Q greeted Moneypenny briefly as he walked into M's office with a slight frown on his face. He couldn't understand why the man insisted on paper copies of everything. Digital was much more efficient. He walked in to see M hurriedly assuming a working pose; clearly he didn't expect Q to be this prompt.

"Ah, Q." He gently set aside the papers he was apparently reading upside-down. Q raised his eyebrows pointedly but silently took a seat. "I have a new mission for 007 but there are still some holes in the plan. I was hoping you could help with that."

"Go on." He leaned forward slightly. M slid a few papers across the desk. "We have received intel that Karenin will be attending a professional conference in Chicago in two weeks time. I want Bond there to find out who he is, what he looks like, and get to know his weak points. I don't anticipate this being confrontational, but if it is Bond still has friends in the CIA who can help him out."

Q glanced up with a small smile. "That's not really why, is it? You are getting payback for the Chinese finger trap he gave you last week isn't it? You know as well as I do that he hates intel missions."

M scowled, annoyed that Q could easily see through his lie. "Maybe a little. And for breaking into my flat to steal my best scotch on Monday while I was tied up here."

"You know he's going to see through your excuse."

"Yes, I'm just hoping he will be professional about it." A single lifted brow indicated what the younger man thought. "Yes, well, I need you to confirm the validity of these rumours, figure out a way to get Bond into this conference, and find out how much Bond knows about photography."

"It's a photography conference?" He asked, flipping through the papers searching for the conference details.

"Yes. For professionals in the field to market themselves and attend workshops. Why?"

Q stood with a growing grin. "I might just know the perfect cover story for Bond. And he doesn't need any knowledge of photography."