1958-07-05 — Page 8

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THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1938.

Doctor No

Ian Fleming's savage and scorching

new thriller

(WITH JAMES BOND, OF COURSE]

Chapter 1: Murder. WITH A HEARSE

Queen's

Club and pushed

mosquito-wired..

the through

UNCTUALLY at six o'clock the sun set with a last yellow flash PUNC

behind the Blue Mountains, a wave of violet shadow poured down doors and ran down the three Richmond Road, and the crickets and tree frogs in the fine gardens began to zing and tinkle.

steps to the path.

A coin

The three blind men wero tapping slowly towards alm Ho calcu

Apart from the background noise of the insects, the wide empty street was quiet. Richmond Road is the "best" road in all Jamaica, It is Jamaica's Park Avenue, its Kensington Paluce-gardens, its Avenue down the sidewalk. D'lena,

Sce

ey

better

the

Jated that they would pass blm

Borond or two before he reached his car.

hand went out.

The "best" people live in its as they rbullled along, tapping In fact, this was the most Im- big old-fashioned houses, each at the herb with their white portant moment In Strangways'a

Out of shame for his own la an acte or two of beautiful sticks. They walked in file. day-the time of his duty radio

health and gratitude for it, The tho wore blue contact

powerful with lawn set, loo trimly, with the The first man,

Но finest trees and flowers from the glasses and could presumably transmitter on the roof of the Strangways felt for a coin.

Park ran his thumbnall down its edge Botanical Gardens at Hope

in then the

Regent's others, bulking

not a penny", He took it out. On the eastern corner of the walked in front holding a in that is the headquarters of the to make sure it was a florin and

eup against the crook of his Secret Service,

Но was parallel with the top intersection todds No. 1 stick..

How odd, they were Richmond Romi, substantial

Every day, at eighteen-thirty beggore. house with broad The right hand of the second local time, unler: he gayu all Chigrocal How very oddi Awo-storey

before that Stranyways's white-painted verandulis rul nan rested on his shoulder and warning the way

ing round both floors.

the right hand of the third on would not be on the air- The coin clangod in the tin cup. "Bless you, Master," sald the This mansion is the social the shoulder of the second. The when he had business on on

"Bless mao.

you," Recond and third of the other islands in his ter's leading Mecca of Kingston. It is Queen's men were shut. The three mon ritory, for instance, or was echoed the other two. Club which, for 60 year, has wire dressed in rags and wore seriously fil-ho would transmit The car key was in Strong- boasted the power and frequency dirty jippa-jappa baseball caps his daily report and receive his waya's hand. Vaguely he regis- of its blackballs,

with long peaks. They sald orders.

tered the moment of silence as the tapping of the while sticks At that time of day, on most nothing and no nolue came from

If he failed to come on

It was too late. reased. evenings of the year, you would um except the soft tapping of

As Strangwuys had passed And the same four motor-cars their sticks as they came slowly air precisely at six-thirty, there

shadowed pavement, would be ia second call, the the last man. all three had standing in the rond outside the down the

"Blue" call, at seven. and, rivelled. The back two had hib They were the cars towards the cars.

finally, the "Red" call at fanned out atcy to have a belonging to the high bridge

clear Beld uf Aro. Three revolvers, ungainly with their sausage shaped silencers. whipped out of holsters Con~ cealed among the raga.

THE AUTHOR

Cardroom

cardroom,

In the burned hund

The dials

the hall

It

the

A sequal

DRAWING

BY

ROBB

As the hearag

rosted up,

three revolvers,

olmad with

disciplined precision,

coughed

almost as one

He was late

Mary Trueblood swivelled sharply on her chair, A man' slood in the doorway. It wasn't Strangways. It was a big Negro with yellowish skin and alanting oyca. There was a gun in his hand. It ended in a thick black cylinder.

Mary Trueblood opened her mouth to scream.

The man smiled brondly. Slowly, lovingly, he lifted the gun: and, nhớt her three times in and around the left breast

Buzzer

The gli slumped side- ways Of her chalr. The earphones slippet off her golden hair on to the floor. For perhaps a second tho tiny chirrup of London sounded out Into the room, Then it stopped. The buzzer at the Controller's desk in Radio Security had signalled that something was wrong on WIN.

The killer walked out of the door. He came back carrying a box and a big sugar-sack. He put the box down on the floor and went to the body and roughly forced the sock over the head and down to the unkles.

He dragged out into the

the bulky bück hall and cause back. In the corner of tho

room the safe, sinod open, as he had been told it would, find tha cipher books had been taken out and lold on the desk mady for work on the London signals. The man threw these, and all the papers in the safe into the centre of the room. Le tora down the curtains and added them to the pile. He topped it up with a couple of chairs. Ho opened the box of Arelightors and took out a handful and tucked them into the pile and ut them.

In flames

The man easily shouldered the sack and walked swiftly down the path to the road.

The back doors of the hearse wore open, He handed in the sack and watched the two inan force it into the coffin on top of Blrangwaye's body. Then he

The three blind men would soven-thirly. not have been incongruous · in Kingston, where there are many discard people on the streets, but in this quiet, rich, empty. street they rande an unpleasant After this, if his transmitter With disciplined precision the Impression. And it was add remained sitent,

was three men almed at different that they should all be Chinese "Emergency, and Section IIL points down Strangways's spine Negroes. This is not a common his controlling authority In one between the shoulders. mixture of bloods.

London, would urgently get on one in the small of the back, one They climbed in. The lid was 90 miles an

hour I cruised she thought, God, what could climbed in and shut the doors the job of Anding out what had at the pelvis.

pal on and the doors shut. genteolly up the tarmac high- the do if Strangways wasn't on and sat down and put on his happened to him.

The three heavy coughs were

way towards the hills, its black time!

top bat, almost one. Birangways's body

The three Negroes sat down on plumes streaming the doleful Every evening, at precisely was hurled forward as if it had three of the four little seats at signal of its burden and tho It was useless for her to As the first ames showed in

It lay absolutely the corners of the coffin and un- three mourners the sun 3.15, he left Queen's Club, ot been kicked,

sitting bolt acknowledge London and the upper windows of the

was renched our into into his car and drove for 10 ull in the small puff of dust hurriedly laid their white sticks upright with their arms crossed pretend the him useless bungalow, the hoarse moved

up into the foothills

beside them. Roomy black al respectfully over their hearts. and dangerous. Radio Security quietly from the sidewalk and the green pool of the centre minutes

paca costs hung over the backs

would be monitoring the call, went on its way up towards the table and gathered up the four of the Blue Mountains to hla from the sidewalk,

of the seats. They put the coats

as they monitored every cail Mona Reservoir, cards. There was a quiet snap ruat bungalow with the fabulous

on over thoir rage. Then they

from an agent. Those instru- as the trick went to join the view over Kingston harbour,

took off their baseball caps and

ments which measured the There the weighted coffin rest. Hundred honours." suld AL 8.25 he walked through

the floor and

milaute peculiarities in "WXN enlling WWW

an would slip down into its 50- Strangways, "and 00. below!"

Lo the office at the

With a squeal reached down to It was 6.17,

would at once fathom gtova and, in just 40 He looked at his watch and back. He unlocked the door und of tyres, a dingy motor hearse picked up black top hats and put WXN calling Www...WXN operator's "B"

the personnel and stood up.

delect it wasn't Strangways at minutes, "Back in 20 minutes. locked 11. again behind him. with black plumes flying from them on their heads.

WXN....WXN...

records of the Caribbean station the key, Your deal, Bill."

the four corners of its roof took

The driver, who also was d The centre finger of Mary Mies Trueblood, who passed the T-Intersection into

Now it had come! Now she of the Secret Service would have Rich Chinero Negro, looked nervously, Trueblood's right hand stabbed was hearing the hollowness in boen utterly destroyed. BIU Templar, the brigadier,

-shot down

over his shoulder, laughed shortly. He pinged the his secretary but was in fact mond Road and

softly,olegantly, at the key. the ether that meant and a former Chlef towards his No..

the group on the ball by his side and raked the Ofeer W.R.N.S. would ulready pavement.

"Go, man. Go," sald the She lifted her left wrist. Six was coming in. Mary True- He said be sitting in front of the dials.

He twenty-eight. He was a minute blood glanced at her watch. "br No" is shortly to be published game that assembled at five and cards in towards him.

The three men hud just had biggest of the killera. You inside the dummy Bling cabinet. tano played until around midnight. "Hurry up, blast you,

to pick up Strangways's glanced down at the luminous Inte

Six-thirty. Panle! But now, at by Jonathan Capp your always let the cards go cold just she would have the carphones body almost You could

colltog WWW.... Just there were the footsteps in when the hearse slid to a dial of his wrist watch. It said. "WXN

Tha 6.20. They as your partner's in the money" on and

Just three minutes for WXN calling WWW."

Thank God! abreast would be making first stop

She the hall. watch by these

of them. reading from belunged,

the

tuned the contoel, tapping Strangways was already out sign, WXN, o 14 megacyclen

out his coll double doors at the back were the job, Dead on time.

dial a halt breadth second he would come in,

Behind her there The hearse made a decorous and irled again. Her watch order n which they now stood

open. So was the plalu deal The three men sal of the door. against the kurb, 10 the back resignedly in their chairs. There would be a shorthand pad coffin inside.

three men U-turn and moved at a sedate said 0.20. She began to worry, Explosion, Something hit ber brigadier in command of the the coloured sleward came in on her elegant knees.

manhandled the body through speed up to the intersection. In a matter of seconds, London on the ankle. She looked down, Caribbean Defence Force, 10 and they ordered drinks for Strangways would drop into the doors and into the coffin. There it turned right and at would be coming in. Suddenly It was the lock of the door, Kingston's lending criminal

themselves and a whisky and the chair beside her and plex lawyer, and to the mathematics water for Strangways.

other pair of head- professor from

.up the Kingston

There was this maddening Phones and, at exactly 0.28 ho would take over from her and interruption every evening t watt for the sudden hollowness six-fifteen, about half

that meant that through their second rubber, in the ether

www in London was coming

JAN FLEMING... the master thriller-writer who brought you "Diamonds are Forever" and "From Russia with Love."

University..

set cars.

Beggars

"way

At this time precisely, even if in to acknowledge. At the tall of the line stood they were in the middle of

a

routine.

Unfortunately, siriet patterns of behaviour can be deadly it they are reati by an enemy,

the black Sunbeam Alpine, of hand, Strangways had to go to It was an iran Commander John Strangways, his "office" and "made a call. R.N. (Red.). Regional Control But Strangways was a vitsi Officer for the Caribbean-or, part of their four and they put less discreetly, the local repre- up with it. It was never ex- sentative of the British Secret plained what "be cal?"

Strangways, a tall, lean man Service,

and no one asked. Strangways's with a black patch over the right job was "hush" and that was eye and the sort of aquilina

Wris

Just before 8.15 the silence that. He was rarely away for good looks you associate with of Richmond Road was softly more than 20 minutes and he the bridge af broken. Three bind beggars paid for his absence with came round the corner of the round of drinks intersection and moved slowly

down the pavement towards the four cars.

They were Chieroes Chinese Negroes-bulky men, but bowed

TARGET

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words of tour letter

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words, excellent. Monday.

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MONDAY

ENTER BOND

-And The Girl Evon

He Couldn't Break