M's Chief of Staff had telephoned at midnight to say that M wanted to see Bond at nine the next morning. 'Bit early in the day,' he had apologized, 'but he seems to want some action from somebody. Been brooding for weeks. Suppose he's made up his mind at last.'
'Any line you can give me over the telephone?'
'A for Apple and C for Charlie,' said the Chief of Staff, and rang off.
That meant that the case concerned Stations A and C, the sections of the Secret Service dealing2 respectively with the United States and the Caribbean. Bond had worked for a time under Station A during the war, but he knew little of C or its problems.
As he crawled beside the kerb up through Hyde Park, the slow drumbeat of his two-inch exhaust keeping him company, he felt excited at the prospect3 of his interview with M, the remarkable4 man who was then, and still is, head of the Secret Service. He had not looked into those cold, shrewd eyes since the end of the summer. On that occasion M had been pleased.
'Take some leave,' he had said. 'Plenty of leave. Then get some new skin grafted5 over the back of that hand. "Q" will put you on to the best man and fix a date. Can't have you going round with that damn Russian trade-mark on you. See if I can find you a good target when you've got cleaned up. Good kick.'
The hand had been fixed6, painlessly but slowly. The thin scars, the single Russian letter which stands for SCH, the first letter of Spion, a spy, had been removed and as Bond thought of the man with the stiletto who had cut them he clenched7 his hands on the wheel.
What was happening to the brilliant organization of which the man with the knife had been an agent, the Soviet8 organ of vengeance9, SMERSH, short for Smyert Spionam -Death to Spies? Was it still as powerful, still as efficient? Who controlled it now that Beria was gone? After the great gambling10 case in which he had been involved at Royale-les-Eaux, Bond had sworn to get back at them. He had told M as much at that last interview. Was this appointment with M to start him on his trail of revenge?
Bond's eyes narrowed as he gazed into the murk of Regents Park and his face in the faint dashlight was cruel and hard.
He drew up in the mews behind the gaunt high building, handed his car over to one of the plain-clothes drivers from the pool and walked round to the main entrance. He was taken up in the lift to the top floor and along the thickly carpeted corridor he knew so well to the door next to M's. The Chief of Staff was waiting for him and at once spoke11 to M on the intercom.
'007's here now, Sir.'
'Send him in.'
The desirable Miss Moneypenny, M's all-powerful private secretary, gave him an encouraging smile and he walked through the double doors. At once the green light came on, high on the wall in the room he had left. M was not to be disturbed as long as it burned.
A reading lamp with a green glass shade made a pool of light across the red leather top of the broad desk. The rest of the room was darkened by the fog outside the windows.
'Morning, 007. Let's have a look at the hand. Not a bad job. Where did they take the skin from?'
'High up on the forearm, Sir.'
'Hm. Hairs'll grow a bit thick. Crooked12 too. However. Can't be helped. Looks all right for the time being. Sit down.'
Bond walked round to the single chair which faced M across the desk. The grey eyes looked at him, through him.
'Had a good rest?'
'Yes thank you, Sir.'
'Ever seen one of these?' M abruptly13 fished something out of his waistcoat pocket. He tossed it half way across the desk towards Bond. It fell with a faint clang on the red leather and lay, gleaming richly, an inch-wide, hammered gold coin.
Bond picked it up, turned it over, weighed it in his hand.
'No, Sir. Worth about five pounds, perhaps.'
'Fifteen to a collector. It's a Rose Noble of Edward IV.'
M fished again in his waistcoat pocket and tossed more magnificent gold coins on to the table in front of Bond. As he did so, he glanced at each one and identified it.
'Double Excellente, Spanish, Ferdinand and Isabella, 1510 ; Ecu au Soleil, French, Charles IX, 1574; Double Ecu d'or, French, Henry IV, 1600; Double Ducat, Spanish, Philip II, 1560; Ryder, Dutch, Charles d'Egmond, 1538; Quadruple, Genoa, 1617; Double louis, a la mcche courte, French, Louis XIV, 1644. Worth a lot of money melted down. Much more to collectors, ten to twenty pounds each. Notice anything common to them all?'
Bond reflected. 'No, Sir.'
'All minted before 1650. Bloody14 Morgan, the pirate, was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Jamaica from 1675 to 1688. The English coin is the joker in the pack. Probably shipped out to pay the Jamaica garrison15. But for that and the dates, these could have come from any other treasure-trove put together by the great pirates - L'Ollonais, Pierre le Grand, Sharp, Sawkins, Blackbeard. As it is, and both Spinks and the British Museum agree, this is almost certainly part of Bloody Morgan's treasure.'
M paused to fill his pipe and light it. He didn't invite Bond to smoke and Bond would not have thought of doing so uninvited.
'And the hell of a treasure it must be. So far nearly a thousand of these and similar coins have turned up in the United States in the last few months. And if the Special Branch of the Treasury16, and the FBI, have traced a thousand, how many more have been melted down or disappeared into private collections? And they keep on coming in, turning up in banks, bullion17 merchants, curio shops, but mostly pawnbrokers19 of course. The FBI are in a proper fix. If they put these on the police notices of stolen property they know the source will dry up. They'd be melted down into gold bars and channelled straight into the black bullion market. Have to sacrifice the rarity value of the coins, but the gold would go straight underground. As it is, someone's using the negroes - porters, sleeping-car attendants, truck-drivers - and getting the money well spread over the States. Quite innocent people. Here's a typical case.' M opened a brown folder20 bearing the Top Secret red star and selected a single sheet of paper. Through the reverse side, as M held it up, Bond could see the engraved21 heading : 'Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigations22.' M read from it:
'Zachary Smith, 35, Negro, Member of the Sleeping Car Porters Brotherhood23, address gob West 126th Street, New York City.' (M looked up : 'Harlem,' he said.) 'Subject was identified by Arthur Fein of Fein Jewels Inc., 870 Lenox Avenue, as having offered for sale on November 21st last four gold coins of the sixteenth and seventeenth century (details attached). Fein offered a hundred dollars which was accepted. Interrogated24 later, Smith said they had been sold to him in Seventh Heaven Bar-B-Q (a well-known Harlem bar) for twenty dollars each by a negro he had never seen before or since. Vendor25 had said they were worth fifty dollars each at Tiffany's, but that he, the vendor, wanted ready cash and Tiffany's was too far anyway. Smith bought one for twenty dollars and on finding that a neighbouring pawnbroker18 would offer him twenty-five dollars for it, returned to the bar and purchased the remaining three for sixty dollars. The next morning he took them to Fein's. Subject has no criminal record.'
M returned the paper to the brown folder.
'That's typical,' he said. 'Several times they've caught up with the next link, the middle man who bought them a bit cheaper and they find that he bought a handful, in one case a hundred of them, from some man who presumably got them cheaper still. All these larger transactions have taken place in Harlem or Florida. Always the next man in the link was an unknown negro, in all cases a white-collar man, prosperous, educated, who said he guessed they were treasure-trove, Blackbeard's treasure.
'This Blackbeard story would stand up to most investigations,' continued M, 'because there is reason to believe that part of his hoard26 was dug up around Christmas Day, 1928, at a place called Plum Point. It's a narrow neck of land in Beaufort County, North Carolina, where a stream called Bath Creek27 flows into the Pamlico River. Don't think I'm an expert,' he smiled, 'you can read all about this in the dossier. So, in theory, it would be quite reasonable for those lucky treasure-hunters to have hidden the loot until everyone had forgotten the story and then thrown it fast on the market. Or else they could have sold it en bloc28 at the time, or later, and the purchaser has just decided29 to cash in. Anyway it's a good enough cover except on two counts.'
M paused and relit his pipe.
'Firstly, Blackbeard operated from about 1690 to 1710 and it's improbable that none of his coin should have been minted later than 1650. Also, as I said before, it's very unlikely that his treasure would contain Edward IV Rose Nobles, since there's no record of an English treasure-ship being captured on its way to Jamaica. The Brethren of the Coast wouldn't take them on. Too heavily escorted. There were much easier pickings if you were sailing in those days "on the plundering30 account" as they called it.
'Secondly,' and M looked at the ceiling and then back at Bond, 'I know where the treasure is. At least I'm pretty sure I do. And it's not in America. It's in Jamaica, and it is Bloody Morgan's, and I guess it's one of the most valuable treasure-troves in history.'
'Good Lord,' said Bond. 'How… where do we come into it?"
M held up his hand. 'You'll find all the details in here,' he let his hand come down on the brown folder. 'Briefly31, Station C has been interested in a Diesel32 yacht, the Secatur, which has been running from a small island on the North Coast of Jamaica through the Florida Keys into the Gulf33 of Mexico, to a place called St. Petersburg. Sort of pleasure resort, near Tampa. West Coast of Florida. With the help of the FBI we've traced the ownership of this boat and of the island to a man called Mr. Big, a negro gangster34. Lives in Harlem. Ever heard of him?'
'No,' said Bond.
'And curiously35 enough,' M's voice was softer and quieter, 'a twenty-dollar bill which one of these casual negroes had paid for a gold coin and whose number he had noted36 for 't't- Peaka Peow, the Numbers game, was paid out by one of Mr. Big's lieutenants37. And it was paid,' M pointed38 the stem of his pipe at Bond, 'for information received, to an FBI double-agent who is a member of the Communist Party.'
Bond whistled softly.
'In short,' continued M, 'we suspect that this Jamaican treasure is being used to finance the Soviet espionage39 system, or an important part of it, in America. And our suspicion becomes a certainty when I tell you who this Mr. Big is.'
Bond waited, his eyes fixed on M's.
'Mr. Big,' said M, weighing his words, 'is probably the most powerful negro criminal in the world. He is,' and he enumerated40 carefully,' the head of the Black Widow Voodoo cult41 and believed by that cult to be the Baron42 Samedi himself. (You'll find all about that here,' he tapped the folder, 'and it'll frighten the daylights out of you.) He is also a Soviet agent. And finally he is, and this will particularly interest you, Bond, a known member of SMERSH.'
'Yes,' said Bond slowly, 'I see now.'
'Quite a case,' said M, looking keenly at him. 'And quite a man, this Mr. Big.'
'I don't think I've ever heard of a great negro criminal before,' said Bond, 'Chinamen, of course, the men behind the opium43 trade. There've been some big-time Japs, mostly in pearls and drugs. Plenty of negroes mixed up in diamonds and gold in Africa, but always in a small way. They don't seem to take to big business. Pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought except when they've drunk too much.'
'Our man's a bit of an exception,' said M. 'He's not pure negro. Born in Haiti. Good dose of French blood. Trained in Moscow, too, as you'll see from the file. And the negro races are just beginning to throw up geniuses in all the professions - scientists, doctors, writers. It's about time they turned out a great criminal. After all, there are 250,000,000 of them in the world. Nearly a third of the white population. They've got plenty of brains and ability and guts44. And now Moscow's taught one of them the technique.'
'I'd like to meet him,' said Bond. Then he added, mildly, 'I'd like to meet any member of SMERSH.'
'All right then, Bond. Take it away.' M handed him the thick brown folder. 'Talk it over with Plender and Damon. Be ready to start in a week. It's a joint45 CIA and FBI job. For God's sake don't step on the FBI's toes. Covered with corns. Good luck.'
Bond had gone straight down to Commander Damon, Head of Station A, an alert Canadian who controlled the link with the Central Intelligence Agency, America's Secret Service.
Damon looked up from his desk. 'I see you've bought it,' he said, looking at the folder. 'Thought you would. Sit down,' he waved to an armchair beside the electric fire. 'When you've waded46 through it all, I'll fill in the gaps.'
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1
convertible
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| adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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grafted
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| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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7
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
Soviet
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| adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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12
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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15
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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pawnbroker
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| n.典当商，当铺老板 | |
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pawnbrokers
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| n.当铺老板( pawnbroker的名词复数 ) | |
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folder
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| n.纸夹，文件夹 | |
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engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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22
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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interrogated
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| v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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vendor
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| n.卖主；小贩 | |
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hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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bloc
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| n.集团；联盟 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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diesel
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| n.柴油发动机，内燃机 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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34
gangster
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| n.匪徒，歹徒，暴徒 | |
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35
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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lieutenants
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| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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espionage
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| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
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enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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44
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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45
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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46
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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