Chapter Thirteen
Hotel Issues #3
Bond wasn't always a patient man, after being angrily dismissed from the press tour they were taken back to the main road, they were all going to take a bus back into the main party of the city, but Bond insisted that he had his own transport and would be at the press conference tomorrow, it took a took a great deal of convincing to get the people to leave him at the sight, but finally they did. Skillfully he made his way practically to the front door without being seen. He felt that seeing factory three would do him a better service than just hearing about it. He made sure his gun was in his holster, the last assignment he had been on, he had dropped the gun twice from the holster which was starting to come apart and he didn't feel the patience with dealing with the holster. He wasn't sure exactly where the C.I.A. agent was killed, from the small report he read it had mentioned that his driver recalled letting him off near the factory three and then later on the driver was killed before he could give any more information. Either way factory three was the biggest of the buildings and also the loudest, even if there weren't any clues to go on this would be the first place Bond would have looked. Surprisingly there were no guards around, but Bond knew better someone like Acosta wasn't silly enough to not have guards, even if this plant was legit, he wouldn't be a show off and not have guards, not unless it was protected by some other means of security. Cameras were usually the other option however Bond was careful not to be in the range of any cameras he could see, and he was alert he hadn't seen anything. The lack of security was troubling to Bond, there must be something else guarding this place, but the question was what.
Bond walked up to the door and took something out of his pocket, he placed it to the door and placed it in the key hold and turned twice, the door clicked open loudly and Bond ducked behind the opening door. Bond waited for someone to come and investigate but no one came. He took his gun out and walked into the building, unlike the other building this one was absolutely huge, Bond was surprised to see how much larger it was on the inside of the building than what the outside presented. There wasn't enough time to check the entire place out but Bond wanted to do some investigating anyway. The rumble of the machines at first stifled Bond's concentration but he was too experienced to let it get to him. He noticed a series of crates across the floor. M was a smart man, Bond sifted in his mind why M had decided to send Bond on the assignment, at first it seemed to be beneath him, but now it made sense. Julio Acosta was a man who could easily be seen as neutral person but in fact he was a slippery man who had his tracks covered carefully. Bond knew that M respected him, and though they had never bothered to say it they both knew that M felt Bond was the best agent he had. Though Bond was reckless and gratuitous at times M knew that that was just the way Bond worked. Too many of 00 agents were too by the book, and M knew that what was written in the laws was meant to protect the people but sometimes the laws got in the way of getting things done, and where some agents would think twice to break the law, bond just did what he had to and got the job done. However that didn't mean that sometimes Bond didn't go too far, sometimes it seemed like the damage Bond cause would be irreversible but it never ended that way. The problem was that Bond was fighting a blind battle on this assignment; if Bond could get some clear villainy from Acosta directly he would have something to work with. It helped that Leiter was on the assignment as well because Leiter, like Bond himself, had a knack for being hunted. The name James Bond was known, he was the one person no criminal wanted to come to contact with, but the satisfaction of knowing that they could defeat Bond was often too much to handle, so in turn Bond usually used himself as bait to lure out his enemies. It never failed there was always something or someone that couldn't be controlled or a moment where the enemy was sure he had triumphed and revealed every bit of the nature of their plan and gave Bond what he needed to pursue. It was only a matter of time before Acosta would make the same mistake, his power was his money, and that was all, money wasn't an object to Bond, once he had Acosta alone the situation would be dealt with but he wouldn't be able to get that close unless he could find that mole and stop them. There was another idea in his mind though, a mole was an information giver so the worst thing hat could happen to a mole was receiving the wrong information, all he had to do was mislead all the people around him and one by one they would come to understand his lie and when the mole found out the enemy would find out and Bond would know who it was. It was all a matter of time, and that's where the patience came in.
The crates were being used for shipping there were many of them, about a couple hundred, Bond could see that most of them were American stamped for New Mexico and all the others were from New Mexico to Jamaica. Bond moved himself between the boxes and inspected them, the crates were made of wood however inside there were containers were the poppy seeds were stored. The container was either made of plastic or metal and was very heavy. Bond tried to pick one up but it was far too heavy to get off the ground. 'How many poppy seeds could be in one container to be this heavy?' Bond thought. He left the container alone and as he put the crate down he noticed something.
Recently, do to tensions in Europe, an international law had been put into effect to label international cargo, it held a distinctive symbol with the letters I.C.C., for the international cargo committee, in bold green letters. Though Jamaica was not apart of the united states it did not need a I.C.C. stamp because all cargo that came from the United states to island in the Caribbean went through American inspection in Puerto Rico first and then was distributed to its destination in the Caribbean. So this meant that the shipping was going somewhere else and M had mentioned only two shipping points and neither of them were out of the country. The crate was in a tight spot and Bond couldn't really maneuver his way to see what the crate said and that's when it hit him. The crate wasn't put their by coincidence, it was being hidden, trying to as quiet as he could Bond began to push over different crates until he could see the crates stamp and the national sticker where it had come from. The sticker was of Afghanistan, normally this would only bring forward some minor questions in Bond's mind, however the last year had been of great changes for Afghanistan. The Russians were seemingly doing their part to bring peace between themselves and the Afghans. The rumor was that they were debating a treaty in which the Russians were looking for some usable land in the desert to create a military armory laboratory and in return would offer the Afghans peace and security through the Soviet Union. So this indirectly put Acosta in dealings with the Russians but still it didn't amount to anything. Bond took out a small Q camera out of his pocket and took a picture, but he didn't stay in longer instead he made his way out covertly and back to the safety of his hotel.
007
To Bond's surprise there was some type of festival going on near his hotel, so when he arrived there no one was around. He walked up the stairs to his room without even trying to see if one of the receptionists were still there, from what he could tell there was no one in the hotel. Everyone was taking part in the festival. It was probably all for the better, he'd meet up with Goodhead and Leiter in a little while and they would be able to brainstorm their next plan of action. Brainstorming would take a long time and would also give Acosta more time to work out whatever he was doing here. It wasn't the best of options but there was nothing else they could do as of now. Somewhere out there was Paris as well, Bond was starting to wonder if he would in fact see her again, and the prospect of getting her back was fleeting. Bond wondered if Paris was on the island, if she was that meant Bond was so close yet he couldn't get her because Acosta had Bond bogged down in procedures.
Bond put the key into the hole and opened the door, he stepped in and threw he jacket onto the bed, outside the room the festival was loud, the banging of drums, shouting and singing. Bond sighed; no he had to wait for Goodhead and Felix to arrive. Waiting around was the part of patience that Bond wasn't especially good at. Bond couldn't make any moves until he consulted with his C.I.A. counterparts, he didn't mind being around Goodhead or Felix it was just that he liked to do things on his own time and be able to move freely. The problem was that M had reminded him too many times that this was not MI6 investigation and that he was working as a helper to the C.I.A. he was not to work independently unless it was authorized by Felix Leiter or M directly. Which meant unless the C.I.A. became uncharacteristically effective Bond couldn't do much. Acosta was giving them the big run around and they couldn't do anything about it and whether he was aware that Bond was a British agent was not under the debate, the mole most likely knew which meant that he knew as well. There was enough money in Acosta's pocket to influence a lot of people and the C.I.A. was susceptible to those sorts of things and it wasn't too far off to say that there were a few people in MI6 who could be seduced to such an easy thing to come across as money but Bond knew M wasn't one of those people at all, he was stone cold hardly anything could break his exterior. Which is why, Bond assumed, M trusted Bond so much Bond dealt with his instincts and despite what it seemed like his feelings. If it felt wrong it most likely was and Bond knew that there was a line separating the law from the right thing to do.
Bond looked over his papers on the desk and then heard something shuffle. What he heard he was positive was not from him looking over the papers; Bond didn't ignore the sound but instead played as if he didn't hear it. Instead he looked at the jacket on the bed and took his holster strap off and put it under the jacket and walked into the bathroom. Bond closed the door and looked around the bathroom; he made sure it wasn't locked and walked into the shower. The shower was one of those showers that slide to one side, Bond slid it closed and waited.
No more than a few minutes later the bathroom door opened and someone stepped in. The metal shone in the sun the came from the window. Silently the person stepped inside and pointed a strange looking gun towards the shower. Quickly the person slammed opened the shower to reveal nothing.
The man in the armor stood there for a moment puzzled, he had seen Bond walk into here and heard the shower open and close.
"I didn't know room service went so far as to help their guest shower." Bond said. He had managed to hold himself in the space were the wall and the ceiling came together. The man in armor looked up quickly and Bond could see his reflection in the helmet, before the man in the armor could react Bond had pushed himself into the direction of the man and landed on top of him. The two of them grappled and fought, Bond threw hard punches but and hit the armor as hard as he could sending the man in the armor back into the wall. That was about the end of Bond's successful hits, as soon as the man in the armor rebounded off the wall, he and Bond were matching hits, every punch and kick Bond could throw the man matched with precision and countered with a hit of his own. Bond was taken aback by the force of the hits the armored man attacked with. Another punch came Bond's way and Bond caught his arm and spun him into a headlock.
"Who should I say gave me such good service?" Bond asked the struggled for a moment.
"My name is Wolffe!" The man in the armor said as he broke out of Bond's headlock, and sent bond crashing to the floor. Bond rebounded quickly as he rolled out of the way when Wollfe's heel came crashing down on the spot he laid. Bond was up in the blink of an eye but it wasn't fast enough to escape a kick from Wolffe. The next attack from Wolffe was strange, instead of punching or kicking Bond he threw himself against Bond and they struggled for a long moment before Bond managed to get him off. Bond threw himself on the bed and threw the jacket off the bed and pointed the gun, but before he could get a shot Wolffe threw himself out the window and into the crowd Bond raced to the window and pointed the gun but the crowd was too thick and he couldn't find Wolffe. Bond closed the window and sat on the bed, he put his hand in his pockets and noticed something, or rather didn't notice something, the Q camera was gone. Bond instantly realized that this Wolffe character must have had followed him from the factory, which explained the lack of security. There were a lot of things unsure about this investigation, but one thing was clear. Bond being around made things a lot more interesting.