nausea and had to sit down on the bench. “You were there when Charles Hackman killed all those people.”
Holly rubbed the scar like it was some kind of charm. “Yeah. I was there. Believe me, I try to forget, but it’s tattooed on my brain. If that bullet had gone in another three inches lower, Hackman would have killed me, too.”
TWENTY-THREE
“HACKMAN?” Bourne asked Abbey when they met up at an outdoor table across from the Flatiron Building. “Holly d’Angelo was one of the people who got shot by Charles Hackman in Las Vegas?”
“Yes. And here’s the thing. Peter Restak was in the crowd, too. Holly said it was his idea to go to the car show.”
Jason closed his eyes. He was back there again, lost in the chaos, hearing the cracks of the rifle and seeing people fall. “Restak knew the shooting was about to go down. All this time, I’ve thought Nova was killed by my agency, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe Medusa killed Nova. But why? And damn it, I saw one of my own people carrying away her body!”
“Jason, I know you said it wasn’t safe to tell me the name of your agency, but I want to know anyway. Please.”
Bourne stared at the young woman in front of him. A woman he liked. A woman he was attracted to. He thought about the women he’d loved in his past lives. Marie. Nova. They’d died because of him. It was an inevitable cycle, repeated over and over. He got close to a woman, he pulled her into his world, and she paid the price. They were the sacrifices for his sins. He didn’t want that fate for Abbey Laurent.
“It’s my choice, Jason,” she went on, as if she could feel his reluctance. “I know the risks.”
He felt as if he were signing her death warrant by saying the word. “Treadstone.”
“You worked for them?”
“They trained me. They made me who I am. They made all of us that way, custom-designed to be killers. For a long time, I believed in them, even when everyone in Washington was trying to shut them down. I believed in what I was doing. And then they murdered Nova. Or at least, that’s what I thought happened. Now I’m not sure. I need to get to Peter Restak and find out what he knows. If he was in Las Vegas during the shooting, he has the answers.”
“I’m coming with you,” Abbey said.
“That’s not a good idea. I should go alone.”
“Jason, I told you, I’m in.”
He wanted to argue with her. He wanted to tell her that it wasn’t safe. He also knew that if he found Restak, he would have to break the man to get him to talk. Torture worked faster on some people than others, but with a Medusa operative, Bourne was certain he’d have to inflict excruciating pain before the man cracked.
He didn’t want Abbey to see that. He didn’t want her to see that he was capable of those things, but she already knew who he was.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go find him.”
They crossed the sidewalk park to Fifth Avenue and hailed a cab, and Abbey gave the driver the address in Alphabet City for Peter Restak. The early evening traffic crawled as they headed east across town. Horns blared around them as backed-up vehicles stalled at the lights, and pedestrians streamed around the cars across the intersections. When they reached Second Avenue, they made faster progress until they got to the East Village. There, only a few blocks from Restak’s apartment, traffic ground to a standstill. The taxi driver threw up his arms in disgust.
Not far away, Jason heard sirens, and he made a snap decision.
“We’re getting out here,” he told the driver suddenly, pushing cash through the slot. He took Abbey’s arm and dragged her onto the sidewalk. They were near the playgrounds and basketball courts of Tompkins Square Park.
“What’s going on?” Abbey asked. “Why get out here?”
“Don’t you smell it?”
Abbey turned her face up, inhaling the air. Her mouth bent into a frown. “Smoke.”
“There’s a fire close by,” he said.
“That could be a coincidence.”
Bourne shook his head. “It’s not.”
He took Abbey’s hand as they hurried down the next long block, past a lineup of cars and frustrated drivers. A few winter trees on the sidewalks interrupted the concrete. As they got closer to the address where Restak lived, the smell of smoke intensified, and they could see a crowd of gawkers gathered at the intersection.