Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,132
despair. “Why?”
“She found out about Hackman. She was trying to figure out how he fit into our plans. That was what gave her away, actually. We traced the online research she was doing on him, and so I knew she was still taking orders from Treadstone. We had to get rid of her before she put it all together. Hackman was our ultimate beta test, you see. He was our proof of everything we could do to manipulate people once we combined Prescix with the data hack. We couldn’t let that be discovered.”
“So you lured Nova to the car show,” Bourne said. “And you killed her.”
“That’s right. I took the first shot. I couldn’t rely on Hackman finding her in the crowd, but the truth is, I wanted to do it myself. Partly because she betrayed us and partly because she was with you. I’m very possessive when it comes to you, Jason. I always have been.”
“But you didn’t kill me,” Bourne said.
“No. That would have been too easy. Scott is right. I’ve wanted you since I first met you as a girl. Not just for sex, of course. Sex is easy. I’ve wanted the battle. The battle is so much more satisfying. So yes, I could have killed you from the Lucky Nickel, but I had to be patient. Sooner or later, I knew I’d get my chance to deal with you up close. To end things in an appropriate way. And here we are.”
“How do you know you’ll win?” Bourne asked.
“Because I’m better than you. I always have been.”
She slid her hands behind her back, and when they emerged again, she had a Glock in her left hand. In her right, she held the viciously sharp crescent-moon knife that she’d used to threaten Abbey.
“Piece by piece, Bourne,” she told him, making a threshing motion with the knife. “That’s how this goes down for you. Piece. By. Piece. Now turn around and walk. Keep your hands up.”
“Walk where?”
Miss Shirley gestured over his shoulder. “To the cliff.”
Bourne had no choice. He walked. The rain poured down over both of them, filling the air with a ceaseless drumroll of water slapping against skin, earth, and stone. Black clouds massed overhead. The distant low hills disappeared into mist and fog. Still he walked, hearing her footsteps right behind him. Beyond the castle, they reached an old cemetery, where the carved names had been worn away by centuries of weather. Some of the tombstones had fallen; some sagged toward the wet ground. Mold and moss grew on the gray stones. The ruins of an old chapel stood watch from behind fallen walls and gaping window holes that had once housed gleaming stained glass. The wind howled, as if trying to wake up generations of ghosts.
“Keep going,” Miss Shirley ordered him.
Ahead of him, Bourne saw the twelve-foot castle wall clinging to the cliff’s edge. On the other side of that wall, a hundred feet below, he heard a storm of sea waves assaulting the rock and mud of the hillside. Stone steps led up to the top of the wall. When he stopped at the base of the steps, he felt the sharp point of Miss Shirley’s knife. With the barest touch, it cut through his black shirt and made a bloody line across his back.
“Up.”
He climbed the wet, slippery steps. Miss Shirley followed. At the top, he found himself on a walkway no more than three feet wide. A low stone parapet was built along the edge, but erosion had worn it down, and entire stretches had long since tumbled into the sea. He glanced down and saw black rocks jutting out of the water like broken teeth scattered at the base of the cliff. The waves made a nonstop crashing thunder.
“Turn around,” Miss Shirley called loudly over the rain and the waves.
Bourne did. She stood no more than five feet away. They faced each other, both soaked to the skin. She had heels on, but she kicked them off and stood on the wall in her bare feet.
“Jump if you want,” she said to him. “I won’t stop you. Take the coward’s way out.”
“No thanks.”
“Do you still think you can beat me? I told you, Bourne, I’m superior. Before we’re done, I’ll take off your clothes. I’ll take off your skin. I’ll take off your limbs. And then I’ll fuck what’s left while you’re still alive. You’ll wish you’d jumped.”
“It’s easy to say you’re superior when you’re holding a gun and a