 M , the Head of the British Secret Service , assigns James Bond , 007 , to play against and bankrupt Le Chiffre , the paymaster for a SMERSH @-@ controlled trade union , in a high @-@ stakes baccarat game at the Royale @-@ les @-@ Eaux casino in northern France . As part of Bond 's cover as a rich Jamaican playboy , M also assigns as his companion Vesper Lynd , personal assistant to the Head of Section S ( Soviet Union ) . The CIA and the French Deuxième Bureau also send agents as observers . The game soon turns into an intense confrontation between Le Chiffre and Bond ; Le Chiffre wins the first round , cleaning Bond out of his funds . As Bond contemplates the prospect of reporting his failure to M , the CIA agent , Felix Leiter , gives him an envelope of money and a note : " Marshall Aid . Thirty @-@ two million francs . With the compliments of the USA . " The game continues , despite the attempts of one of Le Chiffre 's minders to kill Bond . Bond eventually wins , taking from Le Chiffre eighty million francs belonging to SMERSH . 
