‘And for your day in the sun.’ Jason started towards the table. ‘Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to use this phone again.’
The serenity of Jade Tower Mountain was belied by the frantic activity inside the villa of Sheng Chou Yang. The turmoil was not caused by the number of people for there were only five, but by the intensity of the players. The minister listened as his aides came and went from the garden bringing news of the latest developments and timidly offered advice, which was withdrawn instantly at the first sign of displeasure.
‘Our people have confirmed the story, sir!’ cried a uniformed middle-aged man rushing from the house. They’ve talked to the journalists. Everything was as the assassin described and a photograph of the dead man was distributed to the newspapers.’
‘Get it,’ ordered Sheng. ‘Have it wired here at once. This is incredible.’
‘It’s being done,’ said the soldier. The consulate sent an attache to the South China News. It should be arriving within minutes.’
‘Incredible,’ repeated Sheng softly, his eyes straying to the lily pads in the nearest of the four man-made ponds. The symmetry is too perfect, the timing too perfect, and that means something is imperfect. Someone has imposed order.’
The assassin?’ asked another aide.
‘For what purpose? He has no idea that he would have been a corpse before the night was over in the sanctuary. He thought he was privileged, but we were only using him to trap his predecessor, unearthed by our man in Special Branch.’
‘Then who?’ questioned another.
That’s the dilemma. Who! Everything is at once tempting yet clumsy. It’s all too apparent, fraught with unprofessional ego. The assassin, if he’s telling the truth, must believe he has nothing to fear from me, but still he threatens, conceivably throwing over a most profitable client. Professionals don’t do that and that’s what bothers me.’
‘You are suggesting a third party, Minister?’ asked the third aide.
‘If so,’ said Sheng, his eyes now riveted on a single lily pad, ‘someone with no experience or with the intelligence of an ox. It’s a dilemma.’
‘It’s here, sir!’ shouted a young man, racing into the garden, holding a teletyped photograph.
‘Give it to me. Quickly!’ Sheng grabbed the paper and angled it into the glare of a floodlight. ‘It is he I’ll never forget that face as long as I breathe! Clear everything! Tell the woman in Macao to give our assassin the number and electronically sweep all conceivable interceptions. Failure is death.’
‘Instantly, Minister!’ The operator ran back to the house.
‘My wife and my children,’ said Sheng Chou Yang, reflectively. They may be upset by all this disturbance. Will one of you please go inside and explain that affairs of state keep me from their beloved presence?’
‘It is my honour, sir,’ said an aide.
They suffer so from the demands of my work. They are all angels. One day they will be rewarded.’
Bourne touched the conduit’s shoulder, then pointed to the lighted marquee of a hotel on the right side of the street. ‘We’ll check in here then head for a phone booth on the other side of the city. Okay?
‘It’s wise,’ said the Chinese. They are all over the telephone company.’
‘And we’ve got to get some sleep. The Frenchman never stopped telling me that rest was also a weapon. Christ, why do I keep repeating myself?’
‘Because you’re obsessed,’ said McAllister from the back seat.
Tell me about it. No, don’t.’
Jason dialled the number in Macao that tripped a relay in China into a swept telephone in Jade Tower Mountain. As he did so he looked at the analyst. ‘Does Sheng speak French? he asked quickly.
‘Of course,’ said the undersecretary. ‘He deals with the Quai d’Orsay and speaks the language of everyone he negotiates with. It’s one of his strengths. But why not use Mandarin? You know it.’
The commando didn’t, and if I speak English he might wonder where the British accent went. French’ll cover it, as it did with Soo Jiang, and I’ll also know whether or not it’s Sheng.’ Bourne stretched a handkerchief across the mouthpiece as he heard a second, echoing ring fifteen hundred miles away. The scramblers were in place.
‘Wei?’
‘Comme le colonel, je prefere parler francais.’
‘Shemma?’ cried the voice, bewildered.
‘Fawen,’ said Jason, the Mandarin for French.
‘Fawen? Wo buhui!’ replied the man excitedly, stating that he did not speak French. The call was expected. Another voice intruded; it was in the background and too low to be heard. And then it was there on the line.
”Mats pourquoi parlez-vous francaisT It was Sheng! No matter the language, Bourne would never forget the orator’s singsong delivery. It was the zealous minister of an unmerciful God seducing an audience before assaulting it with fire and brimstone.
‘Let’s say I feel more comfortable.’
‘Very well. What is this incredible story you bring? This madness during which a name was mentioned?’
‘I was also told you speak French,’ interrupted Jason.
There was a pause in which only Sheng’s steady breathing could be heard. ‘You know who I am?’
‘I know a name that doesn’t mean anything to me. It does to someone else, though. Someone you knew years ago. He wants to talk to you.’
‘What?’ screamed Sheng. ‘Betrayal!’
‘Nothing of the sort, and if I were you I’d listen to him. He saw right through everything I told them. The others didn’t, but he did.’ Bourne glanced at McAllister beside him; the analyst nodded his head as if to say that Jason was convincingly using the words the undersecretary had given him. ‘He took one look at me and put the figures together. But then the Frenchman’s original boy was pretty well shot up; his head was a bloody cauliflower.’
‘What have you done?
‘Probably the biggest favour you ever received, and I expect to be paid for it. Here’s your friend. He’ll use English.’ Bourne handed the phone to the analyst, who spoke instantly.
‘It’s Edward McAllister, Sheng.’
‘Edward…?’ The stunned Sheng Chou Yang could not complete the name.
This conversation is off the record, with no official sanction. My whereabouts are unlogged and unknown. I’m speaking solely for my own benefit – and yours.’
‘You … astonish me, my old friend,’ said the minister slowly, fearfully collecting himself.
‘You’ll read about it in the morning papers and it’s undoubtedly on all the newscasts from Hawaii already. The consulate wanted me to disappear for a few days – the fewer questions the better – and I knew just whom I wanted to go with.’
‘What happened, and how did you-‘
The similarity in their appearance was too obvious to be coincidental,’ broke in the undersecretary of state. ‘I suppose d’Anjou wanted to trade on the legend as much as possible, and that included the physical characteristics for those who had seen Jason Bourne in the past. An unnecessary fillip, in my opinion, but it was effective. In the panic on Victoria Peak – and from the nearly unrecognizable face – no one else noticed that striking resemblance. But then none of the others knew Bourne. I did.’
‘You?’
‘I drove him out of Asia. I’m the one he came to kill, and in keeping with his perverse sense of irony and revenge, he decided to do it by leaving the corpse of your assassin on Victoria Peak. Fortunately for me, his ego didn’t permit him to evaluate your man’s abilities correctly. Once the firing started, our now mutual associate overpowered him and threw him into the guns.’
‘Edward, the information is coming too fast, I cannot assimilate it. Who brought Jason Bourne back?
‘Obviously the Frenchman.- His pupil and immensely successful meal ticket had defected. He wanted revenge and knew where to find the one man who could give him that: his colleague from Medusa, the original Jason Bourne.’
‘Medusa!’ whispered Sheng with loathing.
‘Despite their reputations, in certain units there were intense loyalties. You save a man’s life, he doesn’t forget.’
‘What led you to the preposterous conclusion that I have had anything to do with the man you call an assassin-‘
‘Please, Sheng,’ interrupted the analyst. ‘It’s too late for protestations. We’re talking. But I’ll answer your question. It was in the pattern of several killings. It started with a Vice-Premier of China in the Tsim Sha Tsui and four other men. They all were your enemies. And at Kai Tak the other night, two of your most vocal critics in the Peking delegation -targets of a bomb. There were also rumours; there always are in the underworld. The whispers spoke of messages between Macao and Guangdong, of powerful men in Beijing- of one man with immense power. And finally there was the file … The figures added up. You.’
The file! What is this, Edward? asked Sheng, feigning strength. ‘Why is this an unofficial, unreported communication between us?*
‘I think you know.’