Last Words - Red Grant
23rd October 2013
Put your hands back in your pockets and keep them there
By MI6 Staff
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Having stalked 007 across Eastern Europe, and carefully chosen his time to strike, Red Grant proved to be a patient and resourceful killer. That is, until he is categorically outwitted by James Bond! It all starts when Bond requests backup from Station Y, Yugoslavia, to rendezvous with Bond and Tatiana, on the run from the Russian authorities, in Zagreb. Bond relies on the agent in question to plan the pair's escape from the Orient Express, before they are stopped at the Yugoslav-Trieste border. But, from the moment 'Nash' boards the train, nothing goes according to plan.
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Grant captures the contact in the station rest room and takes his place, posing as the posh British fish-out-of-water, Captain Nash. Bond, initially unaware, lets Nash in on his plans and Tatiana, James and the SPECTRE agent meet in the dining car for a late dinner. Here, 007 gets his first clue as to the impostor. "Make mine chianti," the curious Captain Nash orders a red wine with his fish course.
Back in the sleeping car, Bond confronts Nash about another trick he pulled: drugging Tatiana's wine. It's here that Nash, Grant as he is now revealed, elucidates upon the grand scheme, all the while relishing 007's foolhardiness. He allows Bond to come to the realisation that he, the infamous secret agent had been played by the world's most powerful terrorist organisation, known as SPECTRE. Grant calmly explains how they acquired the recognition codewords, how he defended Bond's life at the gypsy camp, using 007 to take the risks and smuggle the prized Lektor encoder out of the Soviet Union. The added prize was Bond's life as revenge for the death of Dr. No.
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But Grant, the professional hit-man, is easily bribed and 007 takes advantage of Q's bag of tricks, showing him the gold sovereigns and teasing Grant with the thought of another fifty stowed safely in the suitcase of the late Captain Nash. Little does the assassin know that the teargas booby trap is primed. When Grant, suspicious of Bond's movements, insists on retrieving the booty himself and plays right into 007's hands. A brawl between the two killers erupts in the close quarters of the train.
Bond's first task is to wrestle the silenced sidearm from Grant. But the latter man does not let go without a brutal struggle - the pair first break the interior lighting and, then, the window of the compartment. Grant is trapped by his own jacket and propelled into the adjoining room, where Tatiana lies unconscious. The battle takes on a new turn when Grant gets Bond in a chokehold and attempts to strangle 007 with his signature piano wire garrotte. Bond turns the tables and Grant succumbs to his own weapon.
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