"My God! It's huge, it…" With that, the line to John Peterson, the agent in the bureau for South East Region 3, went dead.
Shocked silence filled the operations room. Barbara Mawdsley, known to everyone as 'M,' looked at Thomas Smith, the young man in charge of telecommunications. "Status report."
He shook his head. "I can't get through. The network has broken down."
"Can we reach Bond?"
"Trying."
M pressed her lips together. She had once told Bond that he was a dinosaur and a relic. After his imprisonment in North Korea she had even been ready to dismiss him from active service. But as much as she hated to admit it, he was her best man, and while he had his flaws, he also kept saving the worlds more often than she could count.
Moments later, he shook his head once again. "Sorry, Ma'am. I can't –".
A noise startled M, and she turned.
Moneypenny had dropped all the folders she had carried. Flushed red and with shaking hands, the secretary kneeled down to pick them up. Of course M knew of the perhaps hopeless crush she had on Bond. It was a pity, the girl was worth her weight in diamonds, and he just did not see it. M turned back to Smith before Moneypenny could get even more embarrassed. "Keep trying," she told him. Then she moved on to her chief of operations. "When can our satellites send pictures from the area?"
Charles Robinson seemed to be everywhere at once. Hastily he spoke into his head set, trying to get information out of nowhere. "In about – right now, M."
With that, the grey and white dots on the large screen were replaced by a coloured picture. Lush green forests covered a peninsula, tropical buildings stood among the trees, streets connected the villages.
"That was the area yesterday," Robinson explained. After he had hit a few buttons, a second image appeared next to it. "That's the most recent picture." The image could have come straight from a war zone. Squares indicated where moments ago buildings had stood. Almost all Trees were gone, the green replaced by dead brown.
"Dear Lord…
M closed her eyes but opened them immediately again. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw Moneypenny press one hand to her mouth and another to her chest. While the agency lost people at times, they seldom lost more than a few at once. Today's toll would be much higher; the complete staff of a few offices would be lost, and every death hurt like losing a family member. Not to forget that everyone in this room had personal connections to people living over there. Barbara Mawdsley straightened. She needed to be a rock, an anchor to cling to.
"Ma'am, incoming signal from South Asia, audio only. It's Bond!"
Before M could say a word, Moneypenny exclaimed, "James, thank God –"
007 cut her off. "Who is responsible for this?" His voice was calm, too calm, but a light tremor betrayed his barely contained fury.
"James –"
"Who!"
M stepped forward although he could not see her. "No one, Bond. It was a natural disaster."
"Don't give me that. There's no chance that you'll give this to another agent!"
"007, I'd love to tell you otherwise and would give you an order to kill with pleasure. Unfortunately there's no one to blame. This earthquake wasn't man-made, it was a natural one." After a pause she added, "I'm sorry, James."
Only the crackling of static answered her. Bond had closed the connection.
Mix me a Martini and Diamond 77: Thanks for reviewing.
The wave image was probably the best image I have used so far in a fic.Bond has survived and he 's not in a good mood now.