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As he felt the floor give under his weight The Robber gave a shrill screaht the edge of the floor and clutched it just as his whole body slid into space and the six-foot panels of reinforced concrete revolved sle yawning on either side

Bond gasped for air He put his hands on his hips and got back soht-hand hole and looked down

The Robber's terrified face, the lips drawn back from the teeth and the eyesbeyond hi of water against the foundations of the building and there was a faint luuessed that there was access to the sea through wire or narrow bars

As The Robber's voice died down to a whi down there, awoken by the light A Hauessed, with their sharper reactions

'Pull me out, friend Give er I'll do anything you want Tell you anything' The Robber's voice was a hoarse whisper of supplication

'What happened to Solitaire?' Bond stared down into the frenzied eyes

'The Big Man did it Told me to fix a snatch Two men in TampaAsk for Butch and The Lifer Poolroom behind the "Oasis" She came to no harm Lemme out, pal'

'And the Aonized face pleaded 'It was his fault Called me out early thisin his car Held ht h the trap Accident I swear it was his fault We pulled him out before he was finished He'll be okay'

Bond looked down coldly at the white fingers desperately clinging to the sharp edge of concrete He knew that The Robber ineered Leiter over the trap He could hear theopen, could see the cruel ses when they had fished the half-eaten body out

For a e seized him

He kicked out sharply, twice

One short screareat commotion in the water

Bond walked to the side of the trap-door and pushed the upright concrete slab It revolved easily on its central pivot

Just before its edges shut out the blackness below, Bond heard one terrible snuffling grunt as if a great pig was getting its runt that a shark makes as its hideous flat nose comes up out of the water and its sickle-shapedcarcase He shuddered and kicked the bolt hoold coin off the floor and picked up his Beretta He went to the main entrance and looked back for a moment at the shambles of the battlefield

He reflected that there was nothing to show that the secret of the treasure had been discovered The top had been shot off the Scorpion Fish tank under which Bond had dived, and when the otherthey would not be surprised to find the fish dead in the tank They would get the remains of The Robber out of the Shark tank and report to Mr Big that he'd been worstei in a gun battle and that there were X thousand dollars' worth of dae which would have to be repaired before the Secatur could bring over its next cargo They would find souess that it was his work…

Bond grimly shut his mind to the horror beneath the floor of the warehouse He turned off the lights and let himself out by the main entrance

A small payment had been made on account of Solitaire and Leiter

CHAPTER XVI

THE Ja Bond eased his car away froh the town on to 4th Street , the highway to Ta down the four-lane concrete highway through the endless gauntlet ofbeach furniture, sea-shells and concrete gnomes

He stopped at the 'Gulf Winds Bar and Snacks' and ordered a double Old Grandad on the rocks While the barman poured it he went into the washrooes on his left hand were covered with dirt and the hand throbbed painfully The splint had broken on The Robber's sto Bond could do about it His eyes were red with strain and lack of sleep He went back to the bar, drank down the Bourbon and ordered another one The bar his holidays the hard way He wanted to talk but there was no talk left in Bond Bond sat and looked into his glass and thought about Leiter and The Robber and heard the sickening grunt of the feeding shark

He paid and went out and on again over the Gandy Bridge, and the air of the Bay was cool on his face At the end of the bridge he turned left towards the airport and stopped at the first ed couple that owned the place were listening to late rhumba music from Cuba with a bottle of rye between them Bond told a story of a blow-out on his way fros They weren't interested They were just glad to take his ten dollars He drove his car up to the door of Rooht There was a double bed and a shower and a chest-of-drawers and two chairs Thedown thankfully and said good night He stripped and threw his clothes unfolded on to a chair Then he took a quick shower, cleaned his teeth and gargled with a sharp ed at once into a calht since he had arrived in America that did not threaten a fresh battle with his stars on the morrow

He awoke at midday and walked down the road to a cafeteria where the short-order cook fixed him a delicious three-decker western sandwich and coffee Then he came back to his room and wrote a detailed report to the FBI at Taold in the poison tanks for fear that The Big Man would close down his operations in JamaicaThe nature of these had still to be discovered Bond knew that the da on the heart of his assignold, its seizure, and the destruction, if possible, of Mr Big himself