Goldfinger held up his hand. ‘Gentlemen and madam, believe me, this object is an entirely harmless lump of machinery. It is not armed. If I hit it with a hammer it would not explode. Nothing can make it explode until it is armed and that will not happen until The Day.’
Mr Billy Ring’s pale face was shiny with sweat. The words trembled slightly as they hissed out through the false grin. ‘Mister, what ... what about this thing they call – er – fall-out?’
‘Fall-out will be minimal, Mr Ring, and extremely localized. This is the latest model – the so-called “clean” atomic bomb. But protection suits will be issued to the squad that first enters the ruins of the building. They will form the first in the human chain that will remove the gold and pass it to the waiting trucks.’
‘Flying debris, Mister? Chunks of concrete and steel and so forth?’ Mr Midnight’s voice came from somewhere in his stomach.
‘We shall take shelter behind the outer steel stockade of the depository, Mr Midnight. All personnel will wear earplugs. There may be minor damage to some of the trucks, but that hazard must be accepted.’
‘Da sleeping guys?’ Mr Solo’s eyes were greedy. ‘Mebbe dey jess sleeps a liddle longer?’ Mr Solo obviously didn’t worry too much about the sleeping guys.
‘We shall move as many as possible to safety. We must, I am afraid, accept minor damage to the town. I estimate that casualties among the population will approximately equal three days’ toll on the roads of Fort Knox. Our operation will merely serve to keep road accident statistics at a steady level.’
‘Damn nice of us.’ Mr Midnight’s nerves had now recovered.
‘Any more questions?’ Goldfinger’s voice was bland. He had read out the figures, estimated the prospects for the business. Now it was time to put the meeting to the vote. ‘Details remain to be worked out exactly. In that, my staff here’ – he turned first to Bond and then to Miss Masterton – ‘will be assisting me. This room will be our operations room to which you will all have access by day or by night. The code word for the project is “Operation Grand Slam”, which will always be used in referring to the project. May I suggest that those of you who wish to participate should brief one, and only one, of your most trusted lieutenants. Other staff can be trained for their functions as if this were a run-of-the-mill bank robbery. On D – 1 a slightly wider briefing of staff will be necessary. I know I can rely on you, gentlemen and madam, if you decide to participate, to treat this whole project as an operation of war. Inefficiency or insecurity will of course have to be dealt with decisively. And now, gentlemen and madam, I will ask you to reply on behalf of your respective organizations. Which of you wishes to enter this race? The prize is gigantic. The risks are minimal. Mr Midnight?’ Goldfinger turned his head an inch to the right. Bond saw the wide open X-ray gaze devour his neighbour. ‘Yes?’ There was a pause. ‘Or no?’
19 | SECRET APPENDIX
‘Mr. Gold,’ Jed Midnight pronounced sonorously, ‘you are undoubtedly the greatest thing in crime since Cain invented murder and used it on Abel.’ He paused and added emphatically, ‘I shall count it an honour to be associated with you in this enterprise.’
‘Thank you, Mr Midnight. And you, Mr Ring?’
Bond was doubtful about Mr Billy Ring. He had scrawled plusses against all the names except Ring and Helmut Springer. To Mr Ring he had allotted a nought, to Springer a minus sign. He had come to his conclusions by watching eyes, mouths, hands, but nothing had been betrayed by The Grinner’s unwavering false smile. The wink in his right eye had been as steady on the pulse-beat as a metronome and he had kept his hands below the table.
