To any person in the bar of Bellagio hotel , Las Vegas , the quiet woman sitting in the bar , wearing a long , red , seductive yet elegant dress would be like any other woman. Waiting for an equally attractive man , they would think , twirling her short black hair and licking her ruby red lips.
A few men would try to approach her , and she would wave them off , glancing at the bar door. At last , a man does come in through the door. He is grossly obese , and smoking a cigar. He has a solid gold belt buckle and a white suit. He notices her first , and scurries over to her like a metal to people at the bar snort at the man , some in bewilderment , some in their surprise , the woman too lights up at the sight of him.
She kisses him on both cheeks as he whispers something in her ear and she blushes and takes the hotel keys from his hands , rather clumsily. Then they both get up and hand in hand , exit the bar. To an observer , this made no sense. However , let's get it from her point of view.
Veronica Solandres was no ordinary woman.
At the age of 7 , she had been orphaned when both of her parents had committed suicide after they went broke. Her mother was Indian , and her father an American. Her mother's parents had long disowned her on her decision to marry an American.
Defying all family values , she moved to America to stay with her husband. They were happy for some time , even welcoming a baby girl into the world , and then the loans that the husband took began to pop up. With the cost of rent , and a baby added , they decided the quickest way out would be suicide.
It was a sunny day in California , when this happened.
They both agreed , but the wife would not let the husband kill their innocent daughter , who was in the living room , playing with dolls. He agreed and they both , without even a goodbye to their daughter , locked themselves in their room , popped in pills of cyanide and died.
The neighbor found them an hour ago , due to the loud banging coming from their house. The child was trying to open the door. The locksmith was called and the door finally opened to find the heavy stench of decaying bodies. The child was ,unfortunately , with them.
The child cried and cried , until it could cry no was sent to an orphanage , where the people were was encouraged to pray , but somehow she couldn't believe in all the teachings of God.
If there was truly a God , he would not have subjected her to this kind of torture.
The highlight of her week was a woman , who called herself 'M'.She visited the orphanage once in a week, but did not reveal her intention , just a letter the children could call her. The child had always been very curious.
So , she began to spy. Following the woman , everywhere , until she got in a black car and left. She began to enjoy it. It made her feel more alive than ever. She learned something new about M , every single day. About how she preferred red roses then white , when she caught her sniffing the red ones , ignoring the whites.
How she was the head of something , because a man kept giving her loads of files and she discussed them with him. She caught some words like "Missile" , "Ukraine" and "War-zone".One day , when as usually , she was spying on M , the woman surprised her , by coming behind her and tapping her shoulder , when she had lost track of her.
She flew back and hung her head , awaiting the scolding she would get but the woman smiled instead. "You've been spying on me" , she said in a thick British accent and the child nodded , but instead of scolding the woman sat down on a bench , and invited the child to join her.
"You're good. But I caught you on the 3rd day.." , she said and the child laughed."What do you know about me , Melanie?" , she asked and the child snapped. "Melanie is the name my parents gave me before they left me alone in this world." , her voice was harsh for a 7 year old , as she dusted off her black jeans. "The world in cruel , and I've learnt that. So , I've changed my name. My name is Veronica Solandres" , she said defiantly and M was surprised for a moment before nodding.
"Why Veronica Solandres?" , she asked and Veronica smiled. "Veronica is the name of my favorite Archie character. And Solandres is the last name of an Indian character. I'd like to stay true to my roots". M looks surprised but smiled and patted the head of the child.
She felt heartbroken when her parents had left her. She questioned everything and everyone after it. Why did they do it? Where have they gone? There wasn't much the nuns could tell her , aside from the fact that God would be watching over them. She hated the other kids. They were haughty and never talked to her , just the way she preferred it.
Slowly , she began to alienate herself , and spent most of her time in the library reading books in English , Latin , Spanish etc , teaching herself the language along the way.
Veronica launched into a full discussing with M about what she knew about her. M was impressed , but she soon stopped visiting. Veronica waited for her , but it was clear she was never coming back. She aged slowly but gracefully. When others called her out to play , she would fix them with a sneer that would even make Dracula tremble in fear.
However , on her 18th birthday , M returned. Her eyes had aged , as well as her body , but her mind was sharp as told Veronica to listen carefully , and explained who she was , and about MI6. Veronica was anything but shocked. She already knew some of the stuff.
M gave her a proposal to join MI6 and be an Agent. She accepted it on spot , and soon moved into the headquarters in Britain. She liked her colleagues who respected her privacy and knew the dangers and risks the job presented. She was the best agent the department had.
It was a surprise to no one when she was promoted to double O status by M. She was agent 009 now. There was only 20 agents with double O names , and it made her proud.M had recently called her for a mission regarding a drug lord , Maximilian Jorender , and how it could be her big break. She readily agreed , which is how she now found herself going to Max's room.
"I'm going to assassinate him soon enough. Just endure this smelly , pathetic man , Ronnie.." , she told herself in her mind and the man grinned at her. "You're so sexy , sexy.." , he laughed as he twisted the key. He was , without a doubt , drunk. Her cover was as a prostitute. That's the best M could come up with? , she internally questioned and they reached the room where Max , without a word of warning , pushed her to the bed.
Her training made her stable on her feet and she dropped gracefully to the bed , smiling coyly , and licked her lips. The man jumped into bed and started unbuttoning his shirt when Veronica suggested she go the bathroom and change. And in the bathroom , is where she met Agent 007.
She went to the bathroom to take out a gun from a special compartment in her black boot , deigned for her by the lovely new Quartermaster. She made a mental note to send him flowers.
She then heard a sound. She cocked an ear while appearing to apply her lipstick in the giant mirror , surrounded by a large marble , someone's arm was around her. She couldn't see him but they struggled with minimal sound , careful as to not alarm the man outside the door. Suddenly , the man flipped Veronica and she saw his eyes.
They were a startling blue color , like someone had electrocuted them. They carried a certain sadness about them , although. His hair was sandy and blonde. He smiled.
"Agent 009" , he said as he still held on to her tightly.
"Agent 007. M didn't tell me she was sending you" , she said breathily noticing how close 007 had pushed her to himself. Her chest was touching his , sending sparks down her back."I came along for safety purposes" , he teased as Veronica finally freed her from him , with much effort. "I believe this is the first time we've met" , she said as she attached the silencer to her gun , and Bond leaned again the marble wall coolly.
"I believe so , Agent"
"Veronica" , she said coyly and the man smirked. "Bond. James Bond". He held himself like he was in the military , with a certain sense of pride. His British accent mixed well with her American one. She internally smiled at that. She hadn't got used to the British accent yet.
"Baby?!" , a loud banging was heard on the door and Ron internally flinched while James had a smirk playing on his lips."Quit it , 007" , she whispered fiercely and then said louder."Coming!"
"So , I take it you don't need my help?" , he said , brushing off his suit and Ron smiled. "Not really. But I don't have a place to stay tonight. And I'm not fond of sleeping with a dead body" , she pretended to sign and James smiled."Well , luck has it I have a room. Why don't we head up after you've finished... The job?" , he said and Ron pretended to think about it.
"Very well. If you insist!"She looked at him with a final smirk and hid the gun in her boot. She pushed the door ajar , to find the man sitting in the bed , fidgeting." I'm ready!" , she cooed at the man and he smirked. His hands reached out towards her as she slowly walked towards him , cat-like and dangerous.
Suddenly , faster than he could comprehend , she whipped out the gun and shot poor man could do nothing but gasp before the bullet hit him squarely in the heart and he was silenced instantly.
She drew out a breath she didn't know she was man was bleeding all over the white sheets. She had felt a pang of sadness for her first victim , then slowly grew accustomed to it. Whether it was a good thing , or a bad thing , she would never knocked twice on the bathroom door , as James came out and surveyed the scene.
"A very clean kill" , he said in a low seductive voice that almost made her fall on her composed herself before she emptied the gun barrel , and wiped the gun clean while a patient watched then threw the gun into the bed before stretching her back and suddenly , Bond piped up."I have a room on the same floor. Would you like to accompany me , perhaps?Or would you prefer sleeping with the dead person?" , he said teasing and Ron let out a short laugh.
"Lead the way , 007".They quietly left the room , after making sure no one was on the floor and making Q disable the security cameras.
They walked down the hallway for a while before they stopped outside a door which had the numbers , 007 marked on it.
Veronica laughed as she saw Bond's lips curve into a smile.
"Very cute" , she said and Bond opened the door for her.
