@@@@@If it was ever established that Washington
@@@@@If it was ever established that
Washington was behind Medusa, the reputation of some very important people in the White House
and the State Department would be ruinedThey’re global power brokers now, but twenty years
ago they were hotheaded junior staffers in Command SaigonWe can live with questionable
tactics in time of war, but not with being accomplices in the slaughter of noncombatants and the
diversion of funds totaling millions, both unknowingly paid for by the taxpayersIt’s like those
still-sealed archives that detail how so many of our fat-cat financiers bankrolled the NazisSome
things we never want out of their black holes, and Medusa’s one of them
Webb again leaned back in the chair—now, however, taut, his eyes steady on his old friend, who
was once briefly his deadly enemy“If what memory I have left serves me, Bourne was identified
as having come out of Medusa
“It was an entirely believable explanation and a perfect cover,” agreed Conklin, returning
David’s gaze“We went back to Tam Quan and ‘discovered’ that Bourne was a paranoid
Tasmanian adventurer who disappeared in the jungles of North VietnamNowhere in that very
creative dossier was there the slightest clue of a Washington connection
“But that’s all a lie, isn’t it, Alex? There was and is a Washington connection, and the Jackal
knows it nowHe knew it when he found you and Mo Panov in Hong Kong—found your names in
the ruins of that sterile house on Victoria Peak where Jason Bourne was supposedly blown away
He confirmed it last night when his messengers approached you at the Smithsonian and—your
words—‘our men were very obvious He knew finally that everything he’s believed for thirteen
years is trueThe member of Medusa who was called Delta was Jason Bourne, and Jason Bourne
was a creation of American intelligence—and he’s still aliveAlive and in hiding and protected by
his government
Conklin slammed his fist on the arm of his chair“How did he find us, find me? Everything,
everything, was under a black drapeMcAllister and I made sure of it!”
“I can think of several ways, but that’s a question we can postpone, we haven’t time for it now
We have to move now on what we know Carlos knows
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
35
“What? Move how?”
“If Bourne was plucked from Medusa, it has to follow that our covert operations were working
with it—with themOtherwise, how could the Bourne switch be created? What the Jackal doesn’t
know or hasn’t put together yet is how far this government—especially certain people in this
government—will go to keep Medusa in its black holeAs you pointed out, some very important
men in the White House and the State Department could get burned, a lot of nasty labels branded
on the foreheads of global power brokers, I think you called them
“And suddenly we’ve got a few Waldheims of our own Conklin nodded, frowning and looking
down, his thoughts obviously rac