At gunpoint, Mr. Hinx led Bond down a long corridor with various side passages and doorways set into the rock. Dr. Persephone Payne was nowhere to be seen. The hallway rose at a slight incline, directing them out into an anteroom with a vault-like door that opened up into the brightness of the evening sun.

"This way, Mr. Bond." Hinx gestured toward the welcoming daylight. The assassin had warned him that his execution was at hand. This was not a pardon. It was the place of his death.

When Bond didn't move, Hinx shoved him through the door. "No more stalling. Time to die."

As Bond stumbled forward, he threw his hand up to block the glare. It did little to help, but soon his eyes adjusted, and he took in his surroundings. They appeared to be at the top of a high cliff, a flat space of ground large enough to hold two wooden posts set close together and a pair of lawn chairs with a small glass table between them. The bunker door stood behind them, a mound of earth rising on both sides. Bond couldn't see what lay beyond the edges of the other three sides of the precipice, but he suspected steep drop offs.

In the distance, birds squawked, and waves crashed. Salt permeated the air. They probably weren't far from Safin's lair on Kalsoy, possibly one of the other nearby islands.

Hinx gave him another shove, toward the two poles, concreted in about six inches apart. Dr. Payne appeared with a laptop under her arm and a scowl hardening her once soft cheeks. She took Hinx's gun while the assassin tied Bond to the pole with a rope, his back facing the second post. Once he was secure, she backed away and laid the gun on the glass table.

"So, this is where it happens?" Bond said.

"You will die," Hinx replied. "But first, you will suffer."

This made Dr. Payne perk up, although she didn't seem happy. Rather vengeful was more like it, Bond surmised.

"Ernst Stavro Blofeld is not dead," Hinx said.

Bond stiffened.

"Yes. You accidentally poisoned him when you touched him in his prison cell, but not as you suppose. His breathing and heart rate were lowered to undetectable levels. Blofeld had a failsafe hidden in his blood that neutralized the nanobot poison, giving it a different effect. To everyone, he appeared to be dead, but he was not. Once in the prison morgue, he awoke, and agents of Spectre spirited him away."

Fire burned behind Bond's eyes.

"That's right. Spectre is alive and well. Ready to continue our plans for global unrest and depopulation." Hinx narrowed his eyes. "We'll start with you, and someone you love."

Bond straightened, standing taller, toiling against the rope that bound his hands behind his back.

"I'm certain you will be pleased to know you will not die alone."