|
?Anything?? asked the DCI, looking up from the papers on his desk
?Nothing,? answered the retired field officer angrily, heading for the couch against the wall
rather than a chair?Not a goddamned thingJesus, what a fucked-up day and it hasn?t even begun!
Casset and Valentino are down in the cellars sending out queries all over the Paris sewers but so far
nothingChrist, look at the scenario and find me a thread! Swayne, Armbruster, DeSole?our
mute son of a bitch, the moleThen for God?s sake, Teagarten with Bourne?s calling card, when we
know damned well it?s a trap for Jason set by the JackalBut there?s no logic anywhere that ties
Carlos to Teagarten and by extension to MedusaNothing makes sense, PeterWe?ve lost the
spine?everything?s gone off the wire!?
?Calm down,? said Holland gently
?How the hell can I? Bourne?s disappeared-I mean really disappeared, if he isn?t deadAnd
there?s no trace of Marie, no word from her, and then we learn that Bernardine was killed in a
shoot-out only hours ago on the Rivoli?Christ, shot in broad daylight! And that means Jason was
there?he had to be there!?
?But since none of the dead or wounded fits his description, we can assume he got away, can?t
we??
?We can hope, yes
?You asked for a thread,? mused the DCI?I?m not sure I can actually provide one, but I can
give you something like it
?New York?? Conklin sat forward on the couch?The answering machine? That DeFazio hood in
Brooklyn Heights??
?We?ll get to New York, to all of chanel jewelry for sale that?themRight now let?s concentrate on that thread of
yours, that spine you mentioned
?I?m not the slowest kid on the block, but where is it??
Holland leaned back in his chair, gazing first at the papers on his desk and then up at Alex
?Seventy-two hours ago, when you decided to come clean with me about everything, you said that
the idea behind Bourne?s strategy was to persuade the Jackal and this latter-day Medusa to join
forces, with Bourne as the common target, one feeding the otherWasn?t that basically the premise?
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
294
Both sides wanted him killedCarlos had two reasons?revenge and the fact that he believes
Bourne could identify him; the Medusans because Bourne had pieced together so much about
them??
?That was the premise, yes,? agreed Conklin, nodding?It?s why I dug around and made those
phone calls, never expecting to find what I didJesus, a global cartel born twenty years ago in
Saigon, peopled by some of the biggest fish in and out of the government and the militaryIt was
the kind of pay dirt I didn?t want and wasn?t looking forI thought I might dig up maybe ten or
twelve hotshot millionaires with post-Saigon bank accounts that couldn?t bear scrutiny, but not this,
not this Medusa
?To put it as simply as possible,? continued Holland, frowning, his eyes again straying down to
the papers in front of him, then up at Alex?Once the connection was made between Medusa and
Carlos, word would be passed to the Jackal that there was a man sale tiffany jewelry Medusa wanted eliminated, and
cost was no objectSo far, yes??
?The key here was the caliber and the status of those reaching Carlos,? explained Conklin
?They had to be as close to bona fide Olympians as we could find, the kind of clients the Jackal
doesn?t get and never got
?Then the name of the target is revealed?say, in a way such as ?John Smith, once known years
ago as Jason Bourne??and the Jackal is hookedBourne, the one man he wants dead above all
othersThat?s why the Medusans reaching Carlos had to be so solid, so above questioning that
Carlos accepts them and dismisses any sort of a trap
?Because,? added the CIA?s director, ?Jason Bourne came out of Saigon?s Medusa?a fact
known to Carlos?but he never shared in the riches of the later, postwar MedusaThat?s the
background scenario, isn?t it??
?The logic?s as clean as it can beFor three years he was used and damn near killed in a black
operation, and along the way he supposedly discovered that more than a few undistinguished
Saigon pricks were driving Jaguars and were sailing yachts and pulling down six-figure retainers
while he went on a government pensionThat could try the patience of John the Baptist, to say
nothing of Barabbas
?It?s a terrific libretto,? allowed Holland, a slow smile breaking across his face?I can hear the
tenors soaring in triumph and the Machiavellian bassos slinking offstage in defeatDon?t scowl
at me, Alex, I mean it! It?s really ingeniousIt?s so inevitable it became a self-fulfilling gucci watches for women prophecy
?What the hell are you talking about??
?Your Bourne was right from the beginningIt all took place the way he saw it, but not in any
way he could have imaginedBecause it was inevitable; somewhere there had to be a crosspollinator
?Please come down from Mars and explain to an earthling, Peter
?Medusa?s using the Jackal! NowTeagarten?s assassination proves it unless you want to
concede that Bourne actually blew up that car outside of Brussels
?Then Carlos?s name had to surface for someone in Medusa who already knew about Jason
BourneIt couldn?t be otherwiseYou didn?t mention either one to Armbruster, or Swayne, or
Atkinson in London, did you??
?Again, of course notThe time wasn?t right; we weren?t ready to pull those triggers
?Who?s left?? asked Holland
Alex stared at the DCI?Good Lord,? he said softly?DeSole??
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
295
?Yes, DeSole, the grossly underpaid specialist who complained amusingly but incessantly that
there was no way a man could properly educate his children and grandchildren on government pay
He was brought in on everything we discussed, starting with your assault on us in the conference
room
?He certainly was, but that was limited to Bourne and the JackalThere was no mention of
Armbruster or Swayne, no Teagarten or Atkinson?the new Medusa wasn?t even in the picture
Hell, Peter, you didn?t know about it until seventy-two hours ago
?Yes, but DeSole did because he?d sold out; he was part of itHe had to have been cheap chanel handbags for sale alertedWe?ve been penetratedSome maniac says he?s going to expose us, blow us apart
You told me yourself that panic buttons were punched from the Trade Commission to Pentagon
Procurements to the embassy in London
?They were punched,? agreed Conklin?So hard that two of them had to be taken out along with
Teagarten and our disgruntled MoleSnake Lady?s elders quickly decided who their vulnerable
people wereBut where does Carlos or Bourne fit in? There?s no attribution
?I thought we agreed that there was
?DeSole?? Conklin shook his head?It?s a provocative thought, but it doesn?t washHe couldn?t
have presumed that I knew about Medusa?s penetration because we hadn?t even started it
?But when you did, the sequence had to bother him if only in the sense that although they were
poles apart, one crisis followed too quickly upon anotherWhat was it? A matter of hours??
?Less than twenty-four Still, they were poles apart
?Not for an analyst?s analyst,? countered Holland?If it walks like an odd duck and sounds like
an odd duck, look for an odd duckI submit that somewhere along the line DeSole made the
connection between Jason Bourne and the madman who had infiltrated Medusa?the new
Medusa
?For Christ?s sake, how??
?I don?t knowMaybe because you told us Bourne came out of the old Saigon Medusa?that?s
one hell of a connection to begin with
?My God, you may be right,? said Alex, falling back on the couch?The driving force we gave
our unnamed madman was that he?d been cut off from, the new cheap chanel bags Medusa |
| 