Robert Ludlum's the Bourne Evolution - Brian Freeman Page 0,93
was.”
“I had nothing to do with that!” Yee protested. “You know my role! Medusa identifies the recruits. Prescix identifies them. I’m given names and background and told how to proceed. The strategy comes from above. We follow Miss Shirley’s instructions to the letter.”
“Even so, a mistake was made,” Bourne said. He let violence creep into his voice. “You understand the consequences of that, don’t you?”
Yee’s eyes widened with fear. “Is that why you’re here? To kill me?”
“I don’t want to, but I need to know how much of our strategy may have been exposed.”
“We can’t expose what we don’t know,” Yee replied. “No one in this building is privy to Medusa’s operations. Not even me. The leak had to come from elsewhere.”
“Are you telling me the suites in the tower aren’t bugged?”
“Well, of course they are, but the recordings go directly to her. No one else.”
“You’ve never listened? A little insurance policy, maybe?”
“Never!”
Bourne debated how far to push the man. “I’d hoped to avoid taking this step, but Miss Shirley needs to be in the loop. You and I need to talk to her.”
Yee picked up the phone. “Of course. I’ll call her now. You’ll see, wherever the mistake was made, it wasn’t at the casino.”
Bourne grabbed the phone out of Yee’s hand and put it back in the cradle. “Not by phone. In person. We need to visit her together.”
“In person? That violates every protocol. She’ll kill both of us. Even you, Mr. Bourne.”
“I told you, we need to stay off the grid. Treadstone is monitoring everything. So is the tech cabal. Did you think they wouldn’t fight back? You need to take me to her, and I’ll deal with the repercussions.”
Yee shook his head. “What you’re asking is out of the question.”
Bourne came around the desk and towered over the casino manager. “I killed a United States congresswoman, Mr. Yee. Do you think I’d hesitate even for a moment about killing you? My life, your life, is inconsequential. What matters is Medusa.”
Yee’s head bobbed with fear. “Yes. Yes, of course.”
“We need to go. Now.”
“All right, whatever you want. We can take my limo to Las Vegas.”
Yee pushed a button under his desk and the double doors to the hallway opened inward. The two guards who had brought Jason to the top floor were still there, their faces like stone. Bourne stayed close to Yee as they returned to the plush corridor, but he was concerned that the man’s nervous demeanor might attract attention. If that happened, if anyone grew worried, calls would be made. The truth about Bourne would be exposed. He’d be dead before they got out the casino doors.
When they reached the elevator, Jason held out his hand to the guard who’d taken his gun. The man eyed the casino boss, and Yee nodded with an uncomfortable frown. The guard hesitated, obviously concerned by the change in Yee’s behavior, but he reached inside his coat anyway and returned Bourne’s pistol.
They waited for the elevator.
It finally came, and when the doors slid open, the elevator car wasn’t empty.
Peter Restak was inside. The New York hacker with the scraggly beard and man bun had a phone in his hand and his attention was glued to the screen, but when he looked up, his eyes widened with recognition.
“Bourne!”
Then he shouted to the guards: “Kill him, you fools!”
Next to Jason, Yee’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. Bourne grabbed the casino manager by the shoulder and launched him off his feet toward the guards. One dodged away, but Yee landed hard against the other. The first guard reached under his coat for a gun, and as the pistol came free from its holster, Bourne lashed out with his foot, driving his heel hard into the man’s groin and eliciting a howl of agony. He grabbed the man’s gun hand and slammed it against the wall until the pistol fell to the carpet. With his right fist, he delivered an uppercut to the man’s jaw, groaning as bone landed hard against bone.
Behind him, the elevator doors began to close.
If they closed, he was trapped.
Bourne leaped through the narrow space, and the doors reversed their track. The second guard, who had freed himself from Yee, aimed into the elevator and fired multiple rounds. The mirrored wall at the back of the elevator shattered. Restak threw himself sideways, but not before one of the bullets burrowed into his shoulder. Bourne heard the thunder of footsteps as the heavy guard ran for the elevator and