Free Bond Movies 03 - Licence to Kill by John Gardner

yourself?’
    ‘Inordinately, Sharky my old shipmate.’ Indeed, Lupe was a sight for eyes infected by the most severe conjunctivitis. As the fishing boat moved closer, so Bond watched the girl stretch in the sun and begin to cover her body with some kind of lotion. ‘Careful, Lupe,’ Bond muttered. ‘Too much sun can be as harmful as too much tobacco and too much booze.’
    Sharky must have heard him, for he laughed and asked since when had Bond let that kind of thing worry him?
    Bond smiled again and murmured back, ‘You’d be surprised, Shark. I’ve cut down massively on my cigarette intake, and I’ve really never been all that heavy on the drink. Good wines, yes; good whisky, the odd Martini, if it’s made properly. I fear Felix has been libelling my reputation.’
    They had come in quite close now, and Bond saw someone else he recognised, coming down from the bridge. Milton Krest himself. The man who was partly responsible for Della’s death and Felix Leiter’s injuries.
    ‘That bastard Krest’s aboard,’ Bond whispered loud enough for Sharky to hear above their engine noise, and the whine coming from Wavekrest .
    ‘Then we might be in luck.’ As Sharky said it, so Bond saw one of the men on deck, wearing a wetsuit, shout something to Krest who turned and looked straight at the fishing boat.
    A minute later, Krest had a loudhailer in his hand. His voice echoed across the water, as the hailer was pointed directly at Sharky’s boat. ‘Ahoy! D’you hear there! Fishing vessel stand off. We have divers in the water. I say again. Divers in the water. You are a danger!’
    Bond pressed himself down among the bits of rope and other junk piled in the bows. ‘Better make for the headland, Sharky, and wave nicely, just to please the man.’
    ‘Aye-aye, Cap’n.’ There was a hint of sarcasm in Sharky’s voice.
    ‘Run away, Sharky. Live to fight another day – or I should say another night.’
    When they were out of the immediate vicinity of Wavekrest , Bond shifted his position, crawling back towards the stern and refocusing the glasses. As he did so, there was another flash, low in the water, on the periphery of his vision. He refocused again. There, moving fast, just above the surface, water pluming behind it, was a short, stubby periscope.
    ‘They have a submersible in the water,’ he told Sharky. ‘Powerful and fast by the look of it. Could be an unmanned probe. But I reckon we’ll get the answer to that, and all the other questions, tonight. Do you happen to have any spare tarpaulin aboard?’
    ‘Yep, sure do.’
    ‘Good. Any odd bits of wood, or metal?’
    ‘The whole of this tub’s made of odd bits of wood. Yeah, I got some metal. Two old aerials that broke off in the winds we had last winter. Why?’
    ‘I’m going to a fancy dress party. On board Wavekrest . Give them all a nice surprise. We might find Sanchez into the bargain.’
    ‘A fancy dress party?’ Sharky screwed up his face.
    ‘Why not? Just get behind that headland and anchor. I think this is a job for tonight.’
    There was a long pause. Then Sharky said, ‘Might I ask what you’re going to this fancy dress party as? Long John Silver?’
    ‘You must learn not to be so inquisitive, Sharky. I’ll tell you one thing though. I’ll get first prize in the grand parade.’

 
     
     
     
    6
     
    THE JOURNEY OF THE MANTA
     
     
     
     
    The Manta birostris , usually known simply as the manta ray, is the largest of the manta family. Its name originates from the huge wing-like fins – capes, or mantles – and they come in one size: very large; sometimes seventeen feet long and twenty-two feet wide. They move through the water like massive ocean birds, and though they look both graceful and sinister, the manta ray is not dangerous to man – except for the fact that a swipe from one of the fins can send a diver out of control, doing a great deal of damage.
    This one swam low, almost skimming over the coral and sand in the