“What’s your point, Double-0 Seven?” M asked.
“That it’s not a walk in the park. I hope the Ministry are gathering very experienced people for this job.”
“They are. You’re going to have some help, too. I’ve arranged with the First Royal Gurkha Rifles to lend you a man who is an experienced mountaineer. You’re to go meet him down at Church Crookham, near Aldershot, this afternoon.”
“A Gurkha, ma’am?”
“That’s right. A sergeant, I believe. Comes from Nepal, of course, and happens to be an expert climber. Gets along well with Sherpas. I thought you should have Nepalese backup.”
Although he preferred to work alone, Bond didn’t protest. If this mission was going to be as dangerous as he thought it might be, he could use the extra help.
“Now,” she said. “It’s vitally important that you retrieve what is left of Lee Ming. You’re to get the pacemaker with the microdot—before anyone else does. It’s in the interest of Britain’s national security. Not only that, the Minister has told me that my job is on the line with this one. He wants that formula and wants it bad. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“We believe that whoever arranged to have it stolen in the first place will send their own expedition to retrieve it. If the Union are involved, our analysts believe that they will mount an expedition as well. Your job will be performed with the utmost discretion. No one on the team will know of your mission except for your Gurkha companion and the expedition leader.”
“Who is . . . ?”
M leaned over to her intercom and pressed a button. “Miss Moneypenny?”
“Yes?” came the voice.
“Send in our guest, please.”
Bond looked at Tanner questioningly. The Chief of Staff averted his eyes, warning him that he wasn’t going to be pleased with what was coming. M watched Bond closely to evaluate his reaction.
The door opened, and Group Captain Roland Marquis entered the room.
TEN
NOT QUITE IMPOSSIBLE
“GROUP CAPTAIN MARQUIS? Commander Bond?” M said. “I understand you already know each other. And you know my Chief of Staff.”
“Right, how are you, Bond—er, James?” Marquis said a bit too warmly. “Colonel Tanner.”
Bond stood halfway up, shook hands, and retook his seat. “Fine, Roland. You?”
“Good.” Marquis sat in the other chair facing M, next to Bond, and placed the briefcase he was carrying on the carpet.
“Group Captain Marquis,” M said, “Mr. Bond is one of our Double-O operatives. He will be accompanying you on the expedition, as we discussed. His mission to retrieve the specification for skin 17 is classified. Double-0 Seven, your cover is that of a Foreign Office liaison.”
“What about the Gurkha?” Bond asked.
Gurkha?” Marquis furrowed his brow.
“I’m assigning a man from the Royal Gurkha Rifles to accompany Double-O Seven. He’s an experienced mountaineer and knows the area. He’ll take his orders from Double-O Seven. Aside from you, he’s the only other person on the team who will know of Mr. Bond’s assignment.”
Marquis flashed his white teeth and said, “The more the merrier.”
Not impressed by Marquis’s levity, M said, “I must emphasize that SIS would greatly appreciate any help that you can provide Double-O Seven so that he can accomplish his mission.”
“Certainly, ma’am,” Marquis said. “However, when I lead a team, I must insist that safety take precedence over everything else. If I’m asked to do something that might endanger the lives of any other team members, I will refuse. An authority figure is important in an expedition of this magnitude. As team leader, we must agree that my word is final.”
M looked at Bond for approval. He shrugged. “I would expect nothing less if I were leading,” he said.
Marquis seemed happy with the response. “Right. I’m sure we’ll get along splendidly. Bond and I are old schoolmates, isn’t that right, Bond?”
Before Bond could answer, M jumped in with “Tell us about the other team members, please.”
“Of course. I’ve managed to snare some very good people at such short notice. The team’s doctor will be Hope Kendall, an experienced mountaineer from New Zealand. I’ve climbed with her before. She’s thirty-two and very fit. Our communications officer is a Dutchman named Paul Baack. He was recommended to me by the ministry. I met him this morning and I’m confident that he will be more than adequate. He comes with some sophisticated equipment that the ministry is lending us. Two mountaineers who have worked with me before, Thomas Barlow and Carl Glass, will be my immediate lieutenants. The American State Department are sending over three well-known climbers. They’ll be looking after the American interests in the expedition.” He went on to name a man to be in charge of Nepalese relations and hiring the Sherpa porters and cooks in Taplejung, a famed French climber to be the equipment manager, and explained that the rest of the team would be filled out with dozens of Sherpa porters and other climbers who will assist in hauling down whatever might be left of the plane’s passengers and their belongings.
“SIS will be conducting security checks on everyone, of course Tanner interjected.
“Now, I’ve drawn up a preliminary schedule,” Marquis continued He pulled some notes out of the briefcase.
“Beginning tomorrow there will be three days of intense physical exercise and training, followed by a medical examination.”
“Most people train for months for an expedition like this,” Bond said.
“You’re right,” Marquis said. “But the Ministry wants this job done as soon as possible. We need to get to that plane before the monsoon season starts in June. It’s already the twenty-third of April. We can’t afford the luxury of a long training period. We don’t want to be caught on that mountain when the storms come in.”
Bond understood and nodded. “Go on.”
“We’ll fly to Delhi, spend the night, then go on to Kathmandu, where we’ll rendezvous with the Americans and the others. We’ll spend three days there acclimatizing and making further preparations for the expedition.”
He unfolded a large trekking map of Nepal. A route was highlighted in yellow. “We’ll fly in a chartered aircraft to Taplejung, here.” He pointed to a dot in eastern Nepal. “It’s normally an eight-day trek to the Kanchenjunga Base Camp from there, but we’re going to cut it down to six. We’ll have to push extra hard to do it, but the more time we save, the better. Base Camp is here, at 5,140 meters.” He indicated an X on the north side of a triangle marked “Kanchenjunga,” which straddled the border between Nepal and Sikkim.
“We’ll have to spend a week there acclimatizing. No getting around that.”
“Why?” M asked.
“A human being’s body adjusts slowly to the change in altitude,” Bond explained. “Ascent has to be taken in stages, or one can become extremely ill.”
“We don’t want any altitude sickness on this expedition,” Marquis said. “After the week at Base Camp, we’ll slowly lay siege to the mountain within three weeks.” Marquis opened a detailed map of the side OF the mountain. “We’ll set up five camps on the north face. Camp One will be here at 5,500 meters. Camp Two is at 6,000 meters. When we get to Camp Three at 6,600 meters, we’ll need to spend another week acclimatizing. I’m hoping that’s all the time we’ll need. There may be some of us who can’t ascend as quickly to Camp Four, which will be set up here at 7,300 meters. Camp Five will be at 7,900 meters, right next to the site of the plane wreckage. We’re extremely fortunate that the aircraft is on this relatively level plain. It’s called the Great Scree Terrace. It’s less than 2,000 feet from the summit.”