I don't own James Bond.
SPECTRE tentacles.
James was relieved to be back in London following his mission to the Bahamas where he dealt with Dr No; the encounter with the nuclear physicist turned criminal was harrowing considering all the clever tricks he had employed to kill him. Dr No had known the danger Bond represented the moment he arrived, and he knew he would investigate his little kingdom at Crab Key.
Sadly, Moneypenny wasn't in the reception area outside M's office - either she was doing a job somewhere else and a replacement had been brought in, or she had taken ill; the moment he arrived, the new secretary called M. According to the clock on the wall, Bond was waiting outside the office for three minutes before M's new secretary looked up at Bond.
"M will see you now," he said calmly.
Bond nodded. "Thank you," he said and he walked through the door. M was seated behind his desk, dressed formally as always and he was going over a stack of reports.
M looked up. "Well done, James. I've been reading your report, and it makes interesting reading," he stood up and went to the drinks cabinet. "Want a drink?"
"Please, a small brandy," Bond said.
After M poured them both a drink and handed Bond his own glass, he sat down and stared Bond down. "As I said, I've read your report, about Dr No and this SPECTRE organisation. How much did you find out about them?"
"Very little, sir," Bond had expected SPECTRE to be one of the subjects he was going to be debriefed on, but he should have expected M to have concerns. The nature of the organisation itself would likely mean M would spread the news around the rest of the intelligence community rather than keep it secret since SPECTRE was implied to be an international criminal organisation.
At the same time Bond had no doubt M was recording this. "From what I saw of Dr No, they have a think-tank of highly intelligent criminals. They're well organised and they have a number of ambitious schemes in the works."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, Dr No was involved in the toppling project and he went to a lot of trouble to construct a base on a Caribbean island; it wasn't a madman's scheme, it was precisely thought out and well executed," Bond replied as he sipped his drink and smacked his lips. "They're also very highly informed and they tried to kill me several times while I was there; a fake chauffeur, Dr Dent's attempt to shoot me, and a tarantula was sneaked into my hotel room."
M grimaced at the mention of the spider, but he pressed on. "From your report, Dr No terrified those assassins including the girl who took a photograph with you at the airport and at that restaurant."
"And they also have a routine habit of killing those who stray too far; in Dr No's case, he made sure anyone who came to the island was killed, either through the flamethrowers of that tank disguised as a dragon to spread the myth locally, or he simply had his men hunt down and kill everyone who approached the island," Bond pointed out, raising his drink glass to his lips to take a quick sip before he carried on, "when I learnt Dr No was working for an organisation, I did wonder how many other plans they were working on."
"Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion," M recited the characters for SPECTRE's acronym grimly. "There could be several cases behind any of those where the organisation is running things directly or from behind the scenes."
Bond knew his boss well enough to know by now M had had his people here in Britain looking into past or current cases to see if there were hints of a shadowy organisation, which was not one of the typical intelligence organisations. "Has there been any sign of an organisation like SPECTRE?"
"Nothing yet," M replied grimly. "Either they have been well hidden, or they find proxies and pawns to carry out their dirty work, and Dr No used SPECTRE to bring you into the organisation, to tempt you."
"Likely a bit of both," Bond didn't comment on No's attempts to convince him to join. "What worries me is what else they have in mind. No is just one of many criminal brains who are highly intelligent."
"True," M rubbed his hair. "We're going to have little to go on; but I plan on circulating this to the CIA, the KGB and several other organisations."
"Is that wise?" Bond's voice was sharp, but not bordering on insubordination. "There's a chance the KGB might be in league with SPECTRE-."
"That's a risk we'll have to take," M's voice was just as sharp, but his expression was apologetic. "They have to know, Bond; some of them might even have encountered SPECTRE in some shape or form, or they might find something in their records that better explains their organisation. I've already cleared it. Now you have a meeting to go to, your debriefing, 007."
"Yes, sir," Bond finished his drink, and he stood up. "Thanks for the drink."
M nodded. "Good luck."