Devil May Care - Sebastian Faulks [77]
Eventually, she had loosened the knots enough for Bond to slide one hand free.
‘It doesn’t quite make sense, James. I’ve almost got it, but it won’t quite work. Unless, unless . . .’ She began to laugh. ‘James, you are absurd.’
‘What?’
‘You forgot the zero. Wait.’ She hummed to herself again. ‘Now it works. Listen.’ She placed her lips against his ear. ‘Was that the sequence?’
‘Exactly,’ said Bond. ‘And what are the numbers?’
‘One, zero, six, six, nine. Don’t ask me what it means.’
‘I won’t. Listen to me, Scarlett. If you get out, you won’t be on the right side of the plant. You’ll still have to make your way round to the plane. And then . . . Well. I’m going to have to leave it to your ingenuity. Just get yourself on board and hidden. I calculate it’s early evening. We’ll make our move at about two in the morning. You may be lucky. At any rate, it’s our only chance.’
Scarlett nodded. She said nothing for a while, but Bond could see that she was warming to the idea.
‘Are you hungry?’ said Scarlett, eventually.
‘Ravening.’
‘What would you most like to eat?’
Bond thought. ‘Something easy on the digestion to start with. Eggs Benedict. Then some caviar, perhaps, the one Darius gave me in his garden. A
sole meunie`re. Then a roast partridge. A bottle of Bollinger Grande Anne´e 1953 and some red wine –
Chaˆteau Batailley. A friend of mine introduced me to it in Paris.’
‘Anything else?’
‘I’d like to have it in a hotel room. With you. Sitting naked on the bed. Now, come and lie close here till I tell you it’s time to move. Think about that hotel room and try to sleep.’
‘Mmm. I’m there,’ said Scarlett. ‘ The smell of gardenia bath essence floating through the open door . . .’
When Scarlett slept, Bond’s eyes scanned the ceiling for any sign of a camera lens. It was dark in the cell, with only a little light filtering through the half-closed grille in the door from the sodium lamp in the corridor outside. So much the better, thought Bond. He was satisfied that the girl had understood his instructions, and she hadn’t let him down yet. When he judged it was about two in the morning, Bond stood up carefully and helped Scarlett to her feet. She massaged his replaced shoulder and kissed the deep cut in his cheek where the glass had gone through to his gum. ‘You’re going to have a good time at the dentist, aren’t you, my love?’
He grimaced.
‘One last thing,’ said Scarlett. ‘Promise me the first thing we do if we make it out alive is get someone here to bring out Poppy.’
‘I promise.’ Bond kissed her lightly on the lips, turned to the door and levered his aching body up the rocks till he was wedged above the lintel. ‘Now!’
Scarlett put her mouth to the grille and let out a long shriek. There was no sound from the other side, though Bond knew that the factory was at work and that there must be guards in the vicinity. Still, no footsteps were better than too many.
‘ Try again.’
‘Ssh. He’s coming.’
Bond could hear someone approaching. A torch shone through the grille.
Scarlett opened her grey workshirt to show her breasts. ‘Do you want me?’ she said.
‘Where is he?’ said the guard.
‘Sleep. He’s hurt. Shoulder.’ Scarlett mimed exhaustion and pointed to a corner beyond the range of the guard’s vision. ‘Come quick,’ she said, tugging at the waistband of her work trousers.
Still the man hesitated. Scarlett took her breasts in her hands and lifted them into the middle of the torch beam. There was the sound of a key in the lock. The door opened and the guard came in. As he
turned to shut the door, Bond fell on to the man’s shoulders, put his hand across his mouth and his other forearm across the windpipe. Scarlett slid the guard’s gun from its holster on his hip. Bond used the carotid takedown he had used on the man at Noshahr, but this time he finished the job.