In Thunderball, Fiona Volpe and Emilio Largo’s remarkably casual conversation over a few rounds of clay shooting makes me wonder if she has more influence within SPECTRE than we’re ever told. Despite her prominent role in the operation, Fiona is never identified by a SPECTRE number, unlike Largo, who is Number 2, and Blofeld, Number 1.

Yet she discusses matters with Largo with the sort of familiarity that suggests she knows exactly how he thinks, even casually suggesting that he would like to see Bond dead rather than actually asking him. Largo’s response, “I can think of no better arrangement,” confirms that she read him perfectly. Fiona then takes it a step further by making the matter personal, suggesting that Largo’s motivation is partly that Bond “wants to make love” to his woman, Domino Derval.

That’s an awfully intimate observation to make about your superior, and it certainly makes me wonder whether Fiona and Largo had some sort of relationship before the events of the movie. If nothing else, their conversation gives Fiona an intriguing level of familiarity with Largo that the movie never bothers to explain.