opening wounds.' He turned to the Ambassador. 'I'm beginning to understand. You want me to reach this David Webb and persuade him to return to Asia. For another. project, another target - although I've never used the word in that context in my life before this evening. And I assume it's because there are distinct parallels in our early careers - we're Asia men. We presumably have insights where the Far East is concerned and you think he'll listen to me. '
'Essentially, yes. '
'Yet you say he won't touch us. That's where my understanding fades. How can I do it?
'We'll do it together. As he once made the rules for himself, we'll make them now. It's imperative. '
'Because of a man you want killed?'
'Neutralized will suffice. It has to be done. '
'And Webb can do it?
'No. Jason Bourne can. We sent him out alone for three years under extraordinary stress - suddenly his memory was taken from him and he was hunted like an animal. Still he retained the ability to infiltrate and kill. I'm being blunt. '
'I understand that. Since we're not on tape - and on the chance that we still are-' The undersecretary glanced disapprovingly at Reilly, who shook his head and shrugged. 'May I be permitted to know who the target is?
'You may, and I want you to commit this name to memory, Mr Undersecretary. He's a Chinese minister of state, Sheng Chou Yang. '
McAllister flushed, angrily. 'I don't have to commit it, and I think you know that. He was a fixture in the People's Republic's economics group and we were both assigned to the trade conferences in Peking in the late seventies. I read up on him, analyzed him. Sheng was my counterpart and I could do no less - a fact I suspect you also know. '
'Oh? The grey-haired ambassador arched his dark eyebrows, and dismissed the rebuke. 'And what did your reading tell you? What did you learn about him?
'He was considered very bright, very ambitious - but then his rise in Peking's hierarchy tells us that. He was spotted by scouts sent out from the Central Committee some years ago at the Fudan University in Shanghai. Initially because he took to the English language so fluently and had a firm, even sophisticated, grasp of Western economics. '
'What else?
'He was considered promising material, and after in-depth indoctrination was sent to the London School of Economics for graduate study. It took. '
'How do you mean?
'Sheng's an avowed Marxist where the centralized state is concerned, but he has a healthy respect for capitalistic profits. '
'I see,' said Havilland. Then he accepts the failure of the Soviet system?
'He's ascribed that failure to the Russian penchant for corruption and mindless conformity in the higher ranks, and alcohol in the lower ones. To his credit he's stamped out a fair share of those abuses in the industrial centres. '
'Sounds like he was trained at IBM. '
'He's been responsible for many of the PRC's new trade policies. He's made China a lot of money.' Again the undersecretary leaned forward in his chair, his eyes intense, his expression bewildered - stunned was perhaps more accurate. 'My God, why would anyone in the West want Sheng dead? It's absurd! He's our economic ally, a politically stabilizing factor in the largest nation on earth that's ideologically opposed to us! Through him and men like him we've reached accommodations. Without him, whatever the course, there's the risk of disaster. I'm a professional China analyst, Mr Ambassador, and, I repeat, what you suggest is absurd. A man of your accomplishments should recognize that before any of us. ' The ageing diplomat looked hard at his accuser, and when he spoke he did so slowly, choosing his words carefully. 'A few moments ago we were at ground zero. A former foreign service officer named David Webb became Jason Bourne for a purpose. Conversely, Sheng Chou Yang is not the man you know, not the man you studied as your counterpart. He became that man for a purpose. '
'What are you talking about? shot back McAllister defensively. 'Everything I've said about him is on record -records, official - most top secret and eyes-only. '
'Eves-only? the former ambassador asked wearily. 'Ears-only, tongues only - wagging as busily as tails wag tigers. Because an official stamp is placed on recorded observations
and observed by men who have no idea where those records came from - they are there, and that's enough. No, Mr Undersecretary, it's not enough, it