HOSTILE TAKEOVER

TWELVE

Chapter Ten

Off central intelligence

The flight from Heathrow to Dulles International airport in Washington D.C. took a little over seven hours and was a pleasant enough flight.

Bond walked through the arrivals lounge and after collecting his two small suitcases, he was aware of someone shadowing him.

“Excuse me. Mr. Bond” said the man who now approached him.

Bond said nothing, waiting for the man to either gun him down in the middle of the airport, or to ask him if he knew about the miracle of Scientology.

“Agent Hennessey.  Central Intelligence Agency. Been sent t’getcha.” he said in his wonderful American accent.

“Gotta kah out front. Come on.” he said as they now began to walk through the sea of people and out through the terminal.

As they left the main terminal, they approached Hennessey’s vehicle which was a large black Ford F150 pickup truck.

“I was towald ta take ya to HQ and git ya ’all signed in, then take ya to da hotel. Ya can freshen up and first thing in da mornin’ we’ll start da ball rollin’ for ya.”

They turned out of the arrivals car park and upon leaving the airport; the drive along Dolly Madison Boulevard took about twenty minutes.

“So; yah’a spook eh Limey?” said Hennessey as they continued onto Savile Lane.

Bond did not reply.

“Welcome to HQ.” said Hennessey.

As they turned off the main road, Bond could see a single security box but as they approached they were waved through by a single security guard who Bond puzzled over for a moment as even though he had never been to C.I.A headquarters before, and was quite looking forward to it, he was expecting something a little more - secure.

The small lane twisted for maybe a mile or so, and then Bond could see what he was really expecting to see, a huge security gatehouse with several lanes of traffic.

Armed guards patrolled around the small buildings which housed several members of the security team. Large concrete blocks where positioned adjacent to each other, so that you had to slow down if you wanted to get through.

As Agent Hennessey began to slow as they approached the first concrete block, two armed guards suddenly stepped out in front of the vehicle.

Agent Hennessey pressed the automatic window button and his window slowly slid down into the door frame, then he leaned his head out of the window.

“Hey Bub. Git outta da’ goddamn way.” said Agent Hennessey.

The two guards, satisfied that he was no threat, moved to the side so that Agent Hennessey could maneuver the car around the concrete block.

As the car snaked through, they had to stop this time as a huge metal barrier was blocking their path. An armed guard appeared at either side of the vehicle and then another security guard appeared. This one was more senior than the others somehow and he approached the car with his right hand resting on the holster of his standard issue Berretta 9mm.

“Good Morning Sir. ID’s please.” said the security guard.

Bond could get a closer look at the men now and realized that they were in fact US Marines.

“Gotcha Passport wicha’?” asked Hennessey to Bond.

Agent Hennessey handed the Marine his C.I.A. ID badge and the Marine studied it for a few moments before handing it back.