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Frightened words came back down the line

'All right, but just don't do it again Stick to fertilizers'

Bond hung up

Blackouldn't have had the wits It was obviously the big Mexican who had seen through the false trail Bond had taken the precaution to ht, as he walked home after a last drink at the Copacabana, a man suddenly stood in his way The man wore a dirty white linen suit and a chauffeur's white cap that was too big for his head There were deep blue shadows under Aztec cheek-bones In one corner of the slash of a arette The eyes were bright pinpricks of marihuana

'You like wo?'

'No'

'Coloured girl? Fine jungle tail?'

'No'

'Mebbe pictures?'

The gesture of the hand slipping into the coat was so well known to Bond, so full of old dangers that when the hand flashed out and the long silver finger went for his throat, Bond was on balance and ready for it

Alainst Underhand Thrust' out of the book His right ar with it The two forear the Mexican's knife ar short-arm chin jab with Bond's left Bond's stiff, locked wrist had not travelled far, perhaps two feet, but the heel of his palidity, had come up and under the man's chin with terrific force The blow almost lifted the man off the sidewalk Perhaps it had been that blow that had killed the Mexican, broken his neck, but as he staggered back on his way to the ground, Bond had drawn back his right hand and slashed sideways at the taut, offered throat It was the deadly hand-edge blow to the Adaers locked into a blade, that had been the standby of the Commandos If the Mexican was still alive, he was certainly dead before he hit the ground

Bond stood for a , and looked at the crulanced up and down the street There was no one Soht, but it had been in the shadows Bond knelt down beside the body There was no pulse Already the eyes that had been so bright withThe house in which the Mexican had lived was empty The tenant had left

Bond picked up the body and laid it against a wall in deeper shadow He brushed his hands down his clothes, felt to see if his tie was straight and went on to his hotel

At dawn Bond had got up and shaved and driven to the airport where he took the first plane out of Mexico It happened to be going to Caracas Bond flew to Caracas and hung about in the transit lounge until there was a plane for Miami, a Transa to New York

Again the Tannoy buzzed and echoed 'Transaht TR 618 to New York due to a ht aers please report to the

Transaht accommodation will be made Thank you'

So! That too! Should he transfer to another flight or spend the night in Mia his head back, sed the bourbon to the last drop The ice tinkled cheerfully against his teeth That was it That was an idea He would spend the night in Mia drunk so that he would have to be carried to bed by whatever tart he had picked up He hadn't been drunk for years It was high tiht, thrown at hiht He would put it to good purpose It was tio He was too tense, too introspective What the hell was he doing, glooo who had been sent to kill hi other people all the ti theirinfectious diseases around, blowing asjets turned on in kitchens, pues HowH-bombs, from the miners whoshares? Was there any person in the world asn't so his neighbour?