Page "Thunderball (novel)" Paragraph 3

Thunderball begins with a meeting between Bond and his superior, M, during which the agent is told that his latest physical assessment is poor because of excessive drinking and smoking ( up to sixty cigarettes a day ).

M sends Bond on a two-week treatment at the Shrublands health clinic to improve his health.

At the clinic Bond encounters Count Lippe, a member of the Red Lightning Tong criminal organisation from Macau.

When Bond learns of the Tong connection, Lippe tries to kill him by tampering with a spinal traction machine.

Bond, however, is saved by nurse Patricia Fearing and later retaliates against Lippe by trapping him in a steam bath, resulting in the Count's second-degree burns and a week's stay in hospital.