lyova's cell phone and scan through recent calls, but he finds nothing, then he searches through recent text messages. He finds one from two hours ago telling Lyova to meet him at the Eiffel Tower or else. He looks at a street sign coming up that says Rue Pierre Charron and takes a hard left onto the street. James take another left on Avenue George V and that's when he senses trouble, further up the street he notices the bridge is blocked off and the cars are forced to take a detour.

About ten of Gianni's men, wearing construction uniforms, stand at a blockade in front of the bridge. One points at the Evora reaching the checkpoint and they each pull out MP5s and get into position. As James get about five feet away from the bridge he notices that the construction crew had fled so he presses hard on the break and races towards the water barrels blocking the bridge. The Evora plows through the water barrels and Gianni's men jump out emptying their cartridges into the Evora. James continues down the bridge with only the passenger window shattered. Lyova is knocked out in the seat from the impact of the glass shattering in her face.

Bond crosses over Pont de l'Alma, with no construction to be found, and takes a hard right on Quia Branly. The tires squeal around the corner and the Evora continues to race towards the Eiffel Tower. Bond looks over to Lyova and shakes her, trying to get her to regain consciousness. James looks back towards the road and the front windshield shatters, as a bullet passes through. The car swerves off the road and crashes into a large tree. James's vision is blurred and he shakes his head trying to figure out what had just happened. He relaxes back into the leather seat and unbuckles his seat belt. His stare suddenly lands on Lyova, whose is dead in the car seat. Bond unbuckles her and holds her in his arms. As he pulls the hair out of her face he notices a bullet wound in the center of her forehead. He opens his car door and falls out of the driver's seat, then he crawls across the grass to another large tree, and tries to take cover from the Eiffel Tower. Soon his pocket starts to vibrate and he pulls out Lyova's cell phone.

’Hello, Lyova, are you there? ‘ A voice says over the phone.

'Lyova's dead, she's still in the car, take a look for yourself.'

'You'll be next Bond, I didn't expect to lose her too, but you had to take her along for the ride.'

'When I get up there with you, I'm going to send you for a ride, Gianni.'

'I'll be waiting, Bond, and I’m going to enjoy every minute.'

[Quantum is Forever]

( 4 ) (Twisting With James)

Translation to the French Conversation:

'What can I get for you two, this evening?' the water asks as Bond picks up the menu and flips through the pages. He reaches the steak section and looks up at the waiter as he places the menu back down on the table.

'I shall have the fillet with the Corsican olive juice as my sauce.' Bond replies as he looks over to Lyova, who raises her eye brows, as she's impressed with Bond's ability to speak French.

'And for you madam?' The waiter asks as he finishes writing down the first order.

'I shall have the same as the gentleman across from me, please.'

Alright, I'll make sure to put this in right away and please enjoy your stay here.' The waiter puts the notepad away and starts to walk off when Bond calls him back.

'I'd like to order a Vesper, if you don't mind?'

'Pardon me, but what is a Vesper?'

'A Vesper is a Vodka Martini with three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shaken well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Make sure it's shaken and not stirred.' Bond replies to the question of what a Vesper is.

'I'll have the same.' Lyova says as she hands the menus to the waiter who takes them politley from her. The waiter nods and then walks towards the kitchen

Edited by Quantum is Forever, 27 January 2009 - 09:10 PM.

[Quantum is Forever]

( 5 ) (The Boys Chase)

Sirens, along with their red and blue flashing lights, roar across Pont d'lèna. James uses the tree to pick himself up off the grass, when he finally regains his strength he brushes off the freshly cut grass from his pants and dinner jacket. Bond then draws his p99 from the holster under his dinner jacket and pulls the silencer from his back pants pocket. He twists the silencer on and slides the p99 back into his holster. He presses his back against the tree and peers around both corners. The police were still not at Bond's car, lucky for him, so he dashes over to another tree taking cover behind it. He wanders the park until he finds Allèe Jean Paulhan, from there he continues to take cover behind trees, benches, or basically anything sufficient enough to hold back a bullet. He follows the pathway to Avenue Gustave Eiffel, a very busy street in front of the Eiffel Tower, opposite of the Siene. He passes a couple on a bench, making out, and enters a large crowd on the sidewalk. As he walks towards the Eiffel tower he searches for anything out of the ordinary and he suddenly stops in the middle of the sidewalk. A French man bumps into him and tells him to move it or lose it in French. Bond apologizes and continues to walk; as he does he estimates what level on the Eiffel Tower he must get off on. The reason Bond had stopped was because he noticed a strange object far from either restaurants and no where near any elevator stops or stairways. The object looked like an outpost to Bond, and he figures that must be where Gianni is.

After waiting to board one of the lifts up to the first and second floor, Bond finally enters the north lift, not the side he really wants to be on. The hydraulic lifts kick on and the car speeds up the Eiffel Tower. Tourists crowd the elevator and Bond holds his head back as tourists swing around their cameras or he moves to dodge their big hats. The elevator stops at the first floor and everyone piles off, but Bond waits for everyone to exit before he walks out of the elevator. James remembers the last time he was in the Eiffel Tower, except this time he didn’t need to worry about getting a butterfly in his neck. He walks over to a maintenance door and waits for the right moment. The last person in the area enters the main room, so Bond pulls out the p99 from its holster, and he hugs the wall as he leans next to the door. He backs from the wall and kicks the door open, as he enters through the door he pulls the fire alarm on the wall. James then runs over to a staircase and hides underneath it in the shadows as security passes him from the stairs.

People are starting to be evacuated from all floors of the tower and Bond runs up the stairs and into the secondary lift operating room. He opens another door to the outside and runs down the catwalk, as he reaches the middle of the grate catwalk a bullet whizzes past him. He dives into cover behind a support beam. He peers around the corner to search for the outpost he saw earlier from the sidewalk. Again a bullet flies right past Bond missing him; he hears the bullet bounce off the support beams behind him. James only points the barrel of the gun out from cover this time and fires randomly. He hears every single one of his shots fly into support beams. He draws his gun back and crouches, he listens carefully for any footsteps. After a couple seconds he hears running along a support beam somewhere below him. He leans over the edge of the catwalk and spots a man wearing a black stealth suit, probably Gianni, running across one of the support beams. Bond empties the rest of his clip trying to hit Gianni but all his shots miss. Near Bond, an elevator car from second floor can be heard coming down to ground level. James leaps over the rail of the catwalk and drops a couple feet to another support beam. His foot slips off the edge and he slowly slides off the support beam. He grips the top of the beam tightly just before falling from it and pulls himself back onto the beam. James slowly stands up, with his arms out to give him balance, and the elevator car passes by. He jumps from the support beam and drops down towards the elevator car.

He starts to gain velocity as he falls closer and closer to the elevator, soon he exceeds the elevators velocity and lands on the roof of it. A large bang is heard from inside the elevator and people look up at the ceiling in fear that one of the cables might have just snapped. As Bond descends, along with the lift he spots Gianni leaping to a support beam below. James stands up, but at the wrong time, as the elevator makes a heard stop on the first floor. James is shot back down onto the roof of the elevator, his knees and arms ache from the constant strain he’s been putting on them. He pushes himself up from his collapsed position and jumps from the elevator, just in time because right after he jumps the lift starts back up and continues down to ground level. James sprints across the roof of the first floor, in Gianni's direction, as he's sprints he drops the empty clip from his p99 and loads in a new one. Meanwhile, Gianni has made his way a couple feet down and now runs down an emergency staircase to the ground level. The ground in front of Bond finally disappears as James makes a leap of faith down towards the emergency stairs.

Gianni, feeling he has evaded Bond stops on the stairs and looks up towards the roof of the first floor. James flies down to Gianni and rams right into him, the impact sends Gianni rolling down the steps and Bond hanging off the edge of the stairs. Gianni rolls until he lands into the turn down the stairs, once he stops, he picks himself back up and looks in Bond's direction. James regains his footing at the same time and looks at Gianni. The stare is full of hatred towards one another and at practically the same time they both dart down the staircase. The shoes click and clack down the metal stairs as Bond chases after Gianni.

Bond stops and leaps over the side rail of the stairs dropping to the next flight of stairs. Gianni continues to run until his head is in the iron sights of Bonds p99. Again they stare at each other, and without looking Gianni vaults over the rail, just like Bond did, and falls towards the ground level. Bond looks over the edge and notices an awning below, knowing that Gianni would rip through the awning as he lands, thus making the awning a one time use. Bond continues to the stairs at a hurried pace, putting his gun away in the process. Just as Bond thought, Gianni breaks through the awning and falls onto a postcard rack. Two firefighters run over to retrieve Gianni, who pushes them aside and sprints into the crowd of people, standing outside of the Eiffel Tower praying that nothing is wrong. James finally reaches ground level and stands below the tower scanning through the crowds hoping to spot Gianni. James pulls out Lyova's cell phone and dials Gianni's number. The fire fighters who came to rescue Gianni now run to Bond who also refuses their help and goes to wander the crowd for Gianni.

Gianni never answers his phone and as Bond reaches the street he spots Gianni limping over to a car. James tries to cross but all his attempts are interrupted by a car speeding by. Soon an Aston Martin Rapide pulls over to the curb and a man runs out with his camera. He starts to take shots of the panicking people and of the fire fighters searching all the floors for any signs of fire or people who got lost in the mass panic. Gianni takes off down the road and James knows he needs to follow Gianni or he'll end up at a dead end. So James passes behind the photographer and quickly slides into his car, he slams the door and takes off after Gianni. The man yells about his car being stolen but none of the officers seem to respond, as the Eiffel Tower is their main priority.

James follows closely behind Gianni, but without looking suspicious. He follows Gianni out of Paris and down some side roads through forests. Bond continues pursue Gianni, but the chase comes to an end when Gianni pulls into a fish factory and Bond continues down the road. He pulls off the road, a couple feet away from the large fish processing plant, and gets out of the car. James doesn't lock the car and he tosses the keys out into the forest near by. He walks down a gravel path to a main gate, a blockade and a guard station blocks Bond from going any farther.

'Hey, you! Stop where you are and state your business! The guard yells to him. James stops on the gravel path as the guard leaves the concrete station he was probably napping in before Gianni arrived.

'The names Sterling! Robert Sterling from Universal Exports! I'd like to speak to the manager in charge, I mean no harm!' Bond explains as he yells to the guard who walks back into the guard station. The blockade arm rises and the guard motions Bond to continue on in. James continues to walk down the gravel path and as he reaches the guard station he stops. Two other guards walk over to Bond and ask to see some sort of proof that he works for Universal Exports. James rummages through his pocket and finds nothing; he smiles as he bends down to tie his shoe.

As he pretends to tie his shoe he reaches into his dinner coat for his p99. In a swift motion, Bond pulls out his p99 with a silencer, and shoots the guard, in the station, twice in the chest. He falls to the floor and the closest guard, to Bond, pulls out an MP5 and aims at Bond's head.

'How about you tell us who you really are?' The second guard asks as he walks over to Bond and kicks him into the gravel. Dust floats up from under Bond as he is pushed into the ground. The guard picks up the p99, which Bond must've dropped when he was kicked, and aims it at Bond. James grips his hands into fists, collecting a hand full of gravel in each and smiles. He whips the gravel in the faces, the sudden shock of pain to the eyes makes the guards drop their weapons and rub their eyes. The guard who took Bond’s p99 removes his hands from his eyes and the last thing he sees is a fist to the face. The second guard removes his hands and finds Bond pointing his p99 at him.

'Take me to Gianni.'

'Who?'

'Don't play dumb with me; I'm not really in the mood. Short brown hair, a clean shaven beard,' Bond stops as he notices the guard continuing to play dumb. 'Italian?' He finishes as he pulls the trigger sending a bullet into the guard's leg.

He continues forward and reaches the edge of the forest and one of the fences that surrounds the processing plant. The fence has a plastic cover all along it, to keep anything important from leaking out or from anyone of danger in. The smell of dead fish hovers over the place like mist over a lake in early morning. James moves over to the fence and looks it over, trying to find the best way to get past it. James quickly climbs over the fence and takes cover behind a small shack. Bond slowly side steps down the shack to some docks and peers around the corner. He sees two workers tossing fish into a large metal carrier. Bond attempts to step back into cover but his gun scratches the metal of the shanty shack. The guards turn to the shack and draw out their automatic rifles. One of the men nods his head to the other, telling him to go the other way so they can flank whoever or whatever is around the shack. Bond listens as the sounds of their feet get closer and he quickly surveys for a way to hide from them. The guard, Bond shot in the leg earlier, had crawled all the over to the guard station and pulls on the closest lever to him before dieing from blood loss. Just as he thinks he has a plan set the large stadium lights around the processing plant turn on and light up the whole area. Thousands of thoughts run through Bond's head as he slowly starts to run out of time.

James steps out of cover and shoots the guard coming at him. The guard squeezes the trigger of his rifle as he falls and bullets fly into the shack, each bullet sending sparks as they hit the metal walls of the shack. Bond goes back into cover and peers around to see the dead body still in the open. He puts the p99 away and turns around the corner to throw the body into the river. As he reaches the edge of the small shack the other guard stealthily come around the corner and attempts to choke Bond with his rifle. Bond struggles as he gasps for air and as he shakes his head, trying to loosen the guards grip, he notices a meat hook in the guard’s pocket. His hand stretches towards the meat hook and the guard pulls up on his rifle hoping to kill Bond before he can reach his pocket. James's hand lands on the meat hook; he grips it tightly, swings his arm up, and impales the guard in the shoulder. The guard removes his hands from the gun, which falls to the cement, and tries to pull the meat hook out from his shoulder. James then gives the guard a right hook in the face, stopping him from trying to remove the meat hook. He stumbles backwards and blood leaks from his nose, Bond then gives him another hit to the face with his left hand and the guard reaches the end of the docks.

In order to fight back the guard decides to just rip the meat hook from his shoulder, grunting in agony as he does so, and swings at Bond. James ducks under the arm and punches the guard in the stomach; the guard gasps for air and stumbles back a couple inches. He nearly falls off the edge into the jagged rocks below but stops himself short. James then elbows the guard’s hand, sending the meat hook falling to the ground, and kicks him in the chest, sending the guard off the docks and onto the rocky shore below. James walks over to the other body and drags him to the edge of the docks and slides him off as well, right next to the other guard.

James felt that the fight lasted too long and that he would need to find cover quickly before someone notices him. He sprints away from the docks and finds himself outside a large warehouse. He walks next to the warehouse, passing fish meat, bones, and even fish eggs. Now Bond's a fan of caviar but he's not a fan of eating it raw. He finds a fire escape ladder; he pulls out his p99, and shoots the locks off the ladder. It slides down and makes a large bang when it hits the cement. He slides the p99 back into its holster, grips the metal steps, and pulls himself up the ladder. He runs up the stairs to a door, but when he tries to turn the handle he finds it to be locked. Instead of using the pin from his watch he pulls off a grate, blocking a large vent above him, and pulls himself up into it.

James crawls through the ventilation shaft, peeking through grates every now and then. He watches a couple workers cutting up fish with hand held saws. They are very simple to use, you just push a button to toggle it on and push it again to turn it off. The only major danger from using them was the fact that they didn't have guards. Bond stops as he hears Gianni's voice coming from a grate ahead of him, he continues quietly down to the grate. He peaks through and all he can see is Gianni, in some sort of office room, and a desk. The man he's talking to is just out of Bond's sight.

'What do you mean he's not dead?' the other voice asks.

'When I shot the car, and they crashed, Lyova was the one who died not Bond.' Gianni explains.

’You didn't lead him hear did you?'

'Of course not, I lost him in the crowd, that's a fact.' Just after that statement the grate in the room flies into a bookshelf across from it. Gianni turns around and the television behind him turns into white noise. James drops from the vent and aims his p99 right at his head. 'Bond, But how?'

'Who are you working for?' James asks as he moves closer to Gianni who's searching for something behind his back. 'Hands wear I can see them, I'm a very nervous business partner.' James orders as he stops moving towards him.

'You know who I work for Bond, Quantum.'

'Yes, but I want to know for whom, in Quantum.'

'Well, that's something we'll need to discuss, in hell!' He yells as he startles Bond by throwing a book at him. Gianni opens the office door and sprints down a metal catwalk. He bumps into a worker and steals his hand saw; afterwards he tosses him over the edge to the main floor. Bond finally exits out the door and stops immediately on the catwalk. 'To hell with you!' Gianni cuts through the metal pipe, holding up their section of the catwalk, and it tilts to a 45 degree angle. Bond slides to the edge but quickly grabs the metal rail before falling.

He looks underneath himself and finds a large meat grinder; thank god he didn't fall in. Gianni orders one of his workers, in Italian, to turn it on. The worker runs over and flips the switch, the grinder turns on slowly but eventually picks up speed. Gianni starts to cautiously walk over to Bond, with the saw, in hand and turned on. James accidentally drops his gun into the grinder so he starts by pulling himself up onto the catwalk and walks backwards, towards the office. Gianni catches up to Bond where he tries to cut him, James catches his hand, with the saw, just before it reaches his face. He knees Gianni in the chest and pushes him backwards, further down the catwalk. The saw falls to the catwalk as well, still turned on, and starts to cut into the metal railing. A guard, below, tosses his rifle up to Gianni, who catches it, and aims the barrel at Bond.

'Like I said, Bond, I'm going to enjoy every minute of trying to kill you.' James looks at the hand saw and kicks it. The saw slides down the catwalk and clips Gianni's legs; he bends down to grip his wounds, leaning on the rail as he does so. James kicks the loosened rail and Gianni falls from the catwalk and into the meat grinder.

Bond watches the grinders slow down and make loud noises as it tried to tear human flesh in half. The blades turns a dark red as blood flows through each blade. James turns away from the grinder and walks back into the office and sits in a chair behind a desk. Behind, Bond is a large wall mounted television, with the white noise still on. He spins in the chair and turns of the television and swivels back to the desk. He pulls open a drawer and starts to search through the files and random bits of information. While James is doing this, searching through the desk, several Quantum soldiers are planting a bomb next to a large propane tank. The tank leads all along the factory and is used to power the building, cheaper then buying a generator. The Quantum men are wearing khaki pants and cream or off white colored shirts. They wear black ski masks with a small golden Q near the left eye. Workers are finally being evacuated and as they leave the Quantum soldiers pour the copper bullets, from their AK's, into them.

The shots are loud and the sound of innocent people screaming before death is even louder. James stuffs a random assortment of information and files into his dinner jacket and pants pockets and runs over to a window, across from the desk. He pulls the blinds and watches as the Quantum men run over to a large truck; take off down the gravel path, and down the road. The next thing Bond notices is the propane tank, on the ground level, just below his window. He squints and leans into the glass to take a closer look.

Bond curses under his breath, he then runs to the door, opens it, leading him back to the tilted catwalk. He looks back to the window then in front of him down the catwalk. He notices that the garage doors on the floor below him are still open, and the assembly line is clear of any civilians. He sprints a couple feet down the catwalk, past the meat grinder, jumps down to a conveyor belt, in the assembly line area, slides down the belt to a dead end, throws himself off the belt, and through the garage doors. As he passes through them the bomb clicks zero and the building explodes, putting another force on Bond sending him farther out. He hits the concrete with his knees and rolls several feet away from the warehouse.

Bond tries to pick himself off the concrete, but when he has to use his right led pain is sent up his spine, it felt slightly worse then being shot. He collapses back to the ground and grabs his leg. He looks around him, noticing pieces of garbage, building, and fish everywhere. He spots several destroyed wooden pieces and crawls over to them. He removes his bow tie and sets it next to him and sits up, trying not to apply too much pressure on his leg. He takes two wooden planks, and places them next to his leg, and uses his bow tie to finish off the splint. Bond then drags himself backwards to the wire fence and uses it to pull himself up. He limps out of the factory grounds, down the gravel road, past the guard warehouse, and over to where his car, was.

James looks up to find the Aston Martin Rapide, gone without a trace. Not like he cares too much, since it wasn't even his car. He removes the cell phone from his pocket and quickly dials a number, the phone rings a couple times and a woman answers the phone.

'This is Ms. Moneypenny, how may I help you?'

'Moneypenny, who the hell is this, look just connect me to M, this is Bond?' Back at MI6 headquarters Ms. Moneypenny, a blonde haired woman at a desk outside of M's office, puts the phone, on her desk, on hold. She walks over to M's door and knocks three times. The door slides to the right and Tanner stands before Moneypenny.

'Can I help you Ms. Connell?' the sound of a voice being cleared comes from behind Tanner. He looks behind him and then faces back towards Moneypenny. 'I mean...can I help you, Ms. Moneypenny?'

'Yes, Bond's on the line, he'd like to speak to M.' Moneypenny replies with a smile. Tanner steps aside and M looks up at Moneypenny.

'Patch him through.'

'Yes, ma'am.' She returns to her desk and reconnects the phone to another line. M flips the switch on her desk and the smart wall, next to her desk, zooms in on Bond's location.

'Yes, what is it Bond?'

'About bloody time, and who is this Ms. Moneypenny?'

'She's my secretary Bond, now what do you want?'

'Gianni's dead, I need a lift.'

'You killed him?'

'No ma'am, he got caught up in something.' M thinks to herself for a minute then gets an idea of what happened.

'Did you get anything of value from him, Bond?'

'I did, now about that ride?'

'What about the Evora, Bond, why can't you use that?'

'Lets just say that Q's not going to be too happy.'

'Alright Bond we'll pick you up soon, you're coming back to London.'

'Can't wait.'

[Quantum is Forever]

(6) (Worth Every Penny)

James opens the door to M's office, but finds himself in Ms. Moneypenny's office instead. Bond is wearing black Levi jeans, with tints of gray over the knees, probably for the younger people, and a white polo shirt, which is covered by a leather jacket he's wearing. The jacket has a red and white stripe going down the sleeves of his coat and has a pocket on the inside, where Bond has his gun. He's about to un-zip his jacket and hang it up on a coat rack, across from the door, but stops when he notices Ms. Moneypenny. He zips his jacket back up a little ways and smiles at the woman before him.

'Hello Bond, I'm Ms. Moneypenny.'

'I haven't heard that name in a while, or is the name just a code name?' Bond says as he approaches the blonde haired woman, wearing black dress pants and even a matching black top. She's sitting behind her desk and she leans in as Bond approaches.

'That's secret government information, Mr. Bond.' She replies, and then relaxes into her leather computer chair. A light, on a small box on her desk, turns green and Ms. Moneypenny stands up from her desk and walks over to a door, separating Moneypenny's office from M's. 'M would like to see you now.' She says with a smile, pressing the button near the door. The door slides open and Bond nods to her as he walks in.

James was picked up by an MI6 helicopter when he was left stranded at the fish processing plant. In order to let time pass, James searched through the names in Lyova's cell phone. She didn't have anything important in her cell phone, no names of Quantum members, and no numbers, except Gianni's, not even any pictures or videos. The phone battery died on him about an hour into searching it, and about an hour after that the helicopter picked Bond up and took him to an airport. From the airport he took the seven a.m. flight to London, England and changed into more casual clothing at his home. It was raining in London so Bond put on his favorite leather jacket; he kept on a hanger, in his walk-in closet. From there he got in a car, with several other MI6 agents, and was taken to MI6 headquarters.

Bond enters M's office and the door behind him closes, he turns when he hears it click, sensing he is locked in. M sits quietly at her desk filling out some files and some small paper work. Tanner stands by a window, in the left side of the room, and he turns to acknowledge Bond with a head nod.

'Hello Tanner.' James says to him as he walks over to a bookshelf, with its shelves full of nick knacks.

'Bond.' Tanner says back as Bond picks up a snow globe. He shakes it and places it back on the shelf and walks back over to M's desk and stops, standing in front of her. She looks up at Bond and points her pen to a chair across from her. Bond looks over to Tanner and sits in the black leather chair. The room is dimly lit, with all of the wall lamps covered by khaki colored lamp shades, and James frequently has to squint to keep his vision straight.

'So, M, who's this Ms. Moneypenny? If she's supposed to be your secretary, why are you doing the paper work?' James asks as he relaxes into the furniture, Bond always though leather was so much more comfortable then any other form of fabric. M continues to concentrate on her paperwork, ignoring Bond's comment, and she suddenly stops writing. She slides the paper to the edge of her desk and Tanner comes over to pick it up.

'Thank you, ma'am.' Tanner says to her quietly and exits out the sliding door into Ms. Moneypenny's office.

'What was that all about?' Bond asks as he folds he crosses his arms.

'It was a contract from the United States, Bond. They're eyes have been in Africa longer then ours and they were just wondering what we were up to.'

'What are we up to?'

'Nothing yet Bond, that is why you're here. The Americans aren't looking for Quantum members, they're after that LRA group, you mentioned before you left to Paris. They're looking for one of their leaders, Jamie Abimbola, who recently received a large amount of arms and soldiers.' She explains to Bond as she stands from her chair. She pours two glasses of bourbon and offers one to Bond, he can't deny a drink when it's raining outside. Bond senses a strange tone in M's voice and suddenly he understands where she's going with the whole conversation.

'You think Quantum supplied him, don't you?'

'Yes, I do Bond, but I don't have enough information to send you over there, I could get in trouble with the Minister of Defense if I sent you with no motives.'

'I don't want to disappoint you, but I didn't get much from any of the files I took or from Gianni himself.' Bond explains to her, and then takes a sip from the bourbon. M does the same and then returns to her seat, setting her glass on her wooden desk. Bond can tell she's stressed out, and that he was here last resort. Then Bond's mind snaps back to the dinner he had with Lyova, at the World Place. 'Wait, she mentioned a name to me' Bond realizes as he concentrates, rubbing his forehead.

'Who mentioned a name to you?'

'Lyova, Gianni Stoat's girlfriend.'

'Well spit it out Bond!'

'She mentioned, Addler Worcester.'

'The German hitman?'

'That's the one; she said that he was Gianni's no business partner in Quantum.' M leans into her desk and presses the intercom button to Ms. Moneypenny's room.

'Ms. Moneypenny?'

'Yes, ma'am?' Ms. Moneypenny responds as she returns to her desk after placing a couple files back into a file cabinet behind her desk.

'Where's Tanner?'

'He's in Q Branch right now; would you like me to call him up, ma'am?'

'No, that's quite alright, we're going to take a walk over to Q Branch.'

'Alright ma'am, is that all?'

'Yes, thank you Ms. Moneypenny.' The intercom turns off and James opens the door to Moneypenny's office and lets M pass in front of him. He smiles at Moneypenny as they leave the room and he closes the door behind him. Moneypenny lets out a romantic sigh from her desk, and then continues to put folders and files away in the cabinets behind her.

Bond and M walk down the crowded halls of MI6, taking turns down longs curved hallways, and through many sliding doors. A question annoys Bond the entire time and he finally just asks M.

'Why do you need a secretary, isn't that what Tanner is?'

'No, Bond, he's not my secretary, he's my advisor, my second opinion. He makes sure I don't rush into anything I don't need to be going into. He helps me make the right moves.'

'So then, why have a secretary?' M steps walking and James takes a couple more steps noticing that M had stopped. He looks around the hallway and walks back over to M, as he does so he stuffs his hands into his pants pockets.

'I may not look like a busy person, Bond, but you couldn't do my job. You have no idea, 007, how hard I work, you must think that I sit at my desk all day, watching the news and wasting government time with my husband.'

'The thought had occurred.'

'It's because of Double O's, like you, and other field agents I'm so busy. What happened to being stealthy and leaving no evidence behind? Not that I've ever gotten that from you anyways, Bond. You fill my desk with paper work after just one day on mission.'

'So you need to bring back the Moneypenny name, just to clear your desk? Just forget I brought this up, you've answered my question.'

'Good, now, keep moving Bond.'M replies and they continue down the hall towards Q Branch.

The doors to Q Branch slide open and Erich Doyle waits just ahead of them. He seems to be aggressive with his foot steps as he walks over to Bond.

'What did you do to that car?' He asks with a bit of anger in his voice. Bond looks just beyond Q to find the Lotus Evora behind him, somehow in perfect condition.

'Apparently, nothing.' Bond replies nodding his head in the direction of the Evora.

'You must have hit a tree going about...' Q states then does a bit of math in his head, 'at least eighty miles per hour.' Q finishes as he walks with Bond and M over to a smart table.

'That sounds about right, Q.' He says with a smile, Q gets ready to respond, until M interrupts the conversation.

'Bond had a mission and there was a small liability, now where's Tanner?' M states and looks over to Q.

'Yes, this conversation is quite pointless; now Tanner went off to my office but will return soon, how may I help you?'

'We're looking for information on Addler Worcester.' Bond replies as Q turns on the smart table and stands on the opposite side of Bond and M.

'A, d, d, l, e, r, space, W, o, r, c, e, s, t, e, r.' Q types into the smart table, saying one letter at a time. He clicks on recent data, on the table, and a recent database opens. A list of seen associates opens and Alphonse is on the list.

'Click on that man, right there.' M orders to Q who clicks on the picture of Alphonse. His picture is enlarged, to fill a quarter of the screen, a description of his appearance is to the right of it. Below is a list a recent business deals and next to that is a list of places recently visited. 'Nothing, he's clean, damn it, at a dead end once again.'

'Are we? Click on the second to last transaction, Q.'

Q clicks on the second to transaction, like Bond requested, and all of the information, that was estimated to be on the contract, appeared before them.

'What about it, Bond?'

'You didn't notice? Q can you place this transaction next to the last place he visited?'

'Of course, it's quite simple.' Q works his magic, after typing up a storm and moving around a couple objects, and soon both pieces of information are side by side.

'Notice the dates first; the only time and last time Alphonse goes to Africa, is six months, after the transaction. Also, see how much money is given in the transaction?'

'Over four million dollars! Christ, what would he want to spend that amount on?'

'Oh, and the dates are strange, because there's no way a business man, like Alphonse, would ever wait that long to meet with whom he's trading with.' Q adds to the conversation.

'So the dates are false?'

'Correct, and that's not the only thing, this is the only transaction he's ever made with someone in Africa, and under other transactions, with this same one, he has large amounts of shipping costs.' Bond adds as he takes a closer look at the contract.

'So, you strongly believe....'

'That, Alphonse is the one who supplied Abimbola, not only with men and vehicles but with cash to supply his army with anything he desires.' Bond replies as Tanner arrives at the smart table and M gives him some what of an evil glare. He cautiously hands M over an envelope and shakes hands with Q.

'You don't need to come all the way down to Q Branch just to get a plane ticket.'

'Sry, ma'am.'

'Going somewhere, M?'

'No, 007, you are.'

'Where?'

'Africa, Bond, I need you to find out what Alphonse and Abimbola are up to.' She orders him as she hands him over his plane ticket, along with a folder full of information. Inside Bond found coordinates to a Cobalt Mine, a small military base, and something that said CIA AHQ.

'What's with the Cobalt mine?'

'I did rummage through Alphonse's files earlier, before you arrived here in London, and noticed that his second to last transaction he received a Cobalt mine, though we're not to sure why he would want it. That's the main reason we're sending you to Africa, Bond. That's what we need you to find out from Alphonse.'

'I'm meeting him in person?'

'Of course Bond, you're with Universal Exports.' M says with a smile, knowing Bond wouldn't fail her.

'One last question, why the CIA?'

'It was part of the contract, Bond; you'll be working the U.S. on this one.'

'So, I'll be stuck with some, gun crazy, trigger finger, American? Perfect, my idea of a great vacation.'

'You'll be working with your friend, Felix Leiter, Bond.'