Chapter 9
M had anticipated a frantic scene on their arrival and it was just that.
She tried to memorize all the details of the facility as they landed and as they were escorted at gunpoint into the complex. King blustered and complained as they shoved them along.
They took photos of them and then roughed up Trevelyan just for sport before allowing them into the cool of the air conditioned complex. M was tied, hot and worried about all this.
They separated them from Trevelyan and Kuryakin and then lead them down some hallways to three open doors.
Damn it! They were going to separate her from King and Peel!
M never thought that three retirees would be considered much of a threat. At least she had hoped they wouldn't and they could be placed together to make plans.
M knew that Trevelyan and Kuryakin would be held for questioning and likely released for bringing the three of them to Blofeld, but then again the man could just kill them all as it suited him. She had to admit that she was nervous about all of this. How her agents prepared themselves mentally to deal with this sort of stress was beyond her.
Emma would be ready and so would King but they've both had years of practice with this sort of ordeal. Emma was saving Steel's ass or being held captive practically weekly in her youth.
M watched as King was shoved into a small room and then a few steps down Peel was escorted to a room beside his.
"This is not at all the accommodations I was hoping for." Peel said waving her hands at the guards with them.
The biggest guard beside M just slammed the door shut on Peel's protests and grabbed M's arm to take her further into the complex.
They seemed to be walking out of the arm or section they had been brought to and into a centre hub. There were computer screen everywhere and people working on them.
A small blond man came forward clasping his hands and rubbing them together. "Ahhh there she is! Coocoo...M are you not an amazingly lovely surprise! There is so much we need to talk about and so little time to do it." He grasped her by the shoulders and kissed both her cheeks as if they were old friends reunited after a long absence.
"Well I think I have all the time in the world, but then again I'm not trying to do whatever it is you're trying to do." M pulled out of his grasp crossing her arms defensively across her chest looking angry and put out.
"No...not anymore at any rate. There is a new M now attempting to police the world on behalf of the Crown but he's not been as successful as you. However, he never had my man C trying to take over MI6 for the sake of the budget."
"You...are behind the amalgamation of MI5 and 6? Why? What have you got on this new C?" M directed her questions in a typically forceful manner befitting a woman who had been in charge a very long time.
Blofeld smiled at her attitude. She did not disappoint, she was just as he had imagined she would be. "Nothing...I can assure you. C is merely a visionary like myself."
"You look very familiar Blofeld? Where might we have met?" M narrowed her eyes looking him up and down. His voice and face was very familiar.
Blofeld merely smirked down on her. "And you look lovely for a woman who Silva was supposed to have killed for revenge and to punish James."
"Oberhauser...you're...the son! Franz...Franz Oberhauser aren't you?!"
"How astute of you but no that name has no meaning for me."
"Why would you think my death punish James? I daresay he's been through far worse loss in his life."
"Tsk...tsk where are my manners follow me. I have a room set up for you beside mine. I will let you get cleaned up and my man will come collect you to join me for dinner."
"What of my companions and why are you avoiding my questions?" M demanded.
"Emma Peel, Chester King and Illya Kuryakin! Oh yes I know who they are. Janus told me."
"Janus...where is he?"
"Janus is gone. I told him to leave or I would kill him. He is never to leave Russia again without my permission. If he wishes to keep his organization running smoothly. No, my dear you were not riding in here to save the day. I knew you were coming and Janus is the one who told me. I have people everywhere and they are chasing down Victoria and Ivan who I wanted eliminated in Germany. But, alas you were there to throw a wrench in my plans as usual. I swear you don't even know you do it...but at every turn you confound me woman!"
M was hardly shocked to hear Alec had betrayed them but then she had expected he might from the beginning.
What didn't ring true was that he expected them. No he seemed to flustered by her being alive to have truly known that they were coming.
"I do excel at that. And excuse me if I don't think you are being truthful with me now Mr. Oberhauser." M said looking at him appraisingly. He had flinched involuntarily when she identified him earlier and she wanted to knock him off guard.
Oberhauser's eyes narrowed and he grabbed her arm tightly as he guided her into another corridor of the complex. "That name was not the one I chose. I am Ernst Stavros Blofeld the name I gave myself! You may call me Ernst."
M was becoming more nervous about his intent as he separated her further from the normal guest or prison area. She supposed this far into the desert he had no need for an actual prison for uninvited guests
"I had heard that you had died in an avalanche with your father years ago...Ernst."
Blofeld stopped walking and made direct eye contact with the tiny woman who had been M for twenty years and a complete thorn in the side of his organization making further inroads in Britain. Of course there had been enough greedy men to have work for them but not with enough pull or access to what he needed. Until she was out of the way and C was placed in power by Haines and his cronies in parliament.
M was….disarming...to say the least but he still had cards to play in this game and she had been in hiding over a year.
"And I met with Silva in Egypt for a production of Medea to tell him that you lived. Yes...I figured out that you, M were the Olivia Mansfield that Silva spouted on about...you do have an allure that attracts damaged younger men to you don't you?"
M scoffed. "I do no such thing." M bristled at the assumption, she had never...encouraged such attraction and her biting tongue usually divert any obvious sexual overtures.
"No not intentionally. But they wanted you nonetheless." Oberhauser's eyes bored into hers.
M did her best to meet his glare unwavering and without open display of fear. It was easier to be brave with anger. She was pissed off that he would dare know her name let alone set Silva on her. Now to imply a sexual component to her leadership was insulting and so very simply misogynistic to believe that she would naturally use being a woman as a tool. So many had believed that over the years...how else could she have possibly become M...it was bloody insulting!
"What?"
"There is nothing more a man wants than strict, beautiful, older woman to direct him and give him praise. I would enjoy that too if you were up for the job?"
"Stop the insults Franz!"
Blofeld smirked having gotten under her stubborn aloof demeanor. "Blofeld and think of it M...you and I could be unstoppable!"
"I will not debase myself for your amusement!"
"Think about it M. Here is your room. Just call and Carl will come to escort you to dinner. I have taken the liberty of having some clothing gathered for you. I'm positive you will be impressed."
"I doubt that! I haven't been impressed with much I've seen here." M stated severely.
M looked about the room as Franz entered behind her. Too close for her comfort and causing her internal alarm to rise...he couldn't possibly?
Franz moved them past the sitting room guiding her to show her the bedroom and private bath. He knew this would make any woman in this position nervous.
"This is the mirror of my own quarters which are linked here." Franz indicated a door that she had assumed was a closet that he now opened to his bedroom. The hair on the back of M's neck rose with the implications imbedded in such proximity.
"I will not be your paramour and stop pretending any attraction exists Oberhauser. You're planning something but it's not a dalliance with a senior citizen."
Oberhauser laughed. "Well my dear...you are no longer married and perhaps all senior citizens are not as attractive as you are? Although Emma Peel has aged well also, she does not have the information or power over my enemies that you could give me. You my dear hold far more allure to me than any vacuous younger women who engages men of wealth for nothing more than trinkets and a lavish lifestyle. They lack of substance. You...you care nothing for it or you might have latched onto King after the death of your husband."
"Power is that what does it for you? I find men that get...gratification from power are not the type of men I like to be with for any amount of time. I hated meetings at Whitehall for that very reason." This man know far too much about her to be allowed to live.
"Men at Whitehall are all typical British blowhards who smile for the camera while screwing over the population, while they line their purse and jump from the bed from intern to call girl exploiting their power. I will give you the tools to search out this activity and end it as you see fit. You and I could have a very good relationship so long as you curb that stubborn nature of yours. I know that money means nothing to you and power you would only scoff at. But what of your loved ones?"
"What!?"
"You heard me M. Your heart is not made of stone...what of your agents and friends, Bond...Emma Peel, King, the new M, Tanner and Moneypenny...even your own children?"
M glared at the weasley little man and said nothing, letting her eyes do all the talking. She had been told over the years that she could strike the fear of god in people with her glare. She hoped that it would openly convey all the feelings of disgust that she held for this man through it now.
"I know...I know that you would kill me if you could but you are intelligent enough to understand that you need more information about how much I'm inbedded in the 9 eyes program and the extent of my reach first."
Franz reached out and touched her face gently as he stepped closer to her, pressing the advantage of female fear of male physical power over their own. M tried to remember all that Emma had taught her and her own stubborn desire to defy this man pushed to the forefront.
M smiled and stepped closer to him rather than retreat, remembering the knife in the waistband of her trousers at the small of her back. "I wonder how far you're willing to push this Franz...how much of what you say is mere sexual bravado when in reality you are incapable...of much more than words."
This was a gamble...she knew it but her gut told her that he had no sexual interest in her or any woman for that matter. No...he was not the type. Power was all he desired and he didn't need a concubine to distract him from his meticulously planned revenge. It had been years...over twenty for this plan to take effect if revenge on James Bond was all that he had wanted.
Franz frowned and backed away from her and shrugged. "Call when you are ready M." He left her room through the private door and she heard the lock slip into place.
Bond looked at the image that came to life on the screen in his small room. People arriving by car...two were obscured but there was something familiar about the blonde scarred driver.
The two older gentlemen were strangers to Bond and two people remained blocked from view. Why Franz was showing this to him he didn't know. Madeleine was nowhere to be seen and that concerned Bond.
The scarred man smiled and then Bond realized...006...Alec Trevelyan! It had been before his time, another 007 was working under M back then. Yet another ghost of M's past comes out of hiding to cause problems.
Bond wondered what she would have thought about all of this had she lived. He had managed to follow her trail. She obviously knew there was a connection between all these events. Would she be as shocked as him that it was all revenge on him for being between a damaged teen and his father. Regardless his head hurt and there was nothing he could do until Franz screwed up and he got within arms reach to strangle the bastard.
King surveyed the room and found no way to escape. He was still with his cane of all things for them not to confiscate...he was eternally thankful.
He knew it would be a risk but he tripped the signal of his homing beacon intermittently for Merlin to find. He would send a team because he didn't believe a word Janus about said after this.
It worried King that that Blofeld character took M away...she was going to be a pawn or worse and he doubted that Emma was able to train her to agent level in just a few months.
Emma...she was a different matter. Yes they were compatible on the surface but he had never intended this to go that far. His objective had always been Olivia. She was the one he had wanted and never had the opportunity to seduce properly.
Unfortunately Olivia's relief at his dalliance with Emma Peel had been palpable. They would be bloody perfect together but she had never felt the same way for him. He wished he had the time to make her see him differently but now...nothing was sure.
At least he could go to his grave knowing that he told her, was honest and will always hold her in his old heart.
Emma Peel paced like a caged animal. No this was hardly the first time she had been held captive but it was much more difficult to seduce the guards into being foolish at her damn age!
Christ she hated being old. Everything hurt and the bloody mirror displays wrinkles and the passage of time that hardly seems possible.
Emma often dreams of the past and wakes up sweaty and alert expecting the worst. Someone trying to take her out for her past deeds and her being took weak now to fight them. Her greatest fear. And the loneliness...Olivia had given her a sense of purpose and then King fell into her lap.
She didn't have real feelings for the man...something she realized the moment she saw Illya again. But she needed to distract King from Olivia.
Olivia was still broken by what nearly caused her death. Emma almost had her talking about what happened that fiery night in Scotland.
Emma had deduced that this James Bond played a very important role in her life. More than that stubborn woman would ever admit and that was holding her back from being at all interested in King.
The night before as they played poker in that farmhouse kitchen Emma had been alarmed to see Illya go out and speak to Olivia. Where that jealousy came from she hardly knew, as she continued to indulge King with false pleasantries. King was a good lover and she hadn't had companionship in a long time but it was also safe because she knew he loved Olivia and was too bloody stubborn to stop pestering her poor friend.
King was a diversion but not someone she planned on continuing with. If this James Bond was the centre of all this mess then she hoped to get to meet the man who could bring this much chaos to an old woman's boring life.
"Carl I need dinner to be perfect. Did you take the gown to M?"
"Yes Mr. Blofeld sir. I also delivered had Mr. King's bespoke suit cleaned and a gown given to Ms. Emma Peel."
"Good...oh and give Kuryakin a clean suit. I don't know what part they will all play in the end but at least they can all look nice for their last meal."
To be continued...
