Chapter 10 – Awakening

The obsessive beeping sound of the monitor crept into his head, filling all the space of his drug dozed mind. For a long time, he concentrated on this tiny, regular spot of sound guiding him like a beacon on the path to consciousness. But it was the characteristic smell of an aggressively clean room mixed with medicines that made Bond realise he was in a hospital, long before his eyes opened. When he took a first glance around him, he saw the friendly figure of Bill Tanner reading in a chair at his bedside. The sight of the MI6 Chief of Staff brought all the events back to him, sweeping away the haze that clouded his mind. He tried to stir feebly, but his body was still limp. Damned drugs... Tanner must have noticed something, for he folded his newspaper and got up to address him:

- "Hello James. Nice to see you. Keep quiet, everything is fine. You're in a London hospital."

Bond was unsure of his voice, and it seemed to him hoarse and cavernous when he tried to articulate his first word:

- "Sára?"

- "She's fine. She has been put under observation in a Budapest hospital. Your common friend Šlesinger came to take care of her, and she should be out today or tomorrow. She was in shock, but not injured. Your blood analysis showed you both have been exposed to a powerful drug, but it had no after-effects."

- "At the hotel... They used a combat gas to get us..."

- "Yes. At the Q section, they think the gas might have been the famous Kolokol-1, the incapacitating agent used by the FSB. It could make sense: Fokin certainly had some old acquaintances there who could have smuggled some gas cans for him..."

- "How did our men find us?"

Tanner smiled:

- "You have been bloody lucky... The protection team arrived at the Oppeln hotel about one hour after you had been abducted, and they found the place crammed with Czech policemen. Your little turn of crashing from the balcony was quite a success, you know!" Tanner chuckled: "If Fokin's men wanted a stealth operation, it was a complete disaster! Well, anyway, they had managed to take you away without leaving any clue. Given the situation, we launched a code red alert. Fortunately, you had informed Šlesinger of your gut feeling about Maxim Fokin. As this was our only lead, we stuck to it. The Q section managed to locate most of his known henchmen in the area with their mobile phones. The result was not easy to exploit: we had located three groups of more than two men in different parts of the city, and we didn't have enough agents nor enough time to shadow them all. It was heads or tails... But when Fokin himself moved and headed towards one of the groups, we thought we had something. From a satellite image, we knew the men were in a barge moored in Csepel, an industrial district just south of Budapest. Not the kind of place you'd expect Fokin to be at night! So we equipped our men in consequence. By chance, this kind of job was familiar to them: two were former SBS – and the third a former SAS, which is not too bad either," Tanner added with a smile. "Anyway, they drove at breakneck speed and made it to the barge at the same time Fokin arrived. They managed to sneak in the boat and took position. After some minutes of observation, they neutralized two henchmen who were coming out of the hold. The hoodlums were so scared it didn't took long to make them confess their boss was "having a conversation" with an Englishman and a woman in a hidden compartment of the hold. Then, you know the rest."

Bond nodded. Tanner was watching him carefully.

- "James... I've read some dreadful things in the report of our men. Do you remember what happened in this hold?"

- "Not really... I was still under effect of the gas," he lied, secretly hoping he could avoid being sent once again to Sir James Moloney, the head MI6 psychologist, for the compulsory series of long sessions for post traumatic stress treatment. Tanner watched him thoughtfully for a moment.

- "Well... Anyway, if you ever remember and want to talk about this with a friend, rather than the Chief of Staff, I'm there."

Bond smiled:

- "I know, Bill. Thank you."

- "Oh and by the way, James, if you're interested: you've been injured by your fall at the hotel, and you have a nice collection of broken or cracked ribs: very painful but not really serious. You won't need surgery. With the painkillers, you should be back on your feet in a couple of days, and in one month it'll be all forgotten. At least, that's what the doctors say! But most of all, you need rest now. I'll come and see you tomorrow with Moneypenny: she really insisted on being allowed to visit you, you know! Goodbye, James."

Three days later, Bond had managed to convince his doctors that he was fit enough to get out the hospital, and with the help of the painkillers it was almost true. Finding again the familiar surroundings of his Chelsea flat, along with his freedom of movement, was a blessed feeling. Having just thrown his keys on the table, he decided to indulge himself in the simple pleasure of a long, hot shower. An hour later, watching dusk creeping over the tree-lined square down his windows, he felt at last perfectly relaxed. Bond was enjoying his first cup of decent fresh coffee in days when someone knocked on the door. He opened it to find Sára in front of him. Before he had even recovered his surprise, she threw herself in his arms, and explained:

- "When you told me you were going out of the hospital today, I took the first flight to London. I really needed to be with you, James. I hope you don't mind?"

- "Of course not!" Holding her by the shoulders, he considered her for some seconds: "You look wonderful!"

She returned the look, and stated:

- "You look... terrible!"

They laughed wholeheartedly. Then Bond's eyes noticed her bruised wrists, still streaked with handcuff marks. He gently took her hands in his and added seriously, looking deeply into her eyes:

- "Sára, I'm sorry for what happened..."

- "Don't tell you're sorry. Remember, you saved me. Now, I owe you one life."

- "You don't owe me anything." He added with a smile: "And one life is a very long time!"

- "So I'd better start paying you back tonight..."

Kicking the door closed behind them, she took his face in her hands, and kissed him hard on the mouth.

James Bond will return...