The James Bond Anthology

15 | THE WRITING ON MY HEART

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

1 | SEASCAPE WITH FIGURES

2 | GRAN TURISMO

3 | THE GAMBIT OF SHAME

4 | ALL CATS ARE GREY

5 | THE CAPU

6 | BOND OF BOND STREET?

7 | THE HAIRY HEEL OF ACHILLES

8 | FANCY COVER

9 | IRMA LA NOT SO DOUCE

10 | TEN GORGEOUS GIRLS

11 | DEATH FOR BREAKFAST

12 | TWO NEAR MISSES

13 | PRINCESS RUBY?

14 | SWEET DREAMS–SWEET NIGHTMARE!

15 | THE HEAT INCREASES

16 | DOWNHILL ONLY

17 | BLOODY SNOW

18 | FORK LEFT FOR HELL!

19 | LOVE FOR BREAKFAST

20 | M. EN PANTOUFLES

21 | THE MAN FROM AG. AND FISH.

22 | SOMETHING CALLED ‘B.W.’

23 | GAULOISES AND GARLIC

24 | BLOOD-LIFT

25 | M. HELL’S DELIGHT, ETC.

26 | HAPPINESS WITHOUT A SHADOW?

27 | ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD

You Only Live Twice

PART ONE | ‘IT IS BETTER TO TRAVEL HOPEFULLY ...

1 | SCISSORS CUT PAPER

2 | CURTAINS FOR BOND?

3 | THE IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

4 | DIKKO ON THE GINZA

5 | MAGIC 44

6 | TIGER, TIGER!

7 | THE DEATH COLLECTOR

8 | SLAY IT WITH FLOWERS

9 | INSTANT JAPAN

10 | ADVANCED STUDIES

11 | ANATOMY CLASS

PART TWO | … THAN TO ARRIVE’

12 | APPOINTMENT IN SAMARA

13 | KISSY SUZUKI

14 | ONE GOLDEN DAY

15 | THE SIX GUARDIANS

16 | THE LOVESOME SPOT

17 | SOMETHING EVIL COMES THIS WAY

18 | OUBLIETTE

19 | THE QUESTION ROOM

20 | BLOOD AND THUNDER

21 | OBIT:

22 | SPARROWS’ TEARS

The Man With The Golden Gun

1 | ‘CAN I HELP YOU?’

2 | ATTENTAT!

3 | ‘PISTOLS’ SCARAMANGA

4 | THE STARS FORETELL

5 | NO. 3½ LOVE LANE

6 | THE EASY GRAND

7 | UN-REAL ESTATE

8 | PASS THE CANAPÉS!

9 | MINUTES OF THE MEETING

10 | BELLY-LICK, ETC.

11 | BALLCOCK, AND OTHER, TROUBLE

12 | IN A GLASS, VERY DARKLY

13 | HEAR THE TRAIN BLOW!

14 | THE GREAT MORASS

15 | CRAB-MEAT

16 | THE WRAP-UP

17 | ENDIT

For Your Eyes Only

1 | FROM A VIEW TO A KILL

2 | FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

3 | QUANTUM OF SOLACE

4 | RISICO

5 | THE HILDEBRAND RARITY

Octopussy and the Living Daylights

1 | OCTOPUSSY

2 | THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

3 | THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

4 | 007 IN NEW YORK

The James Bond Anthology

 

Ian Fleming

 

CASINO ROYALE

 

Book 1

1 | THE SECRET AGENT

The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.

James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired. He always knew when his body or his mind had had enough and he always acted on the knowledge. This helped him to avoid staleness and the sensual bluntness that breeds mistakes.

He shifted himself unobtrusively away from the roulette he had been playing and went to stand for a moment at the brass rail which surrounded breast-high the top table in the ‘salle privée’.

Le Chiffre was still playing and still, apparently, winning. There was an untidy pile of flecked hundred-mille plaques in front of him. In the shadow of his thick left arm there nestled a discreet stack of the big yellow ones worth half a million francs each.

Bond watched the curious, impressive profile for a time, and then he shrugged his shoulders to lighten his thoughts and moved away.

The barrier surrounding the ‘caisse’ comes as high as your chin and the ‘caissier’, who is generally nothing more than a minor bank clerk, sits on a stool and dips into his piles of notes and plaques. These are ranged on shelves. They are on a level, behind the protecting barrier, with your groin. The caissier has a cosh and a gun to protect him, and to heave over the barrier and steal some notes and then vault back and get out of the casino through the passages and doors would be impossible. And the caissiers generally work in pairs.

Bond reflected on the problem as he collected the sheaf of hundred thousand and then the sheaves of ten thousand franc notes. With another part of his mind, he had a vision of tomorrow’s regular morning meeting of the casino committee.

‘Monsieur Le Chiffre made two million. He played his usual game. Miss Fairchild made a million in an hour and then left. She executed three “bancos” of Monsieur Le Chiffre within an hour and then left. She played with coolness. Monsieur le Vicomte de Villorin made one million two at roulette. He was playing the maximum on the first and last dozens. He was lucky. Then the Englishman, Mister Bond, increased his winnings to exactly three million over the two days. He was playing a progressive system on red at table five. Duclos, the ‘chef de partie’, has the details. It seems that he is persevering and plays in maximums. He has luck. His nerves seem good. On the ‘soirée’, the chemin-de-fer won x, the baccarat won y and the roulette won z.

The boule which was again badly frequented still makes its expenses.’

‘Merci, Monsieur Xavier.’

‘Merci, Monsieur le Président.’

Or something like that, thought Bond as he pushed his way through the swing doors of the salle privée and nodded to the bored man in evening clothes whose job it is to bar your entry and your exit with the electric foot-switch which can lock the doors at any hint of trouble.

And the casino committee would balance its books and break up to its homes or cafés for lunch.