آقای بیگ

CHAPTER SIX

Mr Big

Bond was taken through several doors to a large warehouse by his guard and Tee-Hee. They walked across the warehouse floor to a metal door, and Tee-Hee rang a bell. After a moment, the door opened. A man with a gun stepped back and they went through into a hallway.

‘You can go in, Tee-Hee,’ said the man with the gun.

Tee-Hee knocked on a door in front of them, opened it and then took Bond into the room. Mr Big sat behind an expensive desk, his huge head resting against the back of his chair. It was a great football of a head, twice the normal size and very nearly round. There were no hairs on the head and the skin was grey- black. The face was like the face of a week-old dead man.

There was nothing on the desk except an intercom with about twenty buttons and a very small riding whip. Bond’s guard led him across the thick carpet to a low chair. Bond sat down and faced the man across the desk.

Mr Big looked at him. There was one high window above his head, and all of the other walls were covered with bookshelves. Bond could not see a door.

Mr Big spoke. ‘Stay, Tee-Hee,’ he said. His eyes moved to the other man. ‘You can go, Miami.’

‘Yes, Sir, Boss,’ they both said.

Bond heard a door open and close. He put a hand to his pocket to find his cigarettes.

Mr Big spoke. ‘You can smoke, Mr Bond. Do not try to do anything else. I hear that you have a double-0 number - 007. Which means you have had to kill a man. Have you been sent over here to kill me?’

‘So Moscow sent him my description,’ Bond thought.

‘Mr Bond, you must answer me if you and your friend want to stay alive,’ said Mr Big. ‘And don’t try to lie to me. I shall know if you do.’

Bond answered carefully. ‘English gold coins have been bought and sold in America. Edward IV Rose Nobles,’ he said. ‘Some have been sold in Harlem. The American government asked for help to discover where they’re coming from. I came to Harlem to investigate. I came with a man from the American treasury, who I hope is now safely on his way back to his hotel.’

‘Mr Leiter is an agent for the CIA, not the treasury,’ said Mr Big. ‘He is in a very dangerous situation at the moment.’ He thought for a moment, then said, ‘Tee-Hee, tie Mr Bond to his chair.’

Bond started to get up from his seat.

‘Don’t move, Mr Bond,’ said Mr Big. ‘Unless you want to be shot.’

Bond sat down again. Immediately a belt was passed round his body. Two belts went round his wrists and were tied to the arms of the chair. Then two more were tied round his legs.

Mr Big pushed down a button on the intercom. ‘Send in Miss Solitaire.’

Part of a bookcase to the right of the desk opened, and a very beautiful woman came in. The woman looked over Bond, inch by inch, from his head to his feet.

She turned to Mr Big. ‘Yes,’ she asked simply.

Mr Big did not move his head. He spoke to Bond.

‘This is a very clever woman, Mr Bond,’ he said. ‘She is telepathic. She knows at once when someone is not telling the truth.’ He turned and looked at her coldly. ‘I’m going to marry her because she is so special. But at the moment she will have nothing to do with men. That is why, in Haiti, where she comes from, she was called “Solitaire “.’

‘Sit down,’ he said quietly to her. ‘Tell me if this man lies.’

The woman got a chair and sat down near Bond. Her blue eyes looked into his, and they seemed to have some sort of message for him. She was wearing a long white evening dress which showed the shape of her beautiful body. She had diamond earrings, and a diamond bracelet on her left wrist, but no rings on her fingers. As he watched her, she leaned forward, her knee almost touching his.

The silent message was clear, and a warm smile must have appeared on Bond’s face. Suddenly, Mr Big picked up the riding whip from the desk and hit the girl cruelly across her shoulders.

‘Sit up,’ he said.

She sat up slowly. She had a pack of playing cards in her hands - and used them to send Bond another silent message. She opened the pack so that the knave of hearts was opposite the queen of spades. Then she brought the two halves of the pack together so that the two cards ‘kissed’.

At no time did she look at Bond, but now he was sure that he had a friend.

‘Are you ready, Solitaire,’ asked Mr Big.

‘Yes, the cards are ready,’ she said.

‘Mr Bond, look into the eyes of this woman and tell me again the reason you are here.’

Bond looked into her eyes and repeated what he had said earlier. Did the woman know that he was not telling the whole truth? If she did, would she speak for him or against him?

For a moment there was silence. She looked at Mr Big.

‘He speaks the truth,’ she said coldly.