Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,17
tried to figure out what they were planning to do with the data they stole. But since then, nothing. Silence. As far as we can tell, they haven’t tried to use it, haven’t tried to sell it. So we still don’t know their ultimate plan. But now it appears that Sofia Ortiz is planning to make news of the hack public. This is clearly the first shot in the war.”
Priest sat down again and put both of his long arms on the table, with his hands curled into fists. “The leak about the hack didn’t come from any of us. If Ortiz knows about it, it’s because Medusa gave her the information. They want it out there. Somewhere in Sofia Ortiz’s operation is a trail that leads back to them. That’s why we need you. That’s why we need a spy.”
“There are a lot of spies out there,” Bourne replied. “Why me?”
“Bringing you in was my idea,” Scott explained. “Miles convinced the other CEOs that we needed to hire our own operative to take on Medusa. The feds have had no luck getting inside the organization or learning anything about it. So it’s up to us now. We want someone who reports directly to us, with no conflicted loyalties. I said I had the perfect man.”
Bourne stared at Scott DeRay with a question. “Do they know about … ?”
“Treadstone?” Scott replied. “Yes, they know all about Treadstone.”
“Don’t look so surprised, Bourne!” Priest interjected with a chuckle. “I was the head of the FBI. You think the CIA can take a piss without me knowing about it? I’ve been in the loop on Treadstone since their first black ops mission.”
“And yes, I told them why you left,” Scott went on, with a meaningful glance that Bourne didn’t miss. “They know about Nova and what Treadstone did to her. No one blames you for walking away. In fact, as I told Miles, you leaving Treadstone was a gift to us. One of the best intelligence agents in the world was suddenly a man without portfolio. How could we turn that down?”
Jason heard the unspoken message. Scott knew all about the memory loss that had nearly destroyed Jason a few years earlier, but he’d kept the truth about Bourne’s amnesia from Miles Priest. Scott was protecting him.
Like Priest, Scott DeRay was former FBI. He’d been on the fast track, buzzed about as a future director and eventual attorney general. But he’d surprised his superiors a few years earlier by quitting the bureau and joining Carillon Technology as their number two executive. Scott was now the protégé and eventual successor to Miles Priest. His FBI colleagues had assumed it was about money, but Bourne knew that Scott’s decision wasn’t financial. He already came from a billionaire family; he’d gone to exclusive private schools and colleges in Europe. No, Scott had decided in his early thirties that the real future of the world was in technology, not government. So he’d moved on.
They were old friends. Bourne had known Scott throughout his Treadstone days, but their relationship went much further back. They’d spent summers together as teenagers. Scott had showed him pictures from back then, two boys hanging out week after week at the beach, laughing together, arms around each other’s shoulders. Bourne remembered none of it. To him, those events may as well have happened to someone else. He had no recollection of his childhood, but he still had Scott in his life as a reminder.
Scott was smooth and handsome. Wavy dark hair. A permanent suntan. He wasn’t particularly tall, but he had a politician’s charisma. Everyone who met him remembered him. He had limitless energy, fueled by a metabolism that barely needed more than four hours of sleep on any night. Every day, he’d run in Central Park at five in the morning, pumping through an intense workout. Then, if he wasn’t at his Manhattan desk doing venture capital deals for Carillon, he’d be on a plane or helicopter, hopscotching from Washington to Scotland to Nassau to San Francisco with Miles Priest.
His friend was going to rule the world someday. Or maybe he already did.
“What do you say, Bourne?” Priest asked impatiently. “The clock is ticking. We need someone who can find the connection between Sofia Ortiz and Medusa. We need to know what they’re planning. Will you help us?”
Jason noticed a little smirk on Scott’s face, because his friend knew there was no way he was going to say no. Sometimes Jason thought