Why didn't they kill Bond when they had the chance?

Basically I have a question about the plot and will have to get into spoilers.

SPOILER


In the opening, it seems it was Trevelyan's plan to make MI6 believe he was killed while invading the chemical weapons plant. However, why didn't Trevelyan just kill Bond, when he first met him inside the plant? Trevelyan stages his death so Bond would think he is dead, but why have it in the plan to allow Bond to escape? I mean even if Bond is dead too, MI6 will still believe Trevelyan is dead, so why did they let Bond live, to escape?

Trevelyan had no beef with Bond. His plan in the PTS was to defect, not to kill Bond. It was because of Bond's actions during the PTS that he later bears a grudge, but not enough to actively hunt him down - his goal is still to bankrupt London - the city who betrayed his family.

Oh okay, so why didn't Ouromov or his men kill Bond then. Why shoot Trevelyan in front of Bond, when he can just shoot Bond instead?

I imagine they wanted Bond to get away to confirm that Alec was killed.

I don't know if I buy the idea that Ourumov's men were willingly missing shots and getting killed so as not to harm Jamesy.

When they're shooting, of course they're shooting to kill. But interesting to note Ouromov calls off the fire when they could have easily hit him.

That was to stop them blowing up the gas tank wasn't it?

Well yes, but I was referring to when Bond is riding the bike toward the cliff's edge.

I always figured that was because, to a regular person, it would have looked as if the boofy-haired doofus was going to ride the motorbike off the cliff to an inevitable splat and there was therefore no point in continuing the pursuit.

Yeah, and Gottfried sold disbelief well. 

The whole thing is an elaborate set up to fake Alec's death and just trying to justify it to myself.

Hell of a PTS, but riddled with holes.

Just like the rest of the GE plot.

Just like the rest of the GE plot.

Oops. Double post there.

FieldsMan wrote:

I imagine they wanted Bond to get away to confirm that Alec was killed.

But they don't need Bond alive to confirm that Alex is killed. They can still kill Bond as a bonus, and MI6 will still believe Alec was killed, whether Bond is alive to confirm it or not. MI6 would assume they are both dead if they didn't return.

The PTS isn't staged to suggest anything other than what the story says at that point. This along with Alec's age not matching his backstory are the only real major issues I have with the film's details on the surface.
Reading Gardner's novelization is much easier to believe as you don't have Sean Bean getting...shot in the face...and an entire army trying to kill 007 who barely manages to escape...a situation where anyone else would have died.
Perhaps it didn't matter either way because Gardner goes out of his way to underline that this was viewed as a suicidal mission in the book.

Alec's main goal is to get revenge on England. I think he likes James at that point in time, but isnt specifically trying to kill or save him. If Bond witnesses his "death" and escape, he can confirm it. If he dies, oh well.

Ourumov is just trying to facilitate 006's defection. I don't think he was pulling any punches and was trying to take out Bond if possible.