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The change of roo mirror behind the bed Hoell it all fitted! Bond felt his hands ith perspiration He wiped them down his trousers

'Steady, old ot it then I told you not to move, remember?'

Bond put his hands back on the book in his lap How much could he develop these so? 'Get on with the story,' he said 'Did the girl know these pictures were being taken? Did she know SMERSH was involved in this?'

Nash snorted 'Of course she didn't know about the pictures Rosa didn't trust her a yard Too emotional But I don't know much about that side We all worked in compartments I'd never seen her until today I only knohat I picked up Yes, of course the girl knew she orking for SMERSH She was told she had to get to London and do a bit of spying there'

The silly idiot, thought Bond Why the hell hadn't she told hihtened even to speak the na She had always said she would tell hiland That he must have faith and not be afraid Faith! When she hadn't the foggiest idea herself as going on Oh, well Poor child She had been as fooled as he had been But any hint would have been enough–would have saved the life of Kerim, for instance And what about hers and his own?

'Then this Turk of yours had to be got rid of I gather that took a bit of doing Tough nut I suppose it was his gang that blew up our Centre in Istanbul yesterday afternoon That's going to create a bit of a panic'

'Too bad'

'Doesn't worryto be easy' Nash took a quick glance at his wrist watch 'In about twenty o into the Simplon tunnel That's where they want it done More drao into the tunnel Just one in the heart The noise of the tunnel will help in case you're a noisy dier–rattle and so forth Then one in the back of the neck for her–with your gun–and out of theshe goes Then one ers wrapped round it, of course Plenty of powder on your shirt Suicide That's what it'll look like at first But there'll be two bullets in your heart That'll coain Who was the , and in your pocket there'll be a long love letter froood one SMERSH wrote it It says that she'll give the film to the newspapers unless you marry her That you promised to marry her if she stole the Spektor' Nash paused and added in parentheses, 'As a matter of fact, old man, the Spektor's booby-trapped When your cipher experts start fiddling with it, it's going to blow thelory Not a bad dividend on the side' Nash chuckled dully 'And then the letter says that all she's got to offer you is the machine and her body–and all about her body and what you did with it Hot stuff, that part! Right? So what's the story in the papers–the Left Wing ones that will be tipped off toOrient Express Beautiful Russian spy murdered in Simplon tunnel Filthy pictures Secret cipher machine Handsome British spy with career ruined murders her and commits suicide Sex, spies, luxury train, Mr and Mrs Somerset! Old man, it'll run for months! Talk of the Khoklov case! This'll knock spots off it And what a poke in the eye for the faence Service! Their best oes the cipherto think of you? What's the public going to think? And the Government And the Americans? Talk about security! No more atom secrets from the Yanks' Nash paused to let it all sink in With a touch of pride he said, 'Oldto be the story of the century!'

Yes, thought Bond Yes He was certainly right about that The French papers would give it such a send-off there'd be no stopping it They wouldn'telse There wasn't a press in the world that wouldn't pick it up And the Spektor! Would M's people or the Deuxièuess it was booby-trapped? How o up with it? God, he et out of this jam! But how?

The top of Nash's War and Peace yawned at him Let's see There would be the roar as the train went into the tunnel Then at once the muffled click and the bullet Bond's eyes stared into the violet gloo the depth of the shadow in his corner under the roof of the top bunk, re exactly where his attaché case stood on the floor, guessing what Nash would do after he had fired

Bond said: 'You took a bit of a ga you team up at Trieste And how did you know the code of the et the picture, oldbetter We know your code of the month for every year If anyone in your show noticed these things, noticed the pattern of them, like my show does, you'd realize that every January you lose one of your small chaps somewhere–maybe Tokyo, maybe Timbuctoo SMERSH just picks one and takes hi else he knows, of course But it's the code they're after Then it's passed round to the Centres Si his nails into the pal you up at Trieste, old man, I didn't Rode doith you–in the front of the train Got out as we stopped and walked back up the platforrade Knew you'd call your Chief–or the Eoslav's telephone for weeks Pity we didn't understand the codeword he shot through to Istanbul Might have stopped the firework display, or anyway saved our chaps But the et was you, old ht You were in the killing bottle froot off that plane in Turkey It was only a question of when to stuff the cork in' Nash took another quick glance at his watch He looked up His'grinning teeth glistened violet 'Pretty soon now, old man It's just cork-hours ood, but we never knew they were as good as this The knowledge was vital Soet it back He MUST Bond's mind raced round the details of his pitifully thin, pitifully desperate plan

He said: 'SMERSH sees out pretty well Must have taken a lot of trouble There's only one thing' Bond let his voice hang in the air

'What's that, oldof his report, was alert

The train began to slon Domodossola The Italian frontier What about customs? But Bond rees until they got to France, to the frontier, Vallorbes Even then not for the sleeping cars These expresses cut straight across Switzerland It was only people who got out at Brigue or Lausanne who had to go through customs in the stations

'Well, come on, old arette'