James Bond - 023 - Win, Lose or Die by John Gardner

Author:John Gardner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Action & Adventure, Fiction, Suspense, Adventure, Thriller
ISBN: 9780340520321
Publisher: Coronet Books
Published: 1990-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

11

DEATH’S HEADS

Bond paused for a second before the bulkhead, with its fire-door bolted open. Below decks there was always a familiar smell, difficult to describe, dry, filtered air, a little oil, tiny mixed scents of machinery and humans. The paintwork was light-grey and a mass of piping ran high along each side of the passageway, with electrical ducts carrying wiring down to the deck itself. The air-conditioning, plumbing and electronics hummed. This was what always assaulted the senses, when the ship was alive and at sea.

Ahead of him there were the other cabin doors, usually used by executive officers, who were now forced to double-up on messdecks and in other areas of the ship. Beyond, there was a further bulkhead where another marine stood on duty. Through there, he knew were the cabins occupied by the Wren detachment, who had ousted the junior officers.

Before stepping over the first bulkhead, Bond gave rapid orders to the flushed marine who had banged on his door – ‘I don’t care who it is, admirals or special duty staff who came aboard with them, you are to check who is in each of these cabins, and also have a list ready for me. I want to know who was where over the past hour at least. And get one of the doctors as quickly as you can. You’d best get your sergeant down here to give you a hand. My authority. You know who I am?’

The young marine nodded, and Bond turned to Clover, ‘Right, the body’s where? In the heads used for your Wrens?’

She gave him a sickly, ‘Yes,’ and Bond brushed past her and started to run down the passageway. Behind him he heard the young marine banging on the first cabin door with his rifle butt.

At the second bulkhead he told the marine on duty to stay alert and asked him if any of the officers, or their men, had gone past him into the prohibited area where the Wrens were.

‘I’ve only been here for fifteen minutes, sir. We had to reorganise the guard duties when the Captain called all hands to close up.’

‘So how long was the area unguarded?’

‘Not sure, sir. Fifteen minutes at the most.’

Clover led him through the passageway adjacent to the cabins occupied by the Wrens. A rather startled girl in pyjamas poked her head out of one of the doors. ‘Back inside, Deeley,’ Clover snapped sharply, and the figure disappeared.

There was a trail of bloody footprints, ending abruptly in a spatter of blood, around twelve feet from the closed bulkhead door which led to the heads. For some reason a query ran through Bond’s mind. The ablutions and lavatories on Royal Navy ships were always known as the ‘heads’ – plural – while the US Navy called them ‘head’ – singular. It was the other way around with the HUD in fighter aircraft. The Americans called it the Heads-up-Display; the Brits translated it as Head-up-Display. Any odd thoughts on British and American semantics were cleared from his mind as he opened the bulkhead door.

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