'Its our man in St. Petersburg.'
Moneypenny had burst into M's office a moment earlier, barely remembering to knock in her haste. And from that moment, M's usually ordered world had been thrown into chaos.
Offering assistance... permission to intervene in the mission... for agents best interests... the words were floating in front of M's eyes, her head was filled with countless possibilities. She refused to let her doubts get in the way of this, this was an opportunity far too good to pass up.
Finally, she smiled. 'Well. At last...' she stood and headed for the small drinks cupboard she kept. 'This calls for a celebration I think.'
Without another word she handed the second glass of bourbon to the usually composed redhead.
Moneypenny didn't drink, instead she gazed into the depths of the warm liquid as if she could find the answers to her unspoken questions there. M glanced at her, and frowned. They had worked together for far too long for either woman to be able to disguise their emotions with any success. Sometimes out of respect they simply ignored it, and remained on a professional level. Other times... it all had to come out into the open.
'Spit it out, woman,' M ordered, taking a sip. 'You obviously don't approve.'
'I'm concerned,' Moneypenny admitted. 'How can we be certain of this offer of assistance? And why now? We'll be putting agents at risk, unnecessary risk.'
'Agents are always at risk,' M said brusquely. 'You know that, and I know that. But I do share your concern. At the moment though, we don't have any other options, so if you do have any suggestions, Moneypenny, now would be the time to share them with me.'
Moneypenny remained silent, knowing it was better to do so than to argue with M when she was in this frame of mind.
'We have several agents in close pursuit of our man in St. Petersburg, and if I judge that he is deliberately leading our agents into danger, then I will give the order for his elimination. However, contrary to popular belief, he's actually very fond of living.'
'But why now?' Moneypenny insisted. 'Why has he suddenly decided to cooperate?'
M hesitated. 'I can't imagine him doing anything that didn't ultimately suit his own interests, but he has always been bound to us. It was part of the agreement we signed. He'll have his own agenda, lets just hope that it's in line with ours.'
In the end everything boiled down to a matter of numbers, M mused, and she felt safe surrounded by them. It was a calculated risk, gambling on his cooperation, against the risk of this being an elaborate plot. She hoped, that with all the intelligence they had on the man, that he might decide against rebelling against the system. She hoped...
'Yes,' she half said to herself. 'Yes, it would be very easy for him to entrap them. We must simply pray that he doesn't. Or that if he does, 007 and Agent Kain will be able to escape with their lives.'
Emotions were pushed aside, the advancement of the mission was all that mattered, business was resumed. 'Tell our man he has his permission.'
*
The building was a dirty grey relic left over from the poverty of the 80's, a series of squared off buildings piled haphazardly on top of each other, and surrounded by a vast overgrown and weed filled garden. Guards patrolled the entrance gates, but in the depths of the garden, with the aid of a small pair of wire cutters the agents had made it in. Carefully concealed they edged under the wire fence, and into the blackness.
The three of them sprinted across the grounds, until they were safely sheltered from view in an alcove. The plans, taken from Lucinda, were thrown quickly on the ground and examined closely for the final time.
