Chapter Nine

Hotel Issues #2

As M had said Paris was indeed waiting for Bond at the local bus station, Bond was surprised to see that she had dressed up, she wore a elegant dress that draped the floor, he elegance seemed to be the most unsafe thing to flaunt, being that it brought attention to herself but nevertheless Bond was impressed even more with her than he was the night before, Bond was suspicious that he might have been followed from Acosta's mansion but after a careful and discreet search for cars or people following him, he came up with nothing, however to be sure he called an identical cab along and issued the one he was in to go Paris' hotel while he and Paris made a unseen getaway in the second cab.

Though she tried too hard to hide it, it was clear to Bond that Paris that she was relieved to see him, when he had approached the bus station she looked very nervous, and when he exited the cab the tension seemed to be relieved. Inside the cab she said nothing, and Bond found that a tad bit amusing.

"Did you have a good night's rest?" Bond asked eventually. Paris did her best to give him a cold glare but fell very short of seeming truly upset.

"I don't see how that is any of your business Mr. Stock." She answered, for a moment the Name threw him off he wasn't used to keeping on alias' for so long

"Just curious…" Bond answered. "…I did some investigating at Acosta's estate." Bond revealed.

"You didn't let him see you did you!" She asked, suddenly her aloof carefree attitude dissolved and she seemed terrified by the idea that her plan to backstab Acosta with the C.I.A. had been found out.

"Well in fact we had lunch together." Bond answered, Paris seemed too afraid to talk and she managed to cough out a statement.

"I never thought the C.I.A. would be so reckless."

"However I used an alias, as far as Acosta knows the British secret service hasn't even been thought of in the investigation." Bond explained, at that Paris seemed to relax again.

"Did you find anything that would lead to him being arrested?" Paris asked, Bond shook his head.

"I'm afraid not…" Bond said. "…I personally though feel that there is something more than Acosta's letting on to and it will only be a matter of time before he makes a mistake and reveals it." Bond said.

"I wouldn't be to sure with this idea of waiting for him to make a mistake…" Paris complained. "…he's a very careful man." She concluded.

"Too careful in my opinion…" Bond added. "…that is why I know he will slip up." Bond explained. Paris nodded and another long silence came over the cab, it lasted until they reached Bond's hotel. The Hotel was shaped interestingly, it somewhat resembled the letter A, and on both slanted sides there were long rows of windows that we're on the fifth, tenth, fifteenth and twentieth floors, the window were the size of each floor. Bond graciously paid the driver and cautiously took Paris to his room.

When Bond led her into his room she seemed to be agitated, Bond explained that this was the safest place he could take her. She acknowledged him slightly with a barely visible nod and sat down at the desk.

"Yesterday you asked me about my profession…"Bond started. "…What about yours?" Bond asked, for a moment Paris seemed hesitant to answer Bond's question.

"I don't work…" she said, but she was already starting to find Bond predictable and knew that he wanted to know more. "…I met Julio when I was younger, during my last year of law school in fact, I've never needed a job." She explained.

"Are you two married?" For some reason when Bond asked this he felt uncomfortable, the first mention of marriage brought him back to Teresa, when he had been married. At one point Bond never considered himself to be able to become married, one woman seemed as absurd as one drink at a bar, but Teresa was different, he at first had been reluctant to marry her but over time she seemed to be more of a different person, she was brave, smart, she seemed to remind Bond of himself, but where they differed was obvious she had the ability to admit she wanted to be loved while Bond-

"No, he doesn't believe in marriage…" Paris interrupted Bond's though process. "…only loyalty." She explained.

"So your willing to leave this happy good life...?" Bond asked. "…what will you do when the money is gone?"

"Acosta is smart in some things, however he trust women too much…" Paris explained. "…I have a considerable nest egg saved up." She concluded.

"Do you have any idea what he might be doing?" Bond asked, tot his question he was still rather clueless about.

"I don't know…" Paris truthfully answered. "…but whatever it is I can guarantee the bulk of it is set up in the Caribbean." She revealed.

"Have you been down there with him before?" Bond continued asking.

"Yes, but never to his place of business…" She laughed. "…I always thought he might have been cheating on me." Paris said, Bond was clearly uninterested in that part of the situation, for the time being, he was trying to narrow down what could be going on.

"Do you know anyone he associates with regularly?" Bond asked, Paris again shook her head.

"No one, I did investigating of my own Mr. Stock…" Paris explained. "…never before has he kept close ties with anyone, except recently he's been contacting a man named Petrovski a lot." She mentioned, the sound of his name made Bond perk up just a bit.

"Do you know who this Petrovski is?" Bond asked as if he hadn't already known.

"No, I'm not quite sure…" Paris trailed off. Bond considered it better that she didn't know who he was, that we she served no direct threat to Acosta and Bond wouldn't have to worry about protecting her the entire time he investigated. "…Mr. Stock I feel tired." Paris said. Bond didn't think about her statement too much.

"I suppose you could lie down and rest for the time being." Bond said rather absent mindedly, he crossed over to the phone and checked it, then to the picture in the room and did the same. Paris sat on the bed for a moment and then lied down, she didn't talk, and she moaned a little and then seemed to swoon.

"No, I don't feel well…" She complained, Bond looked at her, her voice trailed off and her eyes glazed over. "…something's wrong." She concluded in a groggy stupor, seeing that she was beyond right, Bond rushed over to Paris and grabbed her.

"Did anyone give you anything to drink today?" Bond asked alarmed, her eyes were fading and she was talking jumble of words.

"I drank some wine in my room earlier." she managed to get out.

"Is there anyone here?" Bond asked into his communicator.

"Yes Mr. Bond." Gonzales answered.

"I'm here." Morales also answered.

"Both of you in here quick!" Bond ran over to the door and looked out, there was no one there, he ran back to Paris on the bed and something caught his eye.

At the small window on the left side of the bed, two men were hanging, before Bond could get his gun out a shot rang outside the room and the windows exploded as the two men busted inside, from behind Bond the other window was busted out and two more men invaded his room. The four men rushed towards him, none of them carried guns and Bond got his gun and tried to take a shot, however one of the men threw a stick at Bond and it hit him in the chest, Bond's entire body went numb and his eyes crossed as he fell to the floor. Bond's mind raced he could see the men grabbing Paris and running outside and then he saw Morales run in, his eyes blurred again, and then he regained his ability to move and he got up and shot one of the men in the leg and he fell to the ground, he saw Morales take out his gun and begin to shoot but from seemingly nowhere something smashed into him and knocked him over.

Blocking Bond from the entrance was a man in a suit of armor, it was silver and even had a helmet, Bond was perplexed for a moment, but when the suit of armor pulled out a gun it was clear what was happening. Before the man could shoot at Bond, Bond had already shot and dodged, the bullet grazed the armor and the suit took a shot, from the medium size gun that the man held a huge explosion erupted. With that one shot most of Bond's room was dismantled and his bed flew in the air and landed on top of him. When Bond managed to get from under the bed he checked Morales, who was knocked out, and then ran outside.

"M…!" Bond yelled.

"Yes Bond." M answered, Bond turned the corner and checked the communicator in his ear."I've been attacked and in the process they've got Paris!" Bond alerted him, He heard M groan over the communicator.

"You have complete control over the situation…" M explained quickly. "…You may do whatever you feel is necessary to get her back!" M concluded.

"Right." Bond answered.

Instead of following the men down the stairs Bond ran to the stairs and went upstairs, on the twentieth floor, was a parking lot, in the parking lot was his Lotus Esprit, he was quick in jumping inside and turning it on. He drove around the lot, but figured in the time t would take him to reach the first floor the men would have been gone with Paris, even if they were on foot it would be next to impossible to find them, so he turned around the lot again. In the far end of the lot there was a tow truck, one of the double Decker ones that held cars on a top level , however there were no cars on the top level and the ramp was down, and the truck was in front of the window. Bond accelerated towards the truck and didn't slow down, as always there was no time to think, just to do. The car slammed on the ramp, and rode on the top level, and then smashed through the window. The car landed on the side of the building and raced down the side with such speed that Bond couldn't process the rate at which he was falling, below him he could see a group of cars leaving the hotel and assumed easily that Paris was in one of those cars, he passed a window and the car jumped over it before going on quicker. That meant that Bond was catching up to the tenth floor, he turned slightly and the car almost went out of control, he knew he needed to go faster but was hesitant to press on the gas, he was already moving so fast and had very little control. Another window rocked the car and he could see the cars pulling out onto the main road, he knew he had to catch them and get Paris, but there was no reason to, he just wanted to. Bond pressed the gas and the car careened towards the ground, another window, at the way he was going he wouldn't be able to land on the road the right way, he turned the car to the left and the right side of the car came off the wall a bit and he hit the brakes, the car's right end hit the pavement and Bond drove after the cars. They instantly pulled off from each other but Bond knew which car to go after, it was in the lead and he could see Paris fighting in the back seat.

Three things troubled him, one was that the mole had to have been the one to alert the thugs to Bond and Paris' whereabouts, and he had only let M know where we was going, so he could be bugged, or it could be something else. The lack of clarity bothered him, he hadn't had the time to sit down and think it out and he felt that it was obvious. The second was this new character in the hotel who helped kidnap Paris, Bond knew that this wasn't going to be the last he saw of the man in the suit of armor, and he also felt that this man could pose a suitable threat, he'd have to dig information about him too. The third was the most prominent at the time, the cars were heading for a near by highway, bond was sure once they were on the highway he would lose every chance to catch the car, without causing some kind of disaster. The situation had gone from calm to out of his control very quickly. Suddenly a car hit him form behind, the Lotus Esprit was armored so Bond barley felt the attack, and as the car came around he did the same back and cause the car to go off the road and crash into a tree.

"M I'm not sure if I'm going to get her back…" Bond reported. "…Run this license plate number." Bond looked forward and noticed something.

"Yes 007?" M asked.

"They don't have plates…!" Bond yelled, Bond swerved his car around one of the decoy cars.

"Bond its imperative that we get as much information from her as possible…" M started, Bond could already sense where this was going. "…But if you feel she doesn't have anymore information to divulge then you must let her go, this can't be a personal vendetta." M explained. At that moment felt most upset, what M said was right, but Bond couldn't just leave her.

"No, she's hiding more…" Bond said.

"Then do whatever you can to get her back." M ordered. Bullet fire exploded from another car and Bond was distracted for a moment, he tried to keep his eyes on the lead car and estimate how much time he had until they reached the highway. He guessed that he only had about three minutes, that wasn't nearly enough time, he had to do something, stop that car, even if it meant taking Paris out and fighting everyone of those men by himself.

Bond flicked a switch in his car to start the machine guns, he could feel the machine guns moving to the outside of the car, he had to wait for a opportune time to fire, he had to aim, hit one of the wheels, that would cause the car to spin out of control and then he could, jump in and get Paris, then he would put her in the Esprit and drive and find Goodhead and then…

Bond almost missed his chance, the car passed directly in front of him, Bond hit the trigger and the most terrible groan came from within the car, it shook, and sputter a little and worst of al, it didn't shoot. Bond tried the guns again and nothing, Bond went through all the gadgets, oil slicks, deployable spikes, lasers, nothing worked everything made the same groaning sound.

"M…!" Bond yelled, he was feeling something set into his body, something he had never remember feeling before…panic.

"What now 007?" M yelled back.

"My car isn't working, none of the equipment is useable." Bond stated with a more calm voice.

"What…?" M asked in disbelief. "…This is absurd…" M went on, his voice grew in anger, and Bond could hear him switch the intercom to get to Moneypenny. "…get Q on this line NOW!"

Bond accelerated and tried to catch up to the lead car but when he got close the other cars moved in and blocked him, Bond tried to use his stock racing technique, but the cars were relentless he couldn't get an edge on any one of them.

"What is it 007!" Q's voice angrily interrupted.

"None of my equipment in the Esprit is working Q!" Bond complained and he tried, unsuccessfully, to pass a car.

"Well that's simple Bond…" Q answered. "…Is the car on?" Q asked. Before Bond could answer with his anger M interjected.

"Of course the car is on Q!" M yelled, Q sighed on his end of the communicator.

"Well Bond what did you do to the car?" Q asked.

"Nothing I've just been driving." Bond answered as he tried to devise a plan to get the lead car.

"Well, if you look in the ash tray there should be a red cord, if you snap that it may release some pressure in the cars central valve, now granted the car may also spin out of control but-" Q rambled on.

"Q, that didn't work!" Bond answered.

"Well then 007 I have no idea what it could be."

"Q, you've given Bond a malfunctioning piece of equipment in the field there will be a cost to this." M alerted Q.

"Well its not my fault if 007 reckless actions have come to bite him in the behind, perhaps you should consider-" Q was interrupted by the sounds of tires screeching against asphalt, then silence.

"007 are you alight?" M asked, there was a long silence and then the both of them heard Bond curse.

"007?" Q asked.

"The car stopped."