The Bourne Retribution by Eric Van Lustbader Read Free Book Online

asked Bourne to join the family for lunch, he thanked him but said he had an important appointment to get to.
    “But,” he went on, “you could do me a small favor.”
    “Of course,” the father said.
    “You see that suit over there with the slicked-back hair?” Bourne said. “He’s been following me all morning. He’s my girlfriend’s brother. He doesn’t want me dating his sister simply because I’m a Westerner, and I’m concerned he plans to do me some harm.”
    The father nodded sagely. “I’ve read about the ultra-conservative faction here.”
    “The Public Security Bureau.”
    “Right. Total xenophobes, aren’t they?”
    “Exactly,” Bourne said. “Now I wonder if you’d help me lose him so I can meet with my girlfriend in peace.”
    “Ah!” The father’s face broke out into a wide grin. “Your important appointment.” He tapped his thick forefinger against the side of his nose. “I understand a thousand percent.” His eyes twinkled. “You have a plan, yes?”
    “I do,” Bourne said. “It involves all of you.”
    “Oh, Father, can we, can we?” the girls pleaded.
    Their father, chuckling, pulled affectionately at their ears. “Helping true love is always a pleasure.” He turned to Bourne. “Tell us what we have to do.”
      
    F rom a discreet distance, Wu Lin watched Bourne talking to the Swedish family. The fact that they were all laughing confused him. Surely this wasn’t a professional rendezvous, not with children present. At one point, he wondered whether he was following the right foreigner, since they so often looked disconcertingly alike, but checking the photo sent to him on his mobile confirmed he did, indeed, have the right man.
    Now Bourne had taken the hands of the two girls, who were leading him deeper into the pavilion. The mother and father trailed behind, blocking Wu Lin’s view of his quarry. Spurred by a twinge of anxiety, he hurried forward, slipping into the current of tourists swirling through the myriad rooms and verandas, which branched and rebranched like the limbs of an ancient tree.
    Within moments he caught up with the mother and father, who were still laughing, no doubt at something their daughters said. Relieved to have picked them up so quickly, Wu Lin strolled after them, in no hurry now that he had the family in view.
    But ten minutes later, in another section of the pavilion, having realized that he hadn’t actually seen Bourne or the girls during that time, he pushed ahead. Coming up on the left flank of the mother and father, he discovered, to his dismay, that neither the girls nor Bourne were anywhere in sight.
    Rushing past them, he glimpsed the girls through a forest of legs, sitting cross-legged, side by side on the edge of one of the far verandas. There was no sign of Bourne. The mother and father joined their children, crouched down, speaking in a language Wu Lin could not understand.
    With a string of curses, Wu Lin broke away from the family, making his way through the previously unexplored sections of the pavilion. His progress was slow, constantly impeded by the press of people, shuffling like cattle through the endless rooms.
      
    B ourne watched his Shanghainese tail searching in vain for him. He could have exited the pavilion, and the park itself, leaving him lost and bewildered, but he had another goal in mind. The quarry had decided to become the hunter, tailing the man back to the people who had sent him. This was essential, because someone had latched onto him almost as soon as he had arrived in Shanghai. What made this tail even more disturbing was that only the Director, Ophir, and a select number of operatives in the Mossad legends department knew he had been sent here.
    For the next thirty minutes Bourne tailed the Shanghainese around the pavilion, and then in concentric circles radiating out through the park, moving farther and farther away from the pavilion. This methodical search pattern proved the man was a