SeaFire, first published in 1994, was the fourteenth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond (including Gardner's novelisation of Licence to Kill). Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam.
Synopsis[]
Captain James Bond now working under MicroGlobe One, is tasked to investigate one Sir Maxwell Tarn, who has come to possess a Type VIIC U-Boat. Teamed up with Flicka von Grüsse, whom to Bond starts taking serious fancy to, their trail to uncover Sir Tarn's ambitions take them across the globe.
Plot summary[]
Caribbean Prince[]
The story begins with James Bond and Fredericka "Flicka" von Grüsse (who is now part of the British Intelligence, following the events of Never Send Flowers) vacationing on the "Caribbean Prince" cruise ship. Sea pirates appear and take the passengers and crew captive; though Bond and Flicka manage to overpower them. Subsequently, an explosion, which was set off purposefully, is heard and its been declared to abandon ship. Bond and Flicka join other passengers in a lifeboat.
Briefing[]
A few days later, Bond arrives at the headquarters of "Two Zeros", a reorganized 00-section with little semblance to past incarnation. This new section is under Bond's command and deals with cases of violations of international law and treaties relating to intelligence and security issues. Bond now answers to a committee named MicroGlobe One - which includes M, his MI5 counterpart, Minister of Related Home and Foreign Affairs among others.
At the Two Zeros headquarters, Bond reads reports about the attack on the Caribbean Prince, as well as on its owner, Sir Maxwell Tarn. James Bond is summoned by the MicroGlobe One committee, where he is told that Max Tarn is under surveillance and that he is involved in arms trafficking -- dealing in high-end equipment like tanks, planes, missiles etc.
MicroGlobe One then tells Bond that Tarn has possibly acquired an old Soviet Victor-class submarine and that the explosion of the Caribbean Prince was apparently caused by a torpedo fired from this submarine. MicroGlobe One asks Bond, along with Flicka, to have Tarn arrested and his premises to be searched. MicroGlobe One hopes that this will cause Tarn to panic and make mistakes while trying to get rid of evidence that could incriminate him.
MicroGlobe One has received this its information from Peter Dolmech, the son of a personal friend of M, an accountant who works for Tarn and who went to see M after discovering unclear things in his employer's business.
Cambridge, Hall's Manor[]
In Cambridge, under the false name of James Busby, Bond delivers a note to Tarn saying that he is well placed at the Home Office and the Foreign Office and that he has something that might interest him. Max Tarn asks to meet Bond and the two men see each other in the company of Maurice Goodwin, who is introduced as Tarn's chief of staff.
Bond informs Tarn that an arrest warrant is out for him and his wife, as well as a search warrant for his properties. Tarn then reveals to Bond that he knows that his name is not James Busby but James Bond and that Flicka is a former member of the Swiss secret service, as well as other things.
Tarn questions Bond, who then tries to make him believe that he is unhappy with his job and his salary and that this is why he came to warn him about the mandates. Tarn tells him that if he buys weapons, it is because he plans to display them in a museum he is creating and then he finally releases Bond.
A little later, when Bond returns to his room, he sees that Flicka is not alone but surrounded by two menacing people who work for Tarn, Mr. Cuthbert and Mr. Archibald. These two put Bond and Flicka in a vehicle and take them to an isolated house, Hall's Manor, where they leave them handcuffed. Bond can see Tarn outside, leaving the premises.
Subsequently, Bond manages to break free and contact Bill Tanner. Tanner informs Bond that Max Tarn and his wife Trish Nuzzi died in a car accident last night, the bodies are burned.
Bond is now assigned by MicroGlobe One to investigate Tarn's death -- which Bond believes was faked. MicroGlobe One is also concerned, due to the disappearance of Boxwood, alias Peter Dolmach. They just receive a tape from Dolmech in which he says that Tarn and his wife are not dead and that they are in a villa near Seville. Dolmech says he has important documents and asks for someone to come get him -- signifying the Alcázar of Seville as the meeting place.
Spain, Quarterdeck[]
Bond and Flicka arrive in Spain and head to the Alcázar of Seville to meet with Dolmech. However, upon spotting Dolmech, two men riding motorcycles steal the bag Dolmech is carrying and then kill him. Bond finds a Triumph Daytona, and uses it to chase them around Seville, with the chase concluding in Italica, where Bond kills the two men and recovers a Dolmech's bag, which is partially burned due to a explosion.
Subsequently, the documents in the bag, as well as some recovered from Tarn's Cambridge property, are analyzed. Bond receives a phone call telling him that M is ill and has asked to see him.
Driving his Saab 9000, Bond goes to Quarterdeck. There, M tells that he did not want to go through the committee and that in the bag, there was a letter from Peter Dolmech. The letter says that Dolmech thought that Trish Nuzzi was not involved in her husband's affairs and that she had gone to Jerusalem.
Israel[]
Bond and Flicka fly to Israel where they meet Steve Natkowitz from Mossad -- whom Bond had previously worked with during the events of The Man from Barbarossa. Natkowitz takes them to the King David Hotel, where Trish is staying.
At the Hotel, the get in a elevator, where Bond and Flicka come across Mr. Cuthbert and Mr. Archibald, again. However, these two men turn out be two women, named Cathy and Anna, who are Trish's bodyguards. Cathy and Anna lead Bond and Flicka to Trish.
Trish tells to them that Tarn beat her, that she left him. She then tells that Tarn thinks he is "the Nazi messiah", the reincarnation of Hitler. Trish says her husband was distributing weapons in an effort to destabilize Europe, even the world, so the Nazis could come back in force. She says Tarn is maybe in the Caribbeans.
The next day, James and Flicka return to London and Bond goes to the Home Office to meet with MicroGlobe One. The committee tells Captain Bond that Max Tarn has returned to England and they believe he is at Hall's Manor.
Bond goes to Hall's Manor with Flicka and find the lifeless body of Trish Nuzzi -- who has died by hanging. Bond finds a paper where there is a mention of a Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich.
A few hours later, Bond tells Flicka that he would like to marry her when this is over, she accepts. Bond thinks there is a traitor at MicroGlobe One and goes to Germany alone.
Germany, London[]
Bond arrives to Wassenburg and heads to the home of Tarnenwerder, who is Tarn's ancestor. There, he finds Max Tarn is addressing a crowd of two or three hundred people telling them that he is going to rebuild what Adolf Hitler had done. Then they begin singing " "Horst-Wessel-Lied" all together. Bond is spotted and flees.
Bond then infiltrates Saal u. Rollen, Tarn's law firm. Bond searches through the papers and finds a voice message from the traitor warning of his arrival. Bond identifies the traitor's voice as that of the "Minister of Related Home and Foreign Affairs" -- I.E. the president of MicroGlobe One. Tarn's men arrive, but Bond manages to get rid of them.
Bond returns to London and meets with MicroGlobe One committee again. He makes them listen to the voice message and the Minister is put under arrest by Bill Tanner. The minister is interrogated and reveals that Cathy and Anna are on Max's side. He then tells that Max has a grand-scale plan, codenamed "SeaFire", of which details the minister does not know.
Bond asks the committee for permission to travel to Puerto Rico, where he believes he can find Tarn. But because Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, MicroGlobe One has to inform the Americans before acting and Bond is asked to wait.
Bond visits M and Ann Reilly (who is now head of the Q Branch) and while he is officially on leave, Bond decides to go to Puerto Rico with Flicka without reporting to the committee.
However, while at London Gatwick Airport, they are arrested and taken to MicroGlobe One. Its explained that - because of Tarn's arms trafficking - the Americans would be happy to help corner Tarn. Tarn is also nicknamed Apocalypse by the Americans.
Puerto Rico[]
Bond and Flicka therefore go to Puerto Rico with the consent of MicroGlobe One and meet Felix Leiter. While at a bar, Leiter recognizes a group of scientists and approaches them. The scientists - Rex Rexinus, a marine biologist, and two biochemists, Afton Fritz and Vesta Motley - tell them that they were working with Max Tarn and invite them to see their project, the Mare Nostrum.
Bond goes to take a quick peek at Tarn's residence, where he sees the submarine which MicroGlobe One mentioned early on, an Type VIIC U-Boat. Then, they go to Mare Nostrum. The scientists explain that they are working on a system to combat oil pollution called AAOPS (Automatic Anti-Oil Pollution System).
Bond, Flicka and Leiter explain to them that Max Tarn is in reality a very dangerous man. But then it turns out that Tarn has just arrived on the Mare Nostrum to see the scientists. Bond and Flicka manage to hide in time, but not Leiter, whom Tarn recognizes and has captured.
With Bond and Flicka nearby listening in, Tarn explains to Leiter and his scientists that he is going to sink the "Golden Bough", the oil tanker, with his U-Boat and then making the scientists to use the AAOPS to stop the oil spil -- which Max intends to ignite. Once stopped, the world will be impressed with his deed.
Max then confesses that he had the torpedo, that destroyed the Carribean Prince, fired by accident. Tarn says he will observe everything from Fort San Felipe del Morro and leaves with Leiter as prisoner.
While Bond goes to Tarn's residence to sabotage the submarine (not informing London), Maurice Goodwin and Beth (an assassin who works for Tarn) pay a visit to the hotel of Bond where they capture Flicka. Bond sneaks inside the submarine and places explosive charges inside. As he is about to leave, he hears men entering the submarine. Unable to escape the submarine, the vessel submerges with Bond inside.
As time passes, Bond overhears a conversation in which it is said that they are holding Flicka. James Bond gets out of the submarine using a Steinke Hood. Once on the surface, he swims to the Mare Nostrum, which was nearby, while the charges placed in the submarine explode before it sinks the Golden Bough tanker. Bond kills Connie Spicer, a Tarn henchman who was on the boat, and asks one of the scientists to take him to Fort San Felipe del Morro.
Arriving at the fort, Bond notices that he is not alone, that the 22nd SAS and the Delta Force are there to support him. They have also brought devices called Powerchutes (flying vehicles akin to the Parahawks). Bond takes part in the assault on the fort during which he kills Max Tarn.
After Tarn is slain, Bond and the SAS raid Tarn's residence to save Flicka and Leiter who are in the hands of Beth who is torturing them. They manage to save them, but although are both alive, they are also in a bad way.
Later, when Captain Dodd of the SAS recounts what happened in Puerto Rico, he says that he could have sworn that Bond was crying when he reunited with Flicka.
Characters[]
- James Bond
- Fredericka "Flicka" von Grüsse
- Sir Maxwell Tarn
- M
- Unnamed Head of MI5
- Unnamed Minister of Related Home and Foreign Affairs
- Ann "Q'ute" Reilly
- Peter Dolmech alias "Boxwood"
- Maurice Goodwin
- Cathy alias "Mr. Cuthbert"
- Anna alias "Mr. Archibald"
- Trish Nuzzi
- Steve Natkowitz
- Rex Rexinus
- Afton Fritz
- Vesta Motley
- Beth
- Captain Dodd
Gallery[]
References[]
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