Read Bond Movies 03 - Licence to Kill for Free Online Page B

to feed the Third World.’
    ‘Oh, how jolly interesting,’ Bond gushed, almost ashamed of himself. Then, any other thoughts were removed from his mind for behind the strange, pulsating piece of equipment he spotted a large undersea sledge with a smooth plexiglass dome. The sledge would probably take ten people, including its crew, and, while it would not be any use at great depths, it was certainly just the thing for inshore work – even for pulling people out of armoured security vans.
    Krest was still talking, ‘That’s a maggot incubator. Dispenses the right kind, and right number of maggots to the tanks. From that, we feed a special breed of genetically engineered fish.’
    ‘How very interesting.’
    ‘Yeah, ain’t it? We use hormones to make them all males. Sex changes’re our speciality here. Makes ’em grow.’ He had allowed Bond to come a few feet into the warehouse now. Red fish, some of them fat and up to five feet in length, were crowded into the tanks along the wall to the right. Other species swam in even larger tanks to the left. Behind both sets of tanks there were long walkways, and Bond could see other walkways higher, above the larger tanks.
    ‘Yes, very interesting indeed,’ Bond gestured towards the long underwater sledge. ‘That from your shark-hunting days?’
    The guard with the shotgun moved slightly, as though about to become threatening.
    Krest smiled thinly. ‘Why are you so interested in sharks?’
    ‘Because I was sent from London to . . .’
    ‘Nuts. Nobody here has been in touch with London. I bet you’re one of those busybody ecology people who don’t approve of our kind of fish farming.’
    ‘I do assure you, sir . . .’
    ‘Time you left, buddy.’ Krest motioned to the guard.
    ‘Well, if you really haven’t . . . I mean my instructions were quite explicit . . .’
    ‘I don’t care if the Queen Mother herself sent you. On your way, brother. Now. Okay?’
    As Bond turned in the doorway a flash of white caught his eye, low down among a pile of swept dirt near the tanks to his left. Even in that brief moment he had a chance to see the object clearly. It was a white rose, with silver paper around the stem. One of the white roses they had worn at the wedding. He had no doubt that it was Felix Leiter’s rose.
    ‘Well?’ Sharky asked when Bond was back in the car.
    ‘Sent packing with a flea in my ear,’ he paused. ‘Though I suppose I’m lucky it wasn’t a bullet. Felix was there, Sharky, and we’ve got to get in and find out what happened.’
    They had driven back on to the main road again. ‘Tonight?’ Sharky asked.
    ‘How?’
    ‘I got a dinghy. Quiet enough. Looks like the only way in is from the sea.’
    Bond thought for a full minute. ‘Let’s hit them at a good strategic time. About an hour before dawn. Now, I suppose I’d better go and re-register at the Pier House.’
    ‘Okay. Just before dawn.’ Sharky thought he had a great deal to do before then.

 
     
     
     
    4
     
    WHAT A TERRIBLE WASTE
     
     
     
     
    Once in the small bay where the Ocean Exotica Warehouse was situated they were guided by a single red warning light at the far end of the pier, and dim lights which burned within the warehouse itself.
    It had taken Sharky over an hour to row, close in-shore, to the spot, and now he brought the dinghy silently in around the pier on which the warehouse stood. In the half-light of dawn they could see that it was a very solid structure indeed. Not only had the piles been sunk into great stone foundations, but also a whole solid concrete wall had been erected around, and between, the piles.
    They became aware of tunnel-like gaps within the walls, each one leading deep into the area directly below the warehouse. Slowly and silently they traversed the entire structure, in an attempt to find an acceptable entrance – one which would afford them access to the building above.
    Finally, they came to rest in an area which did not appear to have any