Chapter Eleven

A Friend on the Island

Bond headed for Jamaica alone, Goodhead, Gonzales followed along in a following flight, and Morales in a later flight. It wasn't Bond's first time in Jamaica and he doubted it would be his last, he knew some of the hangouts and hot areas for sophisticated crime. The situation required Bond be as covert as possible, Acosta was aware of what Bond looked like, and it wasn't impossible for Acosta to have spread Bond's picture around to his henchmen, It was Bond however who had the upper hand, Bond knew Acosta was here but Acosta didn't know Bond was here, also Bond didn't enter the country under his own name and didn't plan on entering a hotel under his own name. The situation also called for Bond to be quick, at anytime Paris could be transferred out of the country, it didn't seem as if M was going to be able to get the country's government to cooperate with him, they were already weary with the American's and for the British to get involved it didn't make the Jamaican government feel any less annoyed. Bond was also being instructed to keep the destruction to a minimum, M stressed that Bond's stunt in New Mexico couldn't be repeated here. Bond kept Paris' information about Acosta's base of operations being in the Caribbean, M wouldn't want Bond to take on anything without first getting the government on his side. Bond didn't feel, however, that waiting was the best option. If Acosta was doing things in the Caribbean Bond was determined to find out where and what it was. Bond also felt the American's being here didn't help his situation, he knew he needed Goodhead, Gonzales and Morales, but he didn't want them stepping on his toes, they weren't on the same page as him right now, he needed to get Paris and they didn't understand how to go about it.

Bond rarely trusted anyone, and right now he was figuring a plan to bog the American's with things so he could get things done. Having allies was necessary, but Bond thought different from people, he went the distance each time, and it was clear that the lives of other people sometimes had to take the back seat, only when their lives were in danger, other than that sometimes, for the better of the people, they had to experience something drastic. Despite Bond being part of MI6 for many years know, M still maintained the leave no trace mindset. Bond didn't feel that M was wrong but rather that it was outdated and varied for different situations. Of course M felt that Bond was an extremist, he trusted job always to get the job done, but M felt he was too hasty sometimes and didn't plan things through and caused a lot of problems that didn't have to be, since Bond had been 'drafted' into MI6 he and M were at odds about a great many things, but M respected Bond as an amazing field operative and M respected M as a strategist, together the both of them had saved the world a lot of times, and sometimes they had to be in absence of each other to do so. Whenever M was restricted by the laws of her majesty Bond wasn't afraid to go out of his reach and M was never afraid to respectively turn the other cheek and let Bond do whatever he had to do. There was always something going on, some bomb about to be detonated, some mad man threatening human life and when it became too close to comfort M and Bond went to business. However Bond wasn't always on assignments alone, as was the case now with the C.I.A. but he did have his 'regulars' and when he set down in Jamaica he met one of them.

Bond, as always, ended his plan ride and walked out of the airport and was going to catch a taxi, Bond wore his sunglasses to hide his identity, he noticed someone was following him and he was sure he had found his mole, he hadn't noticed the man before, but it wasn't entirely impossible for him to have followed Bond all the way from New Mexico. The man walked very close to Bond holding a suitcase, Bond kept watching him from the corner of his eyes, and when the man swung is suitcase at Bond, Bond ducked and went to swing but stopped short because the man quickly blocked, Bond went for another punch stopped when he saw the man smiling at him.

"Felix Leiter you old devil." Bond chuckled, Felix happily greeted him back with a handshake.

"James Bond, it's always a Caribbean adventure with you around." Felix answered. From the last time Bond had seen Leiter, which was in an official report file in which he was named, then he seemed a lot older, here in person Leiter looked a lot younger than Bond remembered him. Bond was fond of Leiter, in a lot of ways, to Bond, Leiter was the embodiment of the relationship between Bond and M. Leiter was bound by the laws of the united states of America and was insistent to do things 'by the book' however he was somewhat of a hot head and when there seemed not to be a reasonable answer to go by Felix wasn't afraid to get dangerous and a bit indignant, Bond admired that a lot, out of all the people he worked with Leiter seemed to be the one person who had that somewhat 'by any means necessary attitude' and Bond found himself able to work with Leiter with more comfort than any other person.

There was a lot more to, after the incident with Teresa, Leiter helped Bond secretly helping him track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld, it was another situation in which M felt that bond was being unruly and insisting he had become obsessive in finding Blofeld. However M wasn't completely without sentiment, he understood and didn't blame Bond for his 'obsession' but in order for Bond to remain the amazing field agent he was he had to let it go. Nevertheless Felix felt that Blofeld had to be dealt with for more reasons than one. Blofeld was the head of the extremely complicated crime syndicate S.P.E.C.T.R.E. S.P.E.C.T.R.E had been a thorn in both MI6's side as well as the C.I.A. neither of the two however decided to track down and pursue S.P.E.C.T.R.E. instead they waited until the group of tactical and powerful crime lords to attack and threaten the free world again. For a moment Bond's thoughts lingered on something, in his mind he nipped at it over and over again.

What if MI6 had decided to pursue S.P.E.C.T.R.E? Maybe if they had stopped them then…

Bond snapped back to reality as Felix tapped him on his back, he pointed to the distance behind him, Bond followed his arm. Leiter was pointing at a very large building.

"What's that…?" Bond asked. "…Acosta's estate?" To bond surprise Felix lightly nodded.

"You could say that…" Felix answered. "…Apparently he owns a large living complex and four hotels in the area." Felix said out the side of his mouth, he squinted and went to say something else but stopped.

"What hotel doesn't Acosta own?" Bond asked, Leiter smiled and walked away a bit.

"The one your staying in and out friends." Leiter answered.

007

Goodhead wasn't very far behind and she respected Bond's request for the three of them to stay as far behind as they could without arranging a dangerous situation. She however wasn't aware of Felix Leiter's presence in the investigation, and neither were Gonzales or Morales. The situation had become far more complicated than she anticipated, she knew that this was supposedly Acosta's base of operations. Bond's obvious priority was finding Paris and hers was to stop Acosta. She didn't feel any malice towards Bond, but she wanted to end this thing as fast as she could, she would help Bond in anyway she could but first things first. She knew that Acosta was also on top of them and she needed to be careful. Bond was good at concealing his identity but he just couldn't reasonably control his ambitions. The faster she could end this, the easier it would be to find Paris. Deep in her heart though she felt something was about to go terribly wrong.

007

Bond and Leiter continued their conversation inside the taxi; Bond looked anxiously outside the window as Leiter dictated a few things.

"I'd be lying if I told you that the Jamaican government was happy to see that you're involved with this investigation." Leiter said, Bond nodded and turned his face to Leiter.

"M has informed me; at least they're being cooperative."

"Hardly…" Leiter muttered. "…they insist that Acosta has nothing illegal going on here and that we've poked our noses around too much." Leiter explained.

"They sound as if they're hiding something." Bond inquired.

"Well, that wasn't their choice selection of words, but generally the gist of it…" Leiter frowned. "…it wouldn't be surprising if Acosta had his hands in a few political schemes down here."

"He certainly has enough money to do so..." Bond muttered. "…So what do you know about Acosta?" Bond asked curiously, Leiter was often more informed than the rest of his colleagues he just didn't like to boast it.

"Only as much as you do…" Leiter began. "…I don't suppose the C.I.A. has informed you that you are being shadowed." Leiter revealed. Bond perked up somewhat but then let his feelings decapitate from his face.

"Oh…?" Bond asked. "…really?"

"Yes, really whatever you know he's informed me on…" Leiter explained. "…we'll meet him a little later." Leiter trailed off.

"I look forward to it."

"The funny thing is that I'm not even here because of Acosta I just happened to have him cross my paths." Leiter went on.

"How so?" Bond asked, Leiter faced twisted into a small grin.

"I've been looking for Petrovski, he's been involved with a train bombing in the middle east, disrupted some kind of train line that the local officials claim to be vital to certain shipments…" Leiter explained. "…It just so happens that M believes that Acosta and Petrovski are working together." Leiter let his voice trail off purposely in a question sort of fashion.

"We haven't been able to connect the two of them yet…" Bond answered. "…Petrovski has been semi linked to the kidnapping a informant, if we can link Acosta to either Petrovski or the kidnapping, then we have some weight on the situation. I suppose the Jamaicans want something concrete to excuse our existence here." Bond said.

"That, in fact, is the very situation we're in…" Leiter started. "…The Jamaicans don't want the C.I.A. or the British secret service here, they've requested that if we don't have something concrete to deliver them in three days that the investigation be ended and that you all leave immediately." Leiter explained.

"You all?" Bond asked.

"I'm not officially on your investigation, also Goodhead, Morales and Gonzales have been named, but you have not. If push came to shove you could stay here but under strictly covert circumstances." Leiter continued.

"I would lose my back-up though." Bond stated.

"Now James I've never known you to be particularly interested in having back-up."

"The situation has more of a strain on it than you think." Bond merely stated, not intending a double meaning.

"Is it because you consider Acosta dangerous…?" Leiter asked. "…or because this woman has gone missing?" Leiter went on.

"You know me better than that Leiter." Bond merely answered, knowing that it wouldn't deter Leiter from prying, but trying anyhow.

"So she must be beautiful." Leiter said.

"She's caught up on things we aren't…" Bond answered back. "..You government hasn't been able to supply a reasonable amount information to charge Acosta." Bond criticized.

"Well in that case…" Leiter started. "..she must be stunning."

"What am I doing to track down Acosta?" Bond asked, Leiter's smirk stayed for a while longer, sensing Bond's agitation.

"He has a factory down here that's being the lead on news reports because its apparently opening its doors to two hundred and fifty workers…" Leiter started. "…in this part of town that's just a lot of bragging about how much money he has, but anyhow, your posing as a reporter to get inside and look around."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to send Goodhead or someone else?" Bond asked, Leiter didn't seem to even consider the question.

"No, they want you to go, I don't know why but you have to." Leiter answered.

"Who is this 'they'?" Bond asked, Leiter shook his head.

"It's better if you don't know." Leiter answered, Bond didn't' bother to argue with him and let the question go.

"Petrovski." Bond muttered.

"What about him?" Leiter asked, Bond didn't immediately answer; he seemed to be thinking hard about how to answer the question.

"I wonder how dangerous he is" Bond continued to mutter.

"Apparently he's only dangerous when he was making bombs but to us he shouldn't be a problem, all we have to do is apprehend him." Leiter explained.

"Are you familiar with his involvement with the suitcase bomb?" Bond asked, Leiter again shook his head, as if to imply what Bond had just mentioned wasn't important.

"I'm not convinced he has one." Leiter said. "…if he did I don't think he'd be so submissive to the highest bidder." Leiter further explained himself.

"If he did though…" Bond started up again. "…this situation could be more explosive than I care for it to be." Bond said.

"Well if he does…" Leiter mocked. "…I'm sure we can handle it." Leiter ended that part of the conversation with a grunt.

"By the way Leiter…" Bond began. "…what has become of the old Strangways place?" Bond asked.

"They took it down; it became too risky to keep it there." Leiter answered.

Bond stared out the window again and now they were close to the hotel, something felt…off. Bond wasn't sure what but something just didn't feel as if being in Jamaica was going to be productive; in fact it felt as if it was going to be the exact opposite.

"We're here." The cabby answered, Leiter paid and stepped out of the car, and Bond followed.

"I've decided to extend your request for isolation to myself." Leiter explained.

"So you're not staying in this hotel?" Bond asked.

"No, I'll be staying in one not far from here." Leiter explained.

"Fine. Bond answered, Bond started walking towards the hotel.

"James…" Leiter called, Bond turned around and squinted in the sunlight. "…be careful." Bond smiled and went into the hotel.

The hotel wasn't like the other two Bond had stayed in, both of them had been carefully aimed to not remind the person who was staying there where exactly they were. This one however was overly eager to present the occupants with the constant and blatant reminder that they were in fact in Jamaica. Everywhere you looked it was the Jamaican flag, Bond felt that this place was less likely to draw attention to itself and thought it was a good spot.

His room was standard and he searched it like he always did. Under the picture, under the phone, statues, dressers and mirrors, he didn't find anything that seemed to be some kind of device to spy on him. Bond found this to be an interesting dynamic in this investigation, usually Bond's adversaries did what they could to find out what bond knew, and in this case Acosta hadn't seemed to do anything to stop Bond. With the exception of the mole, whoever this mole was they were crafty and had to have been right on Bond and Bond was so distracted by the other workings of the investigation.

Bond was ready to go to the plant as the reporter but he had to wait, time tonight he would have to sit and wait for tomorrow to come.

007

He walked, slowly and methodically, but walking nevertheless. His eyes stayed trained outside the window, the crisp blue sky playing against its twin, the ocean. Everything seemed peaceful and perfect, however he knew that things were different. In this island lied some of his deepest secrets, and they were about to all come to the light. The question was, was this the right time? For a second he glared out the window. The train bombing, the kidnapping and now here, it was all unnecessary and could put a lot of focus on the wrong things. Everyone was waiting for this all to just to end, and he planned this out for too long for this to go wrong, there was no reason why this should go wrong either, rather, there was a reason now. Some where on this island was the man who threatened to stop all the things he had put forward. James Bond. Out of all the people in the world, he hadn't anticipated the British secret service to get involved, but they had and this James Bond was far more tenacious than he had assumed. Bond's determination was a bit uncanny, and up until recently unfounded, but now it was making sense. Paris. She was in fact very beautiful and sometimes more intelligent than she needed to be, intelligent and nosey. However she didn't know anything, so she couldn't divulge anything, still this was safer. The problem was that holding her made it that much more likely that Bond would come after him, Bond was smart, daring and dangerous, all things that the C.I.A. weren't and most of all he was reckless. There were ways around everything though, as dangerous as Bond could be there could be a thousand people far more dangerous, and money provided that security. So in ways Bond wasn't of much concern. He turned away from the window just as someone came into his door.

"It's time Mr. Acosta." The man said, he nodded and followed.

007

Tracy Di Vicenzo was her name, her maiden name that is, she was the daughter of the notorious crime lord Marc Ange Draco. Draco, who was the head of the Union Corse, approached Bond to tame his daughter. Draco explained to Bond that after Tracy's mother's death, when she was twelve, Draco raised her alone and now he felt as if it was time for a man to take control of her. Bond was surprised that Draco had approached him, but Bond soon realized that Draco was a decent man, and even had a large legitimate business in construction based in Portugal, Draco's proposition was even more surprising. Being that Bond and Tracy had come into contact previously when he saved Tracy for committing suicide, Draco wanted Bond to marry Tracy to help reawaken her interest in life at the payment of one million pounds, initially Bond turned Draco down, the entire idea seemed absurd, but as things would come to be, Bond spent more and more time with Tracy and despite his feverish tracking of Blofeld to the Swiss Alps, Bond found himself falling more and more in love with Tracy.

The situation was complicated though, Bond was searching for Blofeld and had managed to track him down to Piz Gloria in the Swiss Alps, posing as Sir Hilary Bray, a genealogist, Bond set to trace Blofeld's family history. During the covert mission Bond was exposed and captured by Blofeld. Bond made a narrow escape and, had it not been for the coincidental chance that Tracy was visiting the nearby village, Bond would have been recaptured but escaped with Tracy. That's when everything started to change, Bond began to feel that there was something different about Tracy. The way she looked at him and the things she said, it was hard to believe that Bond was being, in a word, seduced by this woman. Tracy was then kidnapped by Blofeld and Bond went after Blofeld.

How similar was the situation he was in, except that, Bond had saved Tracy and declared his love. The two of them married, everyone came and again M served a lot like Bond's father, the marriage was almost unbelievable and as quick as it came it had gone. Bond thought he had killed Blofeld and as Bond and his newly wedded wife drove down a highway, Blofeld pulled up and unloaded on the car. Bond remained unhurt but Tracy was dead. The three words floated in Bond's head, Tracy was dead. Never before had Bond felt such pain. Coming back to MI6 was most likely the strangest thing Bond had ever done. No one bothered to issue Bond any condolences, everything was quiet, and M treated the situation as if nothing had happened, he knew Bond for too long to try and console him. Bond became obsessive, Blofeld became the only name he knew, M loaned Bond as much patience as he had, Bond's efforts to find Blofeld failed one by one due to his overly obsessive nature and then it seemed as if he had done it, he managed to track down Blofeld and kill him. As things always were, nothing was what it seemed, the man he killed was not Blofeld and in fact on Bond's upcoming assignment Blofeld was the ring leader, he killed him then. That was the last he had ever heard of Blofeld and/or S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Someone had told Bond one time that he had to put a period there and let the past go. Bond felt that he had done a substantial job in making everyone believe that; however he still thought about her, more often than not actually.

Paris was a lot like Tracy, they looked alike and they acted the same way. They both had a very blatant disregard for Bond, Bond wasn't sure which he liked more, the woman who was willing, or the woman who refused. Just like Tracy it was obvious that Paris had some type of feeling for him, Bond hadn't really bothered to exploit that in Tracy, in fact you could say she exploited him. Both of these woman seemed to be to the point and more than anything up to the neck in trouble.

The difference between them however was by the man 'in charge' of them, while Tracy's father was endorsing Bond's relationship with Tracy, Acosta didn't seem to be willing to give up his prize, from what Bond could tell, Acosta seemed like a man who could throw his power around easily, if he wanted Paris Bond was sure all he had to do was say the word and he'd have her again. Which would explain what had happened. If M knew what Bond was thinking he wouldn't be pleased, there was still the assignment, it didn't end at getting Paris back, it ended with finding out what Acosta was up to and if Bond's luck continued as it always did, that would only be the beginning.

007

As Bond had expected the tour of the processing plant was saturated with a thousand and one self issued compliments of Acosta's business and contributions to his various different communities. The tour seemed strangely shifty at one point, the cars were taken down a back road to an old living community made up of many buildings that seemed to be a slum, but when they entered the buildings it was clear that this wasn't a slum, but a large working complex. According to the tour guide the company had bought one building six years ago and over the course of three years bought the entire building complex and offered many people a large range of jobs. This new campaign of jobs was seemingly Acosta's idea all together insisting that another branch of workers be created to be expanded from two hundred fifty workers to six hundred workers in three more years, every three years continuing the pattern. Bond was surprised to learn what Acosta's export was: poppy seeds. How a man became a millionaire off of poppy seeds was beyond him. The tour naturally began with the explanation for that, Acosta was now the leading business in selling poppy seeds across the U.S. and in the Caribbean, and though it didn't seem lucrative, the business was very much so, Acosta manufacturing of poppy seeds was outrageous, he was able to produce a million poppy seeds every business standard day (the tour guide no doubt left out that a 'business standard day' was only eighteen hours) Acosta produced poppy seeds for companies all across the region, which apparently was good enough to keep him well off. The tour wasn't enough to go on, someone had obviously scripted it and all it did was give Acosta somewhat of a superman-ish power, so caring and so nice yet so effective and strong.

The tour guide was a very tall woman who smile, at first, seemed genuine but then after a half an hour of smiling seemed plastered on in some sort of way. At some point one of the other reporters asked a question and the guide's answer was so robotic that it occurred to Bond that perhaps she could be some form of animatronics device, but that was silly. A fact that Bond noticed the guide conveniently left out were a list of Acosta's clients.

"What are some of the businesses Acosta's supplies these poppy seeds to?" Bond asked, the tour guide's face didn't flinch or even show traces of thought.

"Everyone who needs seeds in the greater North America and Caribbean region is supplied by Julio Acosta" She answered, Bond took note of that, he was still skeptical, poppy seeds didn't seem to do the trick.

"Every company that uses poppy seeds gets their seeds from Acosta?" Bond asked. The tour guide nodded.

"Even some of his competitions are supplied by our company…" She continued to answer. "…they usually have other means of export and of course Acosta is a firm believer in competition" She finished, Bond nodded and wrote that down, she seemed to be anticipating another question but Bond stayed quiet.

According to the C.I.A. report on their investigation on Acosta, the last agent sent here had been found dead after investigating these exact buildings, Bond obviously figured this was ground zero; whatever was happening it was happening here. The floors had been taken out of the building and the entire inside was filled up with a cluster of different processing machines. Everything was supposed to be in clear sight, but it wouldn't be any surprise to Bond if there was some other floor somewhere. From here it seemed as if the seeds were going through a long process and Bond wasn't exactly sure what was happening to them. The tour guide lead them under an underpass of machinery, Bond looked around above the smallest of the machines there was an observation post, unlike the rest of the dimly lit building the observation deck was brightly lit and empty. Bond eyed the place for a moment, but didn't make it obvious, everything seemed normal except for the fact that there was no one in the observation deck.

"What processes do the seeds go through…?" Bond asked "…this seems like an awful lot to glaze them."

"Most of Acosta's seeds go through hours of processing; they start out in one of the buildings farther down then are transferred by truck from building to building until they end up here…" The guide started. "…the seeds are grounded into very tiny pieces, and then put in crates and shipped to four of our sorting ports in New Mexico and then shipped to their other buyers. The demand for Acosta's seeds are especially high, the seeds are genetically engineered..."

"Bingo…" Bond thought. "…Genetically engineered" Bond had a lot more to worry about now, the engineering put Acosta into a different category. The lab in his basement made a little more sense now.

"… They grow so quickly, the tiny seeds actually grow during the trip to the sorting ports, the enhancements make them more flavorful and last longer." She finished explaining. The other reporters seemed astonished but Bond wasn't; now he was suspicious.

"So there are genetics plants around here?" Another reporter asked.

"No, they aren't." The guide answered tersely. Bond took note of the sudden change in the guide's voice; she seemed to have a lot of knowledge, for her to get so quickly upset over a simple question. The woman seemed to think for a moment and then the moment of anger seemed to pass. Bond didn't say bother to make any more of the tour. Bond again looked up at the observation deck; a light in the deck had been turned off. Someone had just been in there; Bond looked away trying not to look suspicious, all around the plant it was loud and large the amount of small niches and secret doors that could have been hidden in here. That was part of the problem this place was too obvious, Acosta knew he was under investigation and there was a lot he could have done to keep anyone from seeing this place, but instead he didn't, it seemed too compromising. However there was nothing suspicious about this place, nothing Bond could prove anyhow. Bond slightly tripped over a box and when he recovered he looked at the box it had been shipped here from America and had been shipped to America from…

Bond squinted trying to see the origin of the shipment but the postage sticker had been torn off, Bond tried to make out the small bit of the sticker that was left but the group had moved on and his falling behind was becoming obvious. Bond walked back to the group and they were going on about Acosta's personal life, all things that weren't important to him at the moment. Bond looked around again; there was something about this place that was odd, what bothered him the most was that he couldn't tell what it was, there was only one thing he could think of doing was by provoking this situation.

"Isn't Acosta in some sort of scandal, something with someone being found dead on his property?" Bond asked, as he finished his sentence every head turned and faced him. The woman, who was in the middle of speaking choked on her words and her eyes bulged for a moment, she took a long pause before producing a sloppy answer.

"Acosta was under investigation by the C.I.A. because of an accident here in the Caribbean." She answered, Bond took note of three key words in that answer: " was", " C.I.A." and "Caribbean". Bond knew that Acosta was still under investigation and he had a feeling that she knew that too, the second was that he hadn't mentioned the C.I.A. in his question at all, and third he didn't mention it was in the Caribbean, she proved to know more than she should have.

"The C.I.A., why hasn't this been mentioned before…?" Another reporter asked. "..,.some kind of cover-up?" The woman seemed to take great offense to his question, she stood up tall as if to scare the reporters from writing all this down, but Bond stood up too to look her square in the eyes.

"No its not a cover-up…" She sternly answered. "…it was a mistake and Acosta has been more than cooperative in assisting the C.I.A. in their investigation." The woman answered.

"What happened, so that the C.I.A. felt they needed to get involved?" Bond egged on, the woman seemed as if she was going to jump forward towards Bond he played as if he didn't see anything wrong with the questions.

"Someone was hurt in one of the factories." The woman tersely answered.

"The C.I.A. doesn't involve itself in affairs where someone is merely hurt." Another reporter commented, the woman's head jerked towards the reporter.

"Why keep all these secrets be straight forward with us." Another asked. The woman shook her head angrily.

"You're all making a mole hill into a mountain..." The lady insisted. "…the investigation wasn't against Acosta but in conjunction with Acosta." She blatantly lied, more question began to bubble up quickly and too quickly for her to answer.

"Which factory was suspect?" Bond asked, as soon as he asked the question however he felt he had gone too far in asking his questions, but the woman was so flustered.

" Factory three!" She answered defensively, Bond backed down from that moment on and let the tour continue, until they were dismissed without any formal pleasantries.