Even Death Can't Keep Us Apart

Chapter 3

They didn't talk at all during the ten hour journey. It had been years since they'd been this close for this long, and they were lost for what to say. So much had happened in the past nine years, and that's not to mention the events that caused them to separate. After ten hours, they pulled up to a dilapidated old house.
"Stay here. I'll be back soon." James said, loading a pistol.
Vesper scoffed and said, "Remind me, who just saved your life? I'm going with."

"I don't deny that you can take care of yourself, but I don't know if your emotions will get in the way of this assignment." He said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"Fine." She said simply, and turned away.

"Great." James said, exiting the car and shutting the door. He felt a little guilty about how he was acting with her, maybe it was anger from having spent so many years beating himself up over not being able to save her, to find out that she was still alive. Maybe it was jealousy over her being able to leave and live peacefully under the radar.

Soon, James came back.
"So? What did you learn?" Vesper asked.

"Well, I've got a few names. We need to find L'Amercain, and to do that we need to find White's daughter. He said we should try the Hoffler Klinik, it's the only fours hours away." James said, shutting his door and putting on his seatbelt.

"Is that all you got? Not his daughter's name? Just where she works?" Vesper asked in a tone a person might use when criticizing a child.

"Well what do you want me to do? Go back in and ask his corpse? It's rather hard to get answers from a dead person, even if they're sitting here front of you." He said making a passive remark to her lack of communication with him.

"Christ, James, did you kill our only lead?" She asked, starting to lose her temper.

"He did it himself, and I got two more in return. It's more than a fair trade." He said, turning away.

"That's more than he deserves." Vesper said, ending their conversation.

The two drove for the next three and a half hours in silence, until James spoke up.
"I should've let you do it."

"What?" Vesper asked, taking her eyes off the road in front of her for a moment.

"I should've let you interrogate him. We could've gotten more out of him, but I let my ego get in the way." He said.

"You're right, your ego did get in the way." She said. James assumed that this was her way of excepting his apology.

"So, what have you been doing for the past nine years?" He asked, trying to make polite conversation.

"Do you mean how did I survive?" She asked, not missing a beat. She wasn't wrong, that was what he had been wondering the most, but he didn't expect her to say it so bluntly.
"It's alright, I understand why you'd be curious. M saved me." Vesper said, her attention back on the road.
"I woke up in a hospital in Rome, she was there. She told that the conditions for my survival were, one, I could never contact or see you, and two, I was under her control. She had me under her thumb, she made me join MI6." She said, looking back over at James.
"You work for MI6?" James asked, incredulously.
She nodded and said, "I'm 0014."

"You're a 00?" James said, startled at how the woman in front of him had become a 00. "I didn't know 0014 could exist. I thought it only went up to 0013." He said.

"It's not supposed to. But M needed a way to teach me a lesson, so why not create a new secret 00? Her being my boss would be the easiest way to keep me under control." She said, eyes still on the road.

"How long have you been a 00?" He asked.

"5 years." She said simply.

"Have you been in Rome the entire time?" James asked.

Vesper nodded. "Mostly Rome and Italy in general. Any assignments in Rome, they're sent to me." She answered. "I've only left the country once in the nine years." She said, her tone making it clear that she did not want to elaborate on the reason.

"How did you find out about M?" He asked.

"The news. She'd call every few months to check in, make sure I'm not stirring up trouble, being a good little ghost. I didn't even know she was dead until after Christmas." She said, still not taking her eyes of the road.

"And the hair?" James asked, gesturing to her long mostly raven curls.

"Cover. If I was supposed to be dead, I couldn't look like myself anymore. I haven't dyed it since I found out she died though." She said. "I think we're here." She said pulling into a parking space, and getting out of the car. A few moments later she came back.
"We need to take either the ski lift or the bush plane up to the mountain top, that's where the clinic is." She said, pointing to the top of the mountain where a building was visible.

"I think maybe only one of us should go." James said.

"You should go. You have the information and probably have the best chance of getting her to come willingly." She said.

"Are you complimenting me, Miss Lynd?" He said with a smug smirk.

"Don't let it go to your head, Bond." She said, scowling slightly. "Now, go. The next trip up leaves soon. Text me when you get her." She said before typing her number into his phone.

"Already giving me your number? How forward." He said.

"Oh calm down, Bond. It's a burner phone." She said, glaring at him.
"Now go." She said, shooing him away.