One hundred and twenty five. That was the number of minutes, R had been sitting in her Office – and yes, she actually had some problems to find it – and starring at her orders. She had not signed any official paper, that would ensure her employment, but she already drowned in work. As it seemed, Q Branch had neglected the development division completely. All leading engineers had been fired or left. And R had a vague idea, why 90% of the engineers had left and only the rest of them had to be fired, because they had refused to work, as long as the head of their branch diverged every available penny to his division from the branches budget. As far as R was concerned, there had been a lot of other divisions, which had been abrogated after MI6 had been blown up last year. Well, that is what M had tried to explain to her in his official memo. She was surprised by her own composer at the events that were described. Only the last line was a mystery to her. It was a handwritten note: 'Do NOT trust 007!"
A sudden ring of the phone on her desk startled her.
"D-Division", she answered the phone call. "Is Q there?", a rough and deep voice rang through the phone.
"No, he is up in C-Division and definitely doesn't want to see me!", R replied, a chill running down her spine. This was the first time she was speaking with a real Agent, probably even a Double-O Agent.
"I'm R, his new assistant, maybe I can help you?", R said, after the Agent did not reply.
"Do you have my new gun?", he immediately replied, sounding exhilarated.
"Do you have a minute?", R asked and started to look for the Agents file. At the same moment she grabbed for the drawer holding all the files, she reminded herself, she did not even now his name.
"How long you said you are working for Q?", the Agent said sounding amused, before R could ask him for his name.
"Since today!", R replied feeling rather unsure for a moment, until she remembered what her actual goal was, "What's your name?", she asked, already having one hand on the files in the drawer.
"Bond, James Bond!", he replied and R squeezed the earphone between her chin and her shoulder. She found Bonds file easily, as it was the seventh.
"Oh my god, you are 007!", she exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut and mentally hitting herself the same moment.
"I presume you have been warned", Bond replied sounding more and more amused.
"Oh no, how you come to this conclusion", R retorted, trying to sound sarcastic, while searching the button for the loudspeaker. "I've been mesmerized by your glorious and heroic deeds. They've been told to me by M while I was sitting on his lap!", she continued joking, while looking for Bond's equipment drawer. She found it in the biggest cabinet, which was – to her misfortune – twice her size in length and broader than her arms were long. The drawers were thin and spread over the whole length of the cabinet. And of course the drawer with the number seven was far out of her reach, nor was it clear to the you woman, how she should open the drawers.
"I have to hang up now! I'll be back at headquarters in five minutes. Will you have the gun ready?", the Agent asked, while R was still trying to find a chair to stand on and open the drawer. "Yes, of course I will be ready!", she answered and heard the well-known beep-beep. In that moment another thought crossed her mind. How should she open the door? When she had walked past the door before, it did not open, so it seemed it was not automatic and had be opened by hand. And as far as she was concerned there was no buzzer next to the door to open it. Reluctantly, she walked back to the phone and looked for Q's number on the phone list.
"Sir it's R, I need your help!", she said as fast as Q answered her call. She heard a long sighed, before he replied.
"What is it? Can't you reach the worktops, or no, even worse you saw a spider!", he snickered, while obviously typing at his computer.
"No! I cannot open 007's drawer, nor do I know how to open the door!", she hissed in to the telephone. She heard a faint laughter, before Q answered, "I will save you, don't you worry!", he giggled on and hung up.
After waiting a few minutes, R heard the characteristic swoosh of the door and two people entering the room.
"007, this is my new assistant R, or in this particular moment, the damsel in distress!", Q snickered and crossed the distance to R, a tall and bulky man on his heels. He pushed a really well hidden button on the cabinet next to drawer number seven. With a nearly inaudible tsh-sound the drawer opened and Q pulled it out of the cabinet, walking to the nearest workbench.
"The stage is yours, R!", he said with a broad grin and pointed at the drawer.
"Ah yes. Here is your gun Mister Bond, a Walter PPK/S 9mm as it appears. Although I do not quite get the enhancement at the pistol grip.", R said and handed the gun to Bond, who immediately stashed the gun into one of his pockets.
"First day, hu", he remarked with a smug grin on his face.
"Yeah, first day!", R replied and looked again in the else way meagre stacked drawer.
