Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,105

walked back to Bourne. “And a very good one, too.”

“You don’t care?”

“Care? It was one of the things I found most attractive about her. Did it never occur to any of you that a killer is what I need? You and Miles seem to think that Miss Shirley is using me, that Medusa is using me. I’m one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, Bourne. I know what I’m doing. The fact is, I’m using them.”

“To accomplish what?”

“To take over the tech cabal, of course. To turn the game around. Tomorrow, Miss Shirley and I will head to Nassau, where Miles and his friends will try to persuade me to join forces with them. I intend to do just that. Say what you want about Miles, but strategically, he’s always right. The tech companies need to stand as one. But when all is said and done, I plan to be the person in charge, not him. Prescix will call the shots and start acquiring the other companies. And once that’s done, Miss Shirley and I will launch the next part of our plan.”

“Namely?”

“We’ll take over Medusa, too. Me and her together.”

Bourne could see the depth of the man’s ego. He wasn’t just a rich, harmless eccentric. He was brilliant but also a megalomaniac. Everything that Prescix could do, all the damage it could cause, had been in this man’s head all along. He’d intended from the beginning to write software that would let him control people.

But that was the kind of power that others wanted, too. Once Pandora’s box was open, it couldn’t be closed.

“You’re making a mistake, Gabriel.”

“Am I?”

“Medusa is stronger than you are. Right now, they’re giving you what you want. They’re letting you think you’re in control. But once they have what they need, you’re expendable.”

“Actually, you’re the one who’s expendable, Cain. You’re a chess piece who’s stayed on the board much longer than necessary. Pawns don’t win the game. They get sacrificed. Which is what happens next.”

“Or I could kill you right now,” Jason said, reaching behind his back for his pistol.

Gabriel shrugged and began to place the pillbox hat back on his head. “You do what you have to do, Bourne.”

Jason stared at the CEO in confusion. And then he realized. The hat was a signal. Gabriel hadn’t shown any concern about meeting him, because all along, he’d had Bourne in the gunsights of another assassin. When I put the hat back on, take him out. Jason lunged forward just as the bullet from a rifle hidden in the hills cracked past the back of his head, missing him by a millimeter. He launched himself into Gabriel, knowing the tangle of bodies bought him a couple of seconds to grab his own pistol. Then, as he broke free and charged for the roof stairs, he laid down a continuous rain of fire toward the assassin’s lair in the dark hills. Shot after shot went wild, but the cover was enough. He threw himself down the steps just as a cloud of stucco blew off the wall where the shooter barely missed him again.

He thundered level by level through the estate, pushing through the crowd of panicked guests on his way to the garden. He only had seconds to get there.

If they knew Bourne was here, then they knew Abbey was here, too.

*

ABBEY felt a little bit of a chill. High up on the mountain, the air was cooler than on the valley floor. She followed a figure eight sidewalk through the cacti sprouting from the rocks, retracing her footsteps the way she’d been doing for more than an hour. One part of her mind told her to leave right now. To go through the gate and go home to Canada. To forget about Jason Bourne and whether he lived or died.

But another part of her mind made her stay. That was the part that realized she was falling in love with him.

Fool!

She told herself that, but it didn’t matter. She felt something for Jason, and she couldn’t turn it off or walk away. It didn’t matter who he was or what he’d done.

When she heard footsteps approaching on the garden path, her heart sped up with relief, and the only thing she wanted to do was run to him. She’d been terrified that he wasn’t coming back. That she’d lost him forever.

But when she turned around, it wasn’t Jason standing there.

It was Miss Shirley.

“Abbey Laurent,” the woman said from behind her arctic blue