Casino Royale Ch. 01: Gun Barrel

High atop a giant Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) tower in Berlin, balding middle-aged senior executive Rodney Thorpe frowned at his flatscreen display panel, disappointed by the performance of derivatives he had been trading in. As a discretionary advisor, he managed several accounts of people who trusted his investment acumen and instinct, and he did not have a record of disappointing his clients. After researching his real-time Reuters news feed, he decided to hold his position. As he returned to market research, he received a call from his receptionist as one of his clientele's representatives had arrived, so he asked the receptionist to let the representative in.

When he saw the double doors to his office open, his jaw dropped open in shock. A beautiful English woman with long straight blonde hair wearing a buttoned-up silk white blouse and a short black office miniskirt strolled in, her black heels clicking the marble floor as her hips swayed. He eyed her up and down, admiring her lean and fit figure, but especially her sexy long, lean, and fit legs that seemed to reflect the sunlight. He slowly stood up from his desk, deliberately not standing up to hide the erection that had quickly formed in his trousers.

"Good morning. I'm Rodney," he said with nervousness in his English accent, offering his hand.

The woman grasped his hand firmly to give it a proper shake.

"The name is Blonde. James Blonde," she replied with a strong northern English accent.

Rodney quickly sat down to hide his erection.

Blonde sat on the desk edge nearest him and crossed her legs sexily in front of him; by the look on Rodney's face, she knew he had a good few moments to see the crotch of her pink lace panties. She placed one heel into his groin and toyed with the erection tenting up his pants. With her hands, she placed her purse onto the visitor's chair.

"What have you been up to, Rodney?" she asked.

"Looking at futures," he stammered, as he found himself twitching his groin involuntarily along with Blonde's footplay.

Blonde quickly sat on his erection facing his computer display, causing him to groan lecherously, and took a look at what he was reading.

"Wait! You can't be looking at that!" pleaded Rodney.

Blonde simply took his right hand and placed it on her right thigh, running the hand down to her knee, while grabbing his left hand and wrapping it around her left breast. As soon as she took her hands off of his, they began moving on their own volition.

Her hands-free, she took control of his mouse and keyboard and looked up the file on the client Zhu, quickly memorizing his recent financial transactions and addresses on file. While going through his information, Blonde got off of Rodney and leaned forward, forcing her buttocks into his face. She felt his hands freely roaming and exploring her legs, sometimes reaching between them to gently trace the outline of her panties with his fingers.

Suddenly, three men armed with handguns burst into the room, covering Blonde and Rodney.

"No one was expecting you, lady. So you better start explaining, as right now, things don't look good for you," one of the men explained.

Blonde slowly stood up, hands raised, then slowly lowered her hands to the top button of her blouse, and began unbuttoning it; the armed men could only leer at her in delight.

"Then perhaps, you forgot to look at my hidden assets," said Blonde, as she pressed a button hidden in her bra while closing her eyes.

A flash grenade went off, instantly blinding Rodney and the three armed men. As the light filled the room, Blonde listened carefully to the footsteps and used the men's curses and screams to guide her punches and kicks, disarming and knocking the three men down hard onto the marble floor, incapacitating them.

She grabbed the still-blinded Rodney by the throat.

"It seems the markets are moving against you," she said.

Rodney could only tremble in terror.

"I have a warning for you. Do NOT make secret relationships with Chinese government officials. The SIS, or MI6, will NOT tolerate foreign interference," she said coldly, before punching him hard in the nose.