The Bourne ultimatum by Robert Ludlum Read Free Book Online Page A

head around at the former intelligence officer.
    “We weren’t careful enough.”
    “ Alex !” roared the gray-haired Holland, running to the bench. “I heard you, but this neuters the hotel,” he said breathlessly. “You can’t go there now. I won’t let you.”
    “It neuters— fucks up—more than the hotel. This isn’t the Jackal! It’s Hong Kong ! The externals were right, but my instincts were wrong. Wrong !”
    “Which way do you want to go?” asked the director softly.
    “I don’t know,” answered Conklin, a plaint in his voice. “I was wrong . ... Reach our man, of course, as soon as possible.”
    “I spoke to David—I spoke to him about an hour ago,” said Panov, instantly correcting himself.
    “You spoke to him?” cried Alex. “It’s late and you were at home. How ?”
    “You know my answering machine,” said the doctor. “If I picked up every crazy call after midnight, I’d never get to the office in the morning. So I let it ring, and because I was getting ready to go out and meet you, I listened. All he said was ‘Reach me,’ and by the time I got to the phone, he’d hung up. So I called him back.”
    “You called him back ? On your phone?”
    “Well ... yes,” answered Panov hesitantly. “He was very quick, very guarded. He just wanted us to know what was happening, that ‘M’—he called her ‘M’—was leaving with the children first thing in the morning. That was it; he hung up right away.”
    “They’ve got your boy’s name and address by now,” said Holland. “Probably the message as well.”
    “A location, yes; the message, maybe,” broke in Conklin, speaking quietly, rapidly. “Not an address, not a name.”
    “By morning they will have—”
    “By morning he’ll be on his way to Tierra del Fuego, if need be.”
    “Christ, what have I done ?” exclaimed the psychiatrist.
    “Nothing anybody else in your place wouldn’t have done,” replied Alex. “You get a message at two o’clock in the morning from someone you care about, someone in trouble, you call back as fast as you can. Now we have to reach him as fast as we can. So it’s not Carlos, but somebody with a lot of firepower is still closing in, making breakthroughs we thought were impossible.”
    “Use the phone in my car,” said Holland. “I’ll put it on override. There’ll be no record, no log.”
    “Let’s go!” As quickly as possible, Conklin limped across the lawn toward the Agency vehicle.
    f f f
    “David, it’s Alex.”
    “Your timing’s pretty scary, friend, we’re on our way out the door. If Jamie hadn’t had to hit the potty we’d be in the car by now.”
    “At this hour?”
    “Didn’t Mo tell you? There was no answer at your place, so I called him.”
    “Mo’s a little shook up. Tell me yourself. What’s happening?”
    “Is this phone secure? I wasn’t sure his was.”
    “None more so.”
    “I’m packing Marie and the kids off south— way south. She’s screaming like hell, but I chartered a Rockwell jet out of Logan Airport, everything precleared thanks to the arrangements you made four years ago. The computers spun and everyone cooperated. They take off at six o’clock, before it’s light—I want them out .”
    “And you, David? What about you?”
    “Frankly, I thought I’d head to Washington and stay with you. If the Jackal’s coming for me after all these years, I want to be in on what we’re doing about it. I might even be able to help. ... I’ll arrive by noon.”
    “No, David. Not today and not here. Go with Marie and the children. Get out of the country. Stay with your family and Johnny St. Jacques on the island.”
    “I can’t do that, Alex, and if you were me you couldn’t, either. My family’s not going to be free—really free —until Carlos is out of our lives.”
    “It’s not Carlos,” said Conklin, interrupting.
    “ What ? Yesterday you told me—”
    “Forget what I told you, I was wrong. This is out of Hong Kong, out of