The Bourne Identity (45 page)

"From the beginning," insisted Gillette. "I told you that. Three years of false reports, sources unverified. It was all there."

"From the beginning," mused the European. "Undoubtedly the Monk's finest creation ... until something happened and the creation turned. Everything's turning; it's all coming apart at the seams."

"Stevens' being here confirms that. The president insists on knowing."

"He has to. There's a nagging suspicion in Ottawa that a section head at the Treasury Board was killed by American Intelligence." The European turned from the window and looked at the bureaucrat.

"Remember, Alfred, we simply want to know what happened. I've given you the facts as we've learned them; they're irrefutable and Abbott cannot deny them. But they must be presented as having been obtained independently by your own sources. You're appalled. You demand an accounting; the entire intelligence community has been duped."

"It has!" exclaimed Gillette. "Duped and used. No one in Washington knows about Bourne, about Treadstone. They've excluded everyone; it is appalling. I don't have to pretend. Arrogant bastards!"

"Alfred," cautioned the European, holding up his hand in the shadows, "do remember whom you're working for. The threat cannot be based on emotion, but in cold professional outrage. He'll suspect you instantly; you must dispel those suspicions just as swiftly. You are the accuser, not he."

"I'll remember."

"Good." Headlight beams bounced through the glass. "Abbott's taxi is here. I'll take care of the driver."

The European reached to his right and flipped a switch beneath the armrest. "I'll be in my car across the
Page 231

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

street, listening." He spoke to the chauffeur. "Abbott will be coming out any moment now. You know what to do."

The chauffeur nodded. Both men got out of the limousine simultaneously. The driver walked around the hood as if to escort a wealthy employer to the south side of the street. Gillette watched through the rear window; the two men stayed together for several seconds, then separated, the European heading for the approaching cab, his hand held up, a bill between his fingers. The taxi would be sent away; the caller's plans had changed. The chauffeur had raced to the north side of the street and was now concealed in the shadows of a staircase two doors away from Treadstone Seventy-One. Thirty seconds later Gillette's eyes were drawn to the door of the brownstone. Light spilled through as an impatient David Abbott came outside, looking up and down the street, glancing at his watch, obviously annoyed. The taxi was late and he had a plane to catch; precise schedules had to be followed. Abbott walked down the steps, turning left on the pavement, looking for the cab, expecting it. In seconds he would pass the chauffeur. He did, both men well out of camera range. The interception was quick, the discussion rapid. In moments, a bewildered David Abbott climbed inside the limousine and the chauffeur walked away into the shadows.

"You!" said the Monk, anger and disgust in his voice. "Of all people,
you
."

"I don't think you're in any position to be disdainful ... much less arrogant."

"What you've
done!
How
dare
you? Zurich. The Medusa records. It was you!"

"The Medusa records, yes. Zurich, yes. But it's not a question of what
I've
done; it's what you've done. We sent our own men to Zurich, telling them what to look for. We found it. His name is Bourne, isn't it?

He's the man you call Cain. The man you invented."

Abbott kept himself in check. "How did you find this house?"

"Persistence. I had you followed."

"You had
me
followed? What the hell did you think you were
doing?"

"Trying to set a record straight. A record you've warped and lied about, keeping the truth from the rest of us. What did you think
you
were doing?"

"Oh, my God, you damn fool!" Abbott inhaled deeply. "Why did you do it? Why didn't you come to me yourself?'

"Because you'd have done nothing. You've manipulated the entire intelligence community. Millions of dollars, untold thousands of man hours, embassies and stations fed lies and distortions about a killer that never existed. Oh, I recall your words--what a challenge to Carlos! What an irresistible
trap
is what it was! Only we were your pawns too, and as a responsible member of the Security Council, I resent it deeply. You're all alike. Who elected you God so you could break the rules--no, not just the rules, the laws--and make us look like fools?"

"There was no other way," said the old man wearily, his face a drawn mass of crevices in the dim light.

"How many know? Tell me the truth."

Page 232

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"I've contained it. I gave you that."

"It may not be enough. Oh, Christ!"

"It may not last, period," said the bureaucrat emphatically. "I want to know what happened."

"What happened?"

"To this grand strategy of yours. It seems to be ... falling apart at the seams."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's perfectly obvious. You've lost Bourne; you can't find him. Your Cain has disappeared with a fortune banked for him in Zurich."

Abbott was silent for a moment. "Wait a minute. What put you on to it?"

"You," said Gillette quickly, the prudent man rising to the baited question. "I must say I admired your control when that ass from the Pentagon spoke so knowingly of Operation Medusa ... sitting directly across from the man who created it."

"History." The old man's voice was strong now. "That wouldn't have told you anything."

"Let's say it was rather unusual for you not to
say
anything. I mean, who at that table knew more about Medusa than you? But you didn't say a word, and that started me thinking. So I objected strenuously to the attention being paid this assassin, Cain. You couldn't resist, David. You had to offer a very plausible reason to continue the search for Cain. You threw Carlos into the hunt."

"It was the truth," interrupted Abbott.

"Certainly it was; you knew when to use it and I knew when to spot it. Ingenious. A snake pulled out of Medusa's head, groomed for a mythical title. The contender jumps into the champion's ring to draw the champion out of his corner."

"It was sound, sound from the beginning."

"Why not? As I say, it was ingenious, even down to every move made by his own people against Cain. Who better to relay those moves to Cain but the one man on the Forty Committee who's given reports on every covert operations conference. You used us all!"

The Monk nodded. "Very well. To a point you're right, there've been degrees of abuse--in my opinion, totally justified--but it's not what you think. There are checks and balances; there always are, I wouldn't have it any other way. Treadstone is comprised of a small group of men among the most trustworthy in the government. They range from Army G-Two to the Senate, from the CIA to Naval Intelligence, and now, frankly, the White House. Should there be any true abuse, there's not one of them that would hesitate to put a stop to the operation. None has ever seen fit to do so, and I beg you not to do so either."

"Would I be made part of Treadstone?"

"You
are
part of it now."

Page 233

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"I see. What happened? Where is Bourne?"

"I wish to God we knew. We're not even sure it
is
Bourne."

"You're not even sure of
what?"

"I see. What happened? Where Is Bourne?"

"I wish to God we knew. We're not even sure it is Bourne."

"You're not even sure of what?"

The European reached for the switch on the dashboard and snapped it off. "That's it," he said. "That's what we had to know." He turned to the chauffeur beside him. "Quickly, now. Get beside the staircase. Remember, if one of them comes out, you have precisely three seconds before the door is closed. Work fast."

The uniformed man got out first; he walked up the pavement toward Treadstone Seventy-One. From one of the adjacent brownstones, a middle-aged couple were saying loud goodbyes to their hosts. The chauffeur slowed down, reached into his pocket for a cigarette and stopped to light it. He was now a bored driver, whiling away the hours of a tedious vigil. The European watched, then unbuttoned his raincoat and withdrew a long, thin revolver, its barrel enlarged by a silencer. He switched off the safety, shoved the weapon back into his holster, got out of the car and walked across the street toward the limousine. The mirrors had been angled properly; by staying in the blind spot there was no way either man inside could see him approach. The European paused briefly for the rear trunk, then swiftly, hand extended, lunged for the right front door, opened it and spun inside, leveling his weapon over the seat. Alfred Gillette gasped, his left hand surging for the door handle; the European snapped the four-way lock. David Abbott remained immobile, staring at the invader.

"Good evening, Monk," said the European. "Another, whom I'm told often assumes a religious habit, sends you his congratulations. Not only for Cain, but for your household personnel at Treadstone. The Yachtsman, for instance. Once a superior agent."

Gillette found his voice; it was a mixture of a scream and a whisper. "What
is
this? Who
are
you?" he cried, feigning ignorance.

"Oh come now, old friend. That's not necessary," said the man with the gun. "I can see by the expression on Mr. Abbott's face that he realizes his initial doubts about you were accurate. One should always trust one's first instincts, shouldn't one, Monk? You were right, of course. We found another discontented man; your system reproduces them with alarming rapidity. He, indeed, gave us the Medusa files, and they did, indeed, lead us to Bourne."

"What are you doing?!" screamed Gillette. "What are you
saying!"

"You're a bore, Alfred. But you were always part of a damn fine staff. It's too bad you didn't know which staff to stay with; your kind never do."

Page 234

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"You! ..." Gillette rose bodily off the seat, his face contorted. The European fired his weapon, the cough from the barrel echoing briefly in the soft interior of the limousine. The bureaucrat slumped over, his body crumbling to the floor against the door, owl-eyes wide in death.

"I don't think you mourn him," said the European.

"I don't," said the Monk.

"It
is
Bourne out there, you know. Cain turned; he broke. The long period of silence is over. The snake from Medusa's head decided to strike out on his own. Or perhaps he was bought. That's possible too, isn't it? Carlos buys many men, the one at your feet now, for example."

"You'll learn nothing from me. Don't try."

"There's nothing to learn. We know it all. Delta, Charlie ... Cain. But the names aren't important any longer, they never were, really. All that remains is the final isolation--removing of the man-monk who makes the decisions. You. Bourne is trapped. He's finished."

"There are others who make decisions. He'll reach them."

"If he does, they'll kill him on sight. There's nothing more despicable than a man who's turned, but in order for a man to turn, there has to be irrefutable proof that he was yours to begin with. Carlos has the proof; he
was
yours, his origins as sensitive as anything in the Medusa files."

The old man frowned; he was frightened, not for his life, but for something infinitely more indispensable.

"You're out of your mind," he said. "There is no proof."

"That was the flaw,
your
flaw. Carlos is thorough; his tentacles reach into all manner of hidden recesses. You needed a man from Medusa, someone who had lived and disappeared. You chose a man named Bourne because the circumstances of his disappearance had been obliterated, eliminated from every existing record--or so you believed. But you didn't consider Hanoi's own field personnel who had infiltrated Medusa; those records exist. On March 25, 1968, Jason Bourne was executed by an American Intelligence officer in the jungles of Tam Quan."

The Monk lunged forward; there was nothing left but a final gesture, a final defiance. The European fired.

The door of the brownstone opened. From the shadows beneath the staircase the chauffeur smiled. The White House aide was being escorted out by the old man who lived at Treadstone, the one they called the Yachtsman; the killer knew that meant the primary alarms were off. The three-second span was eliminated.

"So good of you to drop by," said the Yachtsman, shaking hands.

"Thank you very much, sir."

Those were the last words either man spoke. The chauffeur aimed above the walled brick railing, pulling
Page 235

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

the trigger twice, the muffled reports indistinguishable from the myriad of distant sounds of the city. The Yachtsman fell back inside the White House aide clutched his upper chest, reefing into the door frame. The chauffeur spun around the brick railing and raced up the steps, catching Stevens' body as it plummeted down. With bull-like strength, the killer lifted the White House man off his feet, hurling him back through the door into the foyer beyond the Yachtsman. Then he turned to the interior border of the heavy, steel-plated door. He knew what to look for; he found it. Along the upper molding, disappearing into the wall, was a thick cable, stained the color of the doorframe. He closed the door part way, raised his gun and fired into the cable. The spit was followed by an eruption of static and sparks; the security cameras were blown out, screens everywhere now dark.

He opened the door to signal; it was not necessary. The European was walking rapidly across the quiet street. Within seconds he had climbed the steps and was inside, glancing around the foyer and the hallway--the door at the end of the hallway. Together both men lifted a rug from the foyer floor, the European closing the door on its edge, welding cloth and steel together so that a two-inch space remained, the security bolts still in place. No backup alarms could be raised. They stood erect in silence; both knew that if the discovery was going to be made, it would be made quickly. It came with the sound of an upstairs door opening, followed by footsteps and words that floated down the staircase in a cultured female voice.