Thank you for your kind reviews everyone. I hope you find this installment to be up to scratch.

Venice.

It looked as though all Venice was morning the loss of one of Italy's most brilliant scientist. The normally vibrant city was almost devoid of life, the bars and restaurants normal teeming with the social elite were now empty leaving the grim faced owners to shut up early for the night.

But looks can be deceiving. James knew the real reason for their desertion from the more fashionable night spots. There was a much more exclusive soirée at Tremedos Venice mansion that night where the decedent socialites swathed in black and desperate to outdo one another could exercise their lust for gossip and debauchery. More importantly they could be seen. Raising their profiles in a hollow display of grief for a man they imagined to be one of their own but most had never met.

Bond was also dressed in black, though for slightly more practical reasons. He blended into the shadows as he sidled out of his hiding place in a nearby alley and stalked along across the square towards the gates of Tremendo's mansion.

He had arrived in the city only a few hours earlier and so had not had much of a chance to look around the building. MI6 had furnished him with a map of its layout and of the grounds so at least he wasn't blundering totally unprepared.

Before he had left James and M, or rather, M had decided that it was probably best that he treat this mission as the real thing and drop the decoy act. James did not have a problem with this. If Tremendo was going to such great lengths to conceal his whereabouts and maintain the pretence that he was alive there was clearly a good reason and although both James and M trusted Moneypenny's ability to get to the bottom of this they felt it was necessary that Moneypenny was supported, especially as she was out of contact with them all.

It was decided that she and James would be working as partners from now on and must share their intelligence. Now all they had to do was tell her!

MI6 strongly suspected that she and Tremendo were somewhere in Northern Italy but were unsure where. It seemed that Tremendo had hundreds of properties dotted around the country. Trying to find him was like searching for a needle in a haystack. They would keep as many of them as they could under observation but M and James were sure that Tremendo would reveal himself to them before long.

Together they had agreed that although James was to do what he could to gather intelligence on Tremendo and if needed to take the necessary move to take Tremendo down but he should not compromise Moneypenny's position. This was more for her safety than anything else as exposing her at this point would be fatal. M at least seemed reassured by this measure. She knew that James would not risk going in all guns blazing if a close colleagues life was at stake. He would have to tread carefully.

Keeping low he moved closer to the mansion. Black banners baring Tremendo's company logo dangled from the façade as spotlight swirled up at the Italian gothic building. To James it seemed more like a film premier than a wake but the partygoers nodded approvingly as they passed through the main gate and headed up the driveway to the main entrance. 'There's no accounting for taste.' James sighed as he took stock of his situation.

There were two guards by the gate and two by the door. James had notices at least four others patrolling the grounds in pairs and felt it safe to assume that there were several more around the back and more than likely a few dogs.

He moved around the side of the building and out of sight of the thousands of people heading towards the guards at the door. James could see the smartly dressed and heavily armed men closely scrutinizing the golden invites each guest handed them and scrolling down a list on a clipboard. Somehow James doubted that he was on the guest list.

Going over the wall seemed to be the best way in but he needed to pick his point of entry carefully. Although intelligence had revealed that no part of the fence was electric or even connected to a security system James did not find this comforting. There must be something nasty on the other side of the fence for Tremendo to be so confident about his security.

007 vaulted over the fence and landed smoothly on the lawn, drawing his gun expectantly. There was no one waiting for him so, keeping low he headed around the side of the mansion. Bond pressed himself up against the wall and loosened his collar. It was a humid night and although he had not yet broken a sweat he was getting quite warm. As he paused James heard a low growl. He turned his head to see a massive rottweiler baring its teeth at him. Its shoulders were hunched and its stumpy tail swished as it regarded him for a moment as if wondering how much of a fight James would put up.

Keeping his eyes on the dog James flashed it his most charming smile and very slowly reached out for his wristwatch.

"Who's a good boy?" He said softly.

Behind him James heard the click of a gunman preparing to fire. A guard shouted in Italian that James should raise his hands. Without turning and with his eyes fixed firmly on the dog James raised his hands above his head, surreptitiously pressing a button on the side of his watch as he moved.

The dog started to whine and shake his head.

"What's up with him?" James heard one of the guards say. The other one didn't reply. Slowly the pair moved into James field of vision. The smaller of the two kept his gun on James as the other went to inspect the dog. The rottweiler scratched at his ears growling as the guard bent down.

"Leonard!" The man said sharply.

The dogs head snapped up and his eyes fixed themselves firmly on the guards' jugular. Without warning Leonard leapt and tore into the guards' throat. The unfortunate man cried out in pain but the scream subsided into a distressed gurgle as blood poured from his veins.

His colleague turned in horror, lowering his gun. James took full advantage. Producing his own weapon James dispatched the shorter guard before he'd had time to realise that dropping his guard was a mistake.

As James released the button on his watch Leopold released his grip and sank back looking regretful. Muzzle dripping in blood he looked mournfully at the bodies and, realising that he would be in big trouble for this, ran off into the night.

"Poor thing." James muttered as the rottweiler sped off into the darkness.

He didn't like to use the high frequency signal on his watch, in fact when Q had introduced him to it James had teased the old boy that he'd report him to the RSPCA, but Q had assured him that despite agitating the creatures it didn't do any lasting damage to the dogs.

Stepping over the guards bloodied corpses James carried on around the building. He had used a silencer but there was always a chance that someone had heard Leopold's growls. James counted each window as he rushed past until he finally reached number 12 which, according to the brief, would grant him safe access to the back stairs. Using his glass cutters he broke into the dark room and headed quickly for the door.

Loud music pumped from the grand hall shaking the portraits lining the wall in the corridor outside the small room. James recognised most of them as being from the Italian renaissance but there were a few modern pieces as well. The initials 'I.T' were scratched into the corner. James shook his head as he headed up the stairs.

"Show off!" He laughed.

Shutting the door behind him James crossed Tremendo's study quickly. He was not quite sure that he would find anything incriminating but most of MI6 evidence suggested that if there were anything worth finding it would be here. Tremendo had used this house as his base for many years now, since his wife had died.

James shone his torch around the room to see her photograph smiling back from almost every available surface. She was very pretty. An American by birth she had met Tremendo whilst working for him here in Venice at his largest and most successful lab. She was very pretty with short auburn hair and dazzling green eyes. It was clear that Tremendo loved her very much. He had even gone so far as to paint a portrait of her which now hung above the unlit fireplace. No doubt Tremendo wanted to keep her with him while he did his more important works.

James moved quickly past her to Tremendo's desk and began to rifle through but to no avail.

Frowning slightly James turned back to the rest of the room. There must be a safe somewhere in the room but where? His eyes fell upon the former Signora Tremendo's portrait. It couldn't be that obvious, could it?

James pulled gently at the frame and sure enough it swung away from the wall on hinges to reveal a metal safe.

"How predictable" James tutted, slightly disappointed in Tremendo's lack of imagination.

Using the laser on his watch James cut through the thick metal in no time at all and deactivated the motion sensors inside with a practiced hand.

There were several files inside along with a few of his wives heirlooms. Ignoring the necklaces and earrings James scooped up the files and lay them out of the desk. He didn't understand a lot of it, the pages were filled with complicated formulas, but Bond knew that there would be someone back at H.Q who could decipher it.

Pulling on the thumb of his G.L.O.V.E.S James activated the keypad and switched on its scanner. Slowly he moved his palms over the pages, recording the information. He had almost completed the first file when he became aware of the soft click of high heels behind him. A woman's voice startled him.

"What have we here?" She called playfully.

James turned to find himself, not for the first time that evening, staring down the barrel of a gun.