James Bond 007 - No More Promises

Part 5 ~ Chapters 13-14

Chapter 13

Back in London

The flight back to London had been uneventful, with the exception that James Bond had convinced M to have arrangements made for Bella to return with him.

"Miss Rose," Bond explained to his boss over a secure telephone line from Monaco, "was instrumental not only in assisting me to obtain the evidence we needed to prove Sallow's guilt but, quite honestly, in saving my life as well, sir. If it weren't for her, I may not be here today. I believe her life to be in danger because of her involvement with me and I think I owe it to her, we owe it to her, sir, to protect her as best we can. I also believe that Miss Rose will be an enormous help to us in shutting down the rest of Sallow's organization, thereby cutting off funds to a number of groups that have been making trouble for quite some time now."

James Bond remained silent for some minutes as M spoke on the other end of the line.

"Yes, sir. Jean's body was found. He had been beaten to death and stuffed in a trash bin; his neck was broken. Yes sir, nauseating to say the least, sir. He was a good man, and I understand he will be sorely missed here."

Bella was living in Bond's flat in Chelsea, temporarily they had promised each other, just until they both felt it was safe for her to be on her own again. Three months had passed, and as summer turned to autumn the two of them had fallen into a comfortable routine. Bella was no longer going into the office with James, she had been questioned and re-questioned thoroughly and it was determined that she had been a great help, as Bond had promised, but had no more useful information to convey.

She spent most of her days in the flat, going through the novels in James' extensive library and secretly daydreaming that she could spend the rest of her life this way, with the man that she had grown to love. Bella had gotten to know James Bond very well in the short time they had been together and, though she knew he didn't believe it himself, she had come to learn what a kind, sensitive and gentle man he was.

After leisurely breakfasts together, James Bond would drive to the Universal Export building in his pride and joy, the battleship grey Aston Martin DB Mark III he had purchased from the company pool when they had decided to update their fleet. He was quite proud of the fact that he had personally gotten it back into like new condition and had been maintaining it himself ever since.

Upon his return, James felt almost uneasy walking the half empty halls of Universal Export. Many of his colleagues were gone and the place felt as though it had been gutted. Bill Tanner was still there, though and after mornings of working on the Sallow case, the two men would have lunch together in the canteen. They were still cleaning up the mess of Sallow's disappearance. He had been declared missing and presumed dead, MI6 and the CIA had been leaking bits of information to the media, hinting that Christophe Sallow had been leading a double life and that he may have come to a bad end because of it. "Foul play is suspected at this time."

Bond spent most afternoons heading a team in following up on leads and connecting the dots in Sallow's organization. They were working on a tight deadline and were to be sent out, in partnership with a team from the CIA to tie up all the loose ends in the new year and for the first time in his career, James Bond was not looking forward to going out into the field. He could not believe it himself, but he wanted to stay at home, with Bella. He often fantasized about the two of them moving to a house in the country, they could live a simple but comfortable life on his pension, and he would be truly happy.

James and Bella spent the evenings together strolling the streets of London and dining at Bond's favourite restaurants. They enjoyed these moments together and behaved like a couple that had been married for years. There were rarely lulls in the conversations but when there were, they were comfortable silences, with the two of them caressing each other's hands across the table and thinking what neither of them dared say aloud, that this was the way it should always be.