Note: I do not own James Bond or any of the regular bond character (just the original characters in the story). This is the first chapter and I a modeling this story off several of the 007 novels, so this first chapter does not even mention Bond himself; it is just an opener to set the stage for the rest of the story.

James Bond 007: Exodus of Death

Chapter I

Death of an Informant

It was a dark, rainy day in Washington, DC at a parking garage where a secret meeting was fixing to place. The garage was located in a fairly bad neighborhood well away from all the tourist attractions and glamour of the city. The workday was ending and the streets and sidewalks were beginning to become crowded with people coming home for the day. On this particular October afternoon, the inside of the garage where a young man was waiting to meet with an FBI special agent was dark as night.

Samuel Harris knew full well that he was risking his life to get the report he had written to the FBI. As he sat in the driver's seat of his old Toyota Corolla, he silently reflected among himself what had brought him to that point. After a particularly abusive childhood, he had joined the army in 2005 and served 2 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. After being injured and subsequently discharged, he had become extremely depressed and unsatisfied with life. Just as he was considering suicide, a person at a bar he was hanging out at had given him a flyer for a newly formed church called the Fellowship of the Exodus, which had several locations around the nation. Desperate for a new lease on life, he joined the church. He had quickly risen through the ranks and, in just three years, was chosen to lead the branch in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In his capacity as the head of his church, Harris had inspired many people to join the church and consequently became a well respected member of the community. However, he had become suspicious of the organization when, during an annual visit to the church headquarters somewhere in the Nevada desert (he had been blindfolded for the plane flight there so he did not know it's exact location) he had stumbled upon crates of weapons and ammunition in a warehouse at a remote end of the compound that had been shipped from Amman, Jordan. As he met with the leaders of the other branches of the church around the nation and they listened to the speech of the church's founder and president, he kept quiet about what he had seen. The president of the church, known to its members only as Exodus, used heavy make-up to conceal his true identity to all except his closest associates. During the meeting, they were all briefed on an operation that would bring "change and order" to the United States.

Samuel Harris felt used and betrayed. He knew that such a plan went against the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. After much soul searching, he resigned from the church and, on his last day as head of his branch, he had warned his followers that the Church was up to something and to watch out for anyone asking them to do something violent or un-Christian. He realized that he needed to do something to stop them, so he compiled a detailed report of everything he knew about the Church, its history, and their underground activities. The end of the report stated vague details of a project the church was currently preparing for called "Operation X" that he insisted threatened national security. He contacted the FBI and arranged to meet one of their agents in a random place in Washington, DC to pass off the report. Because of his service, Harris wound be granted immunity from any prosecution that came up.

Now, Harris looked at his watch. It was 4:15. Right on time, a black Mercedes sedan drove into the garage and parked, blinking his lights twice in a signal as to whom he was (as they had agreed on). Harris blinked his own headlights three times as an acceptance and got out of his car with a manila envelope containing his report. He silently approached FBI agent Scott Hernandez, who had just gotten out of the back seat of the car. The agent spoke.

"Samuel Harris?" he asked

"That's me" Harris replied and handed Hernandez the report. "Here is the report. It is vitally important that this information gets to your superiors. These people are extremely dangerous and might have moles into several government agencies."

"Do you know anything about the leader of the Fellowship of the Exodus?" asked Hernandez.

"I do not know his name; he keeps his true identity secret from all except his closest friends. I can describe him for you, though."

"Go on."

"He is a white male. Late thirty's to early forties. Approximately 6'2" and maybe 200 pounds. He looks like he might be wearing makeup to conceal his face."

After finishing writing down the notes, Agent Hernandez shook hands with Harris. "If these people are as dangerous as you say, we could be facing one of the greatest internal threats in our nation's history. On behalf of the FBI, thank you for your service. Be careful, though, they may be on to you."

"I'll be careful, just make sure not to lose the report."

Harris watched as Hernandez got back in his car and it turned toward the exit of the parking garage. As the car stopped to wait for the gate to go up, there was a large explosion that consumed the FBI car and knocked Harris (a full 100 yards away) to the ground. He decided that he needed to flee before the local police arrived. He got into his car, inserted the key and turned it, but just as the car started, he felt the impact of a tranquilizer dart on the back of his neck. Just before he fell into unconsciousness, he saw the outline of the figure that had fired it at him.

Samuel Harris awoke tied to a chair in a large, luxurious office that was the nerve center of the compound in Nevada. Though he had only seen on video conferences, he knew full well where he was. He was in the office of Exodus himself and knew what fate awaited him. The door open and Exodus walked in, followed by two gun-wielding bodyguards. He sat down at his desk and the two bodyguards stood on either side of Harris and pointed their guns at him. Exodus began to speak.

"Welcome. You are no doubt aware of the reason you are here. I dislike long speeches, so I will be quick and to the point. You are accused of betraying the church by ratting us out to the FBI."

Harris replied "You have become corrupt. I could not just stand by as you took advantage of people's beliefs and used them for your own reasons. Jesus would never have approved of the operation you are planning. I developed close relationships with the members of the church in North Carolina and took it upon myself to stop you in any way from using or hurting them"

One of the bodyguards punched him across the face with enough force to break his jaw. Harris merely grunted and continued to look at Exodus directly in the face. Exodus continued to speak.

"You are no doubt aware that the penalty for betraying the church like this is death. However, in your case, because of your years of service to the church and your high rank, I will give you a chance. You and I will race through the gauntlet".

He knew only too well what was in store for him. The gauntlet is an obstacle course in the compound that was normally used for training people. Modeled after obstacle courses on military bases worldwide, it consisted of barbed wire, tires, and a rope-crossing 30 feet above the ground. It ended with a 100 foot sprint up a steep hill before the finish line. Every person seeking to become a priest, minister, or other high ranking position in the church had to run the course first. Recently, many young men, mostly young ex-soldiers like himself, had been bussed into the compound to train for the latest operation.

Though in great shape, Harris barely managed to finish the course, and many people surrendered partway through (usually right before the rope crossing segment). He knew that the leader had done the race more than anyone, was excellent at it, and that he did not stand much chance racing against another person, let alone an expert like the leader.

"We will each wear one of these vests" Exodus continued and held up a small but bulky nylon vest. "Each vest contains enough C-4 to destroy a house. They are set off by remote control; the detonator button for mine is at the end of your half of the gauntlet and vice versa. You will find a key chained to your vest in a pocket on the front. You must insert it into the keyhole in the detonation transmitter at the finish line to activate the transmitter and, thus, arm the exploder button to destroy me. Are you following?"

Harris nodded

"Do you accept the challenge? If not, you will be shot in the back of the head execution style right now!" Should you win and destroy me, my servants and followers are to recognize you as the new leader of the Fellowship of the Exodus. Yes I am putting my own presidency on the line"?

"I accept!" shouted Harris.

"Good. We will begin immediately. Take Mr. Harris to the changing room and prepare him for the race!

Samuel Harris was shown into a rather luxurious locker room with showers and a hot tub. He was given one hour to relax and prepare before the race. After thirty minutes in the hot tub, he showered and put on the commando clothing that he was ordered to wear. Right on time, the guards came and collected him. He was led outside and walked the quarter of a mile to the starting line of the approximately ½ mile long course. Once there, they put on the explosive vest and armed it's radio detonator receiver. Harris could see Exodus doing the same thing at an identical starting line some 30 meters away.

A voice came over the loudspeaker and spoke: "Welcome to the gauntlet. Here are a few simple rules: You must go over every part of every obstacle and you must not attempt to remove your vests or leave the course. Any attempt to violate one of these will result in your being shot by a sniper, several of which are in position in all parts of both courses. Are you ready, master?"

"Ready!" Shouted Exodus

"Are you ready, Mr. Harris?

"Ready!" He shouted

"Then let's begin. On your marks, get set, GO!"

The race began. For the first hundred yard straightaway, the two were neck and neck; Exodus was remarkably fast for a person his size. When they came to barbed wire on the ground, they both lay down and began to crawl under it. Harris's smaller size was a clear advantage here, and when he was out of the wire, he had about a fifty yard lead on his opponent.

Exodus began to catch up in the next obstacle in the course, which was a series of tires on the ground they had to run through. Being not as coordinated as his opponent, Harris slowed down significantly and by the end of the segment, Exodus was actually a little ahead of him.

They both climbed the ladders to the rope crossing and began to cross by hanging from the rope with their legs and pulling with their arms. Harris, due to his superior upper body strength, regained his lead over Exodus and eventually, both crossed the massive gap and climbed down. All that was left now was a sprint up the hill to the detonator. Harris thought he had a sure victory now!

The first half of the uphill run was pretty much even, but suddenly Exodus began to run much faster than he had before and before long was so far ahead of Harris that it was practically useless to try to win now. He realized that Exodus had purposefully fooled him by moving slowly and giving him a false sense of security. A few seconds later, Exodus reached the finish line, inserted his key from the vest into the keyhole of the radio transmitter, and mashed the large button. A huge explosion and a massive fireball then rocked the calm desert evening! When the explosion cleared, there was nothing remaining of Samuel Harris! Exodus smiled as his assistants removed his vest for him.

"My record remains unbroken." He said triumphantly

As this is my first attempt at writing a full length bond adventure (not quite novel length, but close), please comment on it. I look forward to reading them and I will post additional chapters every so often.