Chapter 6

Within a prisoner's transport, protected by two guards in the front and two in the back, each armed with MP5s and P2Ks on their person they shifted their cargo towards his destination. Blight had now varied from his smooth shaven cut, had grown a beard with his hair frizzled and dry; his skin tone began to grey under the dim light. He eyed to two guards opposite him as he let out a weak laugh.

"You might as well let me go." He cautioned. "If you don't it'll be a grave mistake on your part."

They didn't take any heed to his words knowing he had been thoroughly checked by Bond and other authorities he was disarmed and defenseless making his threat less intimidating.

"Just sit down and enjoy the ride." One of the guards said. Blight was silent and remained calmed.

He knew he would not make it to their destination despite the effort, his minions were always available. Blight's militia may have fallen at the minefield but he was also put under the protection of Voinovich's men. He agreed to have a home beacon implanted at the back of his skull so it could be concealed if ever captured. It would locate him and alert them of his current position.

Voinovich's men were trained guerrillas used as bodyguards wherever he roamed to find slaves, they dressed in complete camouflage concealing their locations, there was a road block in the truck's way forcing them to halt.

"What the hell?" the driver asked confused. The co-passenger shrugged getting out of the truck to move the blockage aside.

Something didn't feel right, the driver decided to get out except he was armed. Before exiting he told the other two to arm themselves, as they confirmed.

Blight's face was down as he began to snicker at their attempt; the guard looked at him like he was deranged finally facing his captors.

"You should have listened." He smiled wildly.

The two front guards approached the roadblock, timed at their exact pace. The second guard came to a close point and noticed a wire leading to the bushes.

"It's an ambush!!" he roared with the two trying to get back to the armored truck. The guerrillas detonated the mine blowing the two into mid-air with their fates sealed as the driver flew towards the van's windshield and the other flew like a rag-doll towards nowhere.

"Oh my god!" the rare guard said getting out of the back to discover the men sent to pick up their cargo. Without hesitation he unlocked the safety catch and fired. The final guard decided to take control of the van but met with Blight's handcuffs as he strangled him to the ground mercilessly.

The guard struggled for air trying to untangle the lock on his throat but the chains on both his hands and feet made him immovable forcing the guard to the ground and with a swift turn snapping the his neck.

While the surviving guard met his fate with several red dots aimed at his torso and a release of bullets donned on him till he crawled towards the van trying to send an alert but was hopeless, Blight stepped out armed with one of the guard's MPK riffle.

"It's about time." Blight said bitterly. "Did you bring them?"

"Yes Blight." The leader said revealing a case with two guns with a different casing but within them had diamonds.

"Good, then you know what to do."

"We can't smuggle them through the guns." The leader protested.

"Fool, don't you get it we don't need the guns." He said looking at the two corpses. It became clear to them as they took the guards uniforms and carried their cargo towards an air freighter while Blight was giving a passage to his secondary base in Alaska cutesy of another contact of his, where he would transfer the diamonds to its final destination.

Back at MI6, it took about 5hours before the confirmation of Blight's escape had reached them. M fuming at the outcome felt outraged, he was checked by several authorities including Bond, he had no means of escaping so how could he have escaped with two guards dead and two missing it was inconceivable.

"Christ, unless the man was Houdini there was no way he could have escaped so simply." She told Robinson in a frenetic mood speeding her pace as he tried to reach.

"Securities checked so far nothing." He said. "It was just as well we didn't underestimate him."

"Blight is one man, Charles one man!" she sighed. "The prime minister is going to have my head for this."

"You did your best Ma'am."

"It wasn't enough." She lamented.

"If he tries to return back to his base we can nab him there." Robinson theorized.

"He knows better than to return…" she said.

"Unless; to destroy any means of evidence." He said halting her in her tracks. She turned to face him and thought about it; Bond had informed them about trying to destroy any traces of his project there. He might not be there physically but might send someone and if they can catch him he could inform them of his hiding.

"Inform 0012 immediately." She said affirmatively as Charles complied. "And thank you." She added making him nod in understanding.

0012 was the codename for Patrick Herald a five year operative that was promoted to 00' after eliminating a triad associate from selling names of agents to enemy sides; that being his first kill, his second was a double agent in Panama after attempting on the previous head of security.

His current location was at Blight's mineshaft where they establish a base of operation; the winter had died down making their work slightly easier without the risk of the crew suffering from the cold. He had a heavy jacket to keep him cozy while they checked the area.

The message was relayed to him via communication radio after receiving the coded message. 52241OAA meaning to be alert for any threats heading.

Herald observed the base it had become a frozen ghost-town. They found Blight's surviving guard putting him in custody while they scavenged all the detonators deactivated.

The cave was a platinum galore there was still enough here to further his operations, the factory machineries were deactivated stopping in complete halt; either Blight was aware of the agents presence or he had completed his mysterious objective. Herald noted all this things in his report detailing the harvesting of platinum and the project they had been working on.

It was clear he had to wipe out his work, but it seemed incomplete to begin with. He decided to check the wreckage found at the distant site where Blight was captured. Herald had safe lined the area with the men bringing out cases of disabled tools made out of platinum, from cartridges to barrels and even grips.

Herald gathered the disassembled tools and studied them for a while, this was a strange development for their use; he heard the men call out as he quickly armed himself. He stormed out to see the men pointing to their prisoner as he lays motionless. It had become clear he had killed himself in order to be kept silent.

"Damn it!" Herald cursed under his breath. "Our only witness, didn't you check for anything?"

"It was cyanide sir." A soldier replied.

"When did he have that?"

"It was found with him, he was trying to escape."

Herald was left at a dead end, with only an awkward display of platinum sitting on his desk. He placed the gun on the table beside the tools about to light a cigarette. He froze as he noticed some similarities with the gun and the platinum.

He remembered how to assemble a gun from training and decided to give it a try with the platinum; placing where each part went until he came up with the ultimate weapon; a gun, a platinum gun!

"Christ!" he swore under his breath. This was what Blight was working on but there were still questions that needed to be answered.

He rushed out of the room to telecommunicate this back to M. Money-penny relayed the message to Robinson meeting with M in an instant.

"Platinum weapons?" she said bedazzled by the thought. "That's absurd, the thought of something like that could take years to think about not even Blight could have thought about it so simple enough."

"Then he's not alone." Robinson concluded M nodded in confirmation; maybe Voinovich might have some play in this or one of his colleagues.

"What's Bond's status?"

"He should be arriving at Amsterdam."

"Get him on-line." She said.

Amsterdam 1:30pm, Bond got out of the tunnel leading towards a car rental, he approached the clerk asking for a car reserved under the name Summerset, he confirmed it giving him the keys after filling up the form.

"Here you go sir hope you enjoy the ride."

"Thank you." He smiled tossing the key in the air and seizing it in mid landing. He found himself picking up his suitcase and attaché case.

His phone rang on his person quickly picking it up after the third ring.

"Welcome to Amsterdam 007." The voice of his contact said. "I apologize for not showing up but, your superior sent you a message."

"Relay it." Bond replied.

"Hector 7349." Bond translated it to; prisoner has escaped and to interrogate current target.

"I've got it thanks." He said disengaging the phone. Blight had escaped, he thought to himself; he found it mysterious that he would be able to even get out of the country in whole; Voinovich may have some influence with this but there had to be a third man so to speak, Diego was his target now.

Bond decided to meet with Flanks contact; Task at Station G. He found his car at the far left, the silver beast had been augmented thanks to Ms Chen, he unlocked it and took a minute to study it; the interior was made of silk to keep the car cool, there was a tracking system restored in the vehicle, its acceleration had also increased thanks to the new engine implanted within. Bond could smell the little assistant's perfume still blossoming within the inside, his main interest where the new gadgets installed, the car was still bulletproof with miniature guns under the hood and missile launchers disengaging from the sides and a smokescreen able to confuse enemy vehicles, but there was a little extra tool that intrigued him; the adrenaline boost had been restored from it's previous model and the one thing that made Bond smile was the NOS engine which he had used for evasive maneuvers before.

"Hope you like the car." Montgomery's voice came through the audio system beside him; it was prerecorded. "It should come in handy in any situation especially evasion, your stealth suit and other equipments are in the boot of the vehicle in case of emergency, if you have any questions or so you know where to reach us; good luck commander Bond." He signed off.

Bond smiled at the little message he left shaking his head at the Boy Scout, he decided to take the car for a drive to his destination. The engine warmed up, as the beast roared declaring its readiness. Bond roared out of the parking giving it a wild run, Amsterdam had its own autobahn road making it perfect for his little outing. He spun 360 reversing the car and practicing ways to swerve pass obstacles. The cars were his most favorite gadgets to work with, filling him with adrenaline to put him in an ecstatic feel. He swerves three times until he satisfied his need for speed.

Time to get to work, he said driving to his destination, Station G which had been pinpointed on the map.

He reached a municipal building with the title UNIVEX; he entered seeing a secretary briefly eye him while getting back to work.

"Welcome commander Bond." She said politely. "He's in his office on the right." She gestured.

"Thank you." He said as he opened the door to see a man few years older than James with his beard trimmed to a comma and his hair thinning out.

"Welcome 007, I'm Ian Task." He said shaking hands with him. "Flanks told me about your arrival, please sit down."

He offered him a cigarette which Bond declined, he had decided to quit the habit in order to stay in the 00' service, M had found it best for the agents to stay away from them unless under severe stress.

"You're aware of the situation Mr. Task?"

"Ian please." He said gently. "And yes I've been informed, but Blight will be handled as soon as possible your mission is Voinovich, yes?"

"Indeed." He said. "Is he hard to find?"

"His location and where he stays yes but there are always loop holes in this district." He said

"Especially with his occupation," Bond added.

"True indeed," he said lowering himself to meet with Bond. "We are going to perform a sting using one of ours as bait…"

"Isn't that risky?" Bond cautioned. "I don't want to criticize your intentions but…"

"I understand and I don't blame you." He said knowing the risk. "You're after Blight and we're after Voinovich if we can use any means to track him down I think it comes down to this."

"I understand." Bond replied grimly. "So what's the plan?"

"We use our agent to reel any man working for him, she has a homing device on her making us follow her to their destination, once we mark it, and we send an agent to infiltrate this location signaling us to proceed."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Ms Beauchamp, send her in." he said. "Mr. Bond, please meet Ms Marin."

Bond witness the agent step in, she was of Iranian descent, her eyes were hazel brown to lead to her parted firm breast forming the figure 8.

"Pleasure to meet you." He said shaking the woman's hand. Her legs stood incredibly lengthy, hidden within her suit khakis.

"It's an honor sir." She replied. "My tracer has been set for the operation." She directed to Task.

"Good we meet in 1500 hours."

"Yes sir." She said walking away after confirmation.

"Do you think she can handle it?" Bond asked concerned.

"She's one of my top agents 007." He said confidently. "She can handle anything."

"Who's the agent that'll infiltrate?" Bond asked curiously. Task let out a cheerful smile, indicating the obvious. "I was expecting that."

"You're after Voinovich for personal reasons; your superior thought it would be best after all."

"When does this take place?"

"In the next 10 hours." He said finishing his discussion. "However, you've just arrive, it would be best if you got some rest Ms Marin will escort you to your hotel."

"That's highly unnecessary." Bond countered.

"Please Mr. Bond, you're our guest in this city." He countered. Bond eventually accepted following the voluptuous beauty to his room.

They walked through the corridors where Marin broke the silence between them.

"You seem nervous, Mr. Bond." She brought him out of thought.

"Forgive me, I was just in thought." He said.

"Is it about this operation?"

"Most of it yes."

"I'm capable of handling myself." She said with confidence. "I have a good marksmanship in shooting and I'm able to defend myself."

"But you don't know who the enemy is."

"That's why it's safe to be on guard." She said before they finally reached his room. "Here you are Mr. Bond; I hope you get some rest."

Bond turned around to face her before heading in.

"Ms. Marin…" Bond said.

"Yes Mr. Bond?"

"Do you have a first name?"

"Angel," she replied.

"Good night Angel." He smiled leaving her sight while she returned back to her room.

"Good night Mr. Bond."