[Nine years ago, Arkhangelsk, Soviet Union]
I greatly enjoyed working with Alec Trevelyan. He was my best friend - heck, he was really my only friend. As a 00 agent, my life didn't lend itself to having friends.
"Ready to save the world again?"
"After you, 006."
Five minutes later, I had set the timers for the explosives.
"Come out with your hands up! You have 10 seconds."
The facility commander, Ouromov, had a gun to Alec's head.
"Finish the job, James! Blow them all to hell!"
I took Alec's advice. Ouromov shot him the moment after he said it. Three minutes later, I had commandeered a plane and was flying away from the explosion that destroyed the Arkhangelsk Chemical Weapons Facility.
[Present day, London, England]
GoldenEye existed. We had seen the effects as Mr. Tanner was giving his briefing. Now I was in M's office.
"If you think I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong. But I won't do it on a whim - even with your cavalier attitude towards life."
I locked eyes with her.
"I want you to find GoldenEye. Find out who took it, what they plan to do with it and stop it. And if you should come across Ouromov, guilty or not, I don't want you running off on some vendetta. Avenging Alec Trevelyan will not bring him back."
"You didn't get him killed."
"Neither did you. Don't make it personal."
I nodded and rose to depart.
"Bond."
I looked back at M.
"Come back alive."
[One week later, St. Petersburg, Russia]
I proceeded through the dimly lit junkyard. I was supposed to be meeting "Janus", an arms dealer. I picked my way through the passages and saw a lit doorway. A figure emerged into the light.
"Hello, James."
I blinked as I tried to process what I was seeing and hearing.
"Alec?"
"What's the matter, James?"
I put my gun back in its holster and raced at top speed towards my old friend. I wrapped him in a bearhug, then put him down.
"It's so good to see you, Alec! I thought you were dead!"
"And I thought you would be all about the mission, not about your friend. I had plans for that."
"You're the only person I would break the mission for. I've only had one friend since becoming a 00 agent. Anyway, we have nine years of catching up to do. I know a place that's still open."
We proceeded to a spot in the heart of St. Petersburg and entered the restaurant.
"I know this will come as a huge surprise, Alec, but I know the owner."
"Yep, you know restauranteurs in every major city in the world. When you eventually die, 99% of the guests at your funeral will own a restaurant."
"Let me let him know I'm here with you. We'll get the VIP treatment."
I hustled off towards the back, returning 10 minutes later. We did indeed get the VIP treatment. As we ate, we chatted.
"So did MI6 know you were a Lienz Cossack?"
"They did. They assumed I would be too young to remember."
"Now that I'm part of the team, what can you tell me about this operation?"
We planned some details.
"I still have a grudge against Ouromov, you know. Even though you're alive, he did shoot you."
"I understand that. And you still have a hero complex and want to save a girl."
"Well, yeah. Once saved, they have a tendency to be, um, very grateful."
"I think we can arrange something. I don't really need you for the actual meat and bones of the operation, and I've already come into possession of what I needed from Ouromov."
We planned a few more things, and modified the original operation. Alec's chief programmer, Boris, could easily tweak what needed to be tweaked.
I gave my old friend a smile. "You really are a Lienz Cossack, in every sense of the term."
He smiled back. "I know."
[Four hours before scheduled detonation of GoldenEye, safehouse, 40 miles outside of Moscow, Russia]
I had the silencer on my gun. Quietly, I disposed of the exterior guards. I slipped through the front door, closing it behind me. Ourumov and the girl, Natalia, should be in the master bedroom.
I approached carefully. Then I burst through the door, gun in hand, and shot Ouromov in the no-reflex zone before he could react.
"Who are you?" Natalia gasped.
I put my gun away. "The name's Bond. James Bond." I extended my hand. "I work for the British government. It was my job to terminate General Ouromov. Who might you be?"