Carte Blanche

all about his obsession with thousand-year-old dead bodies. He revels in decay, cities crumbling.”
    Dunne was now walking slowly forward, making directly for the Subaru.
    Bond said, “I know, Percy, but—”
    “What better way to promote social decay than to take down the security apparatus of half the Western powers?”
    “Dammit, fine. Do what you want in London. But have SOCA or some teams from Five follow up in York.”
    “We don’t have the manpower, do we? Can’t spare a soul. Maybe this afternoon but for now, afraid not. Nothing’s going to happen till tonight, anyway.”
    Bond explained that the time of the operation had been moved forward.
    A chuckle. “Your Irishman prefers the twenty-four-hour clock, does he? . . . Bit fine-tuned, that. No, we’ll stick with my plan.”
    This was why Osborne-Smith had backed M’s stand to have Bond remain in South Africa; he hadn’t in fact believed Bond was on to anything. He had simply wanted to steal the thunder. Bond disconnected and started to dial Bill Tanner.
    But Dunne was at the door, yanking it open. “Come on, Theron. You’re keeping your new boss waiting. You know the drill. Leave the phone and the gun in the car.”
    “I thought I’d check them in with your smiling concierge.”
    If it came down to a fight, he hoped to be able to pick up his weapon and to communicate with the outside world.
    But Dunne said, “Not today.”
    Bond didn’t argue. He secured his phone and the Walther in the car’s glove box, joined Dunne and locked the car with the key fob.
    As he once again endured the rituals at the security post, Bond happened to glance at a clock on the wall. It was nearly 8 A.M . in York. He had just over two and a half hours to find out where the bomb was planted.

Chapter 55
    The Green Way lobby was deserted. Bond supposed Hydt—or, more likely, Dunne—had arranged for the staff to have the day off so that the meeting and the Gehenna plan’s maiden voyage could go forward without interruption.
    Severan Hydt strode up the hall, greeting Bond warmly. He was in good spirits, ebullient even. His dark eyes shone. “Theron!”
    Bond shook his hand.
    “I’ll want you to make a presentation to my associates about the killing-fields project. It’ll be their money too that’ll fund it. Now, you don’t need to do anything formal. Just outline on a map where the major graves are, how many corpses roughly are in each one, how long they’ve been in the ground and what you think your clients will be willing to pay. Oh, by the way, one or two of my partners are in lines of work similar to yours. You might know each other.”
    The alarming thought now occurred to Bond that these men might wonder the opposite: why they had not heard of the ruthless Durban-based mercenary Gene Theron, who’d seeded the African earth with so many bodies.
    As they walked through the Green Way building, Bond asked where he could work, hoping that Hydt might take him to Research and Development, now that he was a trusted partner.
    “We have an office for you.” But the man led him past the R&D department to a large, windowless room. Inside were a few chairs, a worktable and a desk. He’d been provided with office supplies like yellow pads and pens, dozens of detailed maps of Africa and an intercom but no phone. Corkboards on the walls displayed copies of the pictures that Bond had delivered of the decaying bodies. He wondered where the originals were.
    In Hydt’s bedroom?
    The Rag-and-Bone Man asked pleasantly, “Will this do?”
    “Fine. A computer would be helpful.”
    “I could arrange that—for word processing and printing. No Internet access, of course.”
    “No?”
    “We’re concerned about hacking and security. But for now, don’t worry about writing anything up formally. Handwritten notes are enough.”
    Bond maintained a calm façade as he noted the clock. It was now eight twenty in York. Just over two hours to go. “Well, I’d better get down to it.”
    “We’ll be up the hall in the main conference room. Go to the end and turn left. Number nine hundred. Join us whenever you like but make sure you’re there before half twelve. We’ll have something on television I think you’ll find interesting.”
    Ten thirty York time.
    After Hydt had gone, Bond bent over the map and drew circles around some of the areas he’d arbitrarily picked as battle zones when he and Hydt had met at the Lodge Club. He jotted a few numbers—signifying the