buddy!”
Thirty-five minutes later they reached... buddy!”
Thirty-five minutes later they reached the outskirts of an unidentified town and the trucker
stopped in front of a cluster of stores that bordered the highway“You’ll find a phone there, buddy
“Are you sure?” asked Mo“About the money, I mean
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
233
“Sure I’m sure,” replied the short man behind the wheel“Two hundred dollars is fine—maybe
even what I earned—but more than that corrupts, don’t it? I been offered fifty times that to haul
stuff I won’t haul, and you know what I tell ’em?”
“What do you tell them?”
“I tell ’em to go piss into the wind with their poisonIt’s gonna flash back and blind ’em
“You’re a good
white prada bag person,” said Panov, climbing out onto the pavement
“I got a few things to make up for The door of the cab slammed shut and the huge truck shot
forward as Mo turned away, looking for a telephone
“Where the hell are you?” shouted Alexander Conklin in Virginia
“I don’t know!” answered Panov“If I were a patient, I’d ponderously explain that it was an
extension of some Freudian dream sequence because it never happens but it happened to meThey
shot me up, Alex!”
“Stay coldWe have to know where you areLet’s face it, others are looking
for you, too
“All right, all rightWait a minute! There’s a drugstore across the streetThe sign says ‘Battle
Ford’s Best,’ will
chanel jumbo that help?”
The sigh on the line from Virginia was the replyIf you were a socially productive
Civil War buff rather than an insignificant shrink, you’d know it, too
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Head for the old battleground at Ford’s BluffIt’s a national landmark; there are signs
everywhereA helicopter will be there in thirty minutes, and don’t say a goddamned thing to
anybody!”
“Do you know how extreme you sound? Yet I was the object of hostility—”
“Out, coach!”
Bourne walked into the Pont-Royal and immediately approached the night concierge, peeling off
a five-hundred-franc note and placing it quietly in the man’s hand“The name is Simon,” he
chanel 2.55 said,
smilingAny messages?”
“No messages, Monsieur Simon,” was the quiet reply, “but two men are outside, one on
Montalembert, the other across on the rue du Bac
Jason removed a thousand-franc note and palmed it to the man“I pay for such eyes and I pay
well
“Of course, monsieur
Bourne crossed to the brass elevatorReaching his floor, he walked rapidly down the
intersecting corridors to his roomNothing was disturbed; everything was as he had left it, except
that the bed had been made upOh, God, he needed to rest, to sleepHe couldn’t do it any
longerSomething was happening inside him—less energy, less breathYet he had to have both,
now more than everOh, Christ, he
vintage omega watches wanted to lie downThere was
BernardineHe went to the telephone and dialed the number he had committed to memory
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said
“Four hours late, mon amiWhat happened?”
“No timeWhat about Marie?”
“There is nothingShe is not on any international flight currently in the air
or scheduled for departureI even checked the transfers from London, Lisbon, Stockholm and
Amsterdam—nothingThere is no Marie Elise StJacques Webb en route to Paris
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
234
“There has to beShe wouldn’t change her mind, it’s not like herAnd she wouldn’t know how
to bypass immigrationShe’s not listed on any flight from any country coming into
dior saddle bag P