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CHAPTER five

A Bad Traveller

It was six o’clock on Thursday evening. Bond was packing his suitcase in his bedroom at the Ritz. His tickets and passport went into a smaller case which had been prepared for him by Special Branch.

There was a narrow, secret space at the back of the case. This held a silencer for his gun and thirty rounds of 25 ammunition.

The telephone rang. It was the girl at the hotel desk. She said, ‘A man from Universal Export has a letter for you, Mr Bond.’

A few minutes later, Bond opened the door to a man from headquarters. He gave a large envelope to Bond. ‘I have to wait and take this back after you read the note inside, Sir,’ he said.

Bond sat at the writing desk and began to read. The note was from M.

WASHINGTON REPORTS THAT RUFUS B SAYE IS JACK SPANG, A POSSIBLE GANGSTER. HE IS TWIN BROTHER TO SERAFFIMO SPANG. TOGETHER THEY CONTROL THE ‘SPANGLED MOB’, A GROUP WORKING IN AMERICA. THE SPANG BROTHERS BOUGHT THE HOUSE OF DIAMONDS FIVE YEARS AGO. THEY ALSO OWN THE TIARA HOTEL IN LAS VEGAS. THIS HOTEL IS THE HEADQUARTERS OF SERAFFIMO SPANG.

WASHINGTON ALSO REPORTS THAT SPANGLED MOB BUY AND SELL DRUGS. THIS BUSINESS IS LOOKED AFTER BY MICHAEL (SHADY) TREE, A CRIMINAL KNOWN TO THE POLICE. THE GANG HAS OTHER HEADQUARTERS IN MIAMI, DETROIT AND CHICAGO.

THE SPANGLED MOB IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST GANGS IN THE UNITED STATES. IF YOUR JOB TAKES YOU INTO A DANGEROUS MEETING WITH THE GANG, REPORT AT ONCE TO HEADQUARTERS. WE WILL THEN GIVE THE JOB TO THE FBI. THIS IS AN ORDER.

Bond finished reading, then put the note into one of the Ritz envelopes. He gave it to the man from headquarters. After the man had left, Bond walked across to the window and looked out across Green Park.

Give the job to the FBI? M would hate to ask the FBI to finish a job. A ‘dangerous meeting’ would be something for Bond to decide about. He remembered some of his enemies from the past. He was sure that these gangsters could not be as dangerous as them. Or could they? He remembered the hard, cold eyes of Rufus B Saye. Well, he would have a look at the brother - Seraffimo.

Bond looked at his watch. 6/25 pm. He put his right hand under his coat and took out the 25 Beretta automatic gun. He checked the gun carefully, then put it back in the holster under his coat.

The telephone rang. ‘Your car’s here, Sir,’ the voice told him.

The large, black car was standing outside the Ritz Hotel. The driver put Bond’s two cases and golf clubs in the back of the car. He told Bond to sit in the front passenger seat. As they drove through Piccadilly, he looked at his driver. The man’s eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses and he was cold and professional.

After a time, the car stopped at the side of the road. The driver reached under his seat and took out a box of new golf balls. He got out of the car and opened the back door. He opened the pocket on Bond’s golf bag. Carefully, he put the six new golf balls into the pocket with the old ones already there. Then he climbed back into the front seat and they drove on.

At London Airport, Bond’s bags went through customs without problems.

Tiffany Case came into the departure lounge a few minutes after Bond.

There were about forty other passengers, but there was nobody that Bond recognized except Tiffany Case. He looked round. Were two of the passengers watching him? They looked like American businessmen. One of them was a young man with white hair. The other was fat and had a pale face.

Bond heard them ask for double brandies at the bar. The fat man took some pills from his pocket and put one into his mouth. Then he drank some brandy. He had a small case with some writing printed on it. It said, ‘Mr W. Winter - My blood group is P.

‘A bad traveller,’ thought Bond.

He slept through most of the flight.