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'Secondly,' and M looked at the ceiling and then back at Bond, 'I knohere the treasure is At least I'm pretty sure I do And it's not in Auess it's one of the most valuable treasure-troves in history'

'Good Lord,' said Bond 'Hohere do we come into it?"

M held up his hand 'You'll find all the details in here,' he let his hand come down on the brown folder 'Briefly, Station C has been interested in a Diesel yacht, the Secatur, which has been running froh the Florida Keys into the Gulf of Mexico, to a place called St Petersburg Sort of pleasure resort, near TampaWest Coast of FloridaWith the help of the FBI we've traced the ownership of this boat and of the island to a ster Lives in HarlemEver heard of him?'

'No,' said Bond

'And curiously enough,' M's voice was softer and quieter, 'a twenty-dollar bill which one of these casual negroes had paid for a gold coin and whose nua's lieutenants And it was paid,' M pointed the stem of his pipe at Bond, 'for inforent who is a member of the Communist Party'

Bond whistled softly

'In short,' continued M, 'we suspect that this Jae system, or an important part of it, in AmericaAnd our suspicion beco is'

Bond waited, his eyes fixed on M's

'Mr Big,' said M, weighing his words, 'is probably the ro criminal in the world He is,' and he enumerated carefully,' the head of the Black Widow Voodoo cult and believed by that cult to be the Baron Samedi himself (You'll find all about that here,' he tapped the folder, 'and it'll frighten the daylights out of you) He is also a Soviet agent And finally he is, and this will particularly interest you, Bond, a known member of SMERSH'

'Yes,' said Bond slowly, 'I see now'

'Quite a case,' said M, looking keenly at hi'

'I don't think I've ever heard of a great negro criminal before,' said Bond, 'Chinamen, of course, the -tiroes old in Africa, but always in a s business Pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought except when they've drunk too much'

'Our ro Born in Haiti Good dose of French blood Trained in Moscow, too, as you'll see fro to throw up geniuses in all the professions -- scientists, doctors, writers It's about tireat criminal After all, there are 250,000,000 of them in the world Nearly a third of the white population They've got plenty of brains and ability and guts And now Moscow's taught one of them the technique'

'I'd like to meet him,' said Bond Then he added, mildly, 'I'd like to ht then, Bond Take it away' M handed him the thick brown folder 'Talk it over with Plender and Damon Be ready to start in a week It's a joint CIA and FBI job For God's sake don't step on the FBI's toes Covered with corns Good luck'

Bond had gone straight down to Commander Damon, Head of Station A, an alert Canadian who controlled the link with the Central Intelligence Agency, America's Secret Service

Daht it,' he said, looking at the folder 'Thought you would Sit down,' he waved to an arh it all, I'll fill in the gaps'

CHAPTER III