Goldfinger

Chapter 12. Goldfinger's Last Flight

Two days later, Felix Leiter was driving Bond to Idlewild Airport in New York. M had told Bond to return to the Secret Service's headquarters, so Bond was catching the next plane to London.

'What's happened to Goldfinger?' asked Bond. 'We don't know,' said Felix. 'My men caught up with the train but there was no one on it. Goldfinger and Oddjob had got off somewhere. So had the gang leaders. We don't know where they went. 'Bond wasn't happy about the way that the mission had ended. The robbery of Fort Knox had been stopped. But Bond hadn't caught Goldfinger and he hadn't got the Bank of England's gold back. The five gang leaders had also escaped. Two English girls - Jill and Tilly Masterton - had been murdered, and Goldfinger was still free.

When they got to Idlewild, Bond said goodbye to Felix and went inside the airport. He had some time before his flight departed, so he planned to have a drink and do some shopping.

Suddenly he heard an announcement from the loudspeaker system:

'Will Mr. James Bond, a passenger on BOAC Flight number 510 to London, please come to the BOAC ticket counter.'

Bond walked across to the ticket counter.

'Please can I see your health certificate?' said the official behind the desk. Bond took out his certificate from his passport and handed it to the official.

'I'm very sorry, sir,' said the man, 'but your flight is going via Gander in Canada. Your plane has to land there to get fuel. We've been told that there's a case of typhoid at Gander. The authorities have given an order. All passengers travelling via Gander must have protection from typhoid. You must have an injection.'

Bond hated injections. He looked around the area near the BOAC departure gate. It was empty. This was strange.

'Where are the other passengers?' he asked.

'They're having their injections now,' said the official, pointing behind the desk. 'Please follow me, sir. It will only take a minute.'

'All right.' Bond stepped behind the ticket counter and followed the man through a door into an office. A doctor was waiting there. He was dressed in a white coat and he was holding a needle and syringe.

'Please take off your jacket and pull up the sleeve of your shirt,' he said to Bond. A minute later, Bond felt the sharp needle go into his arm as the doctor gave him the injection.

'Thanks,' Bond said. He pulled down his sleeve and tried to pick up his jacket. But he couldn't reach it. His hand went down, down towards the floor and his body followed. Down, down, down . . .

When Bond woke up, he was in a plane with lots of empty seats. All the lights were on inside the plane. Outside, the sky was dark.

Bond looked down at his arms. His hands were tied to his seat. What had happened?

Bond glanced to his right and got a terrible shock. Oddjob was sitting there, and he was dressed in a BOAC airline uniform!

When Oddjob saw that Bond was awake, he rang a bell. A minute later, Pussy Galore appeared. She was also wearing a BOAC airline uniform.

'Hi, Handsome,' she said.

'What's going on?' asked Bond in astonishment.

'Don't get excited,' she said, smiling. She walked slowly past him and disappeared into the cockpit. A few minutes later, Goldfinger came out of the cockpit and walked towards Bond. He was wearing a BOAC airline pilot's uniform.

'Well, Mr. Bond,' he said, 'I made a big mistake about you. I should have killed you and the girl when I had the opportunity. And now I have a lot of questions to ask you.'

'I'll answer your questions, Goldfinger,' said Bond. 'But first, untie my hands and bring me some bourbon whisky.'

'All right,' said Goldfinger. 'Oddjob, untie Mr. Bond's hands. Ring the bell to call Miss Galore, then get into the seat in front of Mr. Bond. You must not let him get past you to the cockpit of the plane. 'A few minutes later, Pussy Galore brought Bond a glass of whisky. Goldfinger sat in the seat opposite Bond and waited for him to speak.

Bond picked up his glass. Suddenly he saw a small piece of paper stuck to the bottom of the glass. Quickly, he drank all the whisky and read the words through the bottom of the glass:

I want to work with you. Love, P.

'Now, then, Goldfinger,' said Bond, turning to look at the red-haired master criminal. 'What happened? And where are we going?'

'I left the train at a siding where three of my trucks were waiting,' said Goldfinger. 'One truck was carrying all my gold bullion which I had taken out of the bank in New York. 'I shot all the gang leaders, except Miss Galore,' Goldfinger continued. 'Then I called Moscow and spoke to my friends in SMERSH. I believe that you know them. I told them what had happened. They recognized your name, Mr. Bond. They told me that you are Agent 007 - a member of the British Secret Service. Then I understood everything very clearly.

'My friends want to ask you many questions,' Goldfinger went on. 'So I decided to bring you to the Soviet Union. My German employees are pilots. They tied up the BOAC staff at Idlewild Airport and we changed clothes with them. It was easy to trick you and give you an injection. Then we stole the BOAC plane, loaded all the gold bullion into it, and took off. Now we're on our way to Moscow.' Goldfinger smiled but his eyes were cold and cruel.

'Mr. Bond, we have made a bargain,' he said sharply. 'Now you must tell me everything. Who ordered you to follow me? And how were you able to destroy my plans?'

Bond told Goldfinger some of the truth. But he didn't tell him everything.

'So you see, Goldfinger, you only just escaped,' he said at last. 'If Tilly Masterton hadn't gone to Geneva, my mission would have succeeded. The police would have caught you and you would be in prison now.'

Goldfinger went back into the cockpit and the plane flew on over the dark land.

Pussy Galore brought Bond a plate of sandwiches. He was hungry and ate them quickly. She'd put a white napkin under the sandwiches. Inside the napkin, Bond found a pen. Pussy was working with him!

Most of the lights inside the plane had now been turned off. Bond sat and thought as fast as he could.

'Goldfinger must not escape again,' he said to himself. 'The plane mustn't reach Moscow. It must make an emergency landing. But how can I make Goldfinger land the plane? Perhaps I can start a fire.'

Then suddenly, Bond had a plan. It was a mad, frightening, terrible idea. He didn't know if the plan would work, but it was his only chance.

He wrote a message on the white napkin. When Pussy Galore walked past his seat, he dropped the napkin onto the floor. Pussy picked it up and read the message:

I've thought of apian. Go and sit down. Fasten your seatbelt. Love, J.

'Good luck, Handsome,' said Pussy softly, and she kissed him. Then she walked to her seat near the cockpit.

Oddjob was sitting in the seat in front of Bond. Bond could see the Korean's face reflected in the window next to the seat. Oddjob wasn't asleep. He was staring straight ahead and his powerful hands were on his knees.

Bond was waiting for Oddjob to become tired and sleep. But Odd-job didn't move.

One hour passed, then two. Bond pretended to fall asleep himself. He made a soft noise through his nose. Then at last,Oddjob turned his head and moved in his seat so that he was more comfortable.

This was the opportunity that Bond had been waiting for. Quietly, he took the small knife out from the heel of his shoe. Then very, very slowly, he moved his hand towards the window next to Odd-job. Holding his seatbelt tightly with one hand and the knife in the other, Bond pointed the knife at the centre of the window. Suddenly, he struck the centre of the window with the knife.

Immediately, there was a bang and a loud whistling noise. The air in the plane began to rush out through the hole in the window. Suddenly, Oddjob's body was pulled violently towards the hole. The air was rushing out of the broken window with a terrible force, and it was taking Oddjob's body with it.

There was a crash as Oddjob's head went through the window and his shoulders hit the window frame. Then Oddjob's whole body was pulled slowly out of the plane. His chest went through, then his stomach and his legs. Bond held on to his seatbelt with all his strength.

The huge plane went into a steep dive and began to fall. Bond heard the scream of the engines as the plane went down, faster and faster. Plates, glasses, papers and pillows disappeared out through the broken window. Now there wasn't enough oxygen inside the plane and Bond couldn't breathe. In a few seconds, he became unconscious.

Bond woke up when someone kicked him hard. He cried out in pain and he tasted blood in his mouth. The person's foot struck Bond's chest and then his stomach.

Bond opened his eyes. All the lights were on in the plane and it was very cold. Goldfinger was standing over Bond. His face was angry and cruel. He was pointing a small gun at Bond.'As soon as the plane hits the water,' Bond told the five men in the cockpit, 'I'll open the doors so that you can get out. But if you try to leave the cockpit before then, I'll shoot you.'

Bond stepped backwards out of the cockpit and closed the door. He went to Pussy Galore and told her what was going to happen. They both put on life-jackets and he told her to kneel down on the floor, with her head on the seat. Then Bond got down on his knees too and held her body tightly against his own.

The plane crashed into the sea at about a hundred miles an hour. As it hit the water, it broke in two pieces.

Bond and Pussy were thrown out of the plane and into the ice-cold sea. The weight of the heavy gold bullion on board the plane quickly pulled it down to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Pussy and Bond were the only people to escape from the plane. They floated in the cold water until men from the weathership came to rescue them. The five German men in the cockpit were carrying bags of gold and the weight of the bullion pulled them down to the bottom of the ocean.

Bond and Pussy were given a wonderful welcome on the weather-ship. But before they were taken to their cabins to rest, Bond had answered a lot of questions. He'd also spoken to M on the ship's radio. After he'd spoken to his boss, Bond had walked slowly to his cabin. He'd taken a hot shower and put on dry clothes. Now he was feeling very tired. He was lying on the bed in his cabin, drinking whisky.

Suddenly the door opened and Pussy came in. She was wearing only a large, grey, woollen jersey.

She no longer looked like a tough gangster, she looked like a young girl. Bond looked at her pale, beautiful face and her violet eyes, and smiled.

Bond grabbed Goldfinger's foot and pulled it violently to one side. Goldfinger screamed in pain and fell to the floor. Bond leapt onto Goldfinger and closed his fingers around Goldfinger's throat. At the same time, Goldfinger closed his own fingers around Bond's throat.

Bond pressed his hands together as hard as he could. He felt the terrible strength of Goldfinger's hands around his own neck. Who would die first, Goldfinger or him?

Goldfinger's large face was becoming red and a terrible noise was coming out of his mouth. At last, his hands around Bond's throat became weaker. Then he made a final, terrible noise and lay still. He'd stopped breathing. He was dead.

Bond stood up slowly. Goldfinger's small gun was lying on the floor. Bond picked it up and walked towards the cockpit. Pussy Galore was fastened in her seat by her seatbelt, but she was unconscious. Bond got down onto his knees beside her. He blew air into Pussy's mouth until she was conscious and breathing normally again. Then he opened the door of the cockpit. Inside the cockpit, there were five men. They were all members of Goldfinger's German staff. Bond pointed the gun at the frightened men.

'Goldfinger is dead,' said Bond loudly. 'If anyone moves or disobeys an order, I'll kill him. Pilot, what's our position?'

The pilot told Bond that they were flying over the Atlantic Ocean, towards the coast of Canada. But he also said that they didn't have enough fuel to reach an airport in Canada. Bond knew that they were all in terrible danger. The plane would have to land in the sea. He sent out a call on the radio. The message said that the plane would be making an emergency landing into the sea.

The men on a weathership in the Atlantic heard his call. They told him that they would fire flares. When the pilot saw the flares he could guide the plane down to the position of the weathership. 'You need some TLC,' he said. 'What's TLC?' 'Tender Loving Care.' 'I'd like that,' said Pussy.

She pushed Bond's black hair off his face and looked into his grey-blue eyes. 'When is it going to start?'

'Now,' said Bond, and kissed her hard on the mouth.