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not frequent buivshi circles. Anyway, all our grandparents were former people.
There is nothing one can do about it.'
`Our grandparents were not called Romanov,' said Kronsteen dryly.
`However, so long as you are satisfied.' He reflected a moment. `And this man
Bond. Have we discovered his whereabouts?'
`Yes. The M.G.B. English network reports him in London. During the day, he
goes to his headquarters.
At night he sleeps in his flat in a district of London called Chelsea.'
`That is good. Let us hope he stays there for the next few weeks. That will
mean that he is not engaged on some operation. He will be available to go
after our bait when they get the scent. Meanwhile,'
Kronsteen's dark, pensive eyes continued to examine a particular point on the
ceiling, `I have been studying the suitability of centres abroad. I have
decided on Istanbul for the first contact. We havea good apparat there. The
Secret Service has only a small station. The head of the station is reported
to be a good man. He will be liquidated. The centre is conveniently placed for
us, with short lines of communication with Bulgaria and the Black Sea. It is
relatively far from London. I am working out details of the point of
assassination and the means of getting this Bond there, after he has contacted
the girl. It will be either in France or very near it. We have excellent
leverage on the French press. They will make the most of this kind of story,
with its sensational disclosures of sex and espionage. It also remains to be
decided when Granitsky shall enter the picture. These are minor details. We
must choose the cameramen and the other operatives and move them quietly into
Istanbul. There must be no crowding of our apparat there, no congestion, no
unusual activity. We will warn all departments that wireless traffic with
Turkey is to be kept absolutely normal before and during the operation. We
don't want the British interceptors smelling a rat. The Cipher Department has
agreed that there is no Security objection to handing over the outer case ofa
Spektor machine. That will be attractive. The machine will go to the Special
Devices section. They will handle its preparation.'
Kronsteen stopped talking. His gaze slowly came down from the ceiling. He rose
thoughtfully to his feet.
He looked across and into the watchful, intent eyes of the woman.
`I can think of nothing else at the moment, Comrade,' he said. `Many details
will come up and have to be settled from day to day. But I think the operation
can safely begin.'
`I agree, Comrade. The matter can now go forward. I will issue the necessary
directives.' The harsh, authoritative voice unbent. `I am grateful for your
co-operation.'
Kronsteen lowered his head one inch in acknowledgment. He turned and walked
softly out of the room.
In the silence, the Telekrypton gave a warning ping and started up its
mechanical chatter. Rosa Klebb stirred in her chair and reached for one of the
telephones. She dialled a number.
`Operations Room,' said a man's voice.
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Rosa Klebb's pale eyes, gazing out across the room, lit on the pink shape on
the wall-map that was
England. Her wet lips parted.
`Colonel Klebb speaking. The konspiratsia against the English spy Bond. The
operation will commence forthwith.'
Part Two
THE EXECUTION
Chapter Eleven
The Soft Life
The blubbery arms of the soft life had Bond round the neck and they were
slowly strangling him. He was a man of war and when, for a long period, there
was no war, his spirit went into a decline.
In his particular line of business, peace had reigned for nearly a year. And
peace was killing him.
At 7.30 on the morning of Thursday, August 12th, Bond awoke in his comfortable
flat in the plane-tree'd square off the King's Road and was disgusted to find
that he was thoroughly bored with the prospect of the day ahead. Just as, in
at least one religion, accidie is the first of the cardinal sins, so boredom,
and particularly the incredible circumstance of waking up bored, was the only
vice Bond utterly condemned.
Bond reached out and gave two rings on the bell to show May, his treasured
Scottish housekeeper, that he was ready for breakfast. Then he abruptly flung
the single sheet off his naked body and swung his feet to the floor.
There was only one way to deal with boredom kick oneself out of it. Bond went
down on his hands and did twenty slow press-ups, lingering over each one so
that his muscles had no rest. When his arms could stand the pain no longer, he
rolled over on his back and, with his hands at his sides, did the straight
leg-lift until his stomach muscles screamed. He got to his feet and, after
touching his toes twenty times, went over to arm and chest exercises combined
with deep breathing until he was dizzy. Panting with the exertion, he went
into the big white-tiled bathroom and stood in the glass shower cabinet under
very hot and then cold hissing water for five minutes.
At last, after shaving and putting on a sleeveless dark blue Sea Island cotton
shirt and navy blue tropical worsted trousers, he slipped his bare feet into
black leather sandals and went through the bedroom into the long big-windowed
sitting-room with the satisfaction of having sweated his boredom, at any rate
for the time being, out of his body.
May, an elderly Scotswoman with iron grey hair and a handsome closed face,
came in with the tray and put it on the table in the bay window together with
The Times, the only paper Bond ever read.
Bond wished her good morning and sat down to breakfast.
`Good morning-s.' (To Bond, one of May's endearing qualities was that she
would call no man `sir'
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except Bond had teased her about it years before English kings and Winston
Churchill. As a mark of exceptional regard, she accorded Bond an occasional
hint of an `s' at the end of a word.)
She stood by the table while Bond folded his paper to the centre news page.
`Yon man was here again last night about the Televeesion.'
`What man was that?' Bond looked along the headlines.
`Yon man that's always coming. Six times he's been here pestering me since
June. After what I said to him the first time about the sinful thing, you'd
think he'd give up trying to sell us one. By hire purchase, too, if you
please!'
`Persistent chaps these salesmen.' Bond put down his paper and reached for the
coffee pot.
`I gave him a right piece of my mind last night. Disturbing folk at their
supper. Asked him if he'd got any papers anything to show who he was.'
`I expect that fixed him.' Bond filled his large coffee cup to the brim with
black coffee.
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