Chapter 14
Kincade enters the house to see Olivia standing in the door between the kitchen and sitting room.
"How long do I have?"
Kincade looked at her and sighed. "It will take him at least 8 hours...he heard your voice before I dropped the bloody mobile, and you are not leaving until he sees you breathing lass."
"You think you can stop me?"
"I don't want to hurt you Olivia...but the lad asked me to tie you down if I had to. You know you owe it to the lad...or you wouldn't be here now."
Olivia moves to a chair in the kitchen and props her elbows on the table resting her chin on her hands.
"I know I do….I followed them around Europe...I tried to stay out of sight but...we trained him well. Jack was there so I had to get away."
"This Jack...is he bad news?"
Olivia smirks. "In a sense."
"History with you?"
Olivia straightened up in her seat and glared at him.
"You are far too perceptive Mr. Kincade."
"I am also all ears my dear and I do not run my mouth, so if you have a story that needs to be told..."
"Jack is senior CIA agent...he...well strangely enough he...I can't even say it."
"He was attracted to you...that is no surprize lass."
"Jack flirted…I was flattered but married...I did give him my number and was a tad shocked that I did...it was highly inappropriate of me to do that considering I knew he fancied me. We spoke often and I did enjoy the flirtation. Years later...Nigel died and Jack called...somewhat persistently...he was a good friend...long distance."
Kincade smiles at her discomfort describing her romance with an agent...she doesn't know yet about the boy's feelings for her.
"But you didn't remain just friends did you lass?"
"No...he did come to visit, whenever he could and we became more."
"Does James know?"
Olivia looks at Kincade slightly perplexed.
"It was my private business. 007 didn't need to know and Jack is a friend of his so I asked him not to say anything. In my position it is best if your private life does not become work time gossip."
"Gossip...the lad would not...he would not have approved."
"What the hell did I need his approval for?"
"You don't know how he feels about you do you?"
"What?"
"The lad loves you...did it never occur to you that he did?"
"What! I assumed that there was a familial bond between us...I presented myself as a strict parent to him and Bond alway pushed my buttons, quite like my children."
Olivia is in for shock once the lad arrives. Kincade raises an eyebrow at her.
"No... Wait for him...let the lad explain. You want to see him again or you would not be with me here now. At least you wanted me to reassure him and tell him that you live."
"I don't know...It was stupid of me to come but seeing James in Europe with Jack following the same leads as I on the case. It was almost like I was an agent and working with them. M has invited me back to stay in Britain but I am dead and there are many here that know me."
"I will make something for us to eat as we wait for the lad."
Kincade excuses himself to go outside for a few minutes. He comes back with some cleaned ducks he cuts some vegetables and places them in the roast pan with the duck before placing it in the oven.
Olivia stands and begins helping him season the duck adding some stips of bacon and she begins speaking again.
"I made a mistake in coming here...my bloody sentimentality getting in the way of my better judgement again."
"Where have you been the last 6 months lass...in hospital?"
"For the first month yes...then a Swiss rehabilitation centre. It has taken time for these old bones to heal."
"Yes...I took days to recover from that night and I didn't get shot. The lad...well I don't think he has recovered at all."
"I knew that he would mourn me as bad as Tanner. I tried not to pick favourites out of my agents but I did have a soft spot for Eve, Tanner, Bond...both the old, and the new Q. It was a weakness...I should never allowed myself to feel…"
"Listen to yourself lass. It is no weakness to feel close to people you work with all the time."
"It is harder for a woman...my job was constantly being threatened by the old boys club that has run the country for centuries. Being good at it, as a woman is not enough...I had to be better than them...out think them and was never completely accepted by them for the twenty bloody years I was M...and it all goes to hell because of a rogue ex-agent that had revenge on his mind."
"I think it was more than that...remember I was there. That man moved in extremes between light and dark...I could almost see the demons playing in his mind."
A pained expression crossed Olivia's face remembering Silva and him standing over her...holding her close in almost like a lover's embrace.
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Hong Kong - 1997
"Ms. Mansfield your new recruit is here."
"Good Ms. Smith...send him in."
Tiago Rodriguez swooped in dramatically and sat in front of her. Their meetings were standard fare...he was extremely eager to please.
At first she believed it was for promotion but then he followed her back to her flat one night...Tiago had done his homework and knew her husband was back in the UK to visit the children.
Tiago navigated around the cameras and alarms.
For a few moments M was afraid of him...he reached out for her coming close but stopping himself as he realized...looked in her eyes. M really was not interested in his good looks and his blatant attempt to be suave around her.
Olivia was stiff...and abusive to him...she had to assert control...to take the power away from him...to prevent him from…making a move...any move to touch her physically. Tiago was massive...he could physically take her but Olivia had to make sure he could not do such a thing mentally.
For the moments between the heartbeats pounding in her chest, and shallow breath expressed from her lungs, Olivia thought he would…
It was in those tense moments that there future relationship was sealed in tragedy. Olivia realized Tiago was unstable, she could see the conflict and emotional instability in his eyes.
Olivia reprimanded Tiago and told him never to ever approach her in such a manner again. That was the end of his attempts to seduce her...she continued to worry that he was becoming too attached to her and had a guard put on her husband and their flat.
Tiago pouted in surly childishness and downright anger at times when he came into her office. Olivia made sure they were never alone together.
Tiago continued to try to impress her with his skills...then he hacked the Chinese government and the rest is cruel painful history.
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"Yes...it might have been what Silva thought was love. The problem is that some agents begin to confuse loyalty with love. If I was a man...but I am a woman so they transfer misguided feelings of love on to me. I know that James has this problem...orphans make the best recruits but also crave a mother's love."
"It is more than that with the boy Olivia. It didn't take me long to deduce that he loved you...he just didn't realize how much until the very end. Remember I was with him when the news came about his parents."
"I ran here because it was the last place I thought he would come...I needed to get away from Jack and prying eyes in London. I was on a trail of storage lockers that Silva left me for a clue. He left me some very disturbing photos and basically admitted to sending a woman to seduce my husband years ago."
"He was a rat bastard that one...but the boy he does need to see you."
"I did not expect to hear that Bond thinks he loves me. I cannot stay Kincade. I have told you why I'm here and he inadvertently knows what he shouldn't...which means that Jack...Tanner...Moneypenny and Q might also. This was a terrible mistake. I will be delighted to share dinner with you but then I will leave before James can arrive."
"Let's not worry about that now lass...lets go sit and sip a few in the sitting room by the fire."
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Bond speeds past cars on the motorway as he heads north...hitting redial on his mobile….DAMN IT!
Bond cant bloody believe it! He heard her voice...what the hell is she doing in Scotland...why did she go to Kincade? Please god don't let her be in a relationship with him now too. Bond will implode if she is.
Jack was bad enough...they had been friends for years...Kincade...he is his bloody father compared to Jack.
What the hell is going on up there? How could he have missed M's affair with Jack?
This mission has been an emotional roller coaster for him...finding out Jack slept with M. The feeling of bitter betrayal...bile climbs from his stomach to his mouth just thinking about it...still.
Bond's hands grip the wheel with intensity and his anger seems to push the existing traffic out of the way by his mental intensity alone.
A few minutes later he gets through to the old man...It was her damn it! She's alive!
Bond will kill her….no he will hug her and then he will kill her. No...he will kiss her so hard that she will forget every caress Jack gave her...
Bond gets a call. He hits the speaker function.
"Yes...what is it?"
Bond you had a meeting today with M where are you?
"Fuck our so called M!"
Tanner gets angry back at his stubborn insubordinate agent friend.
Bond what the hell are you up to where are you driving to?
"Damn it Tanner...he lied...I found her! I told you...Q, Moneypenny...they hid her from us! For fuck sakes she is in Scotland with Kincade!"
Are you serious! Calm down Bond and don't get into a bloody accident in your race to get there. What are you going to do?
"I haven't figured that out yet...I will hug her kiss her with everything I have, and then I will bloody well kill her!"
Tanner begins to laugh hysterically into the phone.
"Glad you find this all so amusing Tanner...nice to see that you haven't been put through the hell I have since she died."
No...it's just...I am just so bloody happy she is...that old dame...we should have known that a mere bullet could never take her down...tough old bitch.
"Watch it Tanner...that tough old bitch may just become my wife someday."
Bond begins to laugh right along with him...finding the emotional release he needs. His internal anxiety wanes as joy tumbles out of his mouth along with Tanner's.
I knew you fancied her...but you never made much of a move. Were you too scared by her for all those years Bond?
"Respect...not fear. I wasn't going to seduce her away from her husband...like someone I know tried…and damn him...he managed to."
Q told me about the fight between you and agent Jack Ward. She kept that affair very quiet. Perhaps M just thought he was a safe relationship because he was so far away. It was a way of limiting the emotional connection. How long were they together?
"After Nigel died it only lasted a year and Jack...the giant idiot broke it off because she seemed distant and he thought she had someone else. Don't get me wrong...I'm ecstatic that he did but still mad that he had the gall to seduced her at all."
Have you given a thought to the fact that she may have seduced him Bond?
"No...I was there once...he tried all that southern charm to get out of the bollixing that she chased us all the way to Prague to give us around three years ago."
Did it work?
"Christ no...you know M. No amount of charm no matter who directed it at her could permeate that hard shell. I think he fell for her at that very moment."
She always did that...I saw it once myself...when men attempted to use their bravado and charm on her and then she just let into the perpetrator. One stood there dazed and confused for a moment and then I actually saw the change in his eyes…desire plain and obvious to anyone looking. M just spun on her heels and left...I never knew if she realized what had happened...likely not.
"I think M is completely unaware of the level of sexual power she holds. Who was it?"
He was the deputy director of MI5 if you must know. What about you...what level of sexual power does she hold over you?
"I was intrigued from the start but that was the extent of it...she did have a habit of popping up in my subconscious at inopportune moment when I first became 00...especially when she was in my bloody earpiece on a mission."
I can imagine, but it wasn't love was it? I mean what about Vesper?
"She was the only one to come close. I knew M had a husband and that they were a good match...I think she loved the man...she was very mad that first time I broke in...she looking down the corridor expecting him to show up. Remember I did ask you about him...and I asked our old Q."
Yes, Nigel and her had a good marriage the kind of union that makes people envious.
"I know because I was one of the envious ones and so was Jack."
And the old Q...and me too if you want the full office list.
"Really now...Tanner a crush on the boss eh?"
Shut it Bond! At least I never stalked her….it was completely harmless.
"The kind of harmless that you only think about in the shower Tanner?"
BOND! Do not breathe a word of this to her...or else!"
"Believe me Tanner talking with her about other men is not high on my list of things I want to do to her when I get there."
Good luck with that...you'll need it. Honestly if anyone has a chance...its you. Like M said...she was always sentimental about you.
"Thanks Tanner. Tell M I will be back in a week...do not tell him where she is or that we know he lied about her being dead. I will call you later and tell Q to get to work on an instantaneous transportation device because I am going to start shooting some of these idiot drivers."
Can I tell Moneypenny too...we will keep it quiet?
"Yes...tell her that I found her and tell Q to call off the hunt because she tipped her hand showing up at Kincade's while I was on the line with him."
I will. Tell her that we missed her and I would like to see her again soon. I think she owes us all a night out on the town for what she put us through.
"I agree and I plan on making her pay up for what she but us all through but I do not promise that it will be soon. If I have anything to say about it...she will not be leaving my sight for a while."
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Dinner's done and cleaned up and Olivia uses the water closet and gets ready to leave. She moves into the kitchen to see Kincade smiling at her with some rope in his hands.
"Mr. Kincade...you've got to be joking."
"I told the lad I would keep you here...and I keep my word."
Olivia pffs at Kincade and takes her coat and bag, arching her eyebrow at him.
"Thank you for a lovely day but I order you to move out of the way."
Kincade laughs at her.
"You order me….in my own home, the one that you broke into and helped yourself to my Scotch! All high and mighty all of a sudden...typically English. There is no rule in the law against holding you here until the authorities can be called. After all, my lovely English lady...you broke into my home...it is hardly kidnapping now is it?"
"Forcible confinement...and no court in the land would take the man's version in this scenario."
"You and I both know that it will never meet a court Olivia...you don't exist and you are staying here and waiting for the boy."
If looks could kill Kincade knows he would be dead...she is a spirited little English woman, it's no wonder the boy wants her...hell, he'd try for her if the lad wasn't so smitten with the woman.
"Come back in and we will see what's on the telly."
Olivia pouts like a petulant child but allows him to guide her to the sofa.
"Stay here lass and I will bring some sweets and tea while we wait."
Kincade move into the kitchen and Olivia looks for an available window to make her escape. For a moment she considers seducing him...but that would be awkward for both of them considering the conversations they have had today.
Kincade will have to use the WC eventually and she will slip out then…
To be continued….