Work Text:
This takes place between the events of 'Moonraker' and 'For Your Eyes Only.'
Somewhere in the UK - 1980
James Bond waited quietly in the small interview room inside the maximum-security detention facility for the person he was going to speak with. This short period of calmness came as a respite to him after the past few hectic months following his so-called 'Moonraker Mission.' The fallout from it had been rather intense; endless reports and interviews with not only "M' and his other bosses at MI6, but officials from the UK Ministry of Defence, the US Air Force, NATO, NASA, and even some former employees of the now-dissolved Drax Industries. The Drax employees were lower-to-mid-ranking minions who claimed to know nothing of the real plans of their late boss, Hugo Drax, to eradicate nearly all of humanity. The rest were either dead, killed in the destruction of Drax's secret space station in Earth orbit where he planned to execute his genocidal operation; the others remaining on Earth had disappeared in pre-arranged escape plans and intelligence and law enforcement agencies the world over were still in the process of searching for them. Agent 007 had barely managed to prevent Drax's maniacal plan with the aid of two allies--the first was Dr. Holly Goodhead, who was now deep into training at Houston for her upcoming Space Shuttle mission where she would become (publicly, at least) America's first woman in space. And the second was the individual Bond had requested to see and was presently waiting for.
He heard the sound of a heavy steel door opening and closing down the corridor from the interview room. Pairs of footsteps were heard approaching, one pair decidedly louder than the others. The interview room door opened, and three men entered. Bond was momentarily apprehensive at the sight of an enormous man over seven feet tall, dressed in drab prison clothes, flanked by two burly guards armed with tasers, mace canisters and riot clubs. It was Jaws, the former henchman and professional assassin who had been 007's most formidable and nearly indestructible adversary. Double-handcuffed and in leg chains, Jaws was motioned by the guards to sit down in the chair in front of the small table facing Bond. A third guard waited outside the interview room in case he was needed. Jaws' chains clinked and the chair creaked under his weight as the big man sat down.
Jaws looked different from when Bond last saw him aboard Drax's space station. The henchman's fearsome metal teeth were gone, replaced by a set of ordinary dentures. He had grown a small mustache and his brown hair was more close-cropped. However, his brown eyes still maintained a menacing quality about them.
Jaws smiled as he spoke, "Hi, James."
"Hello, Jaws," Bond replied.
"My name is Richard, actually."
"Yes, I know." Bond addressed the guards, "I think we can do without the manacles and chains."
One guard shook his head, "Sorry sir, we can't. Orders."
"I see," Bond said. "Thank you, that will be all."
The guards left the room, closing the door behind them. They remained just outside, taking their posts near the door and where they were able to see inside the room through the one-way window next to the door.
"I guess you've been a little busy," Jaws said in a surprisingly pleasant tone.
"You could say that," Bond offered. "So how are they treating you here?"
"Not too bad. The food could be a little better. I'm in solitary twenty-three hours a day. They let me out in the exercise yard for one hour--alone, of course--I can run around and get some fresh air. I have a radio in my cell, and I can read books and newspapers. Outside of that, it's been a long line of cops, Interpol and such interrogating me. Oh, your CIA friend Felix Leiter was here, too."
"I didn't know that," Bond said. "I haven't spoken to Felix in a long time."
Jaws made a wry smile, "Yeah, he compared me to Wile E. Coyote, and you're the Roadrunner."
Raising an eyebrow, Bond said, "Our adventures did seem to be taking that sort of bent."
"Leiter would not have survived," Jaws said ominously.
Bond understood the compliment Jaws paid him. "One of the risks of the respective businesses you and I are in."
Jaws nodded in agreement. "I should thank you for saving mine and Blanche's lives, though. What you said to Drax on the space station. That was going too far, what he turned out to be planning."
Bond remembered the petite, bespectacled young blonde woman Jaws had made friends with in Brazil, who later accompanied him to Drax's station. Probably due to her small stature, she acquired the nickname "Dolly" from Colonel Scott and the US astro-Marines who rescued the mismatched couple after the destruction of the Drax station, which they also unofficially referred to as the "Death Star." "How is your young lady friend?" Bond asked.
"She's fine--came to visit me last week. I love her, and we're going to get married."
"Congratulations," Bond said, a little surprised.
"You're invited to the wedding," Jaws said. "Strange as it may sound, you're about the closest thing to family I have at this point. It'll be right here, so no champagne this time. Seven-Up will have to do."
"Thank you. I'll certainly do my best to be here for it."
Jaws turned somber. "After that, I don't know. Looks like I'm going to be in here for a long time."
"Not necessarily," Bond said. "I understand you've been providing the authorities with a lot of valuable information. It's possible in return for that, the government could relocate you and your future wife someplace where you could have a new life and new identity."
"With the way I've been running my mouth, it's bound to get back to somebody," Jaws replied. "I know outfits like SPECTRE aren't what they used to be, thanks to you, but they still have a long reach." He gestured to his large frame with his manacled hands, "And it'll be damn difficult to hide someone like me."
"Not to worry Richard, we know of a few out-of-the-way places where no one will think to look," Bond replied.
"Guess I'll just have to take your word for that, James."
Bond paused for a moment, then said, "Well, I should be going." He stood up from his chair, offering his former adversary a polite smile, "See you at the wedding, and good luck to you."
Richard smiled back with his normal teeth, which still seemed odd to Bond. "See you then."
The two men exchanged no further words as Bond walked over to the door and knocked for the guard to open it. The door opened and Bond exited the room while the guards entered to return Richard to his cell.