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Bond's heart had te kind, trying to let hihtly He said, 'Then, if it's all the sanation I've held the Double-O nu I'ood at it either'

M did soht fist and brought it crashing down on the desk 'Who the devil do you think you're talking to? Who the devil d'you think's running this show? God in Heaven! I send for you to give you promotion and the most ination I Pig-headed young fool!'

Bond was duh him What in hell was all this about? He said, 'I' the side down lately'

'I'll soon tell you when you're letting the side down' M thumped the desk for a second ti proure number and a thousand a year extra pay You won't know much about the Section, but I can tell you there are only two other men in it You can keep your present office and your secretary, if you like In fact I would prefer it I don't want your change of duty to get about Understand?'

'Yes, sir'

'In any case, you'll be leaving for Japan inside a week The Chief of Staff is handling the arrangements personally Not even my secretary knows about it As you can see,' M waved his hand, 'there's not even a file on the case That's how important it is'

'But why have you chosenThis was the e in his fortunes that had ever come about! Ten minutes before he had been on the rubbish heap, his career, his life in ruins, and now here he was being set up on a pinnacle! What the hell was it all about?

For the sio as far as that Let's say totally improbable of success

You've shown in the past that you have an aptitude for difficult assignments The only difference here is that there won't be any strong-arun-play you pride yourself on soelse But if you bring it off, which I very ence about the Soviet Union'

'Can you tellwritten down Lower echelon stuff, about the Japanese Secret Service and so forth, you can get from Section J The Chief of Staff will tell Colonel Hah you will tell hi about the purpose of your mission Understood?' 'Yes, sir'

'Well now You know a bit about cryptography?' 'The bare bones, sir I've preferred to keep clear of the subject Better that way in case the Opposition ever got hold of ht Well now, the Japanese are past ht mentality for finicky probleuidance, they've built incredible cracking machines - far ahead of IBM and so forth And for the last year they've been reading the cream of the Soviet traffic from Vladivostok and Oriental Russia - diplomatic, naval, air-force, the lot' 'That's terrific, sir' 'Terrific for the CIA'

'Aren't they passing it on to us, sir? I thought ere hand in glove with CIA all along the line'

'Not in the Pacific They regard that as their private preserve When Allan Dulles was in charge, we used at least to get digests of any stuff that concerned us, but this new oodwell personally, but he's toldunder orders - National Defence Council They're worried about our security Can't blame theraphers defected a couple of years ago and they ive the Americans Trouble with this so-called deet hold of these cases and write the Pravda doesn't burst into tears when one of their men come over to us Izvestia doesn't ask for a public inquiry Soets hell, I suppose But at least they're allowed to get on with their job instead of having retired h their files and telling them how to run a secret service'

Bond knew that M had tendered his resignation after the Prenderghast case This had involved a Head of Station with homosexual tendencies who had recently, aiven thirty years for treason Bond hiive evidence in that particular case, and he knew that the Questions in the House, the case at the Old Bailey, and the hearings before the Farrer Tribunal on the Intelligence Services that had followed, had held up all work at Headquarters for at least a ht about the suicide of a totally innocent Head of Section who had taken the whole affair as a direct reflection on his own probity To get M back on the track, Bond said, 'About this stuff the Japanese are getting Where do I come in, sir?'

M put both hands flat on the table It was the old gesture when he came to the 64-dollar question, and Bond's heart lifted even further at the sight of it 'There's a er Tanaka Head of their Secret Service Can't remember what they call it Some unpronounceable Japanese rubbish He's quite a man First at Oxford Came back here and spied for them before the war Joined the Kempeitai, their wartime Gestapo, trained as a kami-kaze and would be dead by now but for the surrender Well, he's the chap who has control of the stuff ant, I want, the Chiefs of Staff want You're to go out there and get it off him How, I don't know That's up to you But you can see why I say you're unlikely to succeed He's in fief - Bond was amused by the old Scottish expression -'to the CIA He probably doesn't think much of us' M's mouth bent down at the corners 'People don't these days TheyI'm not a politician He doesn't know much about the Service except what he's penetrated or heard froe, I'd say We haven't had a Station in Japan since 1950 No traffic It all went to the A under the Australians They tell ood Section J says so too Anyway, that's the way it is If anyone can bring it off, you can Care to have a try, James?'