انتهای کانال ارتباطی

CHAPTER nineteen

The End of the Pipeline

It was hot under the large bush at the meeting place of three African countries. The smuggler listened. The helicopter was coming!

The smuggler walked out into the moonlight to get the packet of diamonds from his motorcycle.

A mile away, an army truck was behind a low bush. Three men stood next to it - two soldiers and Bond. Near them was a large gun, pointing at the sky. They could hear the noise of the helicopter.

‘Get ready,’ said Bond. ‘Is the loudspeaker switched on?’

‘Yes, Sir,’ said one of the soldiers.

Bond looked up into the sky. He thought about Tiffany, safe at his home in London. He wanted this job to be finished so that he could go back and see her again.

The smuggler from the mines was also looking up. The helicopter came down and flew above his head. An arm came out and a torch flashed the code for ‘A’. The man on the ground flashed back ‘B’ and ‘C’. Then the helicopter landed.

The pilot started to climb out. He was wearing a flying helmet.

‘That’s unusual,’ thought the smuggler. ‘And he looks taller than the usual pilot.’

‘Have you got the stuff,’ asked the pilot. It was an American voice.

‘Yes,’ said the man from the mines. ‘Where’s the usual pilot?’

‘He won’t be coming again. I am ABC. I am closing the pipeline.’

‘Oh,’ said the smuggler, nervously. He gave the pilot the packet.

Suddenly, the pilot took a gun from his coat and shot the smuggler three times. The smuggler’s eyes opened wide with shock. Then he fell to the ground and lay still.

‘Don’t move or we shoot!’ The voice from the loudspeaker came across the open ground.

The pilot ran towards the helicopter and climbed in. The door crashed shut behind him. Moments later the helicopter began to move up into the sky.

Bond shouted, ‘Now!’ He was sitting on the seat behind the gun.

The two soldiers turned the gun towards the sky and Bond shot at the helicopter.

Red fire filled the sky, and then there was a much louder BANG!

The helicopter began to come down crazily to the ground. Inside it, Jack Spang - who was also Rufus B Saye of the House of Diamonds, and also the Big Boss, ABC - came down with it.

Before the sound of the crash died, flames shot up into the sky.

Bond lit a cigarette and sat watching the orange flames from the helicopter.

‘That’s the end of the diamond pipeline,’ he said softly. ‘The end of the Spangled Mob. But not the end of the diamonds that are in the centre of the fire. Diamonds don’t die. Diamonds are forever.’

And Bond suddenly remembered the eyes of the dead Wint. They had been wrong. Death is forever. But so are diamonds.

He jumped down from the truck and started to walk towards the fire. All these thoughts about death and diamonds were too serious. For Bond it was just the end of another adventure. He thought about the beautiful woman waiting for him in London. And he smiled.