Chapter 11

M walked down the street looking around at every hidden ally and corner. She didn't know what to expect. Would someone rush out at her or would he be there, standing in the shop waiting for her.

As M climbed the hill towards the little shop she had been in only a few hours earlier she felt a ball of anxiety form in her stomach.

What would she do when she saw Tiago?

What would he do?

Would he just shoot her or was this really sexual? He had been uncomfortably obsessed with her in Hong Kong but that was over 15 years ago now. She had aged so much since then it hardly seems possible. Yet…

Bond recently showed similar signs and he was far younger than her comparatively speaking, to what Tiago had been when she was in her fifties. M almost hoped that he would just shoot her for revenge because she really doesn't relish the idea of the sort of abuse he could come up with.

How on earth did he even survive? How damaged was he now? And how was she going to play this out? M rushed through many possibilities and none of them were good or healthy for her personally. Seduction was part of the playbook and one she had had Bond train her in. It worked on Ian and he could have been searching for a much younger model like Judith as his age or younger depending on the size of his wallet.

As M crested the small hill she noticed some dark cars outside the shop and in the distance she could see the shape of a very large man in a hat looming near the stone wall at the end of the street before a sharp curve that lead higher into the town. He turned to talk with a tall slim woman standing beside him.

M would recognize his looming frame anywhere. It was always so unnerving to have him beside her looking down her blouse when they worked together back in Hong Kong.

The woman looked like a picture out of a magazine. She was dark haired and made up in the most modern designer dress, a dark, deep red suited more for an evening out, than a casual tourist spot. Tiago looked at her then turned back to the woman.

M was still a distance a way when the young model came towards her. Tiago on the other hand pulled his hat down to cover his eyes from her as he leaned casually against the stone wall in the shadows. He didn't seem to want to really make contact with her at all. Perhaps the power still resided with M after all.

M slowed her progress. There did not seem to be any indication that Judith was in either car as she approached. M wouldn't put it past him to have lied about all of this. Judith could still be on the ship for all M knew.

The bastard didn't even have the guts to face her. Whatever plans she had to placate the immense ego and possible insanity of this man, flew out the window with her rising anger.

"Hello." The mystery woman said in an accented voice. She looked asian but had a slight French accent. "You must be M. If you would please join me in this car; yes?"

M looked to the car in front and frowned. "Where is my daughter?"

The woman looked shocked by her frankness; so M continued to put her off balance. "If Tiago doesn't even have the nerve to come speak with me here and now, then I don't see this going as he wishes." M paused for a moment; in no way wishing to get into the car with this woman nor him for that matter.

The woman became very nervous. "Mr. SILVA.." she emphasized. "Would like you to join us for the evening only madam."

"I highly doubt that and who the hell is Mr. Silva!? Tiago Rodriguez is his name if he's the same man who was traded to the Chinese in 1998 for the safe release of prisoners and a peaceful transition of power in Hong Kong."F

M said this loud enough for him to hear if he didn't have some sort of listening device activated on this woman. Also, because she wanted anyone in earshot to hear exactly what their sorted history had been. She wanted them to have the power of knowing his real name not just some mysterious false one. There was always power in being able to throw one's opponent off guard.

Tiago suddenly looked thunderous and strode towards them, but pause half way down the block. His fists were clenched in rage and his body was taunt. The woman beside M whimpered and held her breath. He beat her...M was positive of that now. Possibly raped her too knowing him.

"I can offer you protection from MI6 if we get away now." M whispered to her.

The woman turned to face her looking desperate. "No...he would find me. He always does." She reached out and grasped M's hand. M could see the tattoo on her wrist.

"You are, or were a sex slave?"

"Yes...he...bought me."

"To use as he wishes." The poor woman nodded to M and forced a smile as she looped her arm in M's and guided her to the car.

M moved slowly. "I don't think I will be going with you."

"He told me to tell you that he has your daughter in a safe location and she will only remain safe if you join us now."

M didn't know what to believe. "What is your name."

"Severine."

She believed that at least. "How old were you when they took you?"

"Twelve and I was twenty...when he found me." The girl was being truthful if only due to her desperation to get M to acquiesce.

M looked disgusted. "I don't understand why he's just standing there staring from a distance? Surely he wants to gloat, brag or threaten me personally."

"Please get in the car M. I...I...can speak more about this...in the car."

Tiago still loomed in the distance. His posture more relaxed than when he took a few giant strides towards them. He spoke animatedly on his mobile phone and M wondered who he could be talking too. He was far too distracted to pay much attention to what she was doing questioning Severine and objecting to leaving.

M wondered if he had done all this because he was told to or was it all just for revenge? There was really no chance for her to escape. There were four armed men, not that Tiago needed that much firepower to subdue M. Likely to keep Bond at bay and set him to running around the town or ship looking for Judith.

M reluctantly got into the car and Severine got in beside her. The two armed men waited beside the front doors of the car for a signal from Tiago...Silva.

"Tell me everything. How did he come to buy you and why is this all happening now? If he's been alive these past years, why did he not try to kill me earlier?"

"Oh he doesn't want to kill you M. He wants to have you...control you and have you apologize for all that you've done to him and I suggest that you do. It is not good to disregard an order."

M knew she was being truthful. "Does he beat you? Sexually assault you?"

Severine withdrew physically and looked out the window of the car. M had her answer without the girl uttering a single word. What would this mean for her?

"Why now? Why not when he got out of prison?"

"He had to heal and build himself up in the world. He has people and is connected to bigger organizations."

"I gathered that but why did he wait until now."

"He did look for you but you had become M and they must have buried your name well. Your husband died and he found you."

"What?!"

"I'm not sure but he went to Egypt to watch the play called Medea and came back ecstatic like I had never seen him before. He was delighted to have photos of you at the funeral. He yelled...she was M all along! Hiding in plain sight."

"Someone led him straight to me. Was it White? Quantum?"

"That organization failed because of you apparently. And as for the man called White, I did meet once. He has gone into hiding. Tiago will kill him if he finds him first."

Severine stopped talking as the men climbed into the car and they began to move. "You hate him don't you?" M asked.

Severine merely nodded. "I can help you if you can help me she whispered to the woman, does he have ears on you or is it just them?" M asked indicating the driver and guard.

"I make no secret that I want to be free. I am a slave. He owns me and I want nothing more than for someone to kill him. Many have tried but he cannot die."

"Impossible." M said incredulously.

"No one can kill him. He is like...Rasputin and will not die."

"Yet he did." M looked into the poor girls eyes with a silent promise to make sure Tiago didn't drag himself metaphorically shot out a frozen river ever again.

Tiago watched as the small white haired woman climbed the hill towards the small shop. The streets were emptied as the ship was undoubtedly leaving and it was dinner time for the common folk.

This was all secondary to the woman coming voluntarily to him.

AT LAST!

He had her and almost to himself. He wanted to run to her and pull her up into his arms and swing her in the air as though they were long lost lovers. In his mind they were. But in hers? No. The past melded in his mind between reality and fantasy that he lived in to survive that prison. He had been reborn.

Silva was staring down the road...wanting to get her to himself yet…

Something was holding him back. The way she looked at him and had the audacity to question his people. He could tell by Severine's posture that the old woman was still brutal with her tongue. She had always cut with her words better than anyone and Severine was undoubtedly being enticed to her side.

Silva had suspected that they may try to join forces but in the end the girl would always side with him. If M had been a powerful man...Severine would have seduced him to kill for her but M female and now...old. Yet he still wanted her. She was widowed and could no longer stand behind the antiquated notion of fidelity that she had clung to in Hong Kong.

Bond on the other hand was running around the ship...so easy to manipulate. By telling Bond that he would disappoint mother, Silva had eliminated the threat of MI6 following too closely. Besides she was no fool. She would have given up the position of M months ago to remove herself from having too much power when they met again.

The trail was for her to read only and she had figured out his interest in him from the start. It had been and always would be a sexual desire on his part. She on the other hand loved her philandering husband and couldn't possibly…

The ache of not having her in his arms had driven him to distraction all those years ago. Silva used her image to bolster his resolve in prison. He convinced himself that she would use agents to liberate him but then after two years...he knew she thought she was rid of him as one would a burden. One that got too close.

Silva had tempted her. He had seen that in her blue eyes. She was intrigued but scared of the repercussions for her career. Tiago was close...but Silva was now closer.

Silva's patience was growing thin. Severine should have coaxed her into the car with stories of her daughter by now. Silva clicked a button on the open link that he had on one of his men's comm systems.

"If Tiago doesn't even have the nerve to come speak with me here and now, then I don't see this going as he wishes."

"Mr. SILVA.." Severine emphasized. "Would like you to join us for the evening madam."

"I highly doubt that and who the hell is Mr. Silva? Tiago Rodriguez is his name if he's the same man who was traded to the Chinese in 1998 for the safe release of prisoners and a peaceful transition of power in Hong Kong."

How could she so flippantly refer to his incarceration as something that helped her career when all she wanted to do was to put distance between herself and temptation!

Silva's hands clenched into fists as he began to move towards her. He needed to calm himself but she unnerved him being this close. He couldn't let her know how she affected him...not yet...not until they were alone.

Silva stopped and waited for Severine to coax her into the car. She even guessed that they don't have her daughter. What a move! Use her own daughter to entice him out of hiding. She really needn't have bothered. Silva had been watching her for over a year now. Building a plan to embarrass and destroy her career.

This was for naught now.

M had resigned and Olivia Mansfield had come to him.

It was their time now.

Time for her to repay him for all that suffering she'd left him to.

To be continued...