Ian Fleming - Moonraker

Moonraker

By Fleming, Ian

PART ONE: MONDAY

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A FEW minutes later Bond was walking through the familiar door and the green light had gone on over the entrance. M. looked sharply at him. You look pretty dreadful, 007, he said. Sit down.

Its business, thought Bond, his pulse quickening. No Christian names today. He sat down. M. was studying some pencilled notes on a scratch-pad. He looked up. His eyes were no longer interested in Bond.

Trouble down at Draxs plant last night, he said. Double killing. Police tried to get hold of Drax. Didnt think of Blades apparently. Caught up with him when he got back to the Ritz about half-past one this morning. Two men from the Moonraker got shot in a public house near the plant. Both dead. Drax told the police he couldnt care less and then hung up. Typical of the man. Hes down there now. Taking the thing a bit more seriously, I gather.

Curious coincidence, said Bond thoughtfully. But where do we come in, sir? Isnt it a police job?

Partly, said M., but it happens that were responsible for a lot of the key personnel down there. Germans, he added. Id better explain. He looked down at his pad. Its an RAF establishment and the cover-plan is that its part of the big radar network along the East Coast. The RAF are responsible for guarding the perimeter and the Ministry of Supply only has authority at the centre where the work is going on. Its on the edge of the cliffs between Dover and Deal. The whole area covers about a thousand acres, but the site itself is about two hundred. On the site there are only Drax and fifty-two others left. All the construction team have gone.

Pack of cards and a joker, reflected Bond. Fifty of these are Germans, continued M. More or less all the guided missile experts the Russians didnt get. Drax paid for them to come over here and work on the Moonraker. Nobody was very happy with the arrangement but there was no alternative. The Ministry of Supply couldnt spare any of their experts from Woomera. Drax had to find his men where he could. To strengthen the RAF security people, the Ministry of Supply appointed their own security officer to live on the site. Man called Major Tallon.

M. paused and looked up at the ceiling.

He was one of the two who got killed last night. Shot by one of the Germans, who then shot himself.

M. lowered his eyes and looked at Bond. Bond said nothing, waiting for the rest of the story.

It happened in a public house near the site. Plenty of witnesses. Apparently its an inn on the edge of the site that is in bounds to the men. Must have somewhere to go to, I suppose. M. paused. He kept his eyes on Bond. Now you asked where we come in on all this. We come in because we cleared this particular German, and all the others, before they were allowed to come over here. Weve got the dossiers of all of them. So when this happened the first thing RAF Security and Scotland Yard wanted was the dossier of the dead man. They got on to the Duty Officer last night and he dug the papers out of Records and sent them over to the Yard. Routine job. He noted it in the log. When I got here this morning and saw the entry in the log I suddenly got interested. M. spoke quietly. After spending the evening with Drax, it was, as you remarked, a curious coincidence.

Very curious, sir, said Bond, still waiting.

And theres one more thing, concluded M. And this is the real reason why Ive let myself get involved instead of keeping clear of the whole business. This has got to take priority over everything. M.s voice was very quiet. Theyre going to fire the Moonraker on Friday. Less than four days time. Practice shoot.

M. paused and reached for his pipe and busied himself lighting it.

Bond said nothing. He still couldnt see what all this had to do with the Secret Service whose jurisdiction runs only outside the United Kingdom. It seemed a job for the Special Branch of Scotland Yard, or conceivably for MI5. He waited. He looked at his watch. It was noon.

M. got his pipe going and continued.

But quite apart from that, said M., I got interested because last night I got interested in Drax.

So did I, sir, said Bond.

So when I read the log, said M., ignoring Bonds comment, I telephoned Vallance at the Yard and asked him what it was all about. He was rather worried and asked me to come over. I said I didnt want to tread on Fives corns but he said he had already spoken to them. They maintained it was a matter between my department and the police since it was we who had cleared the German who did the killing. So I went along.

M. paused and looked down at his notes.

The place is on the coast about three miles north of Dover, he said. Theres this inn nearby on the main coast road, the World without Want, and the men from the site go there in the evening. Last night, about seven-thirty, the Security man from the Ministry, this man Tallon, went along there and was having a whisky and soda and chatting away with some of the Germans when the murderer, if you like to call him that, came in and walked straight up to Tallon. He pulled out a Luger-no serial numbers by the way-out of his shirt and said, M. looked up, I love Gala Brand. You shall not have her. Then he shot Tallon through the heart and put the smoking gun in his own mouth and pulled the trigger.

What a ghastly business, said Bond. He could see every detail of the shambles in the crowded taproom of a typical English public house. Whos the girl?

Thats another complication, said M. Shes an agent of the Special Branch. Bilingual in German. One of Val-lances best girls. She and Tallon were the only two non-Germans Drax had with him on the site. Vallance is a suspicious chap. Has to be. This Moonraker plan is obviously the most important thing happening in England. Without telling anyone and acting more or less on instinct, he planted this Brand girl on Drax and somehow fixed for her to be taken on as his private secretary. Been on the site since the beginning. Shes had absolutely nothing to report. Says that Drax is an excellent chief, except for his manners, and drives his men like hell. Apparently he started by making passes at her, even after shed spun the usual yarn about being engaged, but after shed shown she could defend herself, which of course she can, he gave up and she says theyre perfectly good friends. Naturally she knew Tallon, but he was old enough to be her father, besides being happily married with four children, and she told Vallances man who got a word with her this morning that hes taken her to the cinema in a paternal sort of way twice in eighteen months. As for the killer, man called Egon Bartsch, he was an electronics expert whom she barely knew by sight.

What do his friends say about all this? asked Bond.

The man who shared his room with him backs up Bartsch. Says he was madly in love with the Brand woman and put his whole lack of success down to The Englishman. He says Bartsch had been getting very moody and reserved lately and that he wasnt a bit surprised to hear of the shooting.

Sounds pretty corroborative, said Bond. Somehow one can see the picture. One of those highly strung nervous chaps with the usual German chip on the shoulder. What does Val-lance think?

Hes not sure, said M. Hes mainly concerned with protecting his girl from the Press and seeing that her cover doesnt get blown. All the papers are on to it, of course. Itll be in the midday editions. And theyre all howling for a picture of the girl. Vallance is having one cooked up and got down to her thatll look more or less like any girl, but just sufficiently like her. Shell send it out this evening. Fortunately the reporters cant get near the place. Shes refusing to talk and Vallance is praying that some friend or relation wont blow the gaff. Theyre holding the inquest today and Vallance is hoping that the case will be officially closed by this evening and that the papers will have to let it die for lack of material.