Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,131
to move. Of course, I needed funding to make it happen, but that wasn’t hard to arrange when I had the right bait to offer.”
“Namely?”
“Social manipulation. Conflict. Western civilization divided and at each other’s throats. Civil war. Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. Technology will be the greatest unifying force in human history, once we get rid of the obsolete nation states standing in the way. It will take a couple more generations, but we’ll get there in the end.”
“At the cost of how many lives?” Bourne asked.
Scott shrugged. “You never did see the big picture. Always too focused on the individual. By the way, gun on the ground, please, Jason.” Scott gestured at two of the Medusa operatives. “Take away his weapons.”
Bourne felt the guards take away his smoke grenades. His hacksaw blade. His knives. The backup pistol on his ankle. The only thing they didn’t find was the length of slim nylon rope clipped under his shirt.
“I’m sorry you don’t remember our time in Prague,” Scott went on. “That visit changed my life. I met Shirl there. You didn’t understand that she and I were two halves of the same soul. You thought she was amoral, ruthless, violent, and you’re right, she was all of those things. She was only sixteen, but how many old men had you killed in bed by that point, lover?”
“Nine,” Miss Shirley said with a smirk.
“Nine. I told you, she was all grown up. Anyway, the thing you never understood, Jason, is that you weren’t wrong about Shirley. You were wrong about me. I was just like her, but you didn’t see it.”
Bourne was tired of the game. “So what happens now, Scott?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Miles takes the fall for everything. Miles and the rogue intelligence agent he recruited. The two of you are the perfect villains. Let everyone think Medusa has been crippled. I’m sure you remember the Treadstone lesson. When your enemy thinks he’s winning, he’s at his most vulnerable.”
“People will know that’s not true,” Bourne said.
“A few. But they won’t say a word. Nelly Lessard will be suspicious, but she’s a loyal soldier, and if she gets out of line, well, she’ll be dealt with. Of course, there’s one other inevitable consequence, Jason. I can’t have you around to get in the way of our plans again. Now that you’ve played your part, you have to die. I want you to know, I’m genuinely sorry about that. Growing up, you were like a brother to me. But those days are gone. After all, you don’t remember any of it, do you?”
“For the first time, I’m actually glad about that.”
Scott shrugged off the insult. He signaled to the men to drag the body of Miles Priest out of the limousine. “Make sure he’s never found. It’ll be to our advantage for people not to be sure if he’s alive or dead. And Jason, it’s time to say goodbye. I’ve got to get to Washington to get the next phase of our plans underway. Just so you know, I wanted to make the end quick for you. But Shirley decided to make it more interesting, and I really hate to say no to her. Like I told you, I always had the sneaking suspicion that she wanted you more than me.”
Miss Shirley studied him with her snake eyes and gave him another smile that was colder than the rain.
“Goodbye, old friend,” Scott told him.
He got into the back of the limousine, and two of the Medusa agents climbed into the front. The vehicle’s engine roared to life, and the limo continued around the circular driveway and disappeared across the castle pond into the trees. The other two agents took hold of the body of Miles Priest and dragged it across the wet grass.
Bourne was alone with Miss Shirley.
She wore a black bodysuit that clung to her lithe frame. Her soaking-wet black hair was pasted to her face. They were the same height, staring at each other eye to eye. He tried to grasp a memory of her from his youth, when she was a depraved sixteen-year-old in Prague, seducing his best friend. Every now and then, images of his past came back like photographs, but the only memory he had of this woman was the look on her face outside the Lucky Nickel hotel.
It was as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Yes, it was me, Bourne,” she told him. “I’m the one who killed your precious Nova.”