It had been a beautiful day in a gorgeous location. Tracy's father, Marc-Ange Draco, spared no exense for his daughter and it was during the evening while Bill was dancing with his wife when he felt a tap on his shoulder and a whispered message of a phone call waiting for him in Reception. How emotionless James sounded; how very business-like in his telling of the news; he even apologised for interrupting the party … How very British. Bill had grabbed Robinson asking him to meet him in Reception. Luckily the lights were dim at the continuing party, but the music had been loud and Tanner fairly barked his order into Charles's ear before going to find his wife. God knows how he looked when he found her, but she immediately took him into the relative quiet of the gardens and he remembered telling her that there had been accident with tears running down his face. She wanted to come with him and Robinson, but she couldn't, "I have to assess the situation, my love." "Bill, I can't go back in there knowing this." "You have to; no one else can know right now. I'm sorry" and then he left.

They found Bond at a hotel ten minutes away. He'd driven back to the village, but realised he couldn't return from where they left. He had retreated into the mechanism of disassociation and gave a report of what had happened. He and Tracy stopped to remove the garlands and were talking when a car drove by and there were shots. He saw Blofeld and Bunt and he only noticed Tracy when he got back into the car to give chase; saw the head wound and then the hole through the windscreen. Don't know how long he held her, but a motorcycle policeman stopped and asked if everything was all right, he had said everything is fine, his wife was resting – it had been a tiring day. James kept looking at the prone figure in the passenger side; he had laid his jacket over her, but the white of her wedding outfit showed through the inadequate car park lighting. He then crouched down by the car door, leaned in, gave an anguished cry and collapsed onto his knees sobbing.

Bill put his hand on Bond's shaking shoulder and took a deep breath. His brain already mapping out an urgent plan of action and talked over Bond, "Charles, we need to contain this for at least the next few hours. Our biggest issue is Tracy's father. Once he knows, he'll throw the entire assets of the Union Corse to flush out Blofeld and Bunt. If we're lucky the two of them will go to ground and surface outside of Europe; but if we're not, they'll be killed and SPECTRE goes back to the shadows and God only knows when they'll surface long enough for us to get a fix on the outfit."

"Sir, Tracy's body …"

"Godammit, Charles!", Bill's voice was low and tight. "We have to start this immediately, James will understand. Call the duty desk, report this in now! Make sure they classify this immediate for M's eyes only. I then need to speak to Station here as we need to call in favours and fucking quick!"

Charles nodded and started following the orders. Oblivious to his subordinate's discomfort of having using the phone in Bond's Aston Martin, Bill crouched down to his friend, "I'm sorry, James. I'm so, so sorry," he murmured as he held him. "We'll find out where the fucker has gone to. We'll find him!"

While the coffee cooled, Bill remembered he and Charles sitting either side of Bond waiting and not saying anything. What could they say? If it hadn't have been for MI6 desperately trying to stop Blofeld and SPECTRE, chances are that Bond and Tracy would never have met. The Service giveth and the Service taketh away.

Eventually an ambulance arrived with a slient police motorcycle escort and car – no lights or sirens, just as Tanner ordered. One of the officers dismounted, apologised for the wait and introduced himself as the area's police chief. The ambulance crew silently offloaded a stretcher and the three men had to move from the side of the Aston Martin.

Bond was compliant and numb, not registering the arrivals, but when the team were moving Tracy's body from the car, his shock turned to almost violent rage and he had to be sedated quckly before their activity attracted nearby attention. It was a terrible sight seeing him laid out in the back of the police car, but what could they do? Tanner had to put concern for his friend to one side as he ordered Charles to go with Tracy's body and stay until he was relieved; Bill would bring her father to the hospital morgue in the morning. The P Station Officer was on the road from Lisbon with a colleague and the police chief assured Tanner that Charles would be shown every courtesy and given all assistance while at the morgue. Tanner asked if it was possible if Bond's Aston Martin could be left at the local police station away from prying eyes knowing that the marque alone would attract local interest, while the bullet hole additions would make it the talking point of the village within an hour; taking it back to the wedding venue was completely out of the question. The Chief agreed, but suggested that a garage he knew in the next village may be better, "The owner has a reputation that I can use leverage on."

Tanner almost nodded, but then quietly said, "No. Sir, I don't know if you have recognised Mrs Bond, but that is Teresa Di Vincenzo." The Chief shook his head as the name meant nothing to him. "You may be aware of her father, Marc-Ange Draco," Bill noted the widening of the Chief's eyes and then they watched Charles clamber into the treatment area of the ambulance and close the door. "You know what that name respresents and the enormity of what we have to

contain – we have no choice but for discretion for the next few hours or we may have an international incident on our hands." Tanner watched in silence as the ambulance with two motorcycles pulled out from the car park into the night. No emergency lights or sirens – there was no one to save. He turned to face the Chief, "My colleagues are travelling from Lisbon, I need the address of the police station here so we can rendezvous and use it as our base of operations. I am sorry but I am going to be requiring your assistance until we leave the country."

The Chief nodded his understanding. "What are your intentions regarding your colleague?" he indicated the police car.

"I was rather hoping that you have a cell we can put him into for the time being," Tanner replied hopefully while scratching his ear. "If we can lock him away until this afternoon, I know I'll be happier. But I need to get back to the hotel first to pick up a few things and speak with my wife."

The Chief nodded and held out his hand, "Adriano. As I said earlier, I've been ordered to give you every assistance."

Tanner shook the pro-offered hand, "Bill."

With Bond unconscious on rear seat, Adriano drove Tanner back to the hotel. The party had finished. Given the hour, the hotel's Reception was unattended and although he could hear muted chatter and laughter coming from the bar, the doors were closed and thankfully no one chose that moment to leave the room. The hotel was small, but it had three floors of accommodation, and Bill strode to the lift, pressed the "up" button and hoped that he could get to his room unseen. His "luck" held; the doors opened immediately, he went inside, pressed for the second floor and sagged against the wall. The cage stopped, Bill exited and made his way to his room where he knocked.

His wife opened the door, Bill kissed her, "I'm sorry to have woken you."

"I wasn't asleep. How are they?"

Bill swallowed and started undressing for a quick shower, "Tracy's been taken to the hospital and James is giving his statement to the police. I have to be as quick as I can here – sorry." He hated lying, but he could tell her the truth in a few hours. Naked, Bill entered the bathroom, turned on the shower and let the water and soap rinse off as much of the previous hours as possible.

Finished he went back to the bedroom and started dressing in fresh clothes – jeans, polo shirt and a jacket. If there was one thing he learnt about himself during his tenure as Chief of Staff, it was he worked better with a shower and change of clothes during a crisis.

"They're all right, aren't they Bill?"

Tanner stopped, "No, Tracy's unconscious and James is beside himself as he wants to get to her." Tanner put on socks and a pair of loafers. He stood and hugged his wife, "Try to get some sleep. I'll be back around breakfast to speak with Draco and pick you up, but we will be getting a later flight home tomorrow." He made sure that he transferred all relevant items – wallet, ID, Aston Martin car keys, smart phone – into his jacket and kissed her again before leaving the room. He had taken fifteen minutes.

Tanner left the hotel unseen the on-going celebrations in the bar gave him momentary pause wishing that he was also enjoying "one for the road" with his colleagues and didn't know what he knew.

In silence, Bill was driven back to Bond's Aston Martin and while Adriano was giving orders to the officer they left there, Bill unlocked the car and slid into the driving seat. From the interior light, he could see that there had been hardly any blood splattered – most of it was on Bond from where he had been holding his wife. The windscreen was intact except for the single hole where the bullet had punctured. My God! The shot wasn't even deliberately aimed. It was just a stray! Tanner's analytical mind could only wonder at how long Blofeld and Bunt followed James and Tracy before they were able to take the split-second blind-panic advantage of the stopped car.

The officer left on Adriano's motorcycle and The Chief peered in through the open door, "Not much damage," he observed.

Bill scratched his hairline, "No. This wasn't deliberate." He got out of the car, crouched and traced the bullet holes along the driver side, "It's haphazard. I think our female suspect shot and the male drove. "

"You're so sure there were two assailants?"

"Yes. We have a pretty good idea who's responsible. Our male suspect was badly injured some months ago, but we've not been sure about his female accomplice." Bill stood, "This proves she was unhurt or if she had sustained any injury at the same time as our male, they must have been relatively light. Either way, due to his involvement, I think they were following our man in the hope that he was going to a more ideal location for them and try to take him/them out there, but then an opportunity obviously presented itself."

"It's a bad business." Adriano looked at Tanner, "My orders are not to ask questions, Bill, and when I'm removed from my bed by SIED, I know better than to ask, but do you think you will catch them?"

Bill looked to the hole in the windscreen. "I really don't know," he said quietly. He sighed, "We're dealing with an organisation that is global, well resourced and with a spider web-like reach" He looked at Adriano, "Think Cosa Nostra and Union Corse combined and triple it. Our assailents could still be in the country holed up until their associates can get them out, or plant enough false trails to send us in circles for ages, or they could have already left. We just won't know for a while." Bill glanced over to the police car, "All I know is that I don't bet on their chances once he gets on their trail."

"If that's the case, then we'd better go to the station and get your man in a cell, sim?"

Tanner nodded and slid behind the wheel of the Aston. He turned the key and while the engine was idling, quickly found the headlights. Adriano flashed his headlights asking if Bill was ready and once he saw the flash in return pulled away out from the car park and onto the road.

Bill sipped his coffee and called for his car. He didn't realise that it was gone 1am. He gave Bond's address and ended with, "For God's sake make sure the driver texts me to say they've arrived – don't beep!"

Like Bond, Bill was now in a train of thought which he wished his brain would stop focusing on. How he and Adriano dragged the still unconscious Bond into a cell and laid him on a cot. Being woken up himself with the arrival of the Station P team; looking in on James a couple of times waiting for him to come round.

Station P proved themselves most profficient with the first thing being relieving Charles Robinson at the hospital and bringing him back to Bill. Robinson's report was perfunctory; Tracy's body was in the morgue waiting for further arrangements as a "Jane Doe". No, there didn't seem to be any unusual interest at the hospital, even given the fact that there was a police presence, but it could have been more due to the time. Tanner listened, nodding his head. Now it was all about reporting to M and the logistics of returning back to London.