Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,126
closed his eyes, he could picture her face, the spiky red bangs hanging over her eyes, the pale lips when she wiped her lipstick off, the smart dark eyes that didn’t miss a thing. He could feel the softness of her skin and her fingertips running across his body. He remembered the catch in her breath as they coupled in bed.
Don’t think about her! She’s gone!
Marie had left him alone. Nova had left him alone. And now the only safe thing he could do was let Abbey go. He couldn’t have anyone in his life. As soon as he did, they were both vulnerable. Both at risk.
But the desire to be close to her overwhelmed him. Teeling had given him a satellite phone, and all he needed to do was dial her number to hear her voice again.
Let her go!
Jason’s fingers hesitated over the phone keypad. He tried to hold himself back the way an alcoholic stares at a glass full of whiskey and looks for willpower, but he couldn’t stop himself. He punched in the numbers and waited through an interminable length of silence on the water as the satellites tried to connect him to Abbey Laurent.
The silence lasted so long that he thought the call had gone dead.
Then he heard her voice, curious, nervous, hopeful. “Hello?”
Jason took a long time to answer. He thought about hanging up. He’d found her; he knew she was alive. That was enough.
But it wasn’t.
“It’s me,” he said.
Relief poured out of her across the miles between them. “Oh, Jason, thank God! Are you okay? What happened?”
“I’m fine,” he replied.
“You don’t sound fine. Are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“Did you get to the island? Did you stop them?”
“I stopped the worst of it. Medusa didn’t get what they wanted.”
“What does that mean? Is it over?”
Bourne hesitated. “No. It’s not over yet.”
“What about our twisted friend?” Abbey asked.
“She’s still alive. She’s still out there. That’s one reason I have to keep going.”
He heard Abbey breathing hard and fast. There was something strange in her voice when she spoke again. “Where are you now?”
“On the water, but not for long. I’m going after them.”
Again the silence lasted forever and made him wonder if he’d lost her. Finally, she said, “Jason, it’s not too late to quit. Come back to me.”
He’d never felt so tempted by anything in his life. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“I know.”
“I have to go,” Bourne said.
“No. Wait. Stay with me a while longer.”
“I wish I could, Abbey. What about you? Are you okay? Where are you now?”
“On the road,” she told him. “Where else would I be?”
He thought that was an odd thing for her to say. “Is everything all right?”
“Fine. I’m fine. But do you want the truth? I miss you. I can’t stop thinking about that night we spent in Oklahoma City.”
Bourne tensed, because she’d made a deliberate mistake. They’d spent the night together in Amarillo, not Oklahoma City. She was telling him something. Sending him a message.
She wasn’t alone.
“I remember that night, too,” he told her, to make clear he understood.
“Good. When will I see you again, Jason?”
“Someday.”
“That’s not enough,” she told him. “Tell me when.”
He didn’t want to make promises he couldn’t keep, but he did it anyway. “It’s April now. On June 1, if I haven’t found you before then, go back to where we were supposed to meet the first time. Same time, same place.”
“The last time you didn’t show up,” Abbey reminded him.
“This time I will. If I’m alive, I will.”
“I’ll be there.”
“I have to go,” he said again.
“Tell me where you’re going next,” Abbey pressed him. “Please, Jason. Tell me the truth. If all I do is find a headline in a newspaper about people being killed, I have to know if you were involved. If June 1 comes and goes and you’re not there, I need to know where to start looking for you. Because I will.”
He knew she wasn’t the only one listening. He was sure it was Treadstone. She’d warned him; she’d given him a chance to lie. But he was tired of lying. It was time to face everyone who was hunting for him. Let them come.
“Miles Priest has a castle in Scotland,” he said. “Medusa is going to bring everything they have against him. That’s the endgame.”
“Be careful, Jason.” He heard the pleading in her voice. “I’ll see you on June 1?”
“June 1.”
Bourne hung up the phone and was left alone with the darkness of the ocean.