Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,66
security services. We met shortly after I started negotiations with the group a few months ago.”
“Who is she?” Nelly asked.
Gabriel threw another cricket in the air and caught it in his mouth. “Her background is rather mysterious, but that simply adds to her charm. She’s Czech. What is it about Czech women that they all screw like porn stars? Not to be crude, but she’s the most voracious sexual partner I’ve ever experienced, and that’s saying a lot.”
“What’s her name?” Priest asked him.
“Oh, her last name is unpronounceable,” Gabriel told them. “So I just call her Miss Shirley.”
*
“YOU’RE certain about the location?” Miss Shirley asked, perching on a twelve-inch ledge atop a Gramercy Park apartment building, nineteen stories above the street. Her gaze focused on the tower of the safe house rising over the trees on the other side of the park.
“It’s the fourteenth floor,” Peter Restak replied, his voice cracking with a nervous flutter as he watched her on the narrow strip of concrete. “Southeast corner. We confirmed it with our sources in the UK … Miss Shirley.”
“Excellent.”
The gales through the New York canyons swirled unpredictably, but Miss Shirley remained in perfect balance on the ledge. She bent one knee and pointed her other leg, then spread her arms flat as she knelt into a Warrior II yoga pose on the rooftop. She held that pose for nearly a minute. When she was done, she stood up straight and extended her arms over her head with her palms flat together.
“I sent you the video we hacked from the safe house feed,” Restak added. “Just so you know, we believe Treadstone has it as well … Miss Shirley.”
“If we had faith in Treadstone taking action, then I wouldn’t be here,” she replied.
Miss Shirley brought her arms down in front of her breasts and then slowly lifted her left foot and braced it against the inside of her right thigh. She stood one-legged in the Tree Pose, her tall, lean swimmer’s frame swaying gently like a gyroscope. On the surface of the roof below her, she heard a gasp of discomfort from Peter Restak.
“Does this bother you?” she asked.
“It doesn’t look very safe … Miss Shirley.”
“There’s no such thing as safe or unsafe. There’s only experienced and inexperienced, ability and inability. Come up here. Join me.”
“I’d rather not … Miss Shirley.”
Her dark eyebrows slanted at a fierce downward angle, and her blue eyes zeroed in on him like a predator. “Did that sound like a request, Restak?”
“No … Miss Shirley.”
She saw the hacker wiping sweat from his hands. Almost hyperventilating with fear, Restak put both hands on the ledge and pulled himself up, his entirely body trembling. He squatted on the edge of the roof, shivering in the fierce wind. By instinct, he kept looking down. The wind made the entire building seem to move back and forth around them.
“Stand up.”
“I don’t think I can … Miss Shirley.”
“Stand up. I won’t let you fall, Restak.”
She watched him unbend his knees, which were tense and locked. His fingers turned white as they pressed against the ledge. She could smell his fear, sense his mind spinning. He rose only a few inches before he screamed and pitched forward, but Miss Shirley locked a hand around his forearm and held him in place. He dangled, half on the roof, half off, moaning. Slowly, she dragged him onto the ledge and lifted him until he was vertical, standing beside her on wobbling knees. Tears of terror streamed down his face. His eyes were closed.
“Well done, Restak,” she told him. “Now open your eyes.”
“I can’t … Miss Shirley.”
“Open your eyes!”
Restak’s eyes shot open, staring straight ahead.
“Good. You may get down now.”
She held his wrist and guided him off the ledge. When he got back to the roof, he collapsed and threw up. Miss Shirley did a final pirouette and then gracefully jumped down. She put the toe of her shoe on his forehead as Restak lay on the ground.
“We must have absolute trust in one another.”
“Yes … Miss Shirley.”
“You did excellent work in eliminating Gattor. The Prescix incident worked precisely as I wished.”
“Thank you … Miss Shirley.”
“But your work in New York is over. Cain is aware of your identity. You need to return to headquarters to be reassigned.”
Restak wiped his mouth and looked up at her with another wave of fear. Miss Shirley gave him a smile of reassurance.
“If your usefulness to me was at an end, you’d be on the street right now, Restak.