He rang the number and, after minutes, a sleepy voice said, 'Ja! Hier Muir.'
Bond said, 'Sorry, 410, but this is 007. I'm calling from the airport. This is bloody4 urgent so I'll have to take a chance on your line being bugged5. Got a paper and pencil?'
The voice at the other end had grown brisker. 'Hang on, 007. Yes, got it. Go ahead.'
'First of all I've got some bad news. Your Number Two has had it. Almost for sure. Can't give you any details over this line, but I'm off to London in about an hour - Swissair Flight 110 - and I'll signal the dope back straight away. Could you put that on the teleprinter? Right. Now I'm guessing that in the next day or so a party often girls, British, will be coming in here by helicopter from the Engadine. Yellow Sud Aviation Alouette. I'll be teleprinting their names back from London some time today. My bet is they'll be flying to England, probably on different flights and perhaps to Prestwick and Gatwick as well as London Airport, if you've any planes using those airports. Anyway, I guess they'll be dispersed6. Now, I think it may be very important to tell London their flight numbers and ETA. Rather a big job, but I'll get you authority in a few hours to use men from Berne and Geneva to lend a hand. Got it? Right. Now I'm pretty certain you're blown. Remember the old Operation Bedlam7 that's just been cancelled? Well, it's him and he's got radio and he'll probably have guessed I'd be contacting you this morning. Just take a look out of the window and see if there's any sign of watchers. He's certainly got his men in Zurich.'
'Christ, what a shambles8!' The voice at the other end was tight with tension. 'Hang on.' There was a pause. Bond could visualize9 Muir, whom he didn't know except as a number, going over to the window, carefully drawing aside the curtain. Muir came back on the wire.' Looks damn like it. There's a black Porsche across the road. Two men in it. I'll get my friends in the Se"curite to chase them away.'
Bond said, 'Be careful how you go about it. My guess is that our man has got a pretty good fix in with the police. Anyway, put all this on the telex10 to M personally, would you? Ciphered of course. And tell him if I get back in one piece I must see him today, with 501 [the Chief Scientific Officer to the Service] and if possible with someone in the same line of business from the Ministry11 of Agriculture and Fisheries. Sounds daft, but there it is. It's going to upset their paper hats and Christmas pudding, but I can't help that. Can you manage all that? Good lad. Any questions?'
'Sure I oughtn't to come out to the airport and get some more about my Number Two? He was tailing one of Red-land's men. Chap's been buying some pretty odd stuff from the local rep. of Badische Anilin. Number Two thought it seemed damned fishy12. Didn't tell me what the stuff was. Just thought he'd better see where it was being delivered to.'
'I thought it must be some kind of a spiel like that. No. You stay away from me. I'm hot as a pistol, going to be hotter later in the day when they find a certain Mercedes at the bottom of a precipice13. I'll get off the line now. Sorry to have wrecked14 your Christmas. 'Bye.'
Bond put down the receiver and went up to the restaurant. Tracy had been watching the door. Her face lit up when she saw him. He sat down very close to her and took her hand, a typical airport farewell couple. He ordered plenty of scrambled15 eggs and coffee. 'It's all right, Tracy. I've fixed16 everything at my end. But now about you. That car of yours is going to be bad news. There'll be people who'll have seen you drive away with the Mercedes on your tail. There always are, even at midnight on Christmas Eve. And the big man on top of the mountain has got his men down here too. You'd better finish your breakfast and get the hell on over the frontier. Which is the nearest?'
'Schaffhausen or Konstanz, I suppose, but' - she pleaded -'James, do I have to leave you now? It's been so long waiting for you. And I have done well, haven't I? Why do you want to punish me?' Tears, that would never have been there in the Royale days, sparkled in her eyes. She wiped them angrily away with the back of her hand.
Bond suddenly thought, Hell! I'll never find another girl like this one. She's got everything I've ever looked for in a woman. She's beautiful, in bed and out. She's adventurous17, brave, resourceful. She's exciting always. She seems to love me. She'd let me go on with my life. She's a lone18 girl, not cluttered19 up with friends, relations, belongings20. Above all, she needs me. It'll be someone for me to look after. I'm fed up with all these untidy, casual affairs that leave me with a bad conscience. I wouldn't mind having children. I've got no social background into which she would or wouldn't fit. We're two of a pair, really. Why not make it for always?
Bond found his voice saying those words that he had never said in his life before, never expected to say.
'Tracy. I love you. Will you marry me?'
She turned very pale. She looked at him wonderingly. Her lips trembled. 'You mean that?'
'Yes, I mean it. With all my heart.'
She took her hand away from his and put her face in her hands. When she removed them she was smiling. ' I'm sorry, James. It's so much what I've been dreaming of. It came as a shock. But yes. Yes, of course I'll marry you. And I won't be silly about it. I won't make a scene. Just kiss me once and I'll be going.' She looked seriously at him, at every detail of his face. Then she leaned forward and they kissed.
She got up briskly. 'I suppose I've got to get used to doing what you say. I'll drive to Munich. To the Vier Jahreszeiten. It's my favourite hotel in the world. I'll wait for you there. They know me. They'll take me in without any luggage. Everything's at Samaden. I'll just have to send out for a tooth-brush and stay in bed for two days until I can go out and get some things. You'll telephone me? Talk to me? When can we get married? I must tell Papa. He'll be terribly excited.'
'Let's get married in Munich. At the Consulate21. I've got a kind of diplomatic immunity22. I can get the papers through quickly. Then we can be married again in an English church, or Scottish rather. That's where I come from. I'll call you up tonight and tomorrow. I'll get to you just as soon as I can. I've got to finish this business first.'
'You promise you won't get hurt?'
Bond smiled. 'I wouldn't think of it. For once I'll run away if someone starts any shooting.'
'All right then.' She looked at him carefully again. 'It's time you took off that red handkerchief. I suppose you realize it's bitten to ribbons. Give it to me. I'll mend it.'
Bond undid23 the red bandanna24 from round his neck. It was a dark, sweat-soaked rag. And she was right. Two corners of it were in shreds25. He must have got them between his teeth and chewed on them when the going was bad down the mountain. He couldn't remember having done so. He gave it to her.
She took it and, without looking back, walked straight out of the restaurant and down the stairs towards the exit.
Bond sat down. His breakfast came and he began eating mechanically. What had he done? What in hell had he done? But the only answer was a feeling of tremendous warmth and relief and excitement. James and Tracy Bond! Commander and Mrs Bond! How utterly26, utterly extraordinary!
The voice of the Tannoy said, 'Attention, please. Passengers on Swissair Flight Number 110 for London, please assemble at gate Number 2. Swissair Flight Number 110 for London. Passengers to gate Number 2, please.'
Bond stubbed out his cigarette, gave a quick glance round their trysting-place to fix its banality27 in his mind, and walked to the door, leaving the fragments of his old life torn up amidst the debris28 of an airport breakfast.
点击收听单词发音
1 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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2 forsaking | |
放弃( forsake的现在分词 ); 弃绝; 抛弃; 摒弃 | |
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3 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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4 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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5 bugged | |
vt.在…装窃听器(bug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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6 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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7 bedlam | |
n.混乱,骚乱;疯人院 | |
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8 shambles | |
n.混乱之处;废墟 | |
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9 visualize | |
vt.使看得见,使具体化,想象,设想 | |
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10 telex | |
n.用户电报,直通专用电传 | |
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11 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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12 fishy | |
adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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13 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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14 wrecked | |
adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
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15 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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16 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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17 adventurous | |
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 | |
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18 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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19 cluttered | |
v.杂物,零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 );乱糟糟地堆满,把…弄得很乱;(以…) 塞满… | |
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20 belongings | |
n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
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21 consulate | |
n.领事馆 | |
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22 immunity | |
n.优惠;免除;豁免,豁免权 | |
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23 Undid | |
v. 解开, 复原 | |
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24 bandanna | |
n.大手帕 | |
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25 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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26 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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27 banality | |
n.陈腐;平庸;陈词滥调 | |
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28 debris | |
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片 | |
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