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He walked farther back on the property He wanted to locate his car He found it on a deserted lot behind the ing The sun would get at it where it was, so he drove it forward and into the shade of a giant ficus tree He checked the petrol and pocketed the ignition key There were not too many s lot the s While it was still comparatively cool, he decided to walk farther He soon carass the landscaper had laid on Behind these was desolation--a great area of sluggish streams and swarets, shrikes, and Louisiana herons rose and settled lazily, and there were strange insect noises and the call of frogs and gekkos On ould probably be the border of the property, a biggish stream meandered towards the sea, its muddy banks pitted with the holes of land crabs and water rats As Bond approacned, there was a heavy splash and a ator left the bank and showed its snout before subot off the ground, all this area would be turned into an asset There would be native boate, and couests could view the "tropical jungle" for an extra ten dollars on the bill

Bond glanced at his watch He strolled back To the left, not yet screened by the young oleanders and crotons that had been planted for this eventual purpose, were the kitchens and laundry and staff quarters, the usual back quarters of a luxury hotel; and music, the heartbeat thump of Jaston co Bond walked round and under the portico into the er When he heard Bond's footsteps on the ave Bond a curt nod He was dressed as on the previous day, and the high white cravat suited the elegance of the hall He said "Okay, then" to the o take a look at the conference rooh the restaurant door and then through another door to the right that opened into a lobby, one of whose walls was taken up with the glasses and plates of a buffet Beyond this was another door Scarah into ould one day perhaps be a card roo but a round table in the centre of a wine-red carpet and seven white leatherette armchairs with scratchpads and pencils in front of thea's , had a white telephone in front of it

Bond went round the roolanced at the wall brackets of the lighting He said, "The brackets could be bugged And of course there's the telephone Like a looked at Bond stonily He said, "No need to It's bugged all right By me Got to have a record of what's said"

Bond said, "All right, then Where do you wantathis afternoon around four Tos, uys I don't want any of these h Now, isn't it about time you told me the names of these men and more or less who they represent and which ones, if any, you're expecting trouble froa said, "Take a chair and a paper and pencil" He strolled up and down the room "First there's Mr Hendriks Dutchman Represents the European money, uing type Then there's Sa?"

Scaraa stopped in his stride and looked hard at Bond "These are all respectable guys, ht Hazard, then But respectable, you understand Don't go getting the notion that this is another Ap-palachia These are all solid businessmen Get me? This Sam Binion, for instance He's in real estate He and his friends are worth maybe twenty erella Mia shots in the entertainh Guys in that line of business like quick profits and a quick turnover And Ruby Rotkopf, the hotel as He'll ask the difficult questions because he'll already know o He's in labour relations, like me Represents a lot of Teamster Union funds He shouldn't be any trouble Those unions have got so much money they don't knohere to put it That makes five Last comes Louis Paradise froest people in the one-arure which way he'll bet That's the lot"

"And who do you represent, Mr Scaraa?"

"Caribbean money"

"Cuban?"

"I said Caribbean Cuba's in the Caribbean, isn't it?"

"Castro or Batista?"

The froas back Scaraht hand balled into a fist "I told you not to rile et hurt And that's for sure" As if he could hardly control hi man turned on his heel and strode brusquely out of the room

James Bond s reek of high gangsterdom rose from the paper But the name he was most interested in was Mr Hendriks who represented "European money" If that was his real name, and he was a Dutchman, so, James Bond reflected, was he

He tore off three sheets of paper to efface the i into the lobby A bulkythe desk frohtily in his unseasonable wooden-looking suit He ht have been anybody--an Antwerp diaer The pale, square-jowled face was totally anonymous He put a heavy briefcase on the desk and said in a thick Central European accent, "I am Mr Hendriks I think it is that you have a room for me, isn't it?"