‘You were fond enough of her this afternoon!’ said the helmsman, working furiously at the wheel.
That was yesterday afternoon. It is now one-thirty the next morning and I have come to know your thieving ways.’ D’Anjou replaced the light in the locker and glanced at Bourne who was looking at him. Each was doing what he had done many times in the days of Medusa – checking out a partner’s apparel and equipment. Both men wore trousers, sweaters and thin rubber skull caps, all black. Their normal clothing was rolled up in canvas bags. Their only other equipment, apart from Jason’s automatic and the Frenchman’s small .22-calibre pistol, were scabbarded knives – all unseen. ‘Get in as close as you can,’ said d’Anjou to the captain. ‘And remember, you won’t receive the final payment if you’re not here when we return.’
‘Suppose they take your money and kill you?’ cried the pilot, spinning the wheel. Then I’m our!’
‘I’m touched,’ said Bourne.
‘Have no fear of that,’ answered the Frenchman, glaring at the Chinese-Portuguese. ‘I’ve dealt with this man many times over many months. Like you, he is the pilot of a fast boat and every bit the thief you are. I line his Marxist pockets so that his mistresses live like concubines of the Central Committee. Also, he suspects I keep records. We are in God’s hands, perhaps better.’
Then take the light,’ muttered the captain grudgingly. ‘You may need it, and you’re no good to me stranded or ripped up on the rocks.’
‘Your concern overwhelms me,’ said d’Anjou, ‘retrieving the light and nodding at Jason. ‘We’ll familiarize ourselves with the skiff and its motor.’
The motor’s under thick canvas. Don’t start it until you’re in the water!
‘How do we know it will start?’ asked Bourne.
‘Because I want my money, Silent One.’
The ride into the beach drenched them both, both bracing themselves against the panels of the small boat, Jason gripping the sides and d’Anjou the rudder and the stern so as to keep from pitching overboard. They grazed a shoal. Metal ground against the rocks as the Frenchman swerved the rudder to starboard, pushing the throttle to maximum.
The strange, dark blue flash came once again from the beach. They had strayed in the wet darkness; d’Anjou angled the boat towards the signal and within minutes the bow struck sand. The Frenchman swung the stick down, elevating the motor as Bourne leaped overboard, grabbing the rope and pulling the small craft up on the beach.
He gasped, startled by the figure of a man suddenly next to him, gripping the line in front of him. ‘Four hands are better than two,’ shouted the stranger, an Oriental, in perfectly fluent English – English with an American accent.
‘You’re the contact? yelled Jason, bewildered, wondering if the rain and the waves had distorted his hearing.
That’s such a foolish term!’ replied the man, shouting back. ‘I’m simply a friend!’
Five minutes later, having beached the small boat, the three men walked through the thick shorefront foliage, suddenly replaced by scrubby trees. The ‘friend’ had constructed a primitive lean-to out of a ship’s tarpaulin; a small fire faced the dense woods in front, unseen from the sides and the rear, concealed by the tarp. The warmth was welcome; the winds and the drenching rain had chilled Bourne and d’Anjou. They sat cross-legged around the fire and the Frenchman spoke to the uniformed Chinese.
This was hardly necessary, Gamma-‘
‘Gamma?’ erupted Jason.
‘I’ve implemented certain traditions of our past, Delta. Actually, I could have used Tango or Fox Trot – it wasn’t all Greek, you know. The Greek was reserved for the leaders.’
‘This is a bullshit conversation. I want to know why we’re here. Why you haven’t paid him so we can get the hell out?’
‘Man …!’ said the Chinese, drawing out the word, using the particular American idiom. This cat’s uptight! What’s his beef?’
‘My beef, man, is that I want to get back to that boat. I really don’t have time for tea!’
‘How about Scotch?’ said the officer of the People’s Republic, reaching behind him, pulling his arm forward and displaying a bottle of perfectly acceptable whisky. ‘We’ll have to share the cork, as it were, but I don’t think we’re infectious people. We bathe, we brush our teeth, we sleep with clean whores – at least my heavenly government makes sure they’re clean.’
‘Who the hell are you?’ asked Jason Bourne.
‘Gamma will do, Echo’s convinced me of that. As to what I am, I leave that to your imagination. You might try USC -that’s the University of Southern California – with graduate studies in Berkeley – all those protests in the sixties, surely you remember them.’
‘You were a part of that crowd?’
‘Certainly not! I was a staunch conservative, a member of the John Birch Society who wanted them all shot! Screeching freaks with no regard for their nation’s moral commitments.’
‘This is a bullshit conversation.’
‘My friend Gamma,’ interrupted d’Anjou, ‘is the perfect intermediary. He is an educated double or triple or conceivably quadruple agent working all sides for the benefit of his own interests. He is the totally amoral man and I respect him for that.’
‘You came back to China? To the People’s Republic?’
‘It’s where the money was,’ admitted the officer. ‘Any repressive society offers vast opportunities for those willing to take minor risks on behalf of the repressed. Ask the commissars in Moscow and the Eastern bloc. Of course, one must have contacts in the West and possess certain talents that can also serve the regimental leaders. Fortunately, I’m an exceptional sailor, courtesy of friends in the Bay Area who owned yachts and small motor craft. I’ll return one day. I really do like San Francisco.’
‘Don’t try to fathom his Swiss accounts,’ said d’Anjou. ‘Instead, let’s concentrate on why Gamma has made us such a pleasant retreat in the rainstorm.’ The Frenchman took the bottle and drank.
‘It will cost you, Echo,’ said the Chinese.
‘With you what doesn’t? What is it?’ D’Anjou passed the bottle to Jason.
‘I may speak in front of your companion?’
‘Anything.’
‘You’ll want the information. I guarantee it. The price is one thousand American.’
That’s it?’
‘It should be enough,’ said the Chinese officer taking the bottle of Scotch from Bourne. There are two of you and my patrol boat is half a mile away in the south cove. My crew thinks I’m holding a secret meeting with our undercover people in the colony.’
‘I’ll want the information, and you’ll guarantee it.’ For those words I’m to produce a thousand dollars without a struggle when it’s entirely possible you have a dozen Zhongguo ren outside in the bush.’
‘Some things must be taken on faith.’
‘Not my money,’ countered the Frenchman. ‘You don’t get a sou until I have an idea what you’re selling.’
‘You are Gallic to the core,’ said Gamma, shaking his head. ‘Very well. It concerns your disciple, the one who no longer follows his master but instead picks up his thirty pieces of silver and a great deal more.’
The assassin!’
‘Pay him!’ ordered Bourne, rigid, staring at the Chinese officer.
D’Anjou looked at Jason and the man called Gamma, then pulled up his sweater and unbuckled his soaking wet trousers. He reached below his waist and forced up an oilcloth money belt; he unzipped the centre pocket, slipped out the bills one after another with his fingers and held them out for the Chinese officer. ‘Three thousand for tonight and one for this new information. The rest is counterfeit. I always carry an extra thousand for contingencies, but only a thousand-‘ ‘The information? broke in Jason Bourne. ‘He paid for it,’ replied Gamma. ‘I shall address him.’ ‘Address whomever the hell you like, just talk.’ ‘Our mutual friend in Guangzhou – Canton-‘ began the officer, speaking to d’Anjou. The radioman at Headquarters
One.’
‘We’ve done business,’ said the Frenchman guardedly.
‘Knowing I’d be meeting you here at this hour I refuelled at the pumps in Zhuhai Shi shortly after ten-thirty. There was a message for me to reach him – we have a safe relay. He told me a call was rerouted through Beijing with an unidentified Jade Tower priority code. It was for Soo Jiang-‘
D’Anjou bolted forward, both hands on the ground. The Pig!’
‘Who is he?’ asked Bourne quickly.
‘Supposedly Chief of Intelligence for Macao operations,’ replied the Frenchman, ‘but he would sell his mother to a brothel if the price were right. At the moment he is the conduit to my once and former disciple. My Judas!’
‘Who’s suddenly been summoned to Beijing,’ interrupted the man called Gamma.
‘You’re sure of that?’ said Jason.
‘Our mutual friend is sure,’ answered the Chinese, still looking at d’Anjou. ‘An aide to Soo came to Headquarters One and checked all tomorrow’s flights from Kai Tak to Beijing. Under his department’s authorization he reserved space – a single space – on every one. In several cases it meant that an original passenger was reduced to stand-by status. When an officer at Headquarters One asked for Soo’s personal confirmation, the aide said he had left for Macao on urgent business. Who has business in Macao at midnight? Everything’s closed.’