It has been nearly a year since James Bond disappeared, and was presumed dead during his mission to
Japan. Then, a man claiming to be Bond appears in
London and demands to see M. After much scrutinising and interrogation, the man's identity is confirmed, but during his debriefing interview with
M, Bond tries to kill him with a cyanide pistol; the attempt fails.
Meanwhile, the British Secret Service have learned that after attacking Blofeld's castle in
Japan (chronicled in
You Only Live Twice), Bond suffered a head injury and subsequent
amnesia. After living as a Japanese fisherman for several months, Bond headed north, into the
Soviet Union, to learn his true identity. While there, he was
brainwashed and programmed to kill M on returning to
England.
Now
deprogrammed, Bond is eager to prove himself worthy of again being a 00 agent. M assigns him to
Jamaica, to locate and gain the confidence of one Francisco (Paco) "Pistols" Scaramanga, an assassin, known as "the man with the golden gun", because of his golden .45 calibre revolver; Bond is assigned to kill him, because he killed several SIS agents.
In mid-assignment, Bond, who has managed to become Scaramanga's temporary personal assistant under the name of
Mark Hazard, learns that Scaramanga is involved with a syndicate of American
gangsters and the
KGB, who are working several schemes, including the destabilisation of Western interests in the
Caribbean's
sugar industry, running drugs into America, smuggling women from
Mexico into America and launching casinos in Jamaica. Initially unaware of Bond's presence in Jamaica, Felix Leiter has also been recalled to duty by the
CIA and assigned to Scaramanga's hotel staff.
Bond kills Scaramanga during a train journey, with the assistance of
Felix Leiter and his former secretary,
Mary Goodnight, now assigned to the
Kingston station of the Service. Leiter goes one step further and liquidates Scaramanga's gangster allies. In the process of all this, both Bond and Leiter are badly wounded, but they survive. Bond is offered a knighthood (
KCMG -- Bond already has
CMG) for services past and present to Britain -- but he turns it down because of his love for anonymity.