Bond Movies 06 - The World Is Not Enough Read Online Free

he stepped over to the ice bucket. He picked up two cubes and plopped them into his tumbler.
    ‘It only takes one,'he said.
    M ignored the quip and walked around her desk and assumed a relaxed position on the edge of it. ‘Any leads on the sniper?’
    ‘No. The hotel room was clean. Professional job.’
    M pondered this as she took a sip from her drink.
    Bond noticed a report on the desk that was stamped with a strange seal. He took a closer look and saw that it was from the Russian Atomic Energy agency.
    ‘Is that the stolen report?’ he asked.
    M nodded and handed it to him. Bond set down his tumbler and began to thumb dirough the document.
    ‘Yes. Classified, from the Russian Atomic Energy Department. All it does is assess the computer bug threat on the nuclear arsenal in the former Soviet Republics’
    Neither of them noticed that the ice in Bond’s tumbler was beginning to fizz.
    ‘What would King want this for?’ he asked.
    ‘As I told you before, it wasn’t what he thought it was. He was led to believe the document was a secret report that identified the terrorists who’ve attacked a new oil pipeline he’s building in the region. Kazakhstan . . . Azerbaijan . . . that part of the world. He's had quite a bit of trouble with bands of local tribesmen who get hold of explosives and vandalise his operations. He thought the report would pinpoint who the real culprits are and he could go to the proper authorities with it. But when he discovered the report concerned nuclear weapons, he turned it over to me, immediately. It turns out the thing’s worthless. It’s nothing new to us.’
    The ice continued to fizz, unnoticed.
    ‘Interesting,’ Bond said. ‘So Sir Robert gave this worthless report to MI6, and then we received a call about the money?’ ‘That’s right,’ M said, a bit perturbed that Bond was going back over details. ‘We received a message that Sir Robert could have his money back. All we had to do was send someone to Spain to pick it up from a Swiss banker. We sent you.’
    ‘It’s all a bit of a mystery, isn't it? Everyone in that bank office died, except the girl. And me’
    ‘Remember, you’re the one who drew a weapon first. You might have come out of there with the money and without an incident. I’ve already lost one Double-0 this month, I don’t need to lose another.’
    Bond ignored the reprimand. ‘But why give back the money in the first place? It doesn’t explain why someone wanted me to get out of that office in Bilbao alive . . . with the cash . . .’ He paused for a moment, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. It was then that he felt the strange bubbling where he had touched the ice. His eyes darted to the tumbler. The ice was boiling!
    What the hell? he thought. He sniffed his fingers, identified the smell, then dropped the report on the desk. ‘King! The money! M, it’s a bomb!’
    Bond was halfway out of the door when M stabbed at the intercom. ‘Moneypenny! Stop King!’
    Sir Robert and an MI6 aide were unaware of the sudden alarm as they walked toward the security area of the building. King’s only thoughts were on the money, which was still lying on the tray, wrapped in plastic. Security bars were between him and the cash. An official produced a bag and moved toward it, saying, ‘We haven’t finished checking it yet, sir.’
    Sir Robert waved him away. ‘I'm sure it’s all there. If you can’t trust MI6, whom can you trust?’
    The official hesitated a moment, then decided not to argue with one of the more powerful men in Britain. He placed the money inside a canvas bag, opened the gate and handed the cash to King.
    ‘Thank you,’ the tycoon said. He heaved the bag over his shoulder. ‘Quite heavy, isn’t it?’ he said to the aide and proceeded to walk alone into the corridor leading outside.
    Bond, rushing through the building, took a short cut through the Q Branch laboratory, where Major Boothroyd and his technicians were busy working on a