La Velada (Spanish: "The Veil") was a fictional unnamed intelligence operative who spied on behalf of the Soviet Union's NKVD. A recurring antagonist, the character was first introduced in Steve Cole's 2016 Young Bond novel, Heads You Die, and subsequently appeared in 2017's Red Nemesis.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Around 1924, the Russian aristocrat known later as "La Velada" was recruited by the secret police of the Soviet Union, the OGPU, to gather intelligence on White Russians opposed to the Bolshevik Revolution. Her husband and many others were executed as a result.[2] Wearing a black lace veil for anonymity and ostensibly regret for her decisions, she adopted the name "La Velada" and continued spying for the OGPU and later its successor, the NKVD. In 1930, La Velada was involved with agitation during the Brazilian revolutions. She discovered the impersonator "O Imitador" (or "Mimic") in Ribeirao Preto and, seeing the value of such an asset, killed his gang handlers and took him on.[3]
Heads You Die[]
In the early 1930s, La Velada was the mastermind behind an OGPU/NKVD plot to develop and introduce poison-laced counterfeit bank notes into national currencies - beginning with the United Kingdom. In exchange for a guarantee of fealty to the Soviet Union, they would provide a cure for the poison, which afflicted victims with rashes, blisters, internal bleeding and ultimately death. To this end she befriended Cuban biologist Audacto Solares (later known as Scolopendra) and, posing as a reluctant spy and the head of a pharmaceutical company, she flattered his ego and manipulated him into believing that they were alike - born survivors, trapped by their circumstances. Becoming his lover and business partner, La Velada built up his empire, side-lining his existing lieutenants, and used it to create the pathogen and its delivery system. The antidote would be produced by the pharmacological company she claimed to have inherited. Once complete the notes would be smuggled across the Atlantic as part of a giant log raft. La Velada intended to kill the unstable Scolopendra upon their arrival; eventually gaining a senior administrative position in the new Soviet Socialist Republic of Great Britain.
In the Summer of 1934, the American CIP launched an investigation into Scolopendra's suspicious activities and dispatched an operative named Sarila Karatan to steal material from his laboratory on Isla de Pinos. She was killed and her prize - a strongbox containing poisoned bank notes - was sent to bottom of the ocean. La Velada immediately began the hunt for the CIP informant inside their operation; abducting Scolopendra's former research chemist, Gerald Hardiman, and his chief enforcer Chester MacLean. In addition, she brought the launch of their raft forward by three months. It was while searching for Hardiman (a family friend) in Scolopendra's Havana penthouse that James Bond first encountered the veiled woman. She noticed him eavesdropping during her telephone conversation and opened fire on the fleeing boy with her nickel-plated Derringer. The following day she oversaw the interrogation and execution of MacLean at the Gran Casino and the morning afterward accompanied Scolopendra to the impoverished village of Sabana de Robles to extract his rebellious (and abused) daughter, Jagua. She urged the reluctant industrialist to poison their informant - Jagua's close friend, Maritsa. They departed for the sea port of Batabano; where, having been informed that the strongbox and its toxic contents had been recovered by the local police, La Valada personally oversaw the "clean-up" operation at the police station. With the help of her hired thug El Puño they recovered the box (and a CIP diver), dowsed the infected bodies with gasoline and blew the building to pieces with grenades.
Afterwards she abducted James and his friend Hugo Grande and, after examining progress on the raft at Scolopendra's shipyard, transported the boys to a laboratory. She watched as they were subjected to a botfly attack - extracting a confession from the Hardiman that he had been working with the Americans. After she surreptitiously left a tempting (and deadly) diary in their cell; revealing over dinner that she had secretly poisoned the pair to elicit Hardiman's full cooperation. Later El Puño and La Velada cornered the teenagers and Jagua as they escaped and attempted to procure an antidote from the hastily demolished laboratory building. Jagua made a failed attempt to bluff her way out of the armed standoff and had her firearm shot from her hand. La Velada prepared to eliminate the final barrier to her complete control over Scolopendra, but was thwarted by a momentary lapse in her line-of-sight and they fled. The veiled woman subsequently departed with the log raft flotilla on-board a motor-yacht. Jagua, Bond and Hugo intercept them by seaplane and manage to sabotage their scheme by planting seeds of mistrust in Scolopendra's mind — turning him against both La Velada and his lieutenant, Ramón Mosqueda. Scolopendra turned on Ramón and ignited the leaking aviation fuel with a burst of accidental machine-gun fire — torching the logs and money. In the chaos, La Valeda made her escape in the yacht and Hardiman took the opportunity to leap overboard with the antidotes.
Red Nemesis[]
Henchmen & associates[]
Images[]
.jpg "La Velada by Kev Walker (Heads You Die).jpg (1.66 MB)")
Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ Cole, Steve (4 May 2017). "Chapter 24: Invasion by Stealth", Red Nemesis, Young Bond (in En-UK). Red Fox. ISBN 1782952438.
- ↑ Cole, Steve (5 May 2016). "Chapter 13: Scolopendra and the Silver Dollar", Heads You Die, Young Bond (in En-UK). Red Fox. ISBN 9781782952411. “He knows that ten years ago I was recruited by the NKVD to gather intelligence on White Russians – my husband included – and that he and many others were put to death as a result.”
- ↑ Cole, Steve (4 May 2017). "Chapter 18: Cardinal Sins", Red Nemesis, Young Bond (in En-UK). Red Fox. ISBN 1782952438. “La Velada came across him when she was stirring things up in Ribeirao Preto, during the Brazilian revolutions back in 1930. Local robber gangs kept him caged up like a dog, used him to impersonate police officers so they could burgle without alarms going off.”
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