The Bourne Deception

4





WHEN SORAYA MOORE walked into the DCIs office, Veronica Hart got up from behind her desk and beckoned Soraya to sit beside her on a sofa against one wall. In the past year of Harts tenure as DCI, the two women had become close friends as well as associates. They had been forced by circumstance to trust each other from the moment Hart had come on board following the Old Mans untimely death. The two of them had united against Secretary of Defense Halliday while Willard took down his attack dog, Luther LaValle, and handed Halliday the most humiliating defeat of his political career. That theyd made a mortal enemy in the process was never far from their minds or their discussions. Neither was Jason Bourne, whom Soraya had twice worked with, and whom Hart had come to understand better than anyone else at CI save for Soraya herself.

So how are you Hart said as soon as they were both seated.

Its been three months and Jasons death still hasnt sunk in. Soraya was a woman who was both strong and beautiful, her deep blue eyes contrasting strikingly with her cinnamon-colored skin and long black hair. A former CI chief of station, she had been thrust unceremoniously into the directorship of Typhon, the organization she helped create, when her mentor, Martin Lindros, had died last year. Since then, shed struggled with the labyrinthine political maneuvering any director in the intelligence community was forced to master. In the end, however, her struggle with Luther LaValle had taught her many important lessons. To be honest, I keep thinking Im seeing him out of the corner of my eye. But when I lookreally look, that isits always someone else.

Of course its someone else, Hart said, not unsympathetically.

You didnt know him the way I did, Soraya said sadly. He was able to cheat death so many times it now seems impossible that this last time he failed.

She put her head down, and Hart squeezed her hand briefly.

The night they heard of Bournes death, shed taken Soraya out to dinner, then insisted she come back to her apartment, steadfastly ignoring all of Sorayas protestations. The evening was difficult, not the least because Soraya was Muslim; they couldnt go on a good old-fashioned bender. Grieving stone-cold sober was a drag, and Soraya had begged Hart to drink if she wanted to. The DCI refused. That night an unspoken bond had sprung up between them that nothing could now sunder.

Soraya looked up then, gave the DCI a wan smile. But you didnt call me in to hold my hand again.

No, I didnt. Hart told Soraya about the downing of the passenger jetliner in Egypt. Jaime Hernandez and Jon Mueller are putting together a joint NSA-DHS forensics team to fly to Cairo.

Good luck with that, Soraya said caustically. Which one of the team is going to interface with the Egyptians, speak to them in their own language, or be able to interpret their thinking by their replies

As a matter of fact, you are. When she saw the look of astonishment on Sorayas face, she added, I had the same reaction to the task force you did.

How much of a fight did Halliday put up

He fired off the usual objections, including slurs directed at your heritage, Hart said.

How he hates all of us, Soraya said. He cant even make the distinction between Arab and Muslim, let alone Sunni and Shia.

Never mind, Hart said. I presented my reasons to the president and he agreed.

The DCI handed over a copy of the intel theyd all been reading when news came of the air disaster.

As Soraya looked it over, she said, This datas from Black River.

Having worked for Black River, thats precisely my concern. Given the methods they use to gather intel it seems to me that Halliday is leaning on them a bit too heavily. She tipped her head toward the file. What do you think of their intel on this pro-Western dissident group in Iran

Soraya frowned. There have been rumors of its existence for years, of course, but I can tell you that no one in the Western intelligence community has met a member or has ever been contacted by the group. Frankly, it always struck me as part of the right-wing neocon fantasy of a democratic Middle East. She continued to page through the file.

Yet there is a bona fide dissident movement in Iran that has been calling for democratic elections, Hart said.

Yes, but its unclear whether its leader, Akbar Ganji, would be pro-Western. My guess is probably not. For one thing, hes been canny enough to reject the administrations periodic offers of money in exchange for an armed insurrection. For another, he knows, even if our own people dont, that throwing American dollars at what we euphemistically call the indigenous liberal forces within Iran is a recipe for disaster. Not only would it endanger the already fragile movement and their aim of a velvet revolution, but it would encourage its leaders to become dependent on America for aid. It would alienate its constituency, as it did in Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other Middle Eastern countries, and turn the so-called freedom fighters into our implacable enemies. Time and again, ignorance of the culture, religion, and real aims of these groups has combined to defeat us.

Which is why youll be part of the forensics team, Hart said. However, as you can see, the Black River intel doesnt concern Ganji or his people. We arent talking here about a velvet revolution, but one steeped in blood.

Ganji has said that he doesnt want war, but his policy has been floundering for some time. You know as well as I do that the regime wouldnt allow him to survive, let alone to speak out, if his power was substantial. Ganjis of no use to Halliday, but this new groups aims would suit his purposes to a T.

Hart nodded. Thats just what I was thinking. So while youre in Egypt I want you to nose around. Use Typhons Egyptian contacts to find out what you can about the legitimacy of this group.

That wont be easy, Soraya said. I can guarantee you that the national secret police are going to be all over usespecially me.

Why especially you Hart asked.

Because the head of al Mokhabarat is Amun Chalthoum. He and I had a heated confrontation.

How heated

Sorayas memory immediately clamped down. Chalthoum is a complex character, difficult to readhis entire life seems wrapped up in his career in al Mokhabarat, an organization of thugs and assassins to which hes been given a life sentence.

Lovely, Hart said with no little sarcasm.

But it would be naive to believe thats all there is to him.

Do you think you can handle him

I dont see why not. I think hes got a thing for me, Soraya said, not quite understanding why she wasnt telling Veronica the whole truth.


Eight years ago, on a courier mission, shed been captured by agents of al Mokhabarat who, unbeknownst to her, had infiltrated CIs local network to which she was to deliver a microdot on which was etched the networks new orders. She had no idea what was on the microdot, had no desire to know. She was thrown in a basement cell of al Mokhabarats offices in downtown Cairo. Three days later, with no sleep and only water and a crust of moldy bread to eat once each day, she was taken upstairs and brought before Amun Chalthoum, who took one look at her and immediately ordered her cleaned up.

She was shown to a shower, where she scrubbed every inch of her body with a soapy washcloth. When she stepped out, a set of new clothes was waiting for her. She assumed her old clothes were being ripped apart and scrutinized by an al Mokhabarat forensics team searching for the intel she was carrying.

Everything fit her perfectly. To her surprise, she was then escorted out of the building. It was night. It occurred to her that shed had no idea of time passing. In the boiling street a car was waiting at the curb, its headlights illuminating plainclothes guards watching her with studied attention. When she climbed in she had another shock: Amun Chalthoum sat behind the wheel. He was all alone.

He drove very hard and very fast across the city, heading west into the desert. He said nothing, but from time to time when traffic allowed, he watched her with his avid hawks gaze. She was famished but was determined to keep her hunger to herself.

He took her to Wadi AlRayan. He stopped the car, told her to get out. They stood facing each other in the blue moonlight. Wadi AlRayan was so desolate, they could have been the last two humans on earth.

Whatever youre looking for, she said, I dont have it.

Yes, you do.

Its already been delivered.

My sources tell me otherwise.

You dont pay your sources nearly enough. Besides, youve checked my clothes and everything else.

He didnt laugh, nor would he ever during the time she was with him. Its in your head. Give it to me. When she didnt respond, he added, Well stay out here until you give me the intel.

She recognized his threat, recognized, too, the impetus behind it. In his eyes she was an Egyptian female. As such, she was brought up to unquestioningly obey males; why should she be any different from any of the other females he knew Because she was half American He spit on Americans. Immediately she saw the advantage his mistake gave her. She stood up to him; she kept to her story; she defied him every step of the way; most importantly, she proved she couldnt be intimidated.

In the end, hed backed down, had taken her back to Cairo, to the airport. At the boarding gate he handed back her passport as a gentleman might. It was a formal and somehow touching gesture. She turned away, certain shed never see him again.


The DCI nodded. If you can use his attraction for you to your advantage, do so, because I have an uncomfortable feeling that Halliday is about to propose a major new military initiative based on the premise of an armed insurrection from inside Iran.


Leonid Arkadin was sitting in a café in Campione dItalia, a picturesque Italian tax haven tucked away in the Swiss Alps. The tiny municipality rose steeply off the glassy ultramarine-blue surface of a clear mountain lake, studded with vessels of all sizes from rowboats to multimillion-dollar yachts, complete with the helipads, the copters, and, on the largest of these, the females to go with them.

In a haze of detached amusement, Arkadin watched two long-stemmed models with the kind of perfectly bronzed skin only the privileged and wealthy know how to acquire. As he sipped a small cup of espresso, which was all but lost in his large, square hand, the two models climbed on top of a bald man with an exceedingly hairy body, stretched out on the sea-blue cushions of the yachts rear deck.

He lost interest because for him pleasure was such an ephemeral concept, it lacked both form and function. His mind and his body were still bound to the iron-and-fire wheel of Nizhny Tagil, which just went to prove the old saw: You can take the man out of hell but you cant take hell out of the man.

The acrid taste of the toxic Nizhny Tagil sky was still in his mouth when, moments later, a man with skin the color of his espresso approached. Arkadin glanced up with an air close to indifference even as the man slithered into the chair across from him.

My name is Ismael, the espresso man said. Ismael Bey.

Khourys right hand. Arkadin finished off his cup, set it down on the small round table. Ive heard of you.

Bey, a rather young man, thin and bony as a starving dog, sported a dreadfully haunted look. Its done, Arkadin. Youve won. With the death of Abdulla Khoury, Im now the head of the Eastern Brotherhood, but I value my life more than my predecessor did. What do you want

Arkadin took hold of his empty cup, moved it to the precise center of its saucer, all without taking his eyes from the other mans. When he was ready, he said, I dont want your position, but I am going to take your power.

His lips formed the ghost of a smile, but there was something in the expression that sent a visible shiver of presentiment down the others spine. To everyone in the outside world you have assumed the mantle of your fallen leader. However, everythingevery decision, every action you will take from this moment onoriginates with me; every dollar the Brotherhood makes flows through me. This is the new order of battle.

His smile turned lupine, and Beys face took on a green and shiny cast. First in the order of battle is to choose a contingent of one hundred men from the Black Legion. Within the week I want them at a camp Ive set up in the Ural Mountains.

Bey cocked his head. A camp

They will be trained by me personally.

Trained for what

For killing.

Who are they meant to kill

Arkadin pushed his empty cup across the table until it was sitting squarely in front of Ismael Bey. The gesture, for Bey, was unmistakable. He had nothing; he would have nothing unless he obeyed Arkadin studiously and completely.

Without another word, Arkadin rose, and left Bey confronting the bleak face of his new future.


Today I woke up thinking of Soraya Moore, Willard said. I was thinking that she must still be grieving over your death.

It was just after sunrise and, as he did every morning at this time, Bourne was sitting through Dr. Firths thorough and tedious examination.

Bourne, who had come to know Willard quite well in the three months the two had been together, said, I havent tried to contact her.

Willard nodded. Thats good. He was small and dapper, with gray eyes and a face that could assume any expression with an unconscious ease.

Until I find out who tried to kill me three months ago and I deal with him, Im determined to keep Soraya out of the loop. It was not that Bourne didnt trust heron the contrarybut because of her ties to CI and the people with whom she worked, he had decided from the first that the burden of truth would be unfair for her to carry with her to CI every day.

I went back to Tenganan but I could find no trace of the bullet, Willard said. Ive tried everything else I can think of to discover who shot you, but so far no luck. Whoever he was covered his tracks with commendable ability.

Frederick Willard was a man who had worn a mask for so long that it had become part of him. Bourne had asked Moira to contact him because Willard was a man for whom secrets were sacred. He had faithfully kept all of Alex Conklins secrets at Treadstone; Bourne knew with the instinct of an injured animal that Willard would keep the secret that Bourne was still alive.

At the time of Conklins murder Willard was already in his deep-cover position as chief steward at the NSAs safe house in rural Virginia. It was Willard who had smuggled out the digital photos taken of the rendition and waterboarding cells in the houses basement that had torpedoed Luther LaValle and had necessitated serious damage control from Secretary of Defense Hallidays camp.

Finished, Benjamin Firth said, getting up off his stool. Everything is good. Better than good, I might say. The entry and exit wounds are healing at a truly remarkable rate.

Thats because of his training, Willard said confidently.

But privately Bourne wondered whether his recovery was aided by the kencurthe resurrection lilyconcoction Suparwita had made him drink just before he was shot. He knew he had to speak to the healer again if he was going to discover what had happened to him here.

Bourne rose. Im going for a walk.

As ever, I counsel against it, Willard warned. Every time you set foot outside this compound you risk compromising your security.

Bourne strapped on a lightweight backpack with two bottles of water. I need the exercise.

You can exercise here, Willard pointed out.

Hiking up these mountains is the only way to build up my stamina.

This was the same argument theyd had every day since Bourne felt fit enough to take extended walks, and it was one bit of Willards advice that he chose to ignore.

Opening the gate to the doctors compound, he set off briskly through the steep forested hills and terraced rice paddies of East Bali. It wasnt only that he felt hemmed in within the stucco walls of Firths compound, or that he deemed it necessary to push himself through increasingly difficult stages of physical exertion, though either was reason enough for his daily treks. He was compelled to return time and again to the countryside where the tantalizing flame of the past, the sense that something important had happened to him here, something he needed to remember, was constantly flickering.

On these hikes down steep ravines to rushing rivers, past animistic shrines to tiger or dragon spirits, across rickety bamboo bridges, through vast rice paddies and coconut plantations, he tried to conjure up the face of the silhouetted figure turning toward him that he saw in his dreams. To no avail.

When he felt fit enough he went in search of Suparwita, but the healer was nowhere to be found. His house was inhabited by a woman who looked as old as the trees around her. She had a wide face, flat nose, and no teeth. Possibly she was deaf as well, because she stared at Bourne indifferently when he asked where Suparwita was in both Balinese and Indonesian.

One morning that was already becoming hot and steamy, he paused above the highest terrace of a rice paddy, crossing the irrigation conduit to sit in the cool shade of a warung, a small family-run restaurant that sold snacks and drinks. Sipping green coconut water through a straw, he played with the youngest of the three children, while the eldest, a girl of no more than twelve, watched him with dark, serious eyes as she wove thin-cut palm fronds into an intricate pattern that would become a basket. The childa boy of not more than two monthslay on the tabletop where Bourne sat. He gurgled while exploring Bournes fingers with his tiny brown fists. After a while, his mother took him up in her arms to feed him. The feet of Balinese children under the age of three months were not allowed to touch the ground, which meant they were held almost all the time. Maybe that was why they were so happy, Bourne reflected.

The woman brought him a plate of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf, and he thanked her. While he ate, he chatted with the womans husband, a wiry little man with large teeth and a cheery smile.

Bapak, you come here every morning, the man said. Bapak meant father. It was the Balinese way of address, at once formal and intimate, another expression of lifes underlying duality. We watch you as you climb. Sometimes you must stop to catch your breath. Once my daughter saw you bend over and vomit. If you are ill, we will help you.

Bourne smiled. Thank you, but Im not ill. Just a bit out of shape.

If the man disbelieved him, he didnt show it. His veiny, big-knuckled hands lay on the table like chunks of granite. His daughter, finished with her basket, stared at Bourne while her nimble fingers, as if of their own accord, began work on another. Her mother came over, set her little boy in Bournes lap. Bourne felt his weight and his heartbeat against his chest, and was reminded of Moira, with whom hed deliberately had no contact since shed left the island.

Bapak, in what way can I help you get back in shape the boys father said softly.

Did he suspect something or was he just being helpful Bourne asked himself. Then he shrugged mentally. What did it matter, after all Being Balinese, he was being genuine, which, in the end, was all that mattered. This was something Bourne had learned from his interaction with these people. They were the polar opposites of the treacherous men and women who inhabited his own shadow world. Here the only shadows were demonsand, furthermore, there were ways in which you could protect yourself against them. Bourne thought of the double ikat cloth that Suparwita had told Moira to buy for him.

There is a way, Bourne said now. You can help me find Suparwita.

Ah, the healer, yes. The Balinese paused, as if listening for a voice only he could hear. Hes not at his home.

I know. I was there, Bourne said. I saw an old woman without teeth.

The man grinned, showing his white teeth. Suparwitas mother, yes. A very old woman. Deaf as a coconut; mute as well.

She was no help.

The man nodded. What is inside her head, only Suparwita knows.

Do you know where he is Bourne said. Its important I find him.

Suparwita is a healer, yes. The man studied Bourne in a kindly, even courteous, manner. He has gone to Goa Lowah.

Then I will go there.

Bapak, it would not be wise to follow him.

To be honest, Bourne said, I dont always do the wise thing.

The man laughed. Bapak, you are only human, after all. His grin showed again. Not to worry. Suparwita forgives foolish men as well as wise ones.


The bat, one of dozens clinging to the damp walls, opened its eyes and stared at Bourne. It blinked, as if it couldnt believe what it was seeing, then returned to its diurnal slumber. Bourne, the lower half of his body wrapped in a traditional sarong, stood in the flowing heart of the Goa Lowah temple complex amid a welter of praying Balinese and Japanese tourists taking time out from their shopping sprees.

Goa Lowah, which was near the town of Klungkung in southeast Bali, was also known locally as the Bat Cave. Many large temple complexes were built around springs because this water, erupting from the core of the island, was deemed sacred, able to spiritually cleanse those who worshipped there and partook of the water by both drinking it and sprinkling it over their heads. The sacred water at Goa Lowah bubbled up from the earth at the rear of a cave. This cave was inhabited by hundreds of bats that by day hung from the seeping calcite walls sleeping and dreaming, and by night flew into the inky sky in search of insects to gorge on. Though the Balinese often ate bats as a matter of course, the bats of Goa Lowah were spared that fate because anything that lived within a sacred space became sacred as well.

Bourne had not found Suparwita. Instead he had come upon a small, wizened priest with splayed feet and teeth like a jackrabbit, performing a cleansing ceremony in front of a small stone shrine in which were set a number of flower offerings. About a dozen Balinese sat in a semicircle. As Bourne watched in silence, the priest took a small, plaited bowl filled with holy water and, using a palm leaf switch that he dunked into the water, sprinkled the heads of those in attendance. No one looked at Bourne or paid him the slightest attention. For them, he was part of another universe. This ability of the Balinese to compartmentalize their lives with utter and absolute authority was the reason their form of Hinduism and unique culture remained uncorrupted by outsiders even after decades of tourist invasions and pressure from the Muslims who ruled every other island in the Indonesian archipelago.

There was something here for him, Bourne knew, something that was second nature to the Balinese, something that would help him to find out who he really was. Both David Webb, the person, and the Jason Bourne identity were incomplete: the one irrevocably shattered by amnesia, the other created for him by Alex Conklins Treadstone program.

Was Bourne still the conflation of Conklins research, training, and psychological theories put to the ultimate test Had he begun life as one person only to evolve into someone else These were the questions that went to Bournes very heart. His futureand the impact he had on those he cared about and those he might even lovedepended on the answer.

The priest had finished and was putting away the plaited bowl in a niche in the shrine when Bourne felt an urgent need to be cleansed by that holy water.

Kneeling behind the Balinese, he closed his eyes, allowed the priests words to flow over him until he was dislocated in time. Hed never before felt free of both the Bourne identity given to him by Alex Conklin and the incomplete person he knew as David Webb. Who was Webb, after all The fact was, he didnt knowor more accurately he couldnt remember. There were pieces of him, to be sure, stitched together by psychologists and Bourne himself, and periodically other pieces, dislodged by some stimulus or other, would breach the surface of his consciousness with the force of a torpedo explosion. Even so, the truth was he was no closer to understanding himselfand ironically, tragically, there were times when he felt he understood Bourne far better than he did Webb. At least, he knew what motivated Bourne, whereas Webbs motivations were still a complete mystery. Having tried and failed to reintegrate himself into Webbs academic life, hed decided to disengage himself from Webb. With a palpable start he realized that here on Bali hed also begun to disengage from the Bourne identity with which hed come to associate so closely. He thought about the Balinese hed encountered here, Suparwita, the family that ran the mountain warungeven this priest whom he didnt know at all, but whose words seemed to cloak him in an intense white lightand then he contrasted them with the Westerners, Firth and Willard. The Balinese were in touch with the spirits of the land, they saw good and evil and acted accordingly. There was nothing between them and nature itself, whereas Firth and Willard were creatures of civilization with all its layers of deceit, envy, greed. This essential dichotomy had opened his mind as nothing before. Did he want to be like Willard or like Suparwita Was it a coincidence that the Balinese didnt allow their childrens feet to touch the ground for three monthsand that hed been on Bali for precisely the same amount of time

Now, for the first time in his defective memory, unmoored from everything and everyone he knew, he felt able to look inside himself, and what he saw was someone he didnt recognizenot Webb, not Bourne. It was as if Webb were a dream, or another identity assigned to him just as Bourne had been.

Kneeling outside the Bat Cave with its thousands of denizens stirring restively, with the priests intonations transforming the intense Southern Hemisphere sunshine into prayer, he contemplated the chimeric landscape of his own soul, a place singularly twilit, like a deserted city an hour before dawn or the desolate seashore an hour after dusk, a place that slipped away from him, shifting like sand. And as he journeyed through this unknown country he asked himself this question:

Who am I