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

strange, half-built boat suspended over a water tank. Q was startled as Bond ran past them.
    ‘Where’s the fire, Double-0—?’ Boothroyd asked, but Bond was already gone.
    He rounded a comer, took a flight of stairs three steps at a time, and bolted into the security area. ‘Stop! King!’ he shouted.
    But the call was muffled where King was walking. His mind was so focused on the money that even he didn't hear the serene hum which his lapel pin began to emit.
    Bond reached the lower corridor’s open doorway just as a massive explosion rocked the building, and all hell broke loose. Fire blasted out of the corridor, knocking Bond back and to the floor. The entire structure shook for a moment as a lower tier gave way, its roof and a wall collapsing amidst the smoke and flames.
    Giulietta the cigar girl sat in a Sunseeker Hawk 34 at the edge of the Thames, eyeing the destruction that was caused by the little device that Renard had created. The fools at MI6 had fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. She picked up the FN FAL sniper rifle and lined up the infra-red telescopic sight on the billow of dark smoke that was pouring out of the hole in the building.
    Just as Renard had predicted, James Bond stumbled out of the wreckage, peering around and attempting to find the source of the mayhem. She took careful ami and activated the laser.
    Bond coughed and rubbed smoke from his eyes, shaken from the blast but unharmed. But Sir Robert and a small section of SIS headquarters had vanished in the blink of an eye. The culprits had to be nearby, watching.
    He waved the smoke away and then noticed the wand of red light pointing at his chest. Instinctively he dived for cover just as the powerful, high velocity bullets blanketed the area. He crawled behind a stone wall, drew the Walther and prepared to return fire. He scanned the area but the bullets continued to fly over his head. Bond snaked on his belly a little further out so that he could see more clearly.
    She was on a sleek high-tech boat, approximately a hundred yards from the shore. He immediately recognised her as the girl from Bilbao.
    Realising that she had Med to kill the MI6 agent, Giulietta’s only goal now was to get out of there alive. She dropped the rifle and gunned the engines, speeding off down the river.
    Determined, Bond jumped up and raced back into the wreckage and chaos that the building had become. Q was not going to like it, but there was only one thing to do.
    The Q Branch boat had been lowered into the tank, temporarily forgotten, and now Major Boothroyd and his men were busy checking reports of damage, sounding alarms and sealing off passages. They didn't notice James Bond as he ran into the room and leapt into the boat.
    Bond stared at the mystifying number of buttons and gadgets on the console, gambled and pressed a red button. The engine roared, and the boat shot out of its berth.
    Boothroyd looked up in horror. ‘Wait! It's not finished!’
    The vessel, a one-man sprint boat that was compact, slim- lined and built from scratch, soared out of the SIS rubble and into the Thames. The craft was lightweight and very sensitive to Bond’s guidance. It spun around in the water, out of control, but Bond gripped the steering wheel and pulled it hard to the right. The boat levelled out, but its momentum nearly caused it to capsize. It took Bond approximately twenty seconds to get the feel of the controls, and then he steered the boat in the direction of the escaping assassin. He revved the engine and tore through thie water after her.
    Giulietta could see Bond's boat in a side mirror. He was gaining fast. She pushed her own engines to the limit, roaring to a new level of speed. The Hawk 34 was a luxury vessel capable of fifty-four knots, but Giulietta found that the boat’s many extras - a full camper/suntop and tonneau, wetbar, refrigerator — were a liability now. It was meant to be a pleasure cruiser, not an escape boat. Still, the craft propelled through