Bond said, ?I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that.?
The words amused her. The dimples at each side of the mouth deepened into clefts3. She said, ?You talk like a girl who has had it for the first time. Now you are frightened that you will have a baby. You will have to tell your mother.?
Bond leaned down and kissed her. He kissed the two corners of her mouth and then the parted lips. He said, ?Come and swim. Then I must talk to you.? He got to his feet and held out his hands. Reluctantly she took them. He pulled her up and against him. Her body flirted4 with his, knowing it was safe. She smiled impishly up at him and became more wanton. Bond crushed her fiercely to him, to stop her and because he knew they had only a few more minutes of happiness. He said, ?Stop it, Domino. And come on. We don't need any clothes. The sand won't hurt your foot. I was only pretending.?
She said, ?So was I when I came out of the sea. The spines5 didn't hurt all that much. And I could have cured them if I'd wanted to. Like the fishermen do. You know how??
Bond laughed. ?Yes I do. Now, into the sea.? He kissed her once and stood back and looked at her body to remember how it had been. Then he turned abruptly6 and ran to the sea and dived deeply down.
When he got back to shore she was already out and dressing7. Bond dried himself. He answered her laughing remarks through the partition with monosyllables. Finally she accepted the change in him. She said, ?What is the matter with you, James? Is anything wrong??
?Yes, darling.? Pulling on his trousers, Bond heard the rattle8 of the little gold chain against the coins in his pocket. He said, ?Come outside. I've got to talk to you.?
Sentimentally9, Bond chose a patch of sand on the other side of the nut from where they had been before. She came out and stood in front of him. She examined his face carefully, trying to read it. Bond avoided her eyes. He sat with his arms around his knees and looked out to sea. She sat down beside him, but not close. She said, ?You are going to hurt me. Is it that you too are going away? Be quick. Do it cleanly and I will not cry.?
Bond said, ?I'm afraid it's worse than that, Domino. It's not about me. It's about your brother.?
Bond sensed the stiffening10 of her body. She said in a low, tense voice, ?Go on. Tell me.?
Bond took the bracelet11 out of his pocket and silently handed it to her.
She took it. She hardly gave it a glance. She turned a little away from Bond. ?So he is dead. What happened to him??
?It is a bad story, and a very big one. It involves your friend Largo12. It is a very great conspiracy13. I am here to find out things for my government. I am really a kind of policeman. I am telling you this and I will tell you the rest because hundreds and perhaps thousands of people will die unless you help to prevent it. That is why I had to show you that bracelet and hurt you so that you would believe me. I am breaking my oath in doing this. Whatever happens, whatever you decide to do, I trust you not to tell what I am going to say.?
?So that is why you made love to me-to make me do what you want. And now you blackmail14 me with the death of my brother.? The words came out between her teeth. Now in a soft, deadly whisper, she said, ?I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.?
Bond said coldly, in a matter-of-fact voice, ?Your brother was killed by Largo, or on his orders. I came here to tell you that. But then?-he hesitated-?you were there and I love you and want you. When what happened began to happen I should have had strength to stop it. I hadn't. I knew it was then or perhaps never. Knowing what I knew, it was a dreadful thing to have done. But you looked so beautiful and happy. I wanted to put off hurting you. That is my only excuse.? Bond paused. ?Now listen to what I have to tell you. Try and forget about your hate for me. In a moment you will realize that we are nothing in all this. This is a thing by itself.? Bond didn't wait for her to comment. He began from the beginning and went slowly, minutely, through the whole case, omitting only the advent15 of the Manta , the one factor that could now be of help to Largo and perhaps alter his plans. He ended, ?So you see, there is nothing we can do until those weapons are actually on board the Disco . Until that moment comes, Largo has a perfect alibi16 with his treasure-hunt story. There is nothing to link him with the crashed plane or with SPECTRE. If we interfere17 with him now, this moment, arrest the ship on some excuse, put a watch on her, prevent her sailing, there will only be a delay in the SPECTRE plan. Only Largo and his men know where the bombs are hidden. If the plane has gone for them, it will be keeping contact with the Disco by radio. If there's any hitch18, the plane can leave the bombs at the hiding place or at another, dump them in shallow water anywhere, and return for them when the trouble has blown over. Even the Disco could be taken off the job and some other ship or plane used any time in the future. SPECTRE headquarters, wherever they are, will inform the Prime Minister that there has been a change of plan, or they can say nothing at all. Then, perhaps weeks from now, they will send another communication. And this time there will perhaps be only twenty-four hours' notice for the money to be dropped. The terms will be tougher. And we shall have to accept them. So long as those bombs are still lost to us, the threat is there. You see that?? ?Yes. So what is to be done?? The voice was harsh. The girl's eyes glittered fiercely as they looked at and through Bond toward some distant target-not, he thought, at Largo the great conspirator19, but at Largo who had had her brother killed.
?We have got to know when those bombs are on board the Disco . That is all that matters. Then we can act with all our weight. And we have one great factor on our side. We are pretty sure that Largo feels secure. He still believes that the wonderful plan, and it is wonderful, is going exactly as it was meant to do. That is our strength and our only strength. You see that??
?And how are you to know when the bombs come on board the yacht??
?You must tell us.?
?Yes.? The monosyllable was dull, indifferent. ?But how am I to know? And how am I to tell you? This man is no fool. He is only foolish in wanting his mistress?-she spat20 the word out-?when so much else is at stake.? She paused. ?These people have chosen badly. Largo cannot live without a woman within reach. They should have known that.?
?When did Largo tell you to come back on board??
?Five. The boat is coming to fetch me at Palmyra.?
Bond looked at his watch. ?It is now four. I have this Geiger counter. It is simple to use. It will tell at once if the bombs are on board. I want you to take it with you. If it says there is a bomb on board, I want you to show a light at your porthole-switch the lights on in your cabin several times, anything like that. We have men watching the ship. They will be told to report. Then get rid of the Geiger counter. drop it overboard.?
She said scornfully, ?That is a silly plan. It is the sort of melodramatic nonsense people write about in thrillers21. In real life people don't go into their cabins and switch on their lights in daylight. No. If the bombs are there, I will come up on deck-show myself to your men. That is natural behavior. If they are not there, I will stay in my cabin.?
?All right. Have it your own way. But will you do this?? ?Of course. If I can prevent myself killing22 Largo when I see him. But on condition that when you get him you will see that he is killed.? She was entirely23 serious. She looked at him with matter-of-fact eyes as if he were a travel agent and she were reserving a seat on a train.
?I doubt if that will happen. I should say that every man on board will get a life sentence in prison.?
She considered this. ?Yes. That will do. That is worse than being killed. Now show me how this machine works.? She got to her feet and took a couple of steps up the beach. She seemed to remember something. She looked down at the bracelet in her hand. She turned and walked down to the edge of the sea and stood for a moment looking out across the quiet water. She said some words that Bond couldn't hear. Then she leaned back and with all her strength threw the gold chain far out over the shoal into the dark blue. The chain twinkled briefly24 in the strong sun and there was a small splash. She watched the ripples25 widen and, when the smashed mirror was whole again, turned and walked back up the sand, her small limp leaving footmarks of uneven26 depth.
Bond showed her the working of the machine. He eliminated the wrist-watch indicator27 and told her to depend entirely on the telltale clicking. ?Anywhere in the ship should be all right,? he explained. ?But better near the hold if you can get there. Say you want to take a photograph from the well deck aft or something. This thing's made up to look like a Rolleiflex. It's got all the Rolleiflex lenses and gadgets28 on the front, lever to press and all. It just hasn't got a film. You could say that you'd decided29 to take some farewell pictures of Nassau and the yacht, couldn't you??
?Yes.? The girl, who had been listening attentively30, now seemed distracted. Tentatively she put out a hand and touched Bond's arm. She let the hand fall. She looked up at him and then swiftly away. She said shyly, ?What I said, what I said about hating you. That is not true. I didn't understand. How could I-all this terrible story? I still can't quite believe it, believe that Largo has anything to do with it. We had a sort of an affair in Capri. He is an attractive man. Everyone else wanted him. It was a challenge to take him from all these other smart women. Then he explained about the yacht and this wonderful trip looking for treasure. It was like a fairy tale. Of course I agreed to come. Who wouldn't have? In exchange, I was quite ready to do what I had to do.? She looked briefly at him and away. ?I am sorry. But that is how it is. When we got to Nassau and he kept me ashore31, away from the yacht, I was surprised but I was not offended. The islands are beautiful. There was enough for me to do. But what you have told me explains many small things. I was never allowed in the radio room. The crew were silent and unfriendly-they treated me like someone who was not wanted on board, and they were on curious terms with Largo, more like equals than paid men. And they were tough men and better educated than sailors usually are. So it all fits. I can even remember that, for a whole week before last Thursday, Largo was terribly nervous and irritable32. We were already getting tired of each other. I put it down to that. I was even making plans for flying home by myself. But he has been better the last few days and when he told me to be packed and ready to come on board this evening, I thought I might just as well do as he said. And of course I was very excited over this treasure hunt. I wanted to see what it was all about. But then?-she looked out to sea-?there was you. And this afternoon, after what happened, I had decided to tell Largo I would not go. I would stay here and see where you went and go with you.? For the first time she looked him full in the face and held his eyes. ?Would you have let me do that??
Bond reached out and put his hand against her cheek. ?Of course I would.?
?But what happens now? When shall I see you again??
This was the question Bond had dreaded33. By sending her back on board, and with the Geiger counter, he was putting her in double danger. She could be found out by Largo, in which case her death would be immediate34. If it came to a chase, which seemed almost certain, the Manta would sink the Disco by gunfire or torpedo35, probably without warning. Bond had added up these factors and had closed his mind to them. He kept it closed. He said, ?As soon as this is over. I shall look for you wherever you are. But now you are going to be in danger. You know this. Do you want to go on with it?? She looked at her watch. She said, ?It is half past four. I must go. Do not come with me to the car. Kiss me once and stay here. Do not worry about what you want done. I will do it well. It is either that or a stiletto in the hack36 for this man.? She held out her arms. ?Come.? Minutes later Bond heard the engine of the MG come to life. He waited until the sound had receded37 in the distance down the Western Coast Road; then he went to the Land Rover and climbed in and followed.
A mile down the coast, at the two white obelisks38 that marked the entrance to Palmyra, dust still hung in the driveway. Bond sneered39 at his impulse to drive in after her and stop her from going out to the yacht. What in hell was he thinking of? He drove on fast down the road to Old Fort Point, where the police watchers were housed in the garage of a deserted40 villa41. They were there, one man reading a paperback42 in a canvas chair while the other sat before tripod binoculars43 that were trained on the Disco through a gap in the blinds of a side window. The khaki walkie-talkie set was beside them on the floor. Bond gave them the new briefing and got on the radio to the Police Commissioner44 and confirmed it to him. The Commissioner passed two messages to him from Leiter. One was to the effect that the visit to Palmyra had been negative except that a servant had said the girl's baggage had gone on board the Disco that afternoon. The boathouse was completely innocent. It contained a glass-bottomed boat and pedallo. The pedallo would have made the tracks they had seen from the air. The second message said that the Manta was expected in twenty minutes. Would Bond meet Leiter at the Prince George, Wharf45, where she would dock.
***
The Manta , coming with infinite caution up-channel, had none of the greyhound elegance46 of the conventional submarine. She was blunt and thick and ugly. The bulbous metal cucumber, her rounded nose shrouded47 with tarpaulin48 to hide the secrets of her radar49 scanner from the Nassavians, held no suggestion of her speed, which Leiter said was around forty knots submerged. ?But they won't tell you that, James. That's Classified. I guess we're going to find that even the paper in the can is Classified when we go aboard. Watch out for these Navy guys, Nowadays they're so tight-lipped they think even a belch50 is a security risk.?
?What else do you know about her??
?Well, we won't tell this to the captain, but of course in C.I.A. we had to be taught the basic things about these atom subs, so we could brief agents on what to look for and recognize clues in their reports. She's one of the George Washington Class, about four thousand tons, crew of around a hundred, cost about a hundred million dollars. Range, anything you want until the chow runs out or until the nuclear reactor51 needs topping up-say every hundred thousand miles or so. If she has the same armament as the George Washington, she'll have sixteen vertical52 launching tubes, two banks of eight, for the Polaris solid-fuel missile. These have a range of around twelve hundred miles. The crews call the tubes the `Sherwood Forest' because they're painted green and the missile compartment53 looks like rows of great big tree trunks. These Polaris jobs are fired from way down below the surface. The sub stops and holds dead steady. They have the ship's exact position at all times through radio fixes and star sights through a tricky54 affair called a star-tracker periscope55. All this dope is fed into the missiles automatically. Then the chief gunner presses a button and a missile shoots up through the water by compressed air. When it breaks surface the solid-fuel rockets ignite and take the missile the rest of the way. Hell of a weapon, really, when you come to think of it. Imagine these damned things shooting up out of the sea anywhere in the world and blowing some capital city to smithereens. We've got six of them already and we're going to have more. Good deterrent56 when you come to think of it. You don't know where they are or when. Not like bomber57 bases and firing pads and so on you can track down and put out of action with your first rocket wave.?
Bond commented drily, ?They'll find some way of spotting them. And presumably an atomic depth charge set deep would send a shock wave through hundreds of miles of water and blow anything to pieces over a huge area. But has she got anything smaller than these missiles? If we're going to do a job on the Disco what are we going to use??
?She's got six torpedo tubes up front and I dare say she's got some smaller stuff-machine guns and so forth58. The trouble's going to be to get the commander to fire them. He's not going to like firing on an unarmed civilian59 yacht on the orders of a couple of plainclothes guys, and one of them a Limey at that. Hope his orders from the Navy Department are as solid as mine and yours.? The huge submarine bumped gently against the wharf. Lines were thrown and an aluminum60 gangplank was run ashore. There was a ragged61 cheer from the crowd of watchers being held back by a cordon62 of police. Leiter said, ?Well, here we go. And to one hell of a tad start. Not a hat between us to salute63 the quarter deck with. You curtsy, I'll bow.?
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1
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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clefts
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| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
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flirted
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spines
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| n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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sentimentally
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| adv.富情感地 | |
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stiffening
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| n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式 | |
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bracelet
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| n.手镯，臂镯 | |
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largo
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| n.广板乐章；adj.缓慢的，宽广的；adv.缓慢地，宽广地 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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18
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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thrillers
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| n.紧张刺激的故事( thriller的名词复数 )；戏剧；令人感到兴奋的事；（电影）惊悚片 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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gadgets
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| n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ） | |
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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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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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obelisks
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| n.方尖石塔，短剑号，疑问记号( obelisk的名词复数 ) | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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paperback
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| n.平装本，简装本 | |
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binoculars
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| n.双筒望远镜 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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48
tarpaulin
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| n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽 | |
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49
radar
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| n.雷达，无线电探测器 | |
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50
belch
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| v.打嗝，喷出 | |
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51
reactor
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| n.反应器；反应堆 | |
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52
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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53
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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54
tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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55
periscope
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| n. 潜望镜 | |
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56
deterrent
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| n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的 | |
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57
bomber
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| n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者 | |
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58
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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60
aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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61
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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cordon
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| n.警戒线，哨兵线 | |
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63
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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