Devil May Care

corridor from the green baize door that separated M’s private staff from the rest of the world came the chief of staff, a lean, relaxed man of about James Bond’s age.
    Miss Moneypenny raised an eyebrow as he approached. ‘Go straight in, Bill,’ she said, ‘but fasten your seat-belt.’
    As the door of M’s office opened and closed, a green light came on above it.
    ‘Take a seat,’ said M. ‘What do you make of Pistachio’s cable?’
    ‘I’ve just had a report from the aviation people,’ said the chief of staff. ‘It’s difficult to be sure from the information we’ve got in the cable, but they think it could be an Ekranoplan.’
    ‘What the devil’s that?’ said M.
    ‘It looks like a plane with cut-off wings, but it operates like a hovercraft on what’s called “ground effect”. It weighs double the heaviest conventional aircraft, it’s over three hundred feet long and has a wingspan of a hundred andthirty feet. You know when birds come into land – geese on a lake, for instance – and they prolong their glide without effort? That’s ground effect. That upward pressure you feel when a plane comes in to land? That’s ground effect, too. A cushion of air is trapped between the wing and the runway and causes an updraught. The Soviets have found a way of harnessing this power. It’s called a “wig” – or wing-in-ground-effect craft. It’s light years ahead of anything we’ve got. The details are in this report.’ He handed a file across the desk.
    ‘If that’s what it is,’ said M, ‘we have a problem.’
    ‘Yes. They’re still testing at the moment. We know of only four in existence, but the Russians plan to build more than a hundred in the Volga shipyard. There are some low-quality photographs taken by US satellites over the Caspian and one by a U2 spyplane. Word got round from Persian fishermen who’d seen one. They call it the Caspian Sea Monster.’
    ‘What kind of damage can it do?’ said M.
    ‘We think it’s designed to be a troop transport and assault craft. But it can carry a payload of roughly twenty-five tons – and only a few feet above the sea.’
    ‘What speed?’ said M.
    ‘I think you’d better sit down for this bit, sir,’ said the chief of staff. ‘It can do four hundred kilometres an hour.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Yes. That’s two hundred and fifty miles per –’
    ‘I know exactly how fast it is,’ said M. ‘But what the hell is it doing in Persia?’
    ‘Well, Pistachio is only relying on word of mouth from a driver who took 007 to the docks, so we can’t really say. But it doesn’t look good. Particularly if it’s been modified.’
    M puffed heavily at his pipe. ‘Well, I trust Pistachio. Did you get that sample he sent back analysed? The bag of stuff from Noshahr that came in this morning?’
    ‘Yes. It’s pure heroin. If heroin can ever be “pure”. Bound for … Well, God knows. It looks as though it was bound for Russia. In the Ekranoplan.’
    ‘That means Gorner has some deal with the Russians. They’ll traffic the heroin on to the West through Eastern Europe. Maybe through the Baltic states. Estonia, probably.’
    ‘I’m rather afraid it looks that way, sir.’
    M went over to the window again. With his back to the chief of staff, he said, ‘I don’t think that’s the whole story, though. I don’t believe it’s only commercial, just a drug deal – however enormous. The Americans are pouring people into Persia at the moment.’
    ‘Don’t they always?’
    ‘Yes. But not like this. I haven’t seen such panic in the Middle East since that man Philby surfaced in Beirut. The people in Langley know something big’s going on.’
    ‘Are things any better between us and Langley?’ said the chief of staff.
    M shook his head. ‘Still cool, I’m afraid. It’s Vietnam that’s the problem. Until the politicians can see eye to eye on that or until we send some troops, there’ll be this degree of … reserve.’
    ‘You mean that as far as Persia’s concerned, we’re both in crash dive but we’re not talking to each other.’
    M sighed heavily. ‘That’s about the size of it, Bill. That’s why we so badly need to hear from 007.’
    ‘What about 004? Any word?’
    ‘Not a squeak. What really worries me is what I’m getting from Washington. Pretty much every spare agent is beingshipped off to Tehran. Even some in semi-retirement. It’s all hands on deck.’
    ‘And we don’t really know why. There’s something