The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum

‘That’s a step up!’

‘You’re not a well man. You’ve gone through eight months of psychiatric therapy there’s still a great deal of your own life you can’t remember; you didn’t even know your name. It’s all in the medical records, meticulous records that make clear the advanced state of your mental illness, your compulsion for violence and your obsessive rejection of your own identity. In your torment you fantasize, you pretend to be people you are not; you seem to have a compulsion to be someone other than yourself. ‘

That’s crazy and you know it! Lies!”

‘Crazy is a harsh word, Mr Webb, and the lies are not mine. However, it’s my job to protect our government from false vilification, unfounded accusations that could severely damage the country. ‘

‘Such as?’

‘Your secondary fantasy concerning an unknown organization you call Medusa. Now, I’m sure your wife will come back to you – if she can, Mr Webb. But if you persist with this fantasy, with this figment of your tortured mind that you call Medusa, we’ll label you a paranoid schizophrenic, a pathological liar prone to uncontrollable violence and self-deception. If such a man claims his wife is missing, who knows where that pathological trip could lead? Do I make myself clear?

David closed his eyes, the sweat rolling down his face. ‘Crystal clear,’ he said quietly, hanging up the phone.

Paranoid… pathological. Bastards! He opened his eyes wanting to spend his rage by hurling himself against something, anything! Then he stopped and stood motionless as another thought struck him, the obvious thought. Morris Panov! Mo Panov would label the three monsters for what he knew they were. Incompetents and liars, manipulators and self-serving protectors of corrupt bureaucracies – and conceivably worse, far worse. He reached for the phone and, trembling, dialled the number that so often in the past had brought forth a calming, rational voice that provided a sense of worth when Webb felt there was very little of value left in him.

‘David, how good to hear from you,’ said Panov with genuine warmth.

‘I’m afraid it’s not, Mo. It’s the worst call I’ve ever made to you. ‘

‘Come on, David, that’s pretty dramatic. We’ve been through a lot-‘

‘Listen to me!’ yelled Webb. ‘She’s gone] They’ve taken her!’ The words poured forth, sequences lacking order, the times confused.

‘Stop it, David!’ commanded Panov. ‘Go back. I want to hear it from the beginning. When this man came to see you after your… the memories of your brother. ‘

‘ What man?’

‘From the State Department. ‘

‘Yes! All right, yes. McAllister, that was his name. ‘

‘Go from there. Names, titles, positions. And spell out the name of that banker in Hong Kong. And for Christ’s sake, slow down?

Webb again grabbed his wrist as it gripped the phone. He started again, imposing a false control on his speech; but still it became strident, tight, involuntarily gathering speed. Finally he managed to get everything out, everything he could recall, knowing in horror that he had not remembered everything. Unknown blank spaces filled him with pain. They were coming back, the terrible blank spaces. He had said all he could say for the moment; there was nothing left.

‘David,’ began Mo Panov firmly. ‘I want you to do something for me. Now. ‘

‘What?

‘It may sound foolish to you, even a little bit crazy, but I suggest you go down the street to the beach and take a walk along the shore. A half hour, forty-five minutes, that’s all. Listen to the surf and the waves crashing against the rocks. ‘

‘You can’t be serious? protested Webb.

‘I’m very serious,’ insisted Mo. ‘Remember we agreed once that there were times when people should put their heads on hold – God knows, I do it more than a reasonably respected psychiatrist should. Things can overwhelm us, and before we can get our act together we have to get rid of part of the confusion. Do as 1 ask, David. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, no more than an hour, I’d guess. And Iwant you calmer than you are now. ‘

It was crazy, but as with so much of what Panov quietly, often casually, suggested, there was truth in his words. Webb walked along the cold, rocky beach, never for an instant forgetting what had happened, but whether it was the change of scene, or the wind, or the incessant, repetitive sounds of the pounding ocean, he found himself breathing more steadily every bit as deeply, as tremulously, as before but without the higher registers of hysteria. He looked at his watch, at the luminous dial aided by the moonlight. He had walked back and forth for thirty-two minutes; it was all the indulgence he could bear. He climbed the path through the dunes of wild grass to the street and headed for the house, his pace quickening with every step.

He sat in his chair at the desk, his eyes rigid on the phone. It rang; he picked it up before the bell had stopped. ‘Mo?’

‘Yes. ‘

‘It was damned cold out there. Thank you. ‘

Thank you. ”

‘What have you learned?’

And then the extension of the nightmare began.

‘How long has Marie been gone, David?”

‘I don’t know. An hour, two hours, maybe more. What’s that got to do with anything?’

‘Could she be shopping? Or did you two have a fight and perhaps she wanted to be by herself for a while? We agreed that things are sometimes very difficult for her – you made the point yourself. ‘

‘What the hell are you talking about? There’s a note spelling it out! Blood, a hand print!’

‘Yes, you mentioned them before, but they’re so incriminating. Why would anyone do that?”

‘How do I know! It was done -they were done. It’s all here!’

‘Did you call the police?1

‘Christ, no! It’s not for the police! It’s for us, for me\ Can’t you understand that…? What did you find out? Why are you talking like this?’

‘Because I have to. In all the sessions, in all the months we talked we never said anything but the truth to each other because the truth is what you have to know. ‘

‘Mo! For God’s sake, it’s Marie!’

‘Please, David, let me finish. If they’re lying – and they’ve lied before – I’ll know it and I’ll expose them. I couldn’t do anything less. But I’m going to tell you exactly what they told me, what the number two man in the Far East Section made specifically clear, and what the chief of security for the State Department read to me as the events were officially logged. ‘

‘Officially logged… ?’

‘Yes. He said row called security-control a little over a week ago, and according to the log you were in a highly agitated state -•-‘

‘I called them?’

That’s right, that’s what he said. According to the logs, you claimed you had received threats; your speech was “incoherent” – that was the word they used – and you demanded additional security immediately. Because of the classified flag on your file, the request was bounced upstairs and the upper levels said, “Give him what he wants. Cool him. “‘

‘I can’t believe this!’

‘It’s only the middle, David. Hear me out, because I’m listening to you. ‘

‘Okay. Go on. ‘

That’s it. Easy. Stay cool – no, strike that word “cool”. ‘

‘Please do. ‘

‘Once the patrols were in place – again according to the logs you called twice more complaining that your guards weren’t doing their job. You said they were drinking in their cars in front of your house, that they laughed at you when they accompanied you on the campus, that they – and here I quote – “They’re making a mockery of what they’re supposed to be doing. ” I underlined that phrase. ‘

‘A “mockery”…?

‘Easy, David. Here’s the end of it, the end of the logs. You made a last call stating emphatically that you wanted everyone taken away – that your guards were your enemy, they were the men who wanted to kill you. In essence, you had transformed those who were trying to protect you into enemies who would attack you. ‘

‘And I’m sure that fits snugly into one of those bullshit psychiatric conclusions that had me converting – or perverting – my anxieties into paranoia. ‘

‘Very snugly,’ said Panov. Too snugly. ‘

‘What did the number two in Far East tell you?

Panov was silent for a moment. ‘It’s not what you want to hear, David, but he was adamant. They never heard of a banker or any influential taipan named Yao Ming. He said the way things were in Hong Kong these days, if there was such a person he’d have the dossier memorized. ‘

‘Does he think I made it all up! The name, the wife, the drug connection, the places, the circumstances the British reaction! For Christ’s sake, 1 couldn’t invent those things if 1