“He knows who you are, so you’re the first...
“He knows
who you are, so you’re the first corpse, the one he realizes will drive me to the edge because you’re
Marie’s brother—you’re family and that’s what he’s holding over my headMy family!”
“Jesus Christ! What do we do?”
“I do!” replied Jason, pulling the second flare out of his pocket“I send him a messageThe
message that tells him why I’m alive and why I will be when he’s deadStay where you are!”
Bourne pulled his lighter out of his right pocket and ignited the flareScrambling, he raced across
the balcony doors hurling the hissing, blinding missile out into the darknessTwo snaps followed,
the bullets ricocheting off the tiled ceiling and shattering the mirror of a dressing table“He’s got a
MAC-ten with a silencer,” said Medusa’s Delta, rolling into the wall, grabbing his inflamed neck as
he did so“I have to get out of here!”
“David, you’re hurt!”
“That’s nice Jason Bourne got to his feet and raced to the door; slamming it back, he rushed
into the villa’s living room, only to face a frowning Canadian physician
“I heard gucci handbags cheap some noise in there,” said the doctor“Is everything all right?”
“I have to leave
“Now, see here! There’s blood on your bandage, the sutures—”
“Get your ass on the floor!”
“You’re not twenty-one, MrWebb—”
“Get out of my life!” shouted Bourne, running to the entrance, letting himself outside, and
rushing up the lighted path toward the main complex, suddenly aware of the deafening steel band,
its sound amplified throughout the grounds by a score of speakers nailed to the trees
The undulating cacophony was overwhelming, and that was not to his disadvantage, thought
JasonAngus McLeod had been true to his wordThe huge glass-enclosed circular dining room
held the few remaining guests and the fewer staff, and that meant the Chameleon had to change
colorsHe knew the mind of the Jackal as well as he knew his own, and that meant that the assassin
would do exactly what he himself would do under the circumstancesThe hungry, salivating wolf
went into the cave of its confused, rabid quarry and pulled out the prized piece of meatSo would
he, bag by louis vuitton shedding the skin of the mythical chameleon, revealing a much larger beast of prey—say, a
Bengal tiger—which could rip a jackal apart in his jawsWhy were the images important? Why?
He knew why, and it filled him with a feeling of emptiness, a longing for something that had
passed—he was no longer Delta, the feared guerrilla of Medusa; nor was he the Jason Bourne of
Paris and the Far EastThe older, much older, David Webb kept intruding, invading, trying to find
reason within insanity and violence
No! Get away from me! You are nothing and I am everything! Go away, David, for Christ’s
sake, go away
Bourne spun off the path and ran across the harsh, sharp tropical grass toward the side entrance
of the innInstantly, breathlessly, he cut his pace to a walk at the sight of a figure coming through
the door; then upon recognizing the man, he resumed runningIt was one of the few members of
Tranquility’s staff he remembered and one of the few he wished he could forgetThe insufferable
snob of an assistant manager named Pritchard, a gucci shoulder bags loquacious bore, albeit hardworking, who never let
anyone forget his family’s importance in Montserrat—especially an uncle who was deputy director
of immigration, a not so incidental plus for Tranquility Inn, David Webb suspected
“Pritchard!” shouted Bourne, approaching the man“Have you got the bandages?”
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
163
“Why, sir!” cried the assistant manager, genuinely flusteredWe were told you
left this afternoon—”
“Oh, shit!”
“Sir? Such condolences of sorrow so pain my lips—”
“Just keep them shut, PritchardDo you understand me?”
“Of course, I was not here this morning to greet you or this afternoon to bid you farewell and
express my deepest feelings, for MrSaint Jay asked me to work this evening, through the night,
actually—”
“Pritchard, I’m in a hurryGive me the bandages and don’t tell anyone—anyone—that you saw
meI want that very clear
“Oh, it is clear, sir,” said Pritchard, handing over the three different rolls of elasticized tape
“Such privileged information is safe with me, as safe as the cartier pasha oro chrono knowledge that your wife and children
were staying here—oh, God forgive me! Forgive me, sir!”
“I will and He will if you keep your mouth shutI am so privileged!”
“You’ll be shot if you abuse the privilegeIs that clear?”
“Sir?”
“Don’t faint, PritchardGo down to the villa and tell MrSaint Jay that I’ll be in touch with him
and he’s to stay thereHave you got that? He’s to stay thereYou, too, for that matter
“Perhaps I could—”
“Forget itGet out of here!”
The talkative assistant manager ran across the lawn toward the path to the east villas as Bourne
raced to the door and went insideJason climbed the steps two at a time—only years before, it
would have been three at a time—and again, out of breath, reached StHe entered,
closed the door, and quickly went to the closet where he knew his brother-in-law kept several
changes of clothingBoth men were approximately the same size—outsized, as Marie claimed—
and Johnny had frequently borrowed jackets and shirts from David Webb when visitingJason
selected the most subdued combination in the chanel quilted bag knock off clos