Chapter 1
It was 8:00pm as a plane approached its landing strip. The lights lit up as the plane approached the runway. The plane had a logo on it, Croft tech with a three headed Alsatians. Croft tech industries is known for its environmental technology used for developing hardware for military training. Mathias Croftnik, is president of Croft tech and the passenger of flight 712 as he descended from the plane. A forty-eight year old , grey eyes man with greying hair. He had a ring on his right hand the same as Decklyn...the late Decklyn . He approaches a Hangar to be met by a group of six people, a meeting was to take place.
"Welcome gentlemen let the meeting begin" he said as they walked into a passage leading them to a den. Each member came by a plane or a limousine.
There was a table consisting of seven seats open.
"Take your seats please" he said in a cold tone, each member took there place
they consisted of industrialists from the US, Sweden and Egypt.
"You all know what has happened don't you?" said Croftnik placing his arms on the table. "MI6 has obtained the brief case with the files, those files were the details of the new stealth fighter, Her Majesty Naval Control are operating"
" All is not lost though" said a man in a grey suit his face not revealed
"Quite right" said Croftnik "Decklyn maybe dead, but we still have a spy informing us about the project" he said giving the five members a document each. It consisted of an image of a two seat stealth jet fighter, with details, arsenal and velocity of speed.
"Interesting" said another man an Egyptian in a tanned suit.
"The project is the HMS 26X1, codename: the Griffin" said Croftnik they glanced at it in interest.
"What purpose is it to us?" said a blonde haired woman, with a Bostonian accent.
"We have a buyer for the shipments, a General Forbes Decker"
"He's the general for Fort Dexter, what would he want in exchange?"
"We give him our versions of the Griffin, with the information given to us we can combine our resources to create duplicates of the Griffin. But for your question Thade, he will provide us a certain service of eliminating other military resources causing increase of supply for more artilleries."
" How about the veto in arms dealership assigned by the president?" asked Thade looking at Croftnik.
"I believe our lady Delila might be able to handle that" gesturing to the small blonde lady in the white dress. She stood up revealing herself to the company. She had charming blue eyes to match with her golden blonde hair.
"The president won't sign it" she said "He gives us access and in exchange the blackmail would be deleted. He can be very manipulative" she said as she took her seat.
"There's still the matter of the briefcase" said the fifth member looking at Croftnik "Once they find out what's in it they'll be looking for you"
"True, but how would they connect anything to me?" He said "Decklyn is dead. No one can link me with this. The briefcase consisted of files about the Griffin not me"
"The files deal with your basics" said another voice on the left side in the second seat.
"We know who the agent is" he said revealing a screen showing the image of James Bond.
"James Bond of the British service"
"With a license to kill" said Thade "We've already hired a hit man to kill him"
"He should be around his location soon enough" he continued.
"Then we continue with our business" said Croftnik getting up of his seat as the others followed.
Back in MI6 Scotland, Bond was to meet with M head of MI6 operations. He had the briefcase with him attached to his cufflinks. He approached M's office seeing she's expecting him.
" Welcome Bond" she said in her no nonsense tone. "I believe your mission was a success?"
"I retrieved the case, but Decklyn killed himself, whoever his superiors was cost him his life"
"We were informed, but still no news about his superiors, they might be high order to cause him to kill himself." she said bitting her lip "What did you find in the case?'
"Files on the HMS 26X1" he said revealing the documents to M. "Whoever is after it, has to be involved with military development for something like this".
"You are aware of the details of the 26X1?"
"Codename: The Griffin, a secret development project worked on by Her Majesty's naval service, stealth fighter can be untraceable to radars or scanners" he said. "And can be dangerous in the wrong hands"
" That's why we are assigning you this Bond, only the Naval command and MI6 know about this" she said. "We are to be discreet about any mention of this to the media or Her Majesty"
"Using the enemy's weapon against them?"
"The Cold war is over Bond" she said in a cold tone "Missiles and War heads are the new dawn of war" she said.
"So what's my next move?"
"To shadow the Griffin" she said "I suspect whoever wants to hi-jack the Griffin would be keeping an eye on its prize"
In the corridors of MI6, a cleaner is cleaning on duty close to M's office as he sees the secretary.
"Where's John?" she asks looking at the unfamiliar janitor with the dark hair and features of a marine soldier.
"He called in sick, I'm his replacement" he said in a honest but excitable tone. He's face looked like thirty-something and way to built to be cleaning floors and he had sort of an Irish accent.
"Where you ever in the navy?" she asked
"Maybe once" he said she then notice his tattoo, it had a scorpion on his arm.
"Interesting tattoo" she said noticing it, with an inscriptions. 'E3ERU5'
"Thanks" the man said "I need to clean inside here now"
"M is still having a discussion." she said.
"Mind if I let her know?"
"I could tell her..."
"No-no I wouldn't want to waste your time" he said as she gave him a pleasant smile and nodded.
As he got in, he saw Bond and M talking. He took their focus away by his presence.
"I'm here to clean" he said pushing his cart.
"Very well" said M as she faced Bond. "You have your orders 007 don't forget to meet Q for your equipments."
"Understood" he said.
As he was about to leave, he noticed the janitor through M's glass that he was bringing out something. It was a semiautomatic riffle!
"M!!" he roared as he pushed her to the floor as the janitor sprayed the office walls with bullets. Bond shielded M and himself with the desk, but feared it wouldn't last. He drew out his Walter PPK, and used the desk to shield himself as he shot back. His tactic was dodge and shoot, until the assassin's round was depleting, he ran out of the office into a frightened Money Penny who had sounded the alarm. The assassin snatched her and held her in his front.
"James!!" she cried as Bond charged out of M's office, leveled the gun at the assassin.
"Careful 007." he said "You might hit her" he said. He moved back with his hostage. Three guards out of nowhere busted into the room leveling their guns at the unknown hit man.
"Freeze!!" one of them shouted, the janitor shot at them giving Bond the chance to attack from behind, grabbing the unknown assassin in a choke hold forcing him to release Money Penny as she left the man's grip causing him to fire a shot at her left arm. The assassin struggled for release of Bond's deadly grip. He didn't want to kill him yet he wanted answers; who, what, and how. The assassin managed to release himself and tossed Bond back running out of the office. As Bond was about to chase after him, he heard a moan in agony. Money Penny was injured, he wanted to help her but M intervened. "I'll take care of her, just get him" he nodded in response and dashed out of the office.
That assassin broke into MI6, how? who hired him? and what was he after? He caught up with the unknown assassin. He was far from reach so he drew his pistol out, he didn't check for any bullets all he wanted was to slow him down. He aimed carefully and focused the hollow tip of his pistol and pulled the trigger. The bullet reached its target's right leg. He fell to the ground. His right leg was paralyzed so he tried to limp, but Bond caught up with him; grabbed him like a hawk and slammed him to the wall, causing great pain to the assassins back.
"Who sent you!" barked an angry Bond.
"Go to hell" replied the Irish assassin.
"Who the hell sent you" shouted Bond in a low pitch aiming his pistol at him.
He looked down at the pistol, how it was aimed at his lower body. He seized the moment and grabbed Bond's hand to pull the trigger.
"I'll never tell..." were his last words, his blood stained Bond's white vest as he fell unconscious.
The gun shot alerted M and the few men she was with to Bond's location.
"Dead?" She asked.
"Killed himself" he said "Just like Decklyn" he realized.
"Why was he after me?"
"He wasn't after you" he said looking at his blood stained shirt "He was after me".
After the day's event, Bond was with M again, Money Penny had been taken to the sick bay, and the rest of MI6 was on lock-down for any more threats or possibilities of how the man got in. They found the real janitor named John dead inside the closet as he was stripped of his clothes. He was killed by strangulation with a twine, whoever hired the assassin must have had high connections to get access to MI6.
Bond was in M's office the room was quiet but hadn't been cleaned of the recent attack. She stared out of the window in thought, as Bond stood behind her where her desk is.
"Thank you James" she said not glancing at him, he nodded in a sign of understanding. She never called him by his first name unless it was under compassion. "Times are changing now" she said in an unshaken tone "Whoever sent that assassin has powerful connections even beyond my knowledge"
"I checked the body again" said Bond "All I found was a code"
"What is it?" she asked
"E3ERU5." he said "Its not much but it's a start"
"Did you find anything else?"
"A tattoo of a scorpion"
"A number and a scorpion" she thought for a second "It could be a dog tag number"
"Perhaps, but whoever he worked for inserted some kind of fear, like Decklyn."
"Failure is not an option" she thought "Could he and Decklyn be connected?"
"There's a chance they might" he said "It could be someone with a reputation that shouldn't be revealed"
"But whoever wants to steal the Griffin, would be someone involved with engineering."
"I'll run a file of every industrial business involve with engineering."
"That shouldn't be necessary Bond." said M looking at him. "We have a clue, the number"
Bond was in his office on his computer, searching for anything that can lead to who wants the Griffin. He searched anything with the number and the three headed dog, but nothing. He thought for a minute to consider what was missing. He remembered the ring that Decklyn wore in Zurich. Then he remembered his the tattoo with the code E3ERU5 he was neglecting something. He pictured the tattoo again and notice that there was a left bracket in front of the 'E'. E3ERU5? He paused and realized it was meant to look like that its not a left bracket it's a 'C' CE3ERU5. He searched again nothing but codes. Something was still missing, of course what if the 3 was a 'B' CEBERU5? No, Ceberus! He typed in CEBERUS. It brought out a mythology of the three headed dog. Then he added industries, it brought out Croft tech industries. The logo was similar to one on Decklyn's ring. He saw the leader of the Company, Mathias Croftnik, the industries dealt with manufacturing military hardware, it had to be connected.
He met M with her aide Charles Robinson, discussing about the days event and any leads to who could be responsible.
"...Russia has been plotting this for a while, they could have the access to some high security agents"
"Only MI6 and Her majesty's Navy knows." M said"The Russians hearing of this is impossible! This would have leaked to the British media."
"More like to the United States" interfered Bond showing M and Robinson his print out. "The ring on Decklyn's hand and the tattoo on the assassin's arm match"
"Croft tech industries?" she gave a look to Bond.
"Are you certain James?" asked Robinson
"What do we know about Croftnik?" he said "Industrialist involved with military hardware, then needs a new project, the Griffin. Sells it to the military for high prices".
"But where would he get that information?" she asked
"Decklyn had the files, but he would need someone from the inside to get it from "
"A mole, Bond are you certain?" she paused "Croftnik is a very influential engineer, why would he..."
"How else would he profit?" said Bond "The first line up in war and he delivers it first before the competition"
"It would make him a rich man" said Robinson "Croftnik has visited Egypt to Japan to the UK it could have been discussed"
"Or leaked" she assumed "And if you are wrong 007?"
"Then, we start from scratch."
"I'm hoping you're right, or this could disgrace us"
"I'm aware of it" he said "In the mean time, what about the 26X1?"
" Robinson and I are heading there tonight, if there's a mole within us he has to be eliminated"
"And Croftnik?" he asked.
"Croftnik is in Washington, the location of Croft-tech." she looked at Bond "I would advise that you be a shadow not raid the place like a machine, if you find anything involved with the Griffin, inform base."
Bond left after being given his assignment, he wanted to head to Q-lab but first he went to the Medical clinic to check on a wounded secretary. He found her on the bed with a bandaged arm and a nurse assisting her.
The nurse left to give them some privacy as he went to get some more antiseptics for his patient.
"How nice to see you James" she said
"Couldn't leave without saying goodbye" he said as he handed her a rose.
"Maybe I should start falling into the arms of strangers if that's all it takes to get you" she smiled.
"Money penny, I don't know where I'd be without you." he said kissing her right cheek.
"At least I get some days off." she said smelling the rose "good luck James"
she said as Bond left the sick bay.