Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,48
French-Canadian father, American mother. After your mother died, you and your father moved to Ottawa. You went to McGill for journalism school, and then you settled in Quebec City to take a job with a start-up online magazine called The Fort.”
Abbey shrugged. “See? You know everything there is.”
“Actually, I don’t know much at all,” Jason replied. “I don’t know why you seem to be largely estranged from your father. I don’t know why you’re still working at a small operation like The Fort when you’ve had offers from The Atlantic and Vanity Fair. I also don’t know why a smart, funny, very attractive thirty-two-year-old woman hates the idea of a serious relationship.”
“Did you think that last one would soften me up for the others?”
“No.”
“So what are you saying? I’m pretty but I’m screwed up?”
“I just want to know who you really are.”
“I’m a writer going after a story,” Abbey said. “That’s all. That’s my life.”
“I’m not sure that explains why you’re helping me.”
She shrugged. “Maybe I can’t really explain it to myself. Did you think about that? Maybe sometimes I leap at things and can’t explain why I do it.”
He smiled at her. “Now that I can believe.”
“I’ll get you to Carson Gattor. Beyond that, nothing else matters, does it?”
“You’re right. Nothing else matters.”
“Okay, then. I’m going to sleep. You said I need to sleep.”
She closed her eyes and turned her head away from him. She looked tense and restless now, and he could hear her breathing harshly. Her body had grown warm under the blanket, and she kicked it off. Jason stayed awake, waiting until her breathing slowed, going in and out as she slept, but it took a long time.
Then he closed his eyes, too. He noticed that she hadn’t let go of his hand.
SIXTEEN
ABBEY tried to calm her nerves as she sat on a stone bench in Washington Square Park the next day. The fountain reflected the park’s giant arch in the water like a blurry photograph. Hundreds of people came and went around her, and to her eyes, everyone looked like a threat. High-rises loomed over the trees, making her think of sniper rifles aimed from the windows. Being in the park again, where she’d witnessed an assassination, where she’d nearly been killed herself, made her want to get up and run away. She had to grab hold of the bench to stay where she was.
More than a week later, she could still see the aftereffects of the riot. Scorched ground from the fires. Protest signs stacked next to the overflowing garbage cans. Boarded-up windows in the buildings surrounding the park. The echoes of violence brought it all back for her. She flinched, remembering the shot that had killed Sofia Ortiz, seeing the blood spray. She heard screams again and the noise of panic around her.
“You look nervous,” a voice said in the receiver hidden in her ear. Jason. She could see him in the trees on the other side of the fountain. He wore a baseball cap, and his eyes were hidden by sunglasses.
“I am,” she murmured, barely moving her lips.
“You’ll do fine. Your call to Gattor was perfect. He’ll be here.”
Abbey checked her watch and saw that it was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon. Carson Gattor was due for their meeting.
If he was planning to show up at all.
If he hadn’t simply called Medusa to target her while she was waiting in the park.
“I’m too exposed. What if they try to kill me?”
“I’m watching the area, Abbey. Right now, there are no threats. If I see anything, I’ll move in immediately. Remember, the only thing Gattor knows is that you need to see him. Even if he called Medusa, they’d tell him to take the meeting and find out why you’re here and what you want. You’re safe.”
“I’m not sure. There’s a man near the hot dog cart. See him? With the T-shirt and the goatee? He’s watching me.”
“I see him. He’s not Medusa.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know how operatives behave. I already ruled him out. He’s watching you because you’re attractive, Abbey. That’s all. His eyes follow every pretty girl who shows up in the park.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can do this. I said I could, but now I don’t know.”
“You can. Just stay focused on the strategy. This is Phase One. We need to throw Gattor off balance. We need to get him so panicked that he goes running to his contact at Medusa. Remember,