Devil May Care

silver-thonged sandals.
    Bond felt his pulse quicken a fraction as he approached. At the sound of his footsteps, the woman turned. When he saw her face, Bond could not keep the exhilaration from his voice. ‘Scarlett,’ he said. ‘What on earth are you –’
    She smiled and placed her finger on his lips. ‘Not here. Perhaps your room.’
    Bond was not so disorientated by seeing Scarlett again that he was likely to forget elementary precautions. ‘We’d better go for a walk.’
    ‘I have five minutes.’
    ‘There’s a small park down that way.’
    When they were outside, with the noise of the traffic pressing their ears, Bond said, ‘Tell me, Scarlett –’
    ‘I’m not Scarlett.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I’m Poppy.’
    ‘She told me –’
    ‘She told you I was younger? She always says that.’ Poppy smiled briefly. ‘And so I am. By twenty-five minutes. We’re twins. Though we’re dizygotic.’
    ‘You’re what?’
    ‘We’re not in fact identical, we just –’
    ‘You could have fooled me. Come on, let’s move.’
    A hundred yards or so up the road, there was a green area between the houses, with wooden seats and some children’s swings. They sat on a bench and put their heads together. To outside observers, Bond hoped, they would look like lovers in negotiation.
    ‘I’m here with Gorner,’ said Poppy. ‘He knows you’re in Tehran. He let me out of the office to post a letter. Chagrin will kill me if they know I’ve seen you. I’ve got something for you.’
    After looking round, she handed him a folded piece of paper.
    Bond felt the desperate pressure of her eyes on him.
    ‘Are you going to Noshahr?’ she said.
    Bond nodded.
    ‘Good. That paper will help.’
    ‘Where’s Gorner’s desert headquarters?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘But you’ve been there.’
    ‘I live there. We go in by helicopter. But he puts me to sleep so I don’t know. Only the pilot knows.’
    ‘Is it near Bam?’ said Bond.
    ‘Maybe, but my guess is that it’s nearer Kerman. We drive to Yazd first. That’s where he dopes me.’
    Bond looked steadily into Poppy’s wide, pleading eyes. She was so like her sister that it was almost frightening. Was she an ounce or two skinnier? Was there a slight flush ofdrug-fever high in the cheeks? Was her accent slightly more Chelsea and less French cosmopolitan? The full mouth was the same. The only real difference he could see was that where Scarlett had deep brown eyes, Poppy’s were a lighter hazel, flecked with green.
    ‘Poppy,’ he said gently, placing a hand on hers. He felt it twitch beneath his grasp. ‘What do you want me to do?’
    The girl looked deep into his eyes. ‘Kill Gorner,’ she said. ‘That’s the only thing you can do. Kill him.’
    ‘Just walk up and –’
    ‘Kill him. It’s too late for anything else. And, Mr Bond, it’s –’
    ‘James.’
    ‘James. It’s not just for me. I do need your help, it’s true, I desperately need your help …’ She faltered for a moment, then regained control. ‘But it’s more than that. Gorner’s going to do something terrible. He’s been planning it for months. He’s ready to do it any day and there’s nothing I or anyone else can do to stop him. If I had access to a gun I’d kill him myself.’
    ‘I’m not an assassin, Poppy,’ said Bond. ‘I’m here first of all to find out what the man is doing, then report to my people in London.’
    Poppy swore – a single pungent word that Bond had never heard a woman use before. Then she said, ‘Forget it. Forget reports. There isn’t time. Don’t you understand, James?’
    ‘Everyone I meet keeps telling me to be careful or to stay away from Gorner altogether. Now you’re saying I need to get in close to him. Kill without question.’
    ‘I know more than anyone else,’ said Poppy. ‘I know him better than anyone else does.’
    Bond felt a clutch of unease, the same feeling he had hadwhen he had found Scarlett in his hotel room in Paris. ‘How do I know you’re who you say you are?’
    ‘You mean, how do you know I’m not Scarlett?’
    ‘Among other things,’ said Bond. He said nothing about the eye colour.
    ‘Have you seen Scarlett with no clothes on?’ said Poppy.
    ‘Do bankers usually strip for business acquaintances at first or second meeting?’
    Poppy stood up and pointed to the top of her thigh. ‘Well. I have a small birthmark here. She doesn’t. She’s flawless. Come.’
    She took Bond by the hand into a small clump