Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,106

eyes. “What a treat. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now.”

Instinctively, Abbey took a step backward. Miss Shirley kept coming closer atop her high heels. The woman had a hand hidden behind her back. Her white dress glowed under the garden lights, but her face was in shadow.

“You did such a good job for us, Abbey,” Miss Shirley went on, taunting her. “The articles you wrote. About Hackman, about Ortiz. What a good little stooge for Medusa you were. I chose you myself, you know. I told Carson to find you. I told him what to say. You did everything we hoped for, except for one little thing. You forgot the fact that you were supposed to die a while ago. We tried in New York. We tried in Quebec. And yet here you are. I’m really rather upset that you’re still alive.”

“Go to hell, you crazy bitch.”

“Oh, Abbey. So foolish. So brave. I wouldn’t have thought it. Is that Jason’s influence? You’ve spent a lot of time with him lately. I really have to know, are you sleeping with him? Did he fall for that girl-next-door look of yours? Did you seduce a cold-blooded assassin?”

“You don’t know who he really is.”

“Oh, I know exactly who he is. You’re the naive one.”

“Go to hell,” she said again.

Miss Shirley smiled with just her lips. Her hand emerged from behind her back, with a knife clutched in her fingers. The knife had a two-foot blade that was curved like a crescent moon. “You’re very attractive, Abbey. If we had more time, I’d show you what a real woman is like in bed. All it would take is one night, and trust me, you’d never want to be with a man again. Even Bourne.”

“Robots don’t turn me on,” Abbey snapped.

“You’d be surprised.”

“Are you jealous? Is that it? You want Jason for yourself, and you know you’ll never have him?”

“There are very few things I want that I can’t have,” Miss Shirley replied. “Right now, I want you. Bleeding. Begging me for mercy.”

Abbey spun away to run, but when she did, she found herself trapped by a huge security guard in a black suit who gathered her up in his arms. She hadn’t even heard him sneak up behind her. He turned her around so that she had no choice but to face Miss Shirley. Abbey squirmed furiously but couldn’t get away. Miss Shirley came up directly in front of her. Her breath was on Abbey’s face, and she was close enough to scrape the point of the knife gently over the skin of her shoulder, leaving a red trail.

“Such a lovely dress,” she said. “Did Jason buy it for you?”

She flicked the knife and cut away one of the straps, making the dress slide down Abbey’s chest, exposing one of her breasts.

“Beautiful. Pert and perfect.”

“Stop playing games,” Abbey said. “If you’re going to kill me, kill me.”

“Oh, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I could just slice open your throat, of course, and you’d be gone in a couple of minutes, but where’s the fun in that? I told you, I want to hear you beg. Now, where should I make the first cut? Your fingers? Your delicate little ears? I could take each of your breasts first, how about that? This is a very, very sharp blade. Two little swishes, and they’d be gone. Imagine how terrible it would be for Jason to find you that way. Seeing that naked body he enjoyed desecrated in so many ways.”

Abbey spit in her face, and Miss Shirley simply wiped it away and laughed. She cocked the knife, and Abbey squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the agony.

Then a voice hissed from the darkness. “Get away from her right now.”

Bourne emerged from the tall cacti. His gun was inches from the back of Miss Shirley’s head. Abbey couldn’t help herself. Tears of relief streamed down her cheeks.

“Ah, Jason, I was wondering if you’d be able to join us,” Miss Shirley said. “The hero returns in the nick of time. I’d hoped that our shooter would take care of you once and for all, but apparently not. What a shame. Abbey and I were just getting to know each other.”

“Drop the knife.”

“Of course. If that’s what you want.”

Miss Shirley opened her fingers, and the knife clattered to the paver stones at her feet. Jason pressed the barrel hard into her neck. “Tell your man to let her go.”

“It’s all right, Terence,” Miss Shirley instructed