The James Bond Anthology

Mr Scaramanga went off into a long dissertation which was only of passing interest to Bond. Felix Leiter would in any case be getting it all on the tape in a drawer of his filing cabinet. He had reassured Bond on this score. The neat American, Leiter had explained, filling him in with the essentials, was in fact a certain Mr Nick Nicholson of the C.I.A. His particular concern was Mr Hendriks who, as Bond had suspected, was a top man of the K.G.B. The K.G.B. favours oblique control – a man in Geneva being the Resident Director for Italy, for instance – and Mr Hendriks at The Hague was in fact Resident Director for the Caribbean and in charge of the Havana centre. Leiter was still working for Pinkertons, but was also on the reserve of the C.I.A. who had drafted him for this particular assignment because of his knowledge, gained in the past mostly with James Bond, of Jamaica. His job was to get a breakdown of The Group and find out what they were up to. They were all well-known hoods who would normally have been the concern of the F.B.I., but Gengerella was a Capo Mafiosi and this was the first time the Mafia had been found consorting with the K.G.B. – a most disturbing partnership which must at all costs be quickly broken up, by physical elimination if need be. Nick Nicholson, whose ‘front’ name was Mr Stanley Jones, was an electronics expert. He had traced the main lead to Scaramanga’s recording device under the floor of the central switch room and had bled off the microphone cable to his own tape recorder in the filing cabinet. So Bond had not much to worry about. He was listening to satisfy his own curiosity and to fill in on anything that might transpire in the lobby or out of range of the bug in the telephone on the conference room table. Bond had explained his own presence. Leiter had given a long low whistle of respectful apprehension. Bond had agreed to keep well clear of the other two men and to paddle his own canoe, but they had arranged an emergency meeting place and a postal ‘drop’ in the uncompleted and ‘Out of Order’ men’s room off the lobby. Nicholson had given him a pass key for this place and all other rooms and then Bond had had to hurry off to his meeting. James Bond was immensely reassured by finding these unexpected reinforcements. He had worked with Leiter on some of his most hazardous assignments. There was no man like him when the chips were down. Although Leiter had only a steel hook instead of a right arm – a memento of one of those assignments – he was one of the finest left-handed one-armed shots in the States and the hook itself could be a devastating weapon at close quarters.

Scaramanga was finishing his exposition. ‘So the net of it is, gentlemen, that we need to find ten million bucks. The interests I represent, which are the majority interests, suggest that this sum should be provided by a Note issue, bearing interest at ten per cent and repayable in ten years, such an issue to have priority over all other loans.’

The voice of Mr Rotkopf broke in angrily. ‘The hell it will! Not on your life, Mister. What about the seven per cent second mortgage put up by me and my friends only a year back? What do you think I’d get if I went back to Vegas with that kind of parley? The old heave-ho! And at that I’m being optimistic.’

‘Beggars can’t be choosers, Ruby. It’s that or close. What do you other fellers have to say?’

Hendriks said, ‘Ten per cent on a first charge is good pizzness. My friends and I will take one million dollars. On the understanding, it is natural, that the conditions of the issue are, how shall I say, more substantial, less open to misunderstandings, than the second mortgage of Mr Rotkopf and his friends.’

‘Of course. And I and my friends will also take a million. Sam?’

Mr Binion said reluctantly, ‘Okay, okay. Count us in for the same. But by golly this has got to be the last touch.’

‘Mr Gengerella?’

‘It sounds a good bet. I’ll take the rest.’

The voices of Mr Garfinkel and Mr Paradise broke in excitedly, Garfinkel in the lead. ‘Like hell you will! I’m taking a million.’

‘And so am I,’ shouted Mr Paradise. ‘Cut the cake equally. But dammit. Let’s be fair to Ruby. Ruby, you oughta have first pick. How much do you want? You can have it off the top.’

‘I don’t want a damned cent of your phoney Notes. As soon as I get back, I’m going to reach for the best damned lawyers in the States – all of them. You think you can scrub a mortgage just by saying so, you’ve all got another think coming.’

There was silence. The voice of Scaramanga was soft and deadly. ‘You’re making a big mistake, Ruby. You’ve just got yourself a nice fat tax-loss to put against your Vegas interests. And don’t forget that when we formed this Group we all took an oath. None of us was to operate against the interests of the others. Is that your last word?’

‘It dam’ is.’