“That’s very flattering, David, maybe too... “That’s very flattering, David, maybe too flatteringI’m
better in my own element, a couple of thousand miles away from WashingtonIt was always a little
stifling for me here
“It wasn’t when you saw me off on that plane to Hong Kong five years agoYou’d put together
half the equation by thenIt was a down-and-dirty Doperation that had the smell of rotten halibut, so
rotten it offended my nostrilsThis is different; this is Carlos
“That’s my point, AlexIt is Carlos, not a voice over the telephone neither of us knewWe’re
dealing with a known quantity, someone predictable—”
“Predictable?” broke in Conklin, frowningIn what way?”
“He’s the hunter
“He’ll examine it first with a very experienced nose, then check the spoors under a microscope
“Then we’ll have to be authentic, won’t we?”
“I prefer foolproofWhat did you have in mind?”
“In the gospel according to Saint Alex, it’s written that in order to bait a trap one has to use
c c purse a
large part of the truth, even a dangerous amount
“That chapter and verse referred to a target’s microscopeI think I just mentioned itWhat’s the
relevance here?”
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
34
“Medusa,” said Webb quietly“I want to use Medusa
“Now you’re out of your mind,” responded Conklin, no louder than David“That name is as offlimits
as you are—let’s be honest, a hell of a lot more so
“There were rumors, Alex, stories all over Southeast Asia that floated up the China Sea to
Kowloon and Hong Kong, where most of those bastards ran with their moneyMedusa wasn’t
exactly the secret evil you seem to think it was
“Rumors, yes, and stories, of course,” interrupted the retired intelligence officer“Which of
those animals didn’t put a gun or a knife to the heads of a dozen or two dozen or two hundred
marks during their so-called ‘tours’? Ninety percent were killers and thieves, the original death
squadsPeter
chanel purses bags Holland said that when he was a SEAL in the northern operations he never met a
member of that outfit he didn’t want to waste
“And without them, instead of fifty-eight thousand casualties, there could well have been sixtyplus
Give the animals their due, AlexThey knew every inch of the territories, every square foot of
jungle in the triangleThey—we—sent back more functional intelligence than all the units sent out
by Saigon put together
“My point, David, is that there can never be any connection between Medusa and the United
States governmentOur involvement was never logged, much less acknowledged; the name itself
was concealed as much as possibleThere’s no statute of limitations on war crimes, and Medusa
was officially determined to be a private organization, a collection of violent misfits who wanted
the corrupt Southeast Asia back the way they knew it and used itIf it was ever established that
Washington was behind
paolo gucci women's watches Medusa, the reputation of some very important people in the White House
and the State Department would be ruinedThey’re global power brokers now, but twenty years
ago they were hotheaded junior staffers in Command SaigonWe can live with questionable
tactics in time of war, but not with being accomplices in the slaughter of noncombatants and the
diversion of funds totaling millions, both unknowingly paid for by the taxpayersIt’s like those
still-sealed archives that detail how so many of our fat-cat financiers bankrolled the NazisSome
things we never want out of their black holes, and Medusa’s one of them
Webb again leaned back in the chair—now, however, taut, his eyes steady on his old friend, who
was once briefly his deadly enemy“If what memory I have left serves me, Bourne was identified
as having come out of Medusa
“It was an entirely believable explanation and a perfect cover,” agreed Conklin, returning
David’s gaze“We
chanel cambon fake went back to Tam Quan and ‘discovered’ that Bourne was a paranoid
Tasmanian adventurer who disappeared in the jungles of North VietnamNowhere in that very
creative dossier was there the slightest clue of a Washington connection
“But that’s all a lie, isn’t it, Alex? There was and is a Washington connection, and the Jackal
knows it nowHe knew it when he found you and Mo Panov in Hong Kong—found your names in
the ruins of that sterile house on Victoria Peak where Jason Bourne was supposedly blown away
He confirmed it last night when his messengers approached you at the Smithsonian and—your
words—‘our men were very obvious He knew finally that everything he’s believed for thirteen
years is trueThe member of Medusa who was called Delta was Jason Bourne, and Jason Bourne
was a creation of American intelligence—and he’s still aliveAlive and in hiding and protected by
his government
Conklin slammed his fist on the arm of his
white chanel bag cha