From Russia With Love: Session 3

14 September 1982 (Sunday)
Preparations
Bond and Salinen prepare to infiltrate the Soviet consulate, steal the SPECKTOR decoder and rescue Tatiana. Their plan is to sneak onto the consulate ground at around midnight; incapacitate two of the Russian guards during the change of shift and steal their uniforms; wait for Kerim Bey's men to pull off a citywide power cut shortly after midnight; then sneak into the basement area of the consulate during the confusion. They will overcome any resistance they encounter, rescue Tatiana and steal the SPECKTOR. Once they are out of the consulate grounds and clear, Kerim will order one of his men to detonate the naval mine beneath the consulate,destroying the basement and erasing any evidence that the agents were ever there and covering their theft of the SPECKTOR. Once out, the agents plan to take the next Orient Express out of Istanbul.

Examining the location of the consulate grounds, the agents decide to gain entry by scaling down the walls of the two neighbouring buildings. Salinen decides to climb down the apartment block bordering the northern side while Bond decides to climb down the mosque on the eastern side. Kerim Bey provides the agents with rope and climbing equipment, and is even able to provide Salinen with a pair of nightvision goggles to aid the infiltration of the basement.

Action Stations
At 11:30, Kerim's son Taksim drives Kerim and the agents to the city block where the consulate is located. The agents tell him to stay a hundred metres down the road, and to be ready for them at any time after the planned power cut at 12:15. Salinen and Bond split up, Salinen going to the apartment block and Bond to the neraby mosque.

The agents get the rooves of their respective buildings without much trouble. From the rooftops, they can see three Russian guards standing in front of the entracne to the consulate and a fourth conducting a perimeter sweep around the consulate grounds. Shortly after 11:45, the agents abseil down the sides of their buildings and into the consulate grounds; Bond dropping in behind the perimeter guard and Salinen in front of the guard. Salinen hides behind one of the prefab accomodation buildings and waits.

The guard walks headway into Salinen's ambush, but Salinen's attempts to swiftly knock him out are unsuccessful. Caught in a brawl with an intruder, the guard shouts out to his colleagues. Salinen eventually overcomes the guard by brutally (and repeatedly) bludgeoning him on the head with his pistol butt. Bond joins Salinen, but by this stage the other guards are alerted to the disturbance and come to investigate.

Bond takes out two of the three remaining guards with his silenced pistol while Salinen strips the unconscious perimeter guard and changes into his uniform. The final guard is tricked into coming to Salinen's aid when Salinen pretends to be an injured guard, and Bond shoots him. Bond then dons one of the guards' uniforms and the two agents break into the consulate building itself.

15 September 1982 (Monday)
The Basement
The two agents wait in the darkness for Kerim's power cut. While waiting, they hear someone enter the consulate building and head down the stairs. Shortly afterwards, the blackout happens. The agents spring into action, weaving their way through the offices of the consulate, and descending the stairway leading down to the basement area.

The basement area is plunged in darkness and confusion. Salinen leads the way, wearing his nightvision goggles, while Bond follows, clutching Salinen's belt. Salinen quickly dispatches the first guard they encounter when the sound of his rifle being cocked gives away the fact that he's hiding behind the corner of the first entranceway of the basement area. Salinen and Bond make their way towards the Signals Room, where the SPECKTOR is kept, but first need to get past its Security Room antechamber. They quickly shoot and kill the guard manning that room, just before the emergency generator kicks in and the lights are restored.

Salinen activates a fire alarm to add to the confusion, then sets off to find Tatiana, first shooting and then executing a KGB interrogator along the way. Eventually he finds her, stretched out on a gurney in the Interrogations Room, stripped to her underwear, insensible from a cocktail of interrogation drugs. Salinen tries to wake her, with little success. He then finds a notepad full of handwritten notes in Cyrillic, which he pockets, before he starts to get Tatiana back into her clothes.

Bond, meanwhile, makes his way inside the Signals Room, where he quickly finds the SPECKTOR, sitting on a bench alongside half a dozen other cryptographic devices. He is suddenly interrupted by Boris Krilencu, escaped from his gypsy captors, who springs into the room from an adjacent vault. A firefight erupts; Bond tips over the bench to use it as cover, while Krilencu hides behind the desks used by the cryptographic clerks. The firefight ends when Krilencu charges Bond in desperation and Bond shoots Krilencu in the chest, killing the KGB flunkie. Bond takes the SPECKTOR, rejoins Salinen and the still unconscious Tatiana, and the three climb the stairway out of the basement.

A Brief Respite
Salinen and Bond walk past a confused group of consulate office workers who live within the consulate grounds, milling outside, wondering about the kerfuffle within. Bond and Salinen ignore their questions (they can't speak Russian anyway) and drag-pull Tatiana out of the front gates and into Taksim's waiting car, a hundred metres down the road. Kerim Bey is waiting for them in the front passenger's seat; he explains that they have another hour before the next Orient Express is due to leave Istanbul's Sirkeci train station. The agents ask if they can go somewhere to get changed out of their Russian uniforms and Bey agrees to take them back to their safe house for a quick rest. As they drive away, Kerim speaks to another of his sons on a walkie-talkie. There is a deep, resounding 'crump' and the consulate building implodes upon itself as the mine beneath it explodes.

At the safe house, the agents change clothes and dispose of their Russian uniforms. Bey gives the agents false passports and travel documents; Salinen is to travel under the name Somerset and Bond under the name Smith. Salinen gives the handwritten notes he collected from the interrogation room to Bey and asks him to get a translation. Bey arranges for the notes to be sent to an acquaintance of his who can translate them; te translation will be returned to one of his sons.

Into the West
The agents, the still-unconscious Tatiana and Bey make it to Sirceki station just in time to ctach the 2 a.m. departure of the Orient Express. The agents are exhausted as they have been on the move since well before dawn of the previous day, and barely have a chance to enjoy the luxurious decadence of the train. The train is set to pass through Sofia, Bulgaria; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; enter Italy and stop in Venice and Milan; pass through Switzerland, stopping at Lausanne; and finally terminate in Paris.

Bey has booked two cabins aboard the Express, next door to one another. Salinen and Tatiana take one cabin, Bey and Bond the other. Once the agents and Tatiana are settled in, Bey excuses himself to make a call to M.I.6. He returns 15 minutes later with a sombre face, and asks Salinen to join him and Bond in their cabin, leaving the sleeping Tatiana alone.

Bey explains that M.I.6 has intercepted Soviet communiques which state that there is a KGB agent aboard the Express. A number of Bulgarian agents are set to board the train at Sofia. Whether this is because the Soviets are aware of the agents and the SPECKTOR's presence aboard the train, or whether this is simply an example of KGB thoroughness is unsure. M's orders are for the agents to stay aboard the train and make contact with an M.I.6 agent who will board the train at Belgrade. The agent has been working in Yugoslavia for the last ten years and knows the Balkans region like the back of his hand. He will have an escape plan to get the agents and the SPECKTOR safely off the train and into Western Europe.

Bey has further news regarding Tatiana. The handwritten notes that Salinen recovered have been translated and forwarded to M.I.6. They were the notes of Tatiana's KGB interrogator. They state that during Tatiana's interrogation she insisted that she was acting under the orders of Colonel Klebb of Department V. Bond recognises the name as belonging to Rosa Klebb, one of the most senior officers in Department V of the KGB, formerly known as SMERSH, the KGB's feared assassination section. Kerim goes on to say that the notes mentioned that Klebb herself had defected from the Soviet Union 6 months ago - something of which Tatiana seemed unaware. Bey questions whether Tatiana can be trusted. Salinen defends her, pointing out that the notes mention nothing about him or the plan to steal the SPECKTOR.

Aware that their mission is far from over, the agents agree to remain in their cabins and not to draw any undue attention to themselves. They will take all their meals in their cabins and identify themselves to each other by a special door knock. They will lie low until the Belgrade agent makes contact with them and shares his escape plan.

It is now well after 3 a.m. Salinen returns to the cabin he shares with Tatiana and falls into a well-deserved sleep. Bey has a long discussion with the conductor and bribes him handsomely to hand over the passenger manifest. He finds a name he recognises - Benz - amongst the passengers. If it is the same Benz he knows, he is an associate of Krilencu and a KGB agent. Bey briefly contemplates taking the initiative and paying Benz a visit, but is convinced otherwise by Bond, who believes they should continue to lie low.

Murder on the Orient Express
The Express stops at Sofia in the morning, and continues on its way westward. The agents remain in their cabins, the tension steadily building as they know the train is now swarming with enemy agents. Tatiana finally awakes from her drug-induced stupor, firstly disoriented and confused, then terrified as memories of the last 24 hours come flooding back. Salinen comforts her and reasures her that they're on their way to western Europe and freedom.

Later that day, as the Express draws closer to Belgrade, Bond notices a suspicious looking man hovering about in the passageway outside the agents' cabins. He draws Bey's attention to the man, an Bey identifies him as Benz. Thinking quickly, Bond apprehends the man, forcing him at gunpoint into the cabin he shares with Bey. Bey gags Benz and ties him up, and commences an interrogation. In the meantime, Bond slips next door to discuss developments with Salinen.

While the two M.I.6 agents discuss their options, they hear gunshots coming from the Bond's cabin. Bond rushes back and discovers Bey and Benz both dead, having apparently shot each other - Benz had a pistol contraption hidden underneath his shirtsleeve. Bond disposes of Benz's body, shoving it through the cabin's window. Unwilling to dispose of Bey's body int he same way, he wraps him in a sheet and leaves him on his bed.

Salinen is shocked and distraught at the news of Bey's death. The agents decide to take no further chances. Bond transfers the SPECKTOR to Salinen and Tatiana's cabin, and the three hunker down as the Express draws into Belgrade station and wait for M's agent to make contact.

Malcolm Nash
15 minutes after the Express pulls away from Belgrade, there is a knock on the agents' cabin door. A tall, broad-shouldered blonde man with a healthy tan enters and introduces himself as Captain Malcolm Nash. He uses the codephrase 'azure,' meaning he comes with orders directly from M. The agents welcome him in.

Nash explains that he's been ordered to help the agents escape the train and get back to Britain with a vital piece of equipment, but aside from that he knows nothing else. Herding the agents to a corner of the cabin, away from Tatiana, Nash explains his escape plan to them. As the Express approaches the Italian border, it will pass over a hill. The gradient of the hill is such that the train must slow to a near-walking pace. Nash and the agents will jump from the train at that point and meet Nash's associate, who will drive them to a boat. It will then be a simple matter of boaing across the Adriatic into Venice, and making contact with the local station house. There's one catch with his plan, though: the girl isn't coming. Bond and Salinen object to this, arguing that Tatiana constitutes a greater security risk if she is left aboard the train than if she is taken back to Britain. Nash points out that she's connected with Colonel Klebb but Bond and Salinen are adamant. There's a further argument as the agents first try to convince Nash to bring Bey's body with them, and then to dump Bey's body in a place where they can collect it for a proper funeral later. Nash, bewildered by the agents' demands, reluctantly accedes.

As the Express is still several hours away from the Italian border, the agents order a meal to their cabin. Nash pours champagne for everyone and toasts the success of their mission. The meal is delicious, and Tatiana drifts off to sleep shortly afterwards. However, Bond and Salinen also feel decidedly drowsy and Bond realises that their champagne was drugged, probably with sodium amytal. Before they can take action, however, they both fall unconscious.

The Web Revealed
Some time later, Salinen is awoken by a kick in the ribs from 'Nash.' Nash is holding Bond's gun and explains that Salinen has fallen hook, line and sinker into a trap laid by his most powerful enemy - TAROT. Salinen has made too many enemies, with killing Doctor No in Jamaica the previous year and interrupting their business in the Bahamas earlier this year. TAROT decided to take action. Not only will they kill Salinen, Bond and Tatiana, making it look like a three-way love affair gone wrong, they'll also steal the SPECKTOR and sell i to the hightest bidder, thus turning in a tidy profit for the scheme. Nash produces a roll of film from his jacket, which he claims was taken when Salinen and Tatiana were making love in his hotel in Istanbul.

'Nash' then reveals his nasty side, promising to torture Salinen and not kill him until he crawls along the floor and kisses Nash's boot. Salinen glances at Bond, lying unconscious on the floor to Nash's right, and cries out, "Bond!" The distraction this causes Nash is tiny, but enough. Salinen launches himself at Nash, who immediately fires, catching Salinen in the arm, but Salinen knocks the pistol away and it slides under Tatiana's bed.

A vicious, desperate brawl breaks out between Salinen and Nash. Nash takes advantage of Salinen's wound and begins to choke him with a garotte contraption built into his watch, but the commotion serves only to drag Bond out of his drugged state. Bond is able to pull himself out of his torpor to attack Nash; the distraction is enough to help Salinen force his way out of Nash's garotte. A three-way brawl ensues between Nash, Salinen and Bond which sees the plates and knives from their dinner used as improvised weapons. Bond draws both commando knives from his and Salinen's attache cases but, despite the two-on-one disadvantage, Nash proves to be a resourceful, tenacious fighter who repulses everything the M.I.6 agents throw at him. He is only overcome when Salinen, having used an attache case to shield himself from Nash's knife attacks, opens it in his face and activates the tear gas cannister inside. Nash is incapacitated by the gas, and Salinen slits his throat to finish him off. Nash's body is unceremoniously dumped out of the window.

Escape to Venice
The agents wake the groggy Tatiana and decide to utilise Nash's escape plan. They gather the SPECKTOR, wait for the train to decelerate, then, when it is travelling at no more than walking pace, jump off the train.

The agents quickly find Nash's waiting contact; a Yugoslavian farmer driving a beaten-up flatbed truck. Bond bribes him with gold sovereigns from his attache case to take the three of them to Nash's waiting escape boat. The farmer willingly agrees, driving the agents and Tatiana to the coast, where a speedboat awaits them. The three board the boat and cast off, heading west for the Italy.

Shortly into their journey, the agents notice they are being followed by three speedboats flying the TAROT banner. One of the drivers of the pursuing boats hails the agents, demanding that they slow to a stop. The agents responding by loosing the barrels of petrol strapped to their boat into the water, and detonating them with shots from Bond's pistol. The resulting explosion and conflagration sets the pursuing boats alight.  Bond, Salinen and Tatiana are free to pilot the boat into Italian waters.

The agents arrive in Venice and check in with headquarters.  M orders them to contact the local station house, who will arrange for the SPECKTOR to be returned to Britain in the diplomatic bag.  Arrangements are made for Tatiana to be debriefed and to take up a new identity in Britain, and the agents are awarded two weeks leave before they are required to return to their duties in London.

NPC Checklist
Rosa Klebb:  Major Villain.  Former KGB officer, now defected to TAROT.  At large.
"Malcolm Nash":  Privileged Henchman.  Executed by David Salinen after being knocked out in a fight aboard the Orient Express.
Boris Krilencu:  Henchman.  Killed by Shane Bond during a gunfight at the Soviet Consulate in Istanbul.

Kerim Bey:  Head of M.I.6's Station T Turkey.  Killed by KGB agent Benz aboard the Orient Express.
Tatiana Romanova:  Fully debriefed by M.I.6, who have facilitated her defection to the United Kingdom.

Experience and Fame Points
Each character receives 2000 experience points (500 for sessions 1 and 2 and 1000 for session 3).
David Salinen receives 28 fame points (3 for completing the mission, 10 for killing 'Malcolm Nash,' 15 for killing three people).
Shane Bond receives 8 fame points (3 for completing the mission, 5 for killing Boris Krilencu).