007 Is Born
Control tossed another beige file into his ‘Out’ tray and pressed the buzzer on his desk. After a moment two men entered his small office, one was Bill Hayden, a rising officer within SIS and beside him was a tall man, slim built with dark hair and Control noticed his right cheek had a 3-inch long duelling scar on his cheek. He looked slightly Germanic in appearance.
“Control, this is new man you wanted to interview. Commander Bond,” Hayden passed over the man’s personnel file.
“Hmmm,” Control looked at the cover before looking up at Hayden, “he’s no longer a naval officer, just Mr Bond will do. You had better sit down.” The two men sat, Bond looking a little askew at Hayden at the frosty reception.
“What do I call you, Sir?” Bond asked, his voice hard but having a tinge of Scots behind it.
Control glared at the officer, “Yes, you call me Sir. I wanted to speak to you following your recent assignment,” he flicks open Bond’s file, “you have quite an illustrious career I see. But the man is more important.” Control looked at Bond hard, “all these qualifications in the world don’t make the man and often a special kind of man is called for. The kind of man that even Scalphunters would shy away from, am I right Bill?” Control’s eyes fasten on Hayden who nods with a knowing smile.
Control glanced at the first page, “thrown out of Eton, hmmm no bad thing, on to Fettes, educated in Paris and Geneva, fluent in German and French, an orphan, no wife, a house in the King’s Road, an elderly spinster to keep house, athlete, sportsman, you’re marksmanship is good too I suppose?”
Bond nodded, “Yes Sir, rated highly, I am skilled in Judo and underwater swimming, I play golf too.”
“Well everyone has at least one bad fault,” Control grunts, “your marksmanship was eighty from a hundred, not bad. Well you have no ties, nothing in your background that could be used against you, and we’ve checked with the finest of tooth combs. Even if you are a man of impeccable qualifications we double-check. I know where you buy your tobacco, your favourite brand of claret, everything there is to know.”
Bond looked a little worried, he wasn’t sure if Control was always this gruff, he had heard rumours of course but few met the head of the Circus in person. And today’s duty was not something to Control’s taste, he hated violence for violence’s sake but it was a necessity to sometime use such men to choke off leaks or tackle the hardest of missions. He found it distasteful but that did not mean he would shy away from using such methods. Hayden too was attracted to that kind of daring elan. Control was now reading the operations report. Bond had joined the Royal Navy in 1941 as a Lieutenant and retired a Commander with experience of naval intelligence. Having joined SIS in 1946 he had risen through the ranks.
“Why did you kill that Japanese agent in New York?” Control asked.
Bond crossed his legs and opened his hands expressively, “He was a danger to the operation, he suspected my cover and we had a tussle as I caught him trying to gain access to one of our offices which was locked and he just happened to leave the thirty-sixth floor by other means than the lift.” Bond shrugged.
“Most careless of him,” Bill muttered as they shared a conspiratorial grin.
“And the man in Nordmark?” Control looked up again with his cold stare.
Bond raised his eyebrows briefly, “the man was a double-agent and he had betrayed two of my section and it was dangerous to let him go, had we lost him then he could have blown the entire network so I had to act fast before he could escape across the border. London agreed with my decision at the time Sir,” he added.
Control seemed satisfied and tossed the folders aside onto the desk. “We do what has to be done and you are a man who does not shy from that. In this dark world of ours that loyalty to our duty is precious. You realise that as an agent who has killed an adversary in the line of duty that you are entitled to a 00 designation, you will now move from your present duties and join 00 Section which reports directly to me. You will be sent on special assignments where an ordinary intelligence operation has uncovered activity too sensitive to be dealt with using ordinary procedures. You will be designated 007. Clear your desk and report to Miss Ponsonby tomorrow morning.”
Hayden passes over a form for Bond to sign, declaring his agreement never to divulge the existence of 00 Section and the usual small print disclaiming the Circus of any responsibility if he is ever caught or arrested for whatever an 00 agent may be called to do. Bond signs eagerly.
“When will I receive my first assignment Sir?” Bond asks, handing the form back to Hayden.
“When something suitable for your talents comes up,” Control nods, “congratulations Mr Bond.”