Chapter 11

M's in her office working when the call comes in that there is a visitor waiting for her. Mallory has decided to make a surprise visit.

"Mr. Mallory, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Mallory extends his hand a smiles at her. "Well, two reasons really. You've been avoiding my calls and I hear that a missing agent has returned from the dead."

M smiles and sits back down in her chair. "Agent 007 returned last night, and I have not been avoiding you. As you can imagine, I am very busy of late."

Mallory's eyebrows raise. "Bond returned last night, what time?"

"Around 21:00, I take it that the PM updated you?"

"Yes, he did. Bond called you as soon as he returned?"

"He reported to me directly as usual."

Mallory sighs and shakes his head. "Where exactly did he report to you M? Surely you were not in the office that late. In fact, I took the liberty to speak to your driver on the way here, to ask when you went home last night...M I'm concerned about you overworking yourself."

M closes her eyes and takes a breath to centre herself. Damn it! She's stepped into his trap. How can she salvage this?

"Yes, well he presented himself to me at home." She deliberately stares him down daring him to find it inappropriate.

Mallory frowns. "Is this normal procedure for you and your agents?"

"No, of course not!"

"Well, M please explain why a loose cannon like James Bond has access to the head of MI6's home. Is it normal for him to do this?"

M shifts nervously in her chair trying to salvage anything of an excuse for Bond's behaviour.

"This is the second time Bond has done this. This is the first time in this particular home. Bond did it once during his first 00 mission, while my husband was still alive."

Mallory shakes his head looking concerned. "You know that you should have had him fired the first time. Now, I know that Q broke into your home also and that is the reason he is now in the Bahamas and why you look like you just stepped out of a magazine. Oh...please don't try to deny it. Really it's the only logical explanation for your appearance and Q's rather abrupt departure."

Mallory has now placed M on the defensive. "Bond's too good an agent to waste and he has proven himself tenfold after that original occurrence. As for Q, his motivation was..."

"Carnal..." Mallory interjects as he watches her face flush attractively. "Entirely too many of your employees know where you live and it's a security risk. Maybe you should have a bodyguard 24 hours a day."

M stands and leaned forward against her desk, irritation clearly evident . "Q is a computer genius and 007 is a top spy, quite able to break in anywhere. As we trained him to do! There is no other motive on Bond's part, other than immediately reporting to his superior. Furthermore; I have enough protection thank you very much."

"I am not putting you on trial M, I'm merely concerned for your well-being. Bond must have been quite shocked by your appearance."

"Everyone is." M whispers rather dejectedly.

Mallory gets up from his chair to say, "I would like to have updates on Bond's training and testing if you wouldn't mind. I would also like to take you for dinner this week, perhaps the day I come back for Bond's evaluations?"

M wonders if Mallory is taking advantage of the fact he has caught her in an impropriety, as a way to leverage a date with her. "I will consider it Mr. Mallory."

M has her suspicions that Eve Moneypenny is informing Mallory on the goings on within the department. Moneypenny has not been happy about her desk duty, since not quite killing Bond in Turkey.

M likes Eve and she can understand her ambition in supplying information to Mallory. He's likely to become the new head of the agency once the axe falls over her neck.

Mallory leaves her office with a smile on his face. He rather enjoyed getting one up on her. That he managed to work out that Bond had accosted her at her home, obviously shocked her. Mallory would have to watch this James Bond very carefully.

M can't see it, but she has a soft spot for this agent. M's not the type of woman who would ever put up with insubordination from anyone that works for her. Except 007 it would seem. Mallory will not infer that they were lovers but...there may...be something.

Mallory's hoping to spend more time with M, she's a very intriguing woman and he very much enjoyed the lunch they shared. Mallory hasn't stop thinking about her and the amazing transformation that she has undergone. He's not stupid enough to believe that it was surgically done...no...it most definitely has something to do with the former Q.

Bond arrives at the new MI6, Churchill's bunker and accompanies Tanner to medical. They test Bond as he exercises and Tanner brings him up to speed on the events that he has missed in the two months since his almost death.

The events leading to M's transformation were difficult to pry out of Tanner but he eventually succeeds.

"Where is Q now?" Bond asks through clenched teeth. This tension and anger are only partly caused by the sit ups he's doing.

Tanner looks cautiously around the room and lowers his voice. "Banished to the Bahamas, Q is to stay there for the rest of his life, which will be a lot longer now. His age has decreasing as much as M's. It's expected that In total, M will physically become 40 years younger that her real age within the next couple of weeks."

Bond looks at Tanner. "He may not have as long as he thinks if I happen to find him."

Tanner nods in approval. "She insisted he be left alone and all the data of what he did to them be destroyed."

Tanner also informs him about the oversight committee that is pinning her hands at the moment. Tanner also mentions a Mr. Mallory, the front-runner for M's job.

"What is this, Mallory like?" Bond asks.

"Ex-military, perfect record and good connections. Divorced, two children, no siblings and he keeps asking M out for dinner." Tanner adds the last bit just to watch Bond's reaction.

Tanner worries about M and Bond's a pain in the ass but he's also closer to M than any other agent. Tanner knows that Bond likes to break into her house and that she never does anything more than change the codes. Outwardly, one would never suspect M of playing favourites but Tanner knows if she did, it's Bond.

Tanner was there to witness when Bond died and M could barely even speak. Tanner has always admired M, but that is far as it will ever go. He's more than a little frightened of her, and although it would be thrilling being her lover, M would eat him for dinner. He would never recover.

Bond and M have something else...not quite friends, not quite lovers as far as he knows. Bond stops his push ups. "Really now...this is interesting, has she gone out with him?"

"Only once, on the day they met. He has called for her every other day like clockwork since. M has put him off until now but he will be here in a few days to watch your psych evaluation, then meet with you and M about the test results.

Mallory did surprise her with a visit this morning and he did...something...said something..to get her slightly off her game. I don't have the details on that meeting...yet."

Bond starts towelling off. "Oh, goody... I can't wait to meet him. See you at the gym tomorrow morning."

Bond wants to get out of there to begin investigating Mallory, and his plans are much more intrusive than a casual computer search.

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Mallory's home is nice considering he's single. It still has...that feminine touch. Mallory is straight, Bond deduces by his personal items and clothing. His old-fashioned answering machine does not containing anything too scandalous.

Mallory has a safe, likely for work. Going through his desk is not too enlightening, however his bedside table contains a surveillance photo of M taken recently.

This is disconcerting. There is only one type of photo a man keeps hidden in his night stand and it's usually pornographic. Anything proper, a family photo would be framed beside the bed.

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The next day Tanner and Bond enter the gym, however today they are not the only ones working out. One of the physical trainers is prompting M to do another set of reps with hand weights.

M has her natural arsenal of curves on display, much to Tanners admiration and Bond's amusement. Bond is particularly fond of M's back side and it seems obvious that Tanner is also.

Tanner and Bond are lucky that her back is to them or they would be in her bad books more than usual. They turn to look at each other with the same amused expression. They quickly correct their faces as she turns around.

It's not every day you get to see the boss in very tight workout clothes but it does make it worth the trip into work today. Tanner shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot. Bond levels his most dazzling smile in her direction.

Tanner clears his throat and Bond speaks up. "M, this is a new look for you."

Tanner coughs into his hand and shoots a glare at Bond.

"Really Bond, you of all people, often see women in this state of undress. It doesn't bother you does it?"

"No, of course not M. It will however, aid in the length and intensity of my workout. You know how men are."

M, scoffs at his attempt at flirting. "I only know how to use men like you as blunt instruments, remember Bond."

"Oh I remember." Bond's hand goes to his shoulder where the metal shards continue to cause him pain.

M attempts to divert the conversation to something more neutral considering the scene. "Are you ready for tomorrow Bond?"

Bond smiles a feral grin. "M I am ready for anything you and your new man Mallory can throw at me."

M's taken aback at Bond's reaction. He seems rather aggressively and tense. Tanner looks like he wishes to be anywhere else. Obviously, Bond has investigated Mallory and Tanner has filled him in on Mallory's persistent personal requests.

M decides to school Bond for his presumptions. "Bond really, I never took you for the possessive type and I don't recall asking for your opinion on Mr. Mallory. I deal with men in high and low places daily, have you now decided to vet them all?"

Bond blurts out... "not all, just the flirty single ones, and someone has to ma'am"... he glances towards Tanner, who looks like a small animal caught between two carnivores.

Bond's bluntness surprises all within ear shot. The trainer quickly leaves the room, armed with enough gossip to fuel the fires at MI6 for a fortnight. Tanner shifts from side to side but knows well enough to wait for orders.

M stands with her hands on her hips and her eyes narrow dangerously.

To Bond, she looks adorably sexy and she doesn't even know it. Bond's now enjoying the view of her front side, hoping to piss her off enough to keep her near for a while.

M's voice turns low and dangerous "007, you should save your lip for puckering up to Mallory. He will be your boss soon enough and if you plan on keeping this job you better be on your best behaviour tomorrow."

M grabs her things and heads for the door, but M's interested in seeing how far Bond will take his flirtations with Tanner present. M decides to twist the knife deeper into his shoulder so to speak.

"As it is Bond, you are here at my sufferance only. No one else would be as kind and motherly as I, considering all the childish antics and annoying traits I have to put up with around here."

Bond smiles, blatantly raking his eyes over her. "I'm sorry M but you don't come even close to mother like in my mind, and as for childish...AM NOT!" For fun he sticks his tongue out at her.

Normally, Bond's jibes and flirtations are easy to deflect as nonsense but the intensity behind his eyes and in his posture make an involuntary shiver go up her spine. Bond usually tries to rile her up but this...well it...feels different. Bond looks as though he wants to consume her. M wonders if this is the look he gives all the women that tumble into bed with on his missions. M shakes her head in annoyance and leaves the two of them and heads to the change rooms.

Bond couldn't possibly be serious...it is insane...she simply refuses to believe it. The gall of the man, he was breaking into her home...long before she looked like this...so it could never be romantically...sexually motivated...could it?

M hits the shower wishing that all the men in her life would stop looking at her as if she had turned into...something...desirable...she has not felt that way for many years. M needs focus on how to fix the mess that killed 8 employees and that is all that matters now. There is no room for anything personal in her life, not even her own children.

At least her children are grown and have families of their own, they do not need her now. M's great regret in life is that she often chose her job over her family. They are going to force her out regardless...this hard drive issue is bad and she can't see them letting her stay very much longer.

M needs a new plan.