any idea where I can find her? The thing is, I have to head to the airport at three, and she sounded like she really wanted to see my pics.”
“Are you certain she knew it was today, Matt?” the editor asked. “Because she told me this morning that Michel was coming to town and she was meeting him at one o’clock.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I got my signals crossed. I was pretty sure we were clear on the date, though. Of course, if Michel’s in town, maybe she just forgot. You know where they were having lunch? I could swing over and say hi to both of them and see if she still wants to breeze through my photo library.”
“She didn’t say specifically, but they usually meet at Les Vingt Chats. It’s a riverside restaurant near the port terminal.”
“Twenty cats. Got it. Thanks a lot, Jacques.”
Bourne hung up. He checked a map on his phone for the restaurant, which was only a short walk from where he was. He hurried through the newer, more corporate section of town, where the Old World charm evaporated and Quebec looked like any other city. As he neared the river, the wind rose up like a slap and turned the air cold. He used an access road past an old pumping station to approach the restaurant, but he hesitated near the door. If Abbey Laurent wasn’t alone, that complicated his mission, and if she saw him coming for her, she’d panic. He didn’t want her to run.
Find her! Take her!
Then his plan changed. Everything changed.
A suppressor muffled the sound, but the wind carried the noise of a gunshot to his ears from near the river.
Medusa.
Bourne jumped a fence near the town’s massive Old Port building, which took him inside an open-air amphitheater that was used for summer concerts. He skidded down the grass to the sunken staging area and sprinted to the opposite side. There, he took the concrete steps two at a time to the top of the theater, where a knoll with overgrown weeds separated him from the pier walkway. He could see the river and a series of white storage siloes rising over the industrial port. In front of him was a long, low building that housed a naval museum, which was closed and empty today.
He heard a muffled scream. Bourne threw himself over the next fence and crouched low in the weeds. Two people approached from the river. One was the killer with the gold-rimmed glasses he’d seen outside the offices of The Fort the previous night. The other was Abbey Laurent. She had streaks of blood on her face, and she squirmed violently in the man’s grasp. A belt secured her wrists tightly behind her back. The Medusa killer held the woman around her waist, dragging her with him as she struggled. His gun wasn’t visible, but Bourne knew he had one jabbed into the woman’s side.
Twenty yards away, he saw a blue Renault parked near a row of maple trees outside the naval museum. The killer hustled Abbey toward the car. Bourne readied his gun, but Abbey’s body was between him and the killer, and he couldn’t fire without hitting her. He crawled through the grass, staying parallel to them, waiting for an opportunity when the Medusa assassin was in his line of sight.
“If you kill me, I can’t tell you anything!” Abbey hissed on the walkway as she tried to twist free from her captor.
The assassin laughed at her. “Don’t flatter yourself, Ms. Laurent. Anything you know comes from us. You have nothing we need. You’re simply a loose end.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” she snarled.
“Patience, please. My orders are to kill you, but how I do so is up to me. Since you’re so fond of electric shocks, I thought you might enjoy feeling what it’s like when fifty thousand volts fire between your legs. Maybe you’ll get a thrill.”
Abbey inhaled and spat in his face. The killer flinched and yanked his gun arm back to whip the barrel across her skull. As he did, his grip on her loosened. Abbey wrenched away, and in the same instant, Bourne fired. He fired and missed. The bullet ripped off part of the man’s ear, then shattered a window in the naval museum.
The gunshot froze Abbey where she was, and before she could run, the killer grabbed her again. He pinned her with his arm around her throat and used her body as a