Page 106 - Brokenclaw - John Gardner

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our own fleets depends on it. I fear there’s a lot of woolly-headed thinking

going on about the world’s future. The Forces of the Western Alliance have a
long way to go yet. But, be that as it may, there is the possibility of a further
threat connected with this man Brokenclaw Lee.’
James Bond OO7 - printing disabled steepled his fingers and waited. It was the old interrogator’s James Bond OO7 - printing disabled
Tanner
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technique, waiting things out until the suspect became talkative, uneasy with the
silence.
At last, both M and Grant talked. When they had finished, Bill Tanner
wished that his old friend Bond knew what he could be getting himself into.

Calmly he put his thoughts into words.
‘Oh, he knows.’ M sounded like a man whose stocks had just fallen to an all-
time low. ‘Bond knows.’ He cleared his throat again. ‘Ahemm, but . . . well,
the girl has no idea.’ He tapped the desk with his fingertips, then spoke to
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Grant. ‘The other girl, whatsername? Bradshaw?’
‘Myra Bradshaw, yes. Our people are holding her in a place we keep for
that purpose in Virginia. High up, overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. She’ll
be safe enough and we can dry her out slowly. Just a pawn, I think.’

‘And the attempted murder?’
‘We have those guys – well, the FBI has them. Straight contract killers. Both
known. Unlikely to talk. Come to that I doubt if they know who ordered the
killing, and the thing that does surprise me is that it went ahead at all. You’d

have thought Lee would’ve had surveillance on that apartment building.’
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‘Maybe he did,’ Tanner mused. ‘It’s always possible that either he couldn’t
stop the attempted hit or he wanted it to go ahead simply to discourage others.’
‘Mmmm,’ Grant grunted.

Tanner still thought he would not like to be in Bond’s shoes when there were
so many imponderables.

The interior of the Grumman Gulfstream was luxurious even for a corporate
jet. The passenger area was lined with a light-blue watered silk, and, while the
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normal configuration for a Gulfstream called for nineteen passengers, the
interior of this particular aircraft had been drastically altered to take only
eight. The seats were covered in soft grey leather and were on swivels which
could be locked for take-off and landing. They were also high-backed with

built-in headrests containing personal stereo headphones. On the right arm of
these extravagant chairs was a bank of controls so that the seat could be

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