Chapter Five
Late Registration.
The bomb gave Bond and Goodhead a great deal of cover, the local officials went directly to the wreck and the two of them made their way into the town without incident. Goodhead explained that before Bond could see the woman who was helping them he was to stop off and get a car from Q, and that agent's in the town would take them to Q. Bond agreed that it would be a good idea to get a car from Q being that they always came in handy. The two of them walked for an hour to the city and another half hour to the meeting place. Bond recognized the small man who drove him to the desert but there was another man there.
"Ms. Goodhead its good to see you alive, we were afraid you might not have been able to escape in time." The unfamiliar man said.
"Well thanks to Mr. Bond here I did…" Goodhead admitted, she gestured at Bond. "…Bond this is agent Morales he's been working close with us in trying to find Julio Acosta's shipments." Goodhead explained. The new man who was bland in features, except a set of ears that stuck up, put his hand out and shook Bond's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Bond; our boss has said some great things about you." Morales said, Bond looked puzzled and smiled, something he did when he didn't quite understand.
"Boss?" Bond asked.
"Yes, Felix Leiter." Morales explained. Bond nodded.
Felix Leiter was one of Bond's good and only 'friends', Leiter was a C.I.A. agent with whom bond worked with more so than any others. Leiter had saved Bond's life a few times and Bond always returned the favor. One time, in a undocumented assignment in the Caribbean, Bond was sent to the Bahamas to investigate SPECTRE's high jacking of two atomic bombs, in which they used to hold the world hostage, after much searching Bond learned that Emilio Largo and an underwater army were transporting the bombs to Miami and bond intercepted them, and if it weren't for the help of Leiter and his crew of C.I.A. scuba divers Bond would have never been able to stop Largo's plan. Bond owed a lot to Leiter as well as the world did.
"Felix Leiter…" Bond repeated. "…will he be joining us?" Bond asked. The small man who drove Bond nodded.
"It's depending, after you have your rendezvous with the informant and Acosta himself, Felix asked me to evaluate the situation, and depending how everything goes I will ask him to join us here…" The small man said. "…Do to the mole we're keeping Leiter's location secret. I'm the only one who can get in touch with him as of now." The small man said.
"What's your name?" Bond asked. The small man smiled and reached to shake Bond's hand.
"Agent Gonzales." He answered. Bond nodded and took note of his name.
"You mentioned that I would be meeting Acosta…" Bond said. Goodhead nodded.
"Like we mentioned before there is a stock car race scheduled for tomorrow, we going to go sign you up for the race under an alias, Acosta meets up with the winner for dinner and if you win you'll have your chance." Goodhead explained. Bond nodded, sounded simple enough.
"Are we going for the car now?" Bond asked a little impatiently, they all agreed and they left.
007
Q's laboratory was located in the basement of an appliance shop, Bond found this very amusing and when they came face to face with Q he couldn't keep a smirk from his face.
"Planning on opening up shop Q?" Bond asked, Q scowled at him and walked over to the car that was being observed by some of his workers.
"Oh grow up 007…" Q grumpily spat. "…why they keep sending me out on field missions just so you can destroy everything I make you is beyond me." Q groaned. Bond walked around and messed with some equipment he'd never seen.
"What am I getting this time?" Bond asked. Q looked at him with dissatisfaction.
"Nothing new I'm afraid…" Q said. "…this field assignment nonsense hasn't allowed me to make anything new; instead I had to refine some of your old gadgets." Q explained. Goodhead interrupted.
"Thank you Q for the new hand bag it came in handy." She kissed him on the cheek and he turned red.
"Q, you old devil." Bond teased; Q picked something off the table and handed to Bond.
"Oh buzz off 007…" Q complained. "Your old wrist watch as you may know fires a toxic dart, disabling your enemy in five seconds, the watch is also equipped with a non lethal laser that can burn through metal and a grappling hook that can hold up to 200 pounds, provided that you haven't gained a few pounds in the last few months, this should come in handy." Q explained, Bond took the watch and put it on.
"Anything else!" Bond asked, Q gave him a sharp look.
"If I could make it I'd give you a bit of patience 007…!" Q snapped at him. "…the other thing is your car." Q started.
"Good." Bond said, Q just gave him a look.
"Your Lotus Esprit was the only vehicle I could get fixed in time; you destroyed the other ones so much I'm starting to think that they are beyond repair." Q complained.
"Its all for her majesty Q I promise." Bond said.
"Same refinements, dual ground, water capabilities, front machine guns, an oil slick in the back, same as you left it Bond, except its not in a hundred thousand pieces!" Q complained.
"Q I never purposely destroy your works of art…" Bond explained. "…they just never pass the field test." Bond concluded.
"That's it Bond I have had enough of your childish antics get out of here!" Q yelled. Bond walked to Goodhead.
"Let's get going" Bond said.
The two of them left and were to meet Gonzales and Morales at the stock car racing registration, they drove around the small town in the Lotus Esprit to the estate where Julio Acosta lived, the registration was being held there, when they got there Gonzales and Morales were waiting for them. James stepped out of the car and Goodhead followed.
"Bad news Mr. Bond" Gonzales said, Bond arched his eyebrow.
"What happened?" Bond asked, Morales stepped forward.
"All the places have been taken, we tried to you to take Gonzales' place but we ran into Acosta at the registration and we can't pass you off as him." Morales explained.
"Why do you have a slot in the race?" Bond asked. Goodhead stepped in front of him.
"We thought that it would be safer to have two people on our side enter the race…" Goodhead started. "..A lot of these guys are professionals and we know for a fact that Gonzales is a professional stock car driver." Goodhead explained. Bond nodded and looked passed the gate into Acosta's estate, there was a get together inside.
"Do we know where some of the drivers are staying?" Bond asked.
"Yes they're all staying in the same hotel." Goodhead answered.
"Have they all met with Acosta?" Bond continued. Gonzales shook his head.
"I saw the registry sheet there's one guy still in his hotel room." Gonzales answered.
"O.K. Goodhead come with me, the two of you go back to the train and see if you can get something left of the bomb for Q to analyze that mat give us a clue on who's trying so hard to kill us." Bond said. Gonzales and Morales went off to their car and Bond and Goodhead jumped back into the car.
"What hotel are they in?" Bond asked, Goodhead pointed in the direction of the hotel.
"The Estrella de fuego…" Goodhead told but with a bit of skepticism, she didn't know what was happening and she didn't like not knowing what was coming next. "…what are we going to do?" Goodhead asked. Bond pulled the car off.
"We aren't going to do anything; you're going to stay in the car and wait for me to come back." Bond explained, Goodhead anxiously waited for Bond to explain what he was going to do.
"What about you James?" She finally asked. Bond turned a corner.
"I'm gong to go inside and switch places with the driver." Bond explained. Goodhead didn't see the plan as workable.
"But what about the security…?" Goodhead asked immediately. "…If they see you they'll recognize you tomorrow." Goodhead said. Bond turned another corner and stopped the car in front of the hotel.
"I'll take extra care." Bond said and before Goodhead could protest anymore Bond was out of the car and heading up the steps to the entrance of the hotel.