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May Day paced like a caged panther behind the glass, back and forth across the small darkened room her thigh muscles tensing as if preparing her to fight or flee, her hands clenching unconsciously into fists as she waited and waited.

Through the two way mirror the sunlit conference room lay empty, conference papers stacked neatly, the water pitcher full of freshly iced mineral water just waiting for the delegates to arrive.

“Just send some stupid pen pusher…” May Day muttered anxious for the whole business to be over but it seemed whatever deity was answering mortal requests that day had chosen to ignore her, the conference doors had opened and some worryingly familiar faces had entered.

In front was as expected Hans Fahr, the brilliantly devious moneyman who was one of the few men Max had trusted to handle his finances, May Day knew first hand that Fahr had few if any scruples; he would have made an excellent assassin himself if he didn’t consider the occupation too unprofitable for his tastes. It was to him she had turned upon fleeing the States and Fahr had proved his monetary genius ten times over since then, of course it hadn’t exactly hurt that Max had laid the groundwork years in advance just in case he ever felt the need to fake his own death and retire from public life.

Max Zorin’s assets were liquidated the moment the Swiss banker had gotten wind of the accident. The oh so vital company shares sold off piecemeal to brokers of dubious repute, the paperwork dates fiddled to appear prior to Max’s death, the shares were then resold seemingly haphazardly to any number of companies all of which were registered in countries where the authorities are less than cooperative with international law enforcement. The companies were themselves a front, they submitted their annual accounts punctually, paid all appropriate taxes, legal and under the counter, and had done for a number of years.

On the surface there was no possible way control could revert back to Max, yet if you looked deeper you found a startling coincidence, each companies CEO commanded a large salary for a company doing relatively nothing and each owned exactly 1% of the company’s stock, the remainder was owned by an inconspicuous little holding company Niroz Conglomerated, registered in Switzerland, about which the only thing known was it was one of the few accounts handled personally by…Hans Fahr.

There was no reason for anyone to go looking, but as May Day caught sight of the others entering the conference room she felt her confidence ebb, just because there wasn’t a reason didn’t mean no one would. After all who would have thought Max’s race fixing would have led the British Secret Service to bungle their way into his carefully guarded and thought-out Main Strike operation.

Following Hans into the room was a dark haired pleasantly attractive man in a grey suit, May Day had never seen him in person before but she had been shown his photograph and she never forgot a face; American, CIA, called Felix Leiter, once an active field agent he had managed to survive in the service long enough to be ‘promoted’ to a desk job.

The man behind him she was unfortunately more familiar with, his rounded tanned face, balding head and jovial smile gave him the appearance of an amiable grandfather, one enjoying the later years of his life perhaps having retired to the cape with his wife, a couple of dogs who spends his days fishing. Yet May Day knew from experience the man was a shark, using his jovial exterior as a lure; many a young agent had been hooked into the service thanks to that fake grandfatherly like concern, when this man fished it wasn’t for trout or salmon it was people’s lives. It was testament to that ability and his canny political wrangling that General Alexis Gogol had remained head of the KGB for twice as long as any of his forbears.

The British by contrast had sent a bureaucrat, a high ranking one, Frederick Grey Minister of Defence but they had not sent him in alone and it was the last attendee that caused May Day’s pulse to jump as he stepped casually into the room, bidding his greeting to the other men as he shut the door behind him, taking the last remaining seat between the Minister and the American.

He sat in thoughtful silence as Hans began to speak, intelligent blue eyes scoping the room, lingering suspiciously on the mirror and May Day had to stifle a gasp as his gaze met her own. Forcing herself to relax as she realized he could not possibly have seen her, it was a two way mirror and her room was dark, still she couldn’t help but back further away out of his line of vision.

Bond. The very name stung her tongue as she formed it. Celebrated Secret Service Agent, darling of society matrons, the deadliest weapon in the British arsenal and more difficult to kill than a cockroach in a nuclear holocaust, the man had slithered out of more death traps than any other agent alive… He was also Max’s murderer.

That title fit him better than 007 in May Day’s opinion and if it were not for the child that caused her stomach to cramp and roll in the mornings she would have made it her life’s work to see the man dead, even if it meant certain death for herself as well. Instead she had chosen to hide in the shadows, staying way below any agency radar, putting the final touches to the plan which would enable her to live free from prosecution and her child to inherit and enjoy the fruits of its father’s genius.

“THIS is an OUTRAGE, we will NEVER AGREE!” General Gogal’s angry voice jolted May Day out of her musings.

Drawing closer to the glass she could make out the sour expressions on each face, good it would hardly be amusing if the plan didn’t make each agency distinctly uncomfortable. Hans hardly looked perturbed by the older man’s outburst waiting until Gogal had finished venting before he continued in the same carefully modulated tone.

“It is of course your decision General. However I do believe if you read the remainder of the document you will decide to take the first option.”

“You expect us to sign this…I exchange for what our own intelligence.” Gogal spluttered. “Give up all legal action over the Zorin estate, sign non-disclosure agreements, and absolve all those involved…It is preposterous.”

“Absolutely.” Hans replied simply his blue eyes meeting the fuming generals coolly.

“I do believe you will do just that, firstly your claims to the late Mr Zorin’s estate will not be upheld, to do that you would have to publically admit KGB involvement in his affairs and I doubt that is something you have authority to do. The non-disclosure agreements are simple standard procedure and as for the pardoning of all involved, considering you have all declared the guilty parties deceased what possible problem could that pose?”

“Why are you asking for it?” Felix asked his dark eyes narrowed with suspicion. “It makes no sense to obtain pardons for a dead man.”

“Probate.” Hans answered in one word. “Pardoning Mr Zorin and all associated parties will enable us to proceed with wrapping up his estate, at present it is an unsightly loose end and we wish to end the legal wrangling.”

“And if we refuse?” The Minister asked and before Hans could reply Bond butted in, having quickly skimmed the document whilst the others argued he was already prepared.

“If we refuse minister, then Mr Fahr here is instructed to simply hand over whatever intelligence Zorin had gathered to our rival agency.”

“What he can’t…” Minister Gray blustered.

“I any case it is likely to be far more damaging to the good General here than ourselves.” Bond added smiling smugly at the fuming Gogal. “Zorin was after all one of his agents.”

“One with access to certain key high level members of your government.” Gogal spat back at the unperturbed Bond but he didn’t miss the way the Minister blanched at that thought.

“Personally.” Felix cut in. “I don’t see how it can hurt us to cooperate, but then again I don’t imagine the CIA has much to gain from the deal, Zorin didn’t have nearly the same influence in the States…”

“You might be surprised Mr Leiter, Zorin Industries and its subsidiary companies employ over two million American workers in certain key swing states. Now if the legal situation is not resolved and the USSR somehow gains control of that company through whatever puppet they put forward, do you really want them enjoying that much voting influence?” Hans pointed out.

“Not to mention the notable amount of how do you call it…’dirt’…on some of your more prominent local officials I would hate for that to fall into the hands of those who would use it to blackmail such men to treason.”

Glaring in annoyance at Hans Fahr’s insinuation Felix grasped the thick legal document flicking through it to the end before picking up a pen. Glancing across at Bond he paused before signing. “You are completely sure you got that Bastard James?”

“He took a short walk off of the top of the Golden Gate Bridge Felix, I doubt even Max Zorin could survive that!” Bond retorted bluntly watching as his old friend nodded putting pen to paper and handing the signed document over to Hans.

“I cannot authorize the pardons. I will have to head back to Washington.”

Nodding as if Felix were merely stepping across the road to pick up a newspaper Hans waved aside his explanations. “Of course of course, if you can return to Switzerland by the end of the business week will carry out the exchange.”

Glancing at his watch Felix nodded before getting to his feet. “Well that doesn’t leave me much time.” He paused holding his hand out for James to shake before heading towards the door.

“Well gentlemen are you also prepared to be reasonable?” Hans asked turning his attention back to the silent General.

“I would wish to see what intelligence we are talking about before I sign, I will not be duped into signing over a fortune and receiving only back door gossip.” General Gogal muttered.

“But of course.” Hans retorted reaching for the nearest telephone, pressing speed dial he spoke a few cryptic German phrases into the receiver and a few moments later a pretty blonde secretary popped her head around the door sealed envelope in hand. Directing her over to the general with a simple gesture she laid it down on the table in front of him before disappearing just as silently much to Bond’s disappointment.

All eyes watched as Gogal unsealed the envelope withdrawing a simple printed sheet.

“It is of course only a bare summary of the information.” Hans replied his blue eyes locked on the suddenly pale General who without another word seized the contract hastily scrawling his signature in all appropriate places.

“I want that information at once.” Gogal growled getting to his feet.

“Of course General.” Hans replied this time pressing another button on his phone and barking a different set of codes before setting the handset down. “If you would care to make your way down to your car the information will be waiting for you.”

“Good.”

“Oh and General.” Hans paused waiting for the opportune moment to let the final axe fall. “We will of course be retaining a copy for our records, I am sure you will lose no time in changing all appropriate codes however even the KGB cannot render all that intelligence useless. I would urge you to remember that should you ever decide to renege on this little agreement.”

That clearly was one step too far for the fuming General Gogal who turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him so hard it rattled the expensive art that hung on the wall.

“Minister?”

“Very well.” Francis Gray retorted picking up the contract and reaching for his fountain pen. “Unless you can give me a good reason to refuse to refuse Commander Bond?”

“Nothing I can put my finger on Minister.” The secret agent replied evenly meeting the Banker’s eye across the table. “However I cannot help but be curious…Just what exactly do you get for going through all this trouble Mr Fahr?”

“Why nothing save the satisfaction of tying up loose ends for my company Commander…Oh that and a sizeable bonus at the resolution of the legal work.” Hans replied coolly.

“And I am sure the appreciation of Mr Zorin’s named beneficiaries…Who are?”

“I am sure you are aware that such information is considered confidential in Switzerland Commander Bond.”

“Ahh.” Bond replied simply holding the man’s gaze surprised when the banker didn’t flinch.

“Well let’s get this over with.” The minister muttered signing his name with a flourish.

“Thank you.” Hans replied gathering the contract and setting it with the others. “I will call and have your documents waiting for you as you leave. I hope you have a pleasant trip.” He added emotionlessly as he headed out the door nodding to the secretary on the way out.

A moment later and he was sliding into the neighboring room pausing on the threshold as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. May Day was standing still as a statue by the glass her eyes locked on the lingering British. Crossing over to her they both stood and watched in silence as the Minister and a wary looking Bond gathered their things and finally left the room.

“Well that proceeded according to plan.”

“Yes.” May Day muttered her eyes still fixed on the space where Bond had sat her eyes boring into the seat like laser beams. If looks could kill had never been so apt.

“Well as possibly my wealthiest and definitely my most attractive client.” Hans flattered causing May Day to roll her eyes in disbelief. “What miracle do you want me to perform next?”

Staring off into space May Day allowed her hand to drift to her stomach, to prying eyes it still appeared flat as a washboard but she could feel the difference. “I want to go home.”

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