Ghosts on a Train
French High-Speed Train
James Bond sat wearily staring out the window of his passenger jet as it touched down at Orly airport in France. Now he had been summoned back to MI6 headquarters to go over what-the-hell-had-happened-in-Karachi. His SBS team was shot-up recovering on HMS Ocean in the Arabian Sea. He still had his part of the intel find hidden in his laptop case which he opened up now that they were safely on the ground.
CONFIDENTIAL
From: M
To: 007
Subj: Report to HQs Immediately
Bring me any souvenirs?
Bond shut closed his laptop and prepared to depart. He would have to wait awhile since he always flew in the safest part of any moving plane, train or ship: the aft end. Would he share with M that he had a part of the smash & grab intel?
No, if he did that it would reveal the whole team had survived and gone to ground. There was a mole somewhere in MI6 or someone had been turned and was now under enemy control. He would have to keep this one under his hat--ehhh laptop case for now. He would stop by his flat in Chelsea first and place it in his secret area--a slit in one of his ceiling tiles before heading to the shop.
After the plane pulled up to the gate, Bond made his way to the terminal to be depressed that all flights had been cancelled that night due to the volcanic ash from Iceland. Wonderful he thought. A night on gay Paree. I know this waitress at the Cafe de La Rue Etienne' with an impeccable body...
His mental entertainment planning was broken up by a college age kid walking alongside him and giving the daily MI6 introduction greeting which utilized some current event as cover but offering a hint that only an insider would know.
"I wouldn't want to be flying to Iceland now. My company's hotels there must be losing their shirts."
Bond immediately recognized the current event-shop talk format and that MI6 doesn't have any hotels in Iceland. He gave the reply.
"Yes, I wish my company had some business sense and even had some hotels, I might get a discount sometime"
Now that the two agents were established they still were not safe to talk in the clear in a public place being videotaped and voices recorded.
The young man replied; "My boss wants me to return by train; I think yours would want that, too. Take the high-speed connector to the French coastal town Calais and you can connect to the chunnel"
Bond thanked the "college student" for the tip and grumbled as he switched travel plans, taking a cramped cab to the train station and boarding the high-speed train. Bond loved trains; their comfort, speed and fine dining...you could even sleep on them.....then his heart sank back to the last time he was on one when a beautiful woman who resembled French actress Eva Green stepped into the seat across him....
"I'm the money"
"Every penny of it".
Vesper Lynd and Business Card
It was MI6's finance agent Vesper Lynd. Vesper. A flood of memories. The preparation for the operation against the arch villain Le Chiffre'. Her rejection of his whole personality. She saw right through him. Orphan.
Bond comforts Lynd after a Harrowing Ordeal
Yes, that was what he was. Alone in the world....she could have made his heart a home....but she was taken away....
Bond tries to revive Lynd after the Gun Battle in Venice
Bond also thought of how he hunted down the "Quantum" secret society but not fully finishing the job since the India-Pakistani flap flared up...
Now he was MI6's "elder agent 00" mentoring the new generation...his kids...his sleeper cell now gone to ground in Pakistan depending on him. Sacrificed by MI6...had they done the same with his beloved Vesper? Could he trust MI6? Could he trust M? Was Quantum a part of this?
No, hadn't they tried to kill M at the safe house?
The lights in the train went out, but came right back on. Happenstance thought Bond.
God his heart ached for her. Finding out who set her up, the mysterious Quantum secret society did not satisfy. Now he was on the train, heading to another assignment, another let-down perhaps...no Vesper....and then he saw her....
A woman in a low-cut, red dress flashed by his seat with an unmistakable hourglass figure and ample bosom...the long, dark hair...it must be her!
The lights in the train went out, again, causing Bond to stumble a bit and lose sight of the woman. A coincidence? thought Bond.
Bond got up out of his seat and began to follow her forward into the next car as the scenery of France flashed by at 200 miles per hour....he had gone forward and was in the middle dining car when he overtook her and pretended to bump into her..."Vesper"...
But it was not her. His eyes sank in despair. She smiled warmly, a beautiful woman in her own right. "May I help, you, Sir?".
"A drink. Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred"
She turned to the bartender and touched his elbow gently and ordered the same for her. Her woman's intuition told her he had mistaken her for a long lost lover immediately and felt honored. A gentleman.
"There are not many men like you in this world, today"
Bond torn in spirit, smiled wryly, "Yes, not many of us left that appreciate a real lady".
She smiled demurely and blushed a bit while extending out her hand;
"Countess Angelina Francesca"
Bond accepted her hand gently and introduced himself;
"Bond. James, Bond".
Then the lights went out.
Francesca laughed, "Is this your doing?" thinking it was a play for a kiss.
Bond knew instinctively it was enemy action. "I wish it was..."
He had been such a fool. He grabbed Francesca cupping her breasts accidentally as he got her down under the bar as bullets ripped into the barman and shattering glasses.
"Not trying to be fresh!"
Bond withdrew his Walther PPK and replied back at the muzzle flashes by superimposing his front sight over them, killing the gunmen who had a full-sized AKM 7.62mm x 39mm Kalashnikov assault rifle; the token weapon of all terrorist groups around the world. He had taken 4 shots in two pairs to bring him down, first controlled pair in the chest which did nothing, then to the head area which brought him down. He crawled over to his body and ripped off his body armor and placed it on his chest. Next, he removed his night vision goggles (NVGs)--American AN/PVS-7Bs--awfully pricey for "Islamic" terrorists...Bond immediately thought FALSE FLAG operation. They were still on, as he adjusted the head harness to his head, tightening the straps and focusing the optics to his eyes. Next, he took the man's load bearing vest, an American MOLLE type--also suspiciously expensive for mere ragheads and now had 8 extra magazines of 7.62mm Soviet to compliment his much smaller three 7.65mm PPK bullets in his gun secured to his wrist by a lanyard loop and his two spare mags of 6 bullets each in his ankle holster. Bond placed his PPK against his sweater sleeve and secured it with a velcro strap--a new invention Q had concocted to keep his back-up gun at the ready in event he lost his long gun. This was all a lot faster and easier in first-person shooter video games when you simply clicked and switched weapons and ammo.
Just as Bond finished another gunmen entered the car and stumbled over his buddy's body. Bond took the butt stock of the AKM and stroked it across his face shattering his jaw. He finished him off with the butt end and he was down. Bond rotated the AKM barrel and fired two single shots to his body to kill him as Francesca screamed in horror.
Bond took the new AKM and gave it to her as he hugged her.
"Know how to use this?"
Shaking, and terrified she whispered; "I have shot skeet at my uncle's house."
Bond gently kissed her on her forehead.
"Shoot anybody who moves towards you. I'll tell you if its me by saying "Shaken", you reply back, "Not Stirred". Bond placed the dead man's NVGs on her head, adjusted them and kissed her softly on her lips. "I'll be back".
He moved both bodies to block the door and placed the new dead man's magazines in a spare utility pouch by tossing the water bottle aside to make room.
Bond moved instinctively back towards the rear cars and saw gunmen leaving paper flyers and screaming "Allah Akbar" this and that to the terrorized passengers.... What was this all about? Are they taking hostages? They were going down the center aisle so he opened fire in rapid single shots walking the bullets up into them, killing 3 men with bullets their vests could not stop.
He ran up to the passengers cowering in their seats..."Are there any more gunmen??"
"They went forward about 7 of them..."
Doing a quick calculation, Bond figured he'd taken out 2 leaving 5 men forward...
As Bond crept forward to the engine car he stopped and took cover and observed the gunmen fiddling with the controls...the conductor and helper were dead in a pool of blood nearby....the roof and ladder were open and down....madness! who would be up there at 200 mph?
Then Bond realized they were going to smash the train and all its passengers into the Calais station...while they get away by probably helicopter....their leader was concerned calling frantically on his radio for his other men to join him---men who would not be coming because he had killed them...that's when the receive transmission light from the radio in his borrowed vest came to life with voice giving his presence away to the leader!
"Kill him!"
Shots rang out over Bond's head as he returned fire hitting a gunmen squarely as the others clambered to the roof...behind him a man grabbed his hot barrel and at personal expense knocked his AKM away...as his elbow caught his jaw...Bond off balance squatted to regain his center of gravity grabbed the man's leg and lifted it up throwing him on the floor.....he'd never done unarmed combat with NVGs and cursed that he should have practiced it....without depth perception he could only get a picture clue then act...his men flipped to his feet and thrust with a knife that hit Bond's vest and did nothing...Bond took the knife with both hands at the wrist and knocked it free and it fell to the floor...as he looked down his NVGs caught the whirling flickers of helicopter rotor blades overhead...they are getting away!
Suspiciously well-equipped Islamic "Terrarist"
Stunned, the man now without a knife struck Bond by the side of his head, knocking his NVGs off....instinctively he knew to make him pay for it by grabbing the arm and throwing him with it, which he held then thrust his other arm down the middle, breaking it....as he heard helicopter blades increase in pitch as it landed on the swiftly moving train...Bond reached for his PPK strapped to his inner wrist, undid it and placed it in his palm to fire the remaining 3 shots to kill the man who was reaching up with an AKM and fired wildly into the roof which his one of his accomplices diving onto the chopper....the roof hatch was closed on Bond's two arms as he leapt to the ladder...the helicopter increased pitch again and took off...bleeding, Bond saw a dead man on the roof with an AKM and grabbed it and fired on full automatic at the helicopter which shuttered from some hits...Bond knew he had to not let it go....click! he was out of ammo and the bolt had not locked to the rear--a flaw in the AKM's design....damn it!
However, he had 7 mags at least in his chest, he grabbed one and loaded it in and back, then pulled the bolt back and released as bullets tore into the train top....Bond kept firing wildly as flame appeared under the helicopter's engine....it was an EC-145 with a ducted tail rotor, a good chopper for landing in places with lots of obstructions so it wouldn't get caught....empty again, he reloaded and switched to single shot on the selector lever and poured into the flames which exploded into a fiery plume and then the helicopter nose-dived into a row of trees and exploded in a gigantic ball of fire. If the perps had flown to the rear of the train, they would have made it, but they tried to escape in the same direction---and at 100 mph the helicopter was actually slower than the train, giving Bond just enough time to reload and shoot it down.
Sliding back down into the train's engine car, Bond was horrified to see the controls were jammed and there was nothing he could do...some sort of computer over-ride..... some "Islamic terrorists"....sophisticated computer over-rides, ducted tail fan helicopters....smacks of an intelligence agency....a false flag attack...but why? No time to ponder must stop this train!
Bond grabbed his cell phone as the train continued whizzing by the French countryside in the dark......he dialed the agent emergency distress code.....
"Mayday, Mayday....007 on out-of-control, blacked-out train traveling north to Calais, need air strike on engine car to stop it...."
No answer.
Bond kept trying until he got Paris station. He recognized the voice it was Slater.
"Slater!"
"Bond. Everyone is asleep. I can contact the French military...."
"No time! Get on our Pilatus and fly out to meet me, guide in on my GPS signal...."
"I've only just got qualified..."
"Now is best time to learn...you are going to land here on this engine car so I can get in and fire the rockets....make sure Q has rocket pods loaded...hurry!"
Bond immediately gathered himself and his gear and stumbled back towards Francesca...
"Shaken"
"Not Stirred" was her reply as she dropped the AKM and kissed him in a full embrace.
"Darling we are not safe yet...the train is out of control and is going to crash....get everyone into the last car.....too bad the seats don't have seat belts.....tell everyone to crouch into a ball shape and be ready for a crash..."
"What are you going to do?"
"I got a plane to catch"
Bond gave Francesa a hug and then went back towards the engine car....
His cell phone rang....Slater was overhead....
"I see the train Bond, no what?"
"Match speed over the lead car and touch down....I'll pop out of the top hatch and take-over...."
Armed Pilatus Turbo Porter
As the Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter lowered its flaps for short-take-off and landing,
but Slater as an inexperienced pilot was having trouble matching the train's very high speed at the same time.....
Bond knew the plane couldn't fly fast enough with flaps down...
"You are going to have to land with flaps up like it was in forward flight....go around and try again..."
Slater guided only by moonlight made another pass and was doing well when Bond saw through the NVGs the bridge ahead!
"Abort! Pull up!"
Slater pulled up just in time to miss the bridge.....
Bond drew a sigh of relief.....then recomposed himself...."Ok, let's try again..."
Across the darkened countryside Bond could see the outline of the brightly lit city of Calais full of shoppers, lovers, gamblers at this time of night....
Slater lined up, touched down and throttled back so the tail sank....
Bond wasted no time, threw open the top hatch, opened the right side door and was in the right seat....
"Take her off!"
Slater gunned the engine and angled the yoke back and they were airborne.....just over a small tunnel...that was close....
"Let me take-over"
Bond took the controls.....
"I'm going to shoot rockets into the front engine to stop it without derailing....I need your help on altitude I have no depth perception with these goggles...read out the altitude as I dive..."
"Roger"
Bond flew around and came back behind the train in a 45 degree dive as Slater called out the altitude...1000....800....600....
Flipping the hood over the firing button, Bond armed the rockets and fired a salvo which hit low and into the ground....
400...200....
Pulling up, Bond cursed his miss and went around....
6 rockets left....must aim higher....
The city of Calais was visible now--Slater cursed....
Coming around again, Bond lined up the nose a bit higher....
1000...800...600...400....
"Bond?"
"200"
Bond waited 'til the last second and fired, a salvo of rockets, 3 missed and 3 hit the train engine squarely as he just barely skimmed over the top.....
Bond's rockets stop the French High Speed Train in the Nick of Time
The mighty train falling away behind them....smoke rising.....slowing to a stop....the train and several hundred passengers saved....right on the outskirts of the city....Bond could see emergency vehicles with light flashing speeding to the train....
They were all almost ghosts on a train...had it not been for the ghost of his beloved Vesper on the train beckoning him out of his seat at the right time to avoid the take-over....
