Chapter 11
M's moving frustratingly slow for the likes of Carlos and his uncle. "Do you know where you took it or not?"
"It was over a year ago so give me some time. I am hardly use to men with guns chasing me and tossing me in cars!"
"I apologize ma'am. It is just that time is of the essence."
"I was happy with the supposed fake...can't you be?" M says with desperation in her voice.
Carlos looks to his uncle. "Do you think we can fool Igor and the three wicked witches?" Garcia says.
"I don't like you calling mother and the aunts that! I am angry for what she did and that they planned on keeping the two of us away from our fathers but I still love them."
"Fine! You two will need to harden yourselves for the work I do. You have had your time flittering about Europe with beautiful people and cars. Now you will need to stay secluded and unphotographed."
Carlos sighs. M can see he is not 100% on board with this new development and this she can exploit.
"Your mother is expecting me at that party tonight so I would like to go back to the hotel to get ready." M tells Carlos.
Carlos nods and helps her to her feet. "I will escort her back. Uncle you need to get a costume and come to the party tonight." Carlos hands him an envelope with an invitation.
"My men have not called in and that is a worry. Hurry and get her back. I will see you tonight and hopefully by then my searchers will have found the body of your father for proper burial. Do not kill the Englishman if you see him. If he has escaped I will deal with him slowly."
"What should we do with her?" Carlos asks as he holds M's arm.
Garcia move towards her and looks her over closely. He extends his hand and touches her cheek. "You are truly lovely for an old woman."
M cannot keep the flash of annoyance from her eyes and Garcia Rey laughs. "Spirit too! It's no wonder they wrap you in jewels. Recently widowed?"
M merely nods.
"Well I am soon to be divorced. What would you think of me servicing you rather than the boy toys my ex has at her establishment?"
M tries not to allow disgust at the idea to wash over her features. She might need to play this intrigued and not how she really feels. Garcia is a rough man but still very handsome.
"I'm not sure you could keep up Mr….I was never formally introduced to either of you."
"Garcia Rey my elegant one." Garcia moves to kiss both her cheeks. "And this is my nephew Carlos. My ex-wife is one of the twins from the brothel."
"I still don't understand what this is all about, other than he's a jewel thief."
"That's good. It means that you are absolutely no threat to us and may leave. You will need to pay for your life by giving us the real brooch."
"Apparently, I don't have it!"
"But you can make a fuss and find it." Carlos says.
"Yes, likely."
"Take her before I become too interested in why a man young enough to be her son, is chasing her down like the lost love of his life."
M pulls away from Garcia nervously but he grasps her shoulders hard. He leans in and smirks at her viciously. "What do you do that influences men who you barely know, to chase after you here?"
"I have no idea! Let me go!" M tries to shake his grasp but his fingers imbed themselves painfully into her shoulders causing her to gasp.
Carlos' eyes go wide in shock. "I think I should take her back uncle."
Garcia kisses M suddenly and with great force. It feels more like a slap to the face than a kiss. Nothing like Bond or Jack's gentle kisses. This man in just trying to intimidate her with his casual brutality.
M pushes his large thick muscled body away, but there is no way she can stop whatever he wants to do to her.
M hates feeling so weak and useless. She has two choices; continue to fight, or concede and turn the tables by kissing back.
M knows the last choice will confuse him and possibly backfire and make him carry her off to bed so she continues to struggle as it never seems to end. She tries not to choke on his tongue.
Garcia finally releases her with a glazed expression on his handsome face. "I will see you tonight Evelyn Connery."
M moves quickly to Carlos' side. "I will be looking for you and we will have some private time together tonight after everything is said and done. You will go to London and find the brooch for my son and nephew. Then my ex and her sisters will give me the club and leave to go back to theirs in Spain once we work out payment terms."
M looks shocked. Garcia's at least ten years her junior and not the type of man she would ever suspect to desire someone as old as her. Men like him have harem's of young women attracted to his wealth, power and good looks.
"Are you insane? Surely there are much more suitable…"
"No! I take what I want and if you didn't have to go get ready for this masquerade ball I would entertain you here the rest of the afternoon. You will not be able to hide from me for long under a mask. I will find you."
M's shocked to her core as Carlos guides her into a red sports car in the massive garage. The gates open for them and he speeds away from the compound.
Where are Bond and Jack? They have to be alive...she doesn't even want to think of the alternative.
"Ma'am, you would be wise to do whatever my uncle says. There are many unmarked graves in the desert that are a result of someone saying no, or being less than satisfactory."
"Where is your father in all this? I take it that the two of them ran the enterprise together. Is your mother's establishment a money laundering front for them?"
"No my mother's business is her own and if anything she helped them out of a few financial scraps over the years. My father's missing and presumed dead by my mother's hand. Her gun is missing from the safe and no one has seen him since he stumbled into one of the whore's rooms last night."
"Again what on earth does any of this have to do with me or my heirloom brooch?"
"That is a story that only my mother and her sisters can clearly tell. All my life they have told me of their English grandfather Edward and my great-grandmother Elise, was his favourite at a famous Paris brothel. From what I gather the gems were his and they should have passed to his daughter and then to my mother and aunts."
"The moment he said the name Edward, M understood the historical significance to the family. If it is the Edward she is thinking of they do have a familial connection to the jewels.
Edward the Prince of Wales, son of Queen Victoria was a frequenter of Paris brothels in the late 19th century and an illegitimate daughter could have been born and be the grandmother of this young man driving M back to the hotel the mother of three sisters who are named for the artifacts.
This must be it. The reason for all the trouble they are going to in stealing them. As for the mysterious Igor, M hopes Q can be of some help in that matter.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bond and Jack stop the car once they get close to the compound. To get as close a look as they can, they lie on a ridge looking down on a large walled compound.
"What do you want to do Jimmy boy?"
"I want to walk in there and shoot everyone but we do not have the ammo for that. Even with the two guns we now have, what and five clips?"
"Six if you count the one full one in the chamber."
"Not enough. How far out is the backup?"
"Fifteen minutes and they cannot just blow the place. They want Rey alive and we want M alive."
"You didn't tell them who she is did you?"
"No. I think Swanson would have damn puppies if he knew."
"So would the PM if any of this became common knowledge."
"Jimmy, look! There is a red sports car making a dash from the back of the building."
"I wish we had binoculars." Bond takes his phone and blows the image as large as possible as the car speeds away and back towards Mexico City.
Bond dials base. "Q I need to know if you can determine if M is in that car."
I will do what I can 007.
The sound of helicopters comes from the distance and they can see the guards on the towers get their guns ready.
"It looks like it is time for us to get back to the car and see if we can help Jimmy."
"Fine but you drive so that I can shoot."
"What's wrong with my shooting?"
"You couldn't hit the broadside of a barn earlier Jack. I doubt your vision improved much in the last hour."
"Well at least my driving is a good sight better than yours. Come on, we have a damsel in distress to rescue."
"Hey, my damsel and M is not in distress unless she bloody well says she is. If she still has her mobile she would have made damn sure we all knew what level of distress she's in."
"I can imagine that, but I really doubt she's YOUR damsel to begin with Jimmy. Why don't we just let the lady decide who she would rather dance with this evening, if we make it out of this alive."
Bond smirks at him as he climbs in the passenger side of the car.
"Fine by me. I love a little competition. We should have them distracted enough to drive right in while the CIA storms the gate."
Jack drives fast to the gate as they open it because it's one of their cars. Bond hops out and shoots the guard on the gatepost forcing it to remain open for the CIA to enter from that side. Jack messages them telling them not to shoot him nor Bond in their approach.
Bond and Jack enter the house and have to deal with a couple of bodyguards. They find Garcia Rey sitting in a chair with a gun. He shoots at them and they dive in opposite ways for cover.
"I don't care who you are or what you've done! I have come for the woman you took in the market!"
Rey laughs. "What is it about that woman?"
Jack yells. "Put down your weapon the CIA has you surrounded Garcia!"
Bond peaks around the entryway when he hears the sound of a gun hit the tiled floor. Rey has his hands on his head and he is on his knees in the centre of the room.
"Well Jack, that was easier than expected."
Bond moves to kick the gun away as the team makes the room to see the man apprehended by the agents.
"Where's the woman?"
Garcia smirks. "My nephew has her. She has something he wants and she will provide it."
The team leader picks him up and nods to Bond and Jack.
Q calls with information. Traffic cameras gave him a proper ID on M in the red sports car. It's headed back to the hotel.
"Come on Jack. Q found her back at the hotel with Jr."
Bond climbs into the driver's seat of the car and takes off back towards the city.
"Is this something to be worried about?"
"Not really. They want something from her and she's likely stringing him along with some story or another. M is not without her own resources."
"The nephew is not a danger to her is he?"
"I didn't get the sense that either of the boys was a killer. Thieves and gigolos but not killers."
"I see. So should I...we be concerned about the gigolo part?"
"Knowing M, no. It's not in that woman's nature."
"But her entire modus operandi for this mission is to play the part of an escort seeking widow?"
"The only escort she was seeking was me. She knew I was working there and she was the surprise. I thought it would be another agent coming to be my contact not her."
"She played you didn't she?"
"Yes...damn it! M even challenged me not to flirt with my contact and promised me dinner as a reward."
Jack laughs. "You failed miserably didn't you?"
"Yes...I did more than just flirt, and now I will have to work doubly hard to get that dinner."
"I hope you don't mind the competition boy but I was going to have dinner with her before going to the party."
"Jack...I thought you had given up that fantasy the minute you learned she was M?"
"Why would I? M and I hit it off. I think it could evolve into something."
Bond grasps the steering wheel tighter and his face contorts in anger and disagreement. "It will not!"
"I think it will, and she's getting more comfortable around me. Hey...does she know I am CIA?"
"YES...she knows and she was just playing you old man."
"Old! I'm her age! We have a lot in common just with that. Stop acting like I'm being inappropriate when you are her employee, a womanizer and young enough to be her son!"
"I told you I saw her...knew her and liked her first!"
"No...that's too juvenile, there's no way you can call dibs on a woman. It's for her to decide Jimmy."
"Fine! I have given her everything I am, but of course you have known her for what... twenty-four hours and stole a couple of kisses. Therefore, I will step aside and let the woman I love wander off into the sunset with you!"
"Love? Love! You love her? Are you sure?"
"What do you mean am I sure? Of course I am bloody well sure! My god man! I told you that already more than once. I have loved that woman since the day I met her and we bloody hated each other at the time!"
"That makes a great deal of sense coming from the man who couldn't meet me in Austin that one time because he was trapped under three women barely twenty-two! Correct me if I am wrong but was that before or after she was M?"
Bond growls indignantly but says nothing. If he wasn't driving he would punch Jack in the face. So much for what he thought was a good friendship. Friends trying to steal your girl are not friends no matter the misunderstanding or age difference.
Everyone dismisses Bond's feelings, in fact they assume he has none at all. He fully admits to being a bit of a cold ass killer for work but he has feelings.
"So...she was M, wasn't she? Your sudden silence is telling. Well, that makes perfect sense then. I am sure your previous sexual escapades are your way directly to your intended's heart. Fuck a bunch of spring break bunnies, while on the job and likely have to report it to her. Yes, I can see how she could never mistake your romantic interest her."
"Maybe I was burying myself in women for the sole reason, that she was in the arms of her husband during most of that time in my career. Not to mention my ability to seduce, has made me the most indispensable of double-0-agents, for success on missions. With M that is the bottom line."
"Well I like her bottom line as much as you do! I don't think you really stand a chance with her Jimmy. Not to mention, this has likely all been brought on by the fact someone else, mainly me is interested. Face it...you would not make a move until someone decided to play with your toy. A toy you arrogantly figured was yours to play with at when you had the time. This mission was just a perfect opportunity for you...nothin' else."
They make it to the hotel and silently make their way to the elevators. The two men look so intensely murderous and filthy that all other patrons move out of their way to allow them room to move.
Bond pulls the keycard out and his gun as he looks to Jack who's alert and armed also. He opens the door to see M and Carlos standing in the suite looking at the brooch in her hand.
"What!" M yells.
Carlos puts his hands up. "James...I see you followed me again."
"No...I followed her. Tanner, Q, send our men to M's suite to collect one of the thieves."
You made it! M is alright? I will have the two from the safe house come collect him.
"M's perfect Tanner. Hurray along with the men we have a date at Madame Ruby's tonight."
Jack grabs the young lad and uses a zip tie on his wrists while they wait for MI6.
"Jack you are unneeded and unwanted. We have a mission to see to and yours is over so why don't you jet back to Washington in time for bed tonight."
"I am staying until tomorrow." Jack says through gritted teeth as M looks on in confusion. "M, my dear I am still available to take you this evening if you like."
"M doesn't need the distraction. She and I will be finishing this mission tonight and then be headed back home."
"What exactly is going on here?" M asks with her hands on her hips looking between the two stubborn agents.
To be continued...