The Bourne Deception

30





YOU REALIZE, Bourne said, brandishing the sheet of thermal paper as he and Boris Karpov clattered down the stairs at 779 Gamhuria Avenue, that this information could have been left for you to find.

Of course. Yevsen could have left it, Karpov said.

I was thinking of Arkadin.

But Black River is his partner.

So was Yevsen.

The medic had done his best to patch up Bournes face before Bourne shooed him awayat least hed stopped the bleeding and administered a shot to prevent any possibility of infection.

One thing about Arkadin, hes consistent, Bourne said. What Ive learned about the way he sets up operations is that he makes sure he has a stalking horse, a diversionary target whom he directs his enemies toward. He slapped the printout. Black River could be his new stalking horse, the people he wants you to go after rather than finding him.

The other possibility, Boris said, is that hes knocking off his partners one by one.

They had passed through the lobby and out into the scalding afternoon sun, where traffic was at a standstill and passersby were gathering as each minute passed, gaping at Boriss heavily armed contingent.

That brings up another question, Karpov said as they climbed into the minibus hed commandeered and which had become his mobile headquarters. How the hell does Arkadin fit into this puzzle Why would Black River need him

Heres a possibility, Bourne said. Arkadins in Nagorno-Karabakh, a remote area of Azerbaijan that, as you said, is dominated by tribal chieftains, all fanatic Muslimsjust like the Black Legion terrorists.

How would the terrorists be involved

Thats something well have to ask Arkadin himself, Bourne said. To do that well have to fly to Azerbaijan.

Karpov ordered his IT man to bring up real-time satellite pictures of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in order to figure the best route to the specific area Yevsen used.

The IT man was zooming in on the area when he said, Hold on a second. His fingers blurred over the keys, shifting the images on the screen.

What is it Karpov said with some impatience.

A plane just took off from the target area. The IT man swiveled to another laptop and keyed into a different site. Its an Air Afrika jet, Colonel.

Arkadin! Bourne said. Wheres the flight headed

Hold on. The IT man switched to the third computer, bringing up an image similar to those on an air controllers screen. Just let me extrapolate from the jets current heading. His fingers danced some more over the keyboard. Then he swiveled back to the first laptop and an area of landmass filled the screen. The image pulled back until the IT man pointed at a place in the lower right-hand quadrant of the screen.

Right there, he said. Shahrake Nasiri-Astara, just off the Caspian Sea, in northwest Iran.

What in the name of all thats unholy is there Karpov said.

The IT man, moving to the second laptop, plugged in the name of the area, hit the ENTER key, and scrolled through the resulting news stories. There were precious few, but one of them provided the answer. He looked up into his commanders face and said, Three whopping huge oil fields and the beginnings of a transnational pipeline.


I want you out of here. Amun Chalthoums eyes sparked in the semi-darkness of the old fort. Instantly.

Soraya was so taken aback that it was a moment before she said, Amun, I think youre confusing me with someone else.

He took her by the elbow. This is no joke. Go. Now.

She extricated herself from his grip. What am I, your daughter Im not going anywhere.

I wont risk the life of the woman I love, he said. Not in a situation like this.

I dont know whether to be flattered or offended. Maybe Im both. She shook her head. Nevertheless, we came here because of me, or have you forgotten

I dont forget anything. Chalthoum was about to continue when Yusef cut him off.

I thought youd planned for these people to catch up to you.

I did, Chalthoum said impatiently, but I didnt count on getting trapped in here.

Too late for regrets now, Yusef whispered. The enemy has entered the fort.

Chalthoum held up four fingers, to let Yusef know how many men had been following them. Yusef gave a curt nod and gestured for them to follow him. While the men moved out, Soraya bent and, ripping off a piece of one of the mens shirts, scooped some quicklime into the makeshift sling.

As they reached the doorway, she said very clearly, We should stay here.

They turned, and Amun looked at her as if she were insane. Well be trapped like rats.

Were already trapped like rats. She swung the sling back and forth. At least here we have the high ground. She gestured with her chin. Theyve already dispersed themselves. Theyll pick us off one by one before we can get to even one of them.

Youre right, Director, Yusef said, and Chalthoum looked like he wanted to swat him across the face.

She appealed to Chalthoum directly. Amun, get used to it. This is how it is.


Three of the four men, having found shadowed nests for themselves, lay in wait, sighting down the long barrels of their rifles. The fourth manthe beatermoved cautiously from desolate room to ruined room, across abandoned sand-piled spaces without roofs. Always the wind was in his ears, and the grit of the desert in his nose and throat. Granules, shot by the wind, insinuated themselves inside his clothes and formed a familiar layer as they clung to his sweaty skin. His job was to find the targets and drive them into the crisscrossing lines of fire set up by his comrades. He was cautious, but not apprehensive; hed done this work before and hed do it again many times before old age made this life impossible. But he knew by then hed have more than enough money for his family and even his childrens families. The American paid wellthe American, it seemed, never ran out of money, just as the fool never bargained down his price. The Russians, nowthey knew how to drive a hard bargain. Hed sweated through many a negotiation with the Russians, who claimed they didnt have money, or, anyway, enough to pay him what he asked. He would settle on a price that made them all happy and then he went about the business of killing. Its what he did best, after allthe only thing he was trained for.

Hed secured more than half the fort and was frankly surprised that hed not yet come upon even a sign of the targets. Well, one of them was an Egyptian, hed been told. He didnt like Egyptians, they smeared you with their honeyed words all the while lying through their teeth. They were like jackalsgrinning as they tore the flesh off you.

He turned down a short corridor. When he was no more than halfway along, he heard the sound of the flies buzzing and knew, even though he failed to catch a whiff of rotting flesh, that there must have been a death up ahead of him, and quite recently, too.

Gripping his handgun more tightly, he continued down the hallway with his spine pressed up against one wall, squinting into the gloom. Here and there, sunlight fluttered and twittered like birds in a tree, where the ceiling or wall was cracked or even, in some places, broken open, as if by the hammering fist of a murderous giant.

The sound of the flies had become a hum, as of some great, nebulous creature that waxed and waned as it fed and drowsed. He paused, listening and, in his own unscientific way, counting their number. Something big had died in that room ahead of him, possibly more than one big thing. A human being

He pulled the trigger of his handgun, the brief light-flare, the report, transforming the entire area. He was like a beast marking its territory, warning other predators of its presence, wanting to instill fear. If the targets were in that room, they were trapped. He knew that roomjust as he knew every room in this and the other forts in the area. There was only one entrance and he was five steps away from it.


Then a figure shot out from the open doorway, and he squeezed off four accurate shots in rapid succession that made it dance and jerk.


It was Soraya who followed the dead American Chalthoum had heaved out of the doorway. Swinging her makeshift sling amid the hail of bullets, she let fly its load of quicklime into the face of the shooter. The instant the caustic calcium oxide struck his body fluidsthe sweat on his cheeks and the tears in his eyesa chemical reaction caused the blooming of a terrible heat.

The shooter screamed, dropped his gun, and instinctively clapped his hands to his burning face, trying to scrub off the substance. This only made matters worse for him. Soraya scooped up his gun and shot him in the head, putting him out of his misery, as she would a crippled horse.

Her low whistle brought Chalthoum and Yusef out of the burial chamber. One down, she said. Three to go.


Are you all right Moira stepped out of the bathtub and helped Humphry Bamber to stand.

I think I ought to be asking you that question, he said, glancing with a shudder at the shattered head of the intruder. Then he turned and vomited into the toilet.

Moira turned on the cold water in the sink, drenched a hand towel, and placed it on the back of his neck. He took it and held it against the bridge of her nose as they left the bathroom.

She put her arm around his wide shoulders. Lets get you back to somewhere safe.

He nodded like a lost little boy as they picked their way through the office. They were almost at the door when she glanced at the wall of computers.

What did you find out Whats inside Noahs version of Bardem

Bamber broke away, went to the laptop hooked up to all the other equipment, and disconnected it. Closing it, he tucked it under his arm.

If you dont see it for yourself, you wont believe it, he said as they hurried out of the office.


Im not interested in Treadstone or what Alex Conklin was up to, Peter Marks said.

Willard appeared unfazed. But you are, I assume, interested in saving CI from the Philistines. It was almost as if hed anticipated Markss response.

Of course I am. Marks turned his empty glass over when Willard tried to fill it with the bottles last round of whisky. Do you have something in mindsomething, I assume, to do with Black Rivers complicity in domestic murder, especially, goddammit, the DCIs death

The DCI is M. Errol Danziger.

Dont remind me, Marks said sourly.

I have to. Hes the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in CIs shop, and believe me when I tell you hes going to beat all you fine young gentlemen into banana paste if nothings done to stop him.

What about you

I am Treadstone.

Marks stared bleakly at the older man. Whether it was all the single-malt hed consumed or having his face pushed into reality, he felt sick to his stomach. Go on.

No, Willard said emphatically. Either youre in or youre out, Peter. And before you answer, please understand that theres no backing out, no room for second thoughts. Once youre in, thats it, no matter the cost or the consequences.

Marks shook his head. What choice do I have

Theres always a choice. Willard poured himself the last of the liquor and took a deep sip. What there isntand this goes for me as well as for youis an opportunity to look back. From this moment on, there is no past. We move forward, only forward, into the dark.

Jesus. Marks felt a shiver run down his spine. This sounds like Im making a deal with the devil.

Thats very funny. Willard smiled and, as if on cue, produced a three-page document, which he spread on the table facing the younger man.

What the hell is this

Also funny. Willard placed a pen on the table. Its a contract with Treadstone. Its non-negotiable and, as you can see in clause thirteen, nonrevokable.

Marks peered at the contract. How is that enforceable Will you threaten to take my soul He laughed, but it was too brittle to hold any humor. Then he squinted, reading one paragraph after another.

Jesus, he said when he was finished. He looked at the pen, then at Willard. Tell me you have a plan to get rid of M. Errol-f*cking-Danziger or Im out of here right now.

Lopping off one head of the hydra will be useless because it will only grow another. Willard picked up the pen and held it out. I will get rid of the hydra itself: Secretary of Defense Ervin Reynolds Halliday.

Many have tried, including the late Veronica Hart.

They all thought they had evidence that he was operating beyond the law, a well-trod path that Halliday knows far better than they did. Im taking an altogether different route.

Marks looked deep into the other mans eyes, trying to judge his seriousness. At length, he took the pen and said, I dont care what route we take as long as Halliday ends up being roadkill.

Tomorrow morning, Willard said, youll need to keep that sentiment in mind.

Is that a whiff of sulfur I smell But Markss laugh was distinctly uneasy.

I know this man. Yusef brushed the quicklime paste off the dead gunmans face with the tip of his boot. His names Ahmed, hes a free-lance assassin who usually works for the Americans or the Russians. He grunted. Now and again at the same time.

Chalthoum frowned. Has he worked for the Egyptians before

Yusef shook his head. Not to my knowledge.

You dont use him, do you Soraya was examining what was left of Ahmeds face. I dont remember seeing his name on any of your reports.

I wouldnt trust this scum to bring me a disk of bread, Yusef said with a curl of his upper lip. In addition to being a professional murderer, hes a liar and a thief, always, even when he was a small boy.

Remember, Chalthoum said with a grim look at Soraya, I want at least one of them alive.

First things first, she said. Lets just concentrate on getting out of here alive ourselves.

He was still trying without success to brush the odors of quicklime and death off his clothes, but this business allowed Soraya to take the leadwhich, again, was something he deplored. Ever since theyd arrived in Khartoum something had taken possession of him, a sense of protectiveness toward Soraya that clearly made her uncomfortable. Possibly it was being away from Egypt; he was in unknown territory, after all, and he knew only too well that he was most sure of himself in his own territory.

She heard him call softly to her but resisted the urge to turn and look at him. Instead she moved steadily forward in a semi-crouch until she came to the first courtyard. There were positions to the left and right on either wall where snipers would have an excellent field of view. She fired a shot at each spot in turn, but there was no answering fire. That was it for the shooters .45, so she dropped it and took out the Glock that Yusef had given her. After double-checking that it was loaded she moved out across the expanse of the grim-looking courtyard, keeping to the shadows thrown by the walls. Not once did she look back, trusting that Amun and Yusef were not far behind her and would provide cover if she got into trouble.

Moments later the second, central courtyard, larger and more intimidating than the first, presented itself. Again she fired shots at the likely sniper positions, again without any result.

Theres only one more, Yusef said. Its smaller, but because its at the front there are more places to defend it.

Soraya saw at once that he was right, and that no matter what they did theyd never be able to reach the parapets on either wall without being shot dead.

What now she said to Amun.

Before he could think of a reply, Yusef said, I have an idea. I knew Ahmed all his life, I think I can imitate his voice. He looked from Chalthoum to Soraya. Shall I give it a shot

I dont see how it can hurt, Chalthoum said, but Yusef didnt move until Soraya nodded her assent.

Then he brushed by ahead of her and, crouching in the shadowy mouth where the corridor debouched onto the courtyard, he raised his voice. It wasnt his voice, but one neither of them had heard before.

Its Ahmedplease, Im hurt! Nothing but echoes. He turned to Soraya. Quick! he whispered. Give me your shirt.

Take mine, Chalthoum said with a glower.

Hers will be better, Yusef said. Theyll see its the females.

Soraya did as he asked, unbuttoning her short-sleeved shirt and handing it over.

Ive killed them! Yusef called in Ahmeds voice. See here! Sorayas shirt fluttered onto the cobbles of the courtyard like a bird settling onto its nest.

If youve killed them, a voice came from their left, come out!

I cant, Yusef replied, my leg is broken. Ive dragged myself this far, but Ive fallen and I cant take another step! Please, brothers, come fetch me before I bleed to death!

For a long time nothing happened. Yusef was about to shout again when Chalthoum cautioned silence.

Dont oversell it, he whispered. Be patient now.

More time passed, it was difficult to say how much since in their situation time was bent like taffy, minutes seeming like an hour. At length, they discerned movement on their right. Two men could be seen making their way down to the ground. They moved cautiously, keeping their sides toward the mouth of the hallway. The third manthe one who had queried Yusefwas nowhere in sight. Clearly, he was covering them from his hidden position on the left.

Chalthoum motioned silently to Yusef, who lay down and moved slightly so that the two men could see that one leg was drawn up under the other. Soraya and Chalthoum retreated several steps into the gloom.

There he is! one of the men cried to the man covering themwho was, it appeared, their leader. I can see Ahmed! Hes fallen, just as he said!

I dont see any other movement, the leaders voice floated down from the parapet. Go get him, but make it quick!

Running in a semi-crouch, the two men approached Yusef.

Hold it! their leader said, and they obediently squatted on their hams, their rifles laid across their thighs, their avid eyes on their fallen comrade.

There was movement from the left as the leader abandoned his eyrie, clattering down stone steps to the courtyard.

Ahmed, one of the men whispered, are you all right

No, said Ahmed. The pain in my leg is terrible, its

But hed said enough at close range for the other man to move back a pace.

What is it his companion said, aiming his rifle into the mouth of the hallway.

I dont think thats Ahmed.

That was when Chalthoum and Soraya, Glocks firing, moved out on either side of Yusef. The two crouching men were struck immediately, and Chalthoum kicked their weapons away from where they lay sprawled on the ground. The leader, scurrying to find cover where there was none, fired off-balance and Chalthoum went down with a grunt.

Soraya, running, aimed and fired at the leader, but it was Yusef, from his prone position, who shot the leader in the chest. The man spun around and fell. At once Soraya veered toward him.

Check Amun! she called to Yusef as she stooped, picking up the leaders rifle. He was writhing, bleeding from his right side, but he was breathing. The bullet hadnt punctured a lung.

She knelt down beside him. Who hired you

The man looked up at her and spat in her face.

A moment later she was joined by the two men. Amun had been shot in the thigh, but the bullet had gone through and the wound, Yusef said, looked clean. Hed tied off the area above the wound with a makeshift tourniquet made from her shirt.

Are you all right she said, looking up at Chalthoum.

He nodded in his usual dour way.

Ive asked him who hired him, she said, but hes not talking. Take Yusef and see about the other two. Chalthoum was staring intently at the fallen leader.

Soraya knew that look of determination. Amun

Just give me five minutes.

They needed the information, there was no question about that. Soraya nodded reluctantly and, with Yusef, walked back to where the other two men lay near the mouth of the hallway. There wasnt much to see. Both had taken multiple shots to the abdomen and chest. Neither was alive. As they gathered up the rifles, they heard a muffled cry that, in its inhumanity, sent shivers down their spines.

Yusef turned to her. This Egyptian friend of yours, he can be trusted

Soraya nodded, already sick at what Amun was doing with her consent. There was silence then, except for the desperate voice of the wind, keening through the abandoned rooms. After a time, Chalthoum returned to them. He was limping badly, and Yusef handed him a rifle to lean on.

My enemies had nothing to do with this, he said in a voice that had not been changed one iota by what hed just done. These men were hired by the Americans, specifically a man known ridiculously as Triton. Mean anything to you

Soraya shook her head.

But these might. She saw four small rectangular metal objects swinging from a length of cord. I found these around the leaders neck.

She examined them when he handed them over. They look like dog tags.

Amun nodded. He said they came from the four Americans who were executed back there. These bastards murdered them.

But she had to admit the tags werent like any she had ever seen. Instead of carrying name, rank, and serial number, they were laser-engraved with what looked like

Theyre enciphered, she said, her heart beating fast. These might be the key to proving who launched the Kowsar 3, and why.







Book Four