The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum

Snake lady, snake lady … this is a friend talking, you assholes. You don’t have many down here… Abort/It’s a no-win!

‘I know, or I think I know that part of it,’ said Webb. ‘I asked about you.’

The assassin’s eyes grew wide as he stared at his bound wrists. When he spoke, it was barely above a whisper, the voice that emerged an echo of itself, and unreal. ‘Because I’m psycho, you son of a bitch! I’ve known it since I was a kid. The nasty dark thoughts, the knives into animals just to watch their eyes and their mouths. Raping a neighbour’s daughter, a vicar’s kid, because I knew she couldn’t say anything, and then catching up with her on the street afterwards and walking her to school. I was eleven years old. And later, at Oxford, during club hazing, holding a lad under water, just below the surface, until he drowned – to watch his eyes, his mouth. Then going back to classes and excelling in that nonsense any damn fool could do who had the wits to get out of a thunder shower. There I was the right sort of fellow, as befitted the son of the father.’

‘You never sought help?

‘Help? With a name like Allcott-Price?’

‘Allcott-?’ Stunned, Bourne stared at his prisoner. ‘General Allcott-Price? Montgomery’s boy genius in World War Two? “Slaughter” Allcott, the man who led the flank attack on Tobruk, and later barrelled through Italy and Germany? England’s Patton?’

‘I wasn’t alive then, for Christ’s sake! I was a product of his third wife – perhaps his fourth, for all I know. He was very large in that department – women, I mean.’

‘D’Anjou said you never told him your real name.’

‘He was bloody well right! The general, swilling his brandy in his oh-so-superior club in St James’s, has passed the word. “Kill him! Kill the rotten seed and never let the name out. He’s no part of me, the woman was a whore!” But I am part of him and he knows it. He knows where I get my kicks from, the sadistic bastard, and we both have a slew of citations for doing what we like doing best.’

‘He knew, then? About your sickness?’

‘He knew … he knows. He kept me out of Sandhurst – our West Point, in case you don’t know – because he didn’t want me anywhere near his precious army. He figured they’d find me out and it’d dim his precious image. He damn near had apoplexy when I joined up. He won’t have a decent night’s sleep until he’s told quietly that I’m out – dead out with all the traces buried.’

‘Why are you telling me who you are? ‘Simple,’ replied the former commando, his eyes boring into Jason’s. The way I read it, whichever way it goes, only one of us is going to make it through. I’ll do my damndest to see that it’s me, I told you that. But it may not be – you’re no slouch – and if it isn’t, you’ll have a name you can shock the goddamn world with, probably make a bloody fortune in the bargain what with literary and cinema rights, that sort of thing.’

‘Then the general will spend the rest of his life sleeping peacefully.’

‘Sleep?’ He’ll probably blow his brains out! You weren’t listening. I said he’d be told quietly, all the traces buried, no name surfacing. But this way nothing’s buried. It’s all hanging out like Maggie’s drawers, the whole sick sordid mess with no apologies on my part, chap. I know what I am, I accept it. Some of us are just plain different. Let’s say we’re anti-social, to put it one way; hard-core violent is another -rotten, still another. The only difference within my being different is that I’m bright enough to know it.’

‘And accept it,’ said Bourne, quietly.

‘Wallow in it! Positively intoxicated by the highs! And let’s look at it this way. If I lose and the story blows, how many practising anti-socials might be fired up by it? How many other different men are out there who’d be only too happy to take my place, as I took yours? This bloody world is crawling with Jason Bournes. Give them direction, give them an idea, and they’ll flock to the source and be off and running. That was the Frenchman’s essential genius, can’t you see?’

‘I see garbage, that’s all I see.’

‘Your eyesight’s not too shabby. That’s what the general will see – a reflection of himself – and he’ll have to live with the exposure, choke with it.’

‘If he wouldn’t help you, you should have helped yourself, commit yourself. You’re bright enough to know that.’

‘And cut off all the fun, all the highs? Unthinkable, sport! You go your way and find the most expendable outfit in the service, hoping the accident will happen that will put an end to it before they peg you for what you are. I found the outfit, but the accident never happened. Unfortunately, competition brings out the best in all of us, doesn’t it? We survive because somebody else doesn’t want us to… And then, of course, there’s drink. It gives us confidence, even the courage to do the things we’re not sure we can do.’

‘Not when you’re working.’

‘Of course not, but the memories are there. The whisky bravado that tells you you can do it.’

‘False,’ said Jason Bourne.

‘Not entirely,’ countered the assassin. ‘You draw strength from what you can.’

‘There are two people,’ said Jason. ‘One you know, the other you don’t – or you don’t want to.’

‘False!’ repeated the commando. ‘He wouldn’t be there unless I wanted my kicks, don’t kid yourself. And don’t delude yourself, either, Mr Original. You’d be better off putting a bullet in my head, because I’ll take you, if I can. I’ll kill you, if I can.’

‘You’re asking me to destroy what you can’t live with.’

‘Cut the crap, Bourne! I don’t know about you, but I get my kicks! I want them! I don’t want to live without them!’

‘You just asked me again.’

‘Stow it, you fucker!’

‘And again.’

‘Stop it!’ The assassin lurched out of the chair. Jason took two steps forward, his right foot again lashing out, again pounding the killer’s ribs, sending him back into the chair. Allcott-Price screamed in pain.

‘I won’t kill you, Major,’ said Bourne quietly. ‘But I’ll make you wish you were dead.’

‘Grant me a last wish,’ coughed the killer through an open mouth, holding his chest with his bound hands. ‘Even I’ve done that for targets … I can take the unexpected bullet but I can’t take the Hong Kong garrison. They’d hang me late at night when no one’s around, just to make it official, according to the regs. They’d put a thick rope around my neck and make me stand on a platform. I can’t take that?

Delta knew when to switch gears. ‘I told you before,’ he said calmly. That may not be in store for you. I’m not dealing with the British in Hong Kong.’

‘You’re not what?’

‘You assumed it, but I never said it.’

‘You’re lying?

Then you’re less talented than I thought, which wasn’t much to begin with.’

‘I know. I can’t think geometrically?

‘You certainly can’t.’

Then you’re a premium man – what you Americans call a bounty hunter – but you’re working privately.’

‘In a sense, yes. And I have an idea that the man who sent me after you may want to hire you, not kill you.’

‘Jesus Christ-‘

‘And my price was heavy. Very heavy.’

Then you are in the business.’

‘Only this once. I couldn’t refuse the reward. Lie down on the bed.’

‘What?

‘You heard me.’

‘I have to go to the loo.’

‘Be my guest,’ replied Jason, walking to the bathroom door and opening it. ‘It’s not one of my favourite sports, but I’ll be watching you.’ The assassin relieved himself with Bourne’s gun trained on him. Finished, he walked out into the small, shabby room in the cheap hotel south of the Mongkok. The bed,’ said Bourne again, gesturing with his weapon. ‘Get prone and spread your legs.’

That fairy behind the desk downstairs would love to hear this conversation.’

‘You can phone him later in your own time. Down. Quickly!’

‘You’re always in a hurry-‘

‘More than you’ll ever understand.’ Jason lifted his knapsack from the floor and put it on the bed, pulling out the nylon cords as the deranged killer crawled oh top of the soiled spread. Ninety seconds later the commando’s ankles were lashed to the bed’s rear metal springs, his neck circled with the thin, white line, the rope stretched and knotted to the springs in front. Finally, Bourne slipped off the pillowcase and tied it around the major’s head, covering his eyes and ears, leaving his mouth free to breathe. His wrists bound beneath him, the assassin was again immobilized. But now his head began to twitch in sudden jerks and his mouth stretched with each spasm. Extreme anxiety had overcome former Major Allcott-Price. Jason recognized the signs dispassionately.