Thursday, May 6, 2010 - DeSole adjusted his steelrimmed
glasses and... |
| DeSole adjusted his steelrimmed
glasses and squinted at his watch, barely able to see the radium handsAs near as he could
determine, it was between 3:15 and 3:20 in the morning, which meant he was early and that was
goodHe had to adjust his thoughts; he was unable to do so while driving, as his severe night
blindness necessitated complete concentration on the road, and hiring a taxi or a driver was out of
the question
The information was at first His name is
Webb, the caller had saidThank you, he had repliedA sketchy description was given, one fitting
several million men, so he had thanked the informer again and hung up the phoneBut then, in the
recesses of his analyst?s mind, by profession and training a warehouse for both essential and
incidental data, an alarm went offamnesia? A clinic in Virginia years agoA man
more dead than alive had been flown down from a hospital in New York, the medical file so
maximum classified it could not even be shown to the Oval OfficeYet interrogation spe******ts
talk in dark corners, as often to relieve frustration as to impress a listener, and he had heard about a
recalcitrant, unmanageable patient, an amnesiac they called ?Davey? and chanel sheep bag sometimes just a short,
sharp, hostile ?Webb,? formerly a member of Saigon?s infamous Medusa, and a man they
suspected of feigning his loss of memoryLoss of memory? Alex Conklin had told them that the
Medusan they had trained to go out in deep cover for Carlos the Jackal, an agent provocateur they
called Jason Bourne, had lost his memoryLost his memory and nearly lost his life because his
controls disbelieved the story of amnesia! That was the man they called ?Davey? David
Webb was Conklin?s Jason Bourne! How could it be otherwise?
David Webb! And he had been at Norman Swayne?s house the night the Agency was told that
poor cuckolded Swayne had taken his own life, a suicide that had not been reported in the papers
for reasons DeSole could not possibly understand! David WebbWhy?
The headlights of an approaching limousine shot through the darkness at the far end of the
parking lot, swerving in a semicircle toward the CIA analyst, causing him to shut his eyes?the
refracted light through his thick lenses was painfulHe had to make the sequence of his revelations
clear to these menThey were his means to a life he and his wife had dreamed of?moneyNot
bureaucratic less-than-money, but real gucci bag sale moneyEducation at the best universities for their
grandchildren, not the state colleges and the begged-for scholarships that came with the
government salary of a bureaucrat?a bureaucrat so much better than those around him it was
pitifulDeSole the Mute Mole, they called him, but would not pay him for his expertise, the very
expertise that prohibited him from going into the private sector, surrounding him with so many
legal restrictions that it was pointless to applySomeday Washington would learn; that day would
not come in his lifetime, so six grandchildren had made the decision for himThe empathetic new
Medusa had beckoned with generosity, and in his bitterness he had come running
He rationalized that it was no more an unethical decision on his part than those made every year
by scores of Pentagon personnel who walked out of Arlington and into the corporate arms of their
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
175
old friends the defense contractorsAs an army colonel once said to him, ?It?s work now and get
paid later,? and God knew that one Steven DeSole worked like hell for his country, but his country
hardly reciprocated in kindHe hated the name Medusa, though, and rarely if dior handbag ever used it because it
was a symbol from another time, ominous and misleadingThe great oil companies and railroads
sprang from the chicanery and the venality of the robber barons, but they were not now what they
were thenMedusa may have been born in the corruption of a war-ravaged Saigon, its early funding
may have been a result of it, but that Medusa no longer existed; it had been replaced by a dozen
different names and companiesDeSole, no American-controlled international conglomerate is,? said his
recruiter, ?and it?s true that we seek what some might call unfair economic advantage based on
privileged informationYou see, we have to because our competitors
throughout Europe and the Far East consistently have itThe difference between them and us is that
their governments support their efforts?ours doesn?tDeSole, trade and profits
They?re the healthiest pursuits on earthChrysler may not like Toyota, but the astute MrIacocca
does not call for an air strike against TokyoHe finds ways to join forces with the
Japanese
Yes, mused DeSole as the limousine came to a stop ten feet away from himWhat he did for the
?corporation,? which he preferred to call it, as opposed to what he did female silver cartier watch for the Company, might even
be considered benevolentProfits, after all, were more desirable than bombs and his
grandchildren would go to the finest schools and universities in the countryTwo men got out of
the limousine and approached him
?What?s this Webb look like?? asked Albert Armbruster, chairman of the Federal Trade
Commission, as they walked along the edge of the parking lot
?I only have a description from the gardener, who was hiding behind a fence thirty feet away
?What did he tell you?? The unidentified associate of the chairman, a short stocky man with
penetrating dark eyes and dark eyebrows beneath dark hair, looked at DeSole?Be precise,? he
added
?Now, just a minute,? protested the analyst defensively but firmly?I?m precise in everything I
say, and, frankly, whoever you are, I don?t like the tone of your voice one bit
?He?s upset,? said Armbruster, as if his associate was dismissible?He?s a spaghetti head from
New York and doesn?t trust anybody
?Who?s to trust in New Yawk?? asked the short, dark man, laughing and poking his elbow into
the wide girth of Albert Armbruster?You WASPs are the worst, you got the banks, amico!?
?Let?s keep it that way and out of the cartier swiss watches cour |
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