Chapter 3, Holiday Task Summary

M then calls in the Chief of Staff and begins to tell Bond about a new assignment he would like him to take. It seems that one of their agents in Jamaica has disappeared. The local authorities believe that Strangeways has taken off with his secretary and that they will reappear in time. Bond, who was friends with Strangeways, confirms that this might be possible, though he seriously doubts that Strangeways would walk away from his responsibilities like that. Bond asks what Strangeways' last case was. The Chief of Staff tells Bond that the only case Strangeways had been working on recently was a case involving a bird sanctuary on a nearby island. There were some rare birds on an island called Crab Key that the Audubon Society in New York had taken an interest in. They had set...