Page 122 - Brokenclaw - John Gardner

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message on it which he did not stop to read.

He picked up his clothes and carried them back to the bedroom, slipping the
pistol into the robe pocket under cover of the clothing which he now carefully
hung on a patent press. He then unpacked his shaving gear and took it, with his
James Bond OO7 - printing disableding, back into the bathroom, dumping the clothes into the chute. In James Bond OO7 - printing disabled
soiled cloth
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doing so, he palmed the note and swiftly read it.
Chi-Chi had written—
I will stay awake for one hour, then wake you. We can do one hour on and one off to be sure of no
nasty surprises. Don’t be cross about the pillows. I read about it once. I think it’s called ‘bundling’.
Love xx

He smiled to himself, disposed of the note, then went back into the bedroom
and took off the robe, placing it on the bed so that the pocket with the automatic

James Bond OO7 - printing disabledhen slid between the covers. James Bond OO7 - printing disabled James Bond OO7 - printing disabled James Bond OO7 - printing disabled
was close, t
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Chi-Chi had placed three pillows down the centre of the bed, separating
them. He wondered where she had read about bundling. As he recalled, it was
an old custom in Wales and, he thought, New England. In houses where a
courting couple could find no corner to be alone to discuss their future, their

families would allow them to use the one large bed for an hour or two – fully
dressed – with the bed divided by a long, and usually solid, bolster to prevent
matters from going too far.

He fell asleep almost immediately. Chi-Chi woke him gently after what
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appeared to have been about five minutes. He lay in the dark, glancing at the
illuminated face of his watch from time to time, but – unusual for him – sleep
had overtaken him. But now he was awake and alert, not knowing what might
have happened during the hours of darkness.

His mind roved around the previous day’s experiences, in particular the
virtuoso manner in which Brokenclaw had outsmarted any possible
surveillance on them by switching to the corporate jet and the ‘emergency’

landing at Salinas. Had his companions controlling the operation from the
carrier been able to keep watchers on them the whole time? He suspected not,
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and wondered where they had now placed Ed Rushia, the closest backup. Then
there was Wanda and the interrogation which might easily have taken place
overnight. Bond was convinced that Brokenclaw had no idea that his guests

were not Peter Argentbright and Jenny Mo, straight out of Beijing Hsia. He
knew that Hsia, the way they pronounced it, stood for ‘cage’. Other

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