| It?s called dumb, or, if you like, obstinate stupidity
?No, it?s not,? countered the retired intelligence officer, his eyes leveled with Panov?s as the
psychiatrist lowered himself slowly into a chairit?s not,? agreed Mo, returning Conklin?s look?The first lesson is independenceTake as
much as you can handle and keep grabbing for more
?There?s a good side, too,? said Alex, smiling and adjusting the bandage around his throat?It
gets easier, not harderYou learn new tricks every day; it?s surprising what our little gray cells
come up with
?Do tell? I must explore that field one dayI heard you on the phone, who was it??
?HollandThe wires have been burning on all the back channels between Moscow and
Washington, every covert phone on both sides damn near paralyzed thinking there could be a leak
and theirs would be held responsible
?Medusa??
?You never heard that name, I never heard that name, and nobody we know has ever heard it
There?s been enough bloodletting in the international black chanel tote marketplace?to say nothing of a few buckets
of real blood spilled?to call into question the sanity of both governments? controlling institutions,
which were obviously blind or just plain stupid
?How about just plain guilty?? asked Panov
?Too few at the top to warrant the destruction of the whole?that?s the verdict of Langley and
Dzerzhinsky SquareThe chief pin-stripers at the State Department in the Kremlin?s Council of
Ministers agreeNothing can be served by pursuing or exposing the extent of the malfeasance?
how do you like that, malfeasance? Murder, assassination, kidnapping, extortion and large-scale
corruption using organized crime on both sides of the Atlantic are now conveniently slotted as
?malfeasance?! They say it?s better to salvage what we can as quietly and as expeditiously as
possible
?That?s reality, DoctorYou?re about to witness one of the biggest cover-ups in modern history,
certainly among powerful sovereign nationsAnd the real obscenity is that they?re probably
rightIf gucci watch bands Medusa were exposed to the fullest?and it would be fully exposed if it was exposed at
all?the people in their righteous indignation would throw the bastards out?many of them the
wrong bastards, tainted only by associationThat sort of thing produces vacuums in high places,
and these are not the times for vacuums of any kindBetter the Satans you know than the ones you
don?t who come later
?So what?s going to happen??
?Trade off,? said Conklin pensively?The scope of Medusa?s operations is so far-ranging
geographically and structurally that it?s almost impossible to unravelMoscow?s sending Ogilvie
back with a team of financial analysts, and with our own people they?ll start the process of
dismantlingEventually Holland foresees a quiet, unannounced economic minisummit, calling
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
439
together various financial ministers of the NATO and Eastern bloc countriesWherever Medusa?s
assets can be self-sustaining or absorbed by their individual economies, that?ll be hermes borse the case with
restrictive covenants on all partiesThe main point is to prevent financial panics through mass
factory closings and wholesale company collapses
?Thus burying Medusa,? offered Panov?It?s again history, unwritten and unacknowledged, the
way it was from the beginning
?Above all, that,? conceded Alex?By omission and commission there?s enough sleaze to go
around for everybody
?What about men like Burton on the Joint Chiefs, and Atkinson in London??
?No more than messengers and fronts; they?re out for reasons of health, and believe me, they
understand
Panov winced as he adjusted his uncomfortable wounded body in the chair?It hardly
compensates for his crimes, but the Jackal served a purpose of sorts, didn?t he? If you hadn?t been
hunting him, you wouldn?t have found Medusa
?The coincidence of evil, Mo,? said Conklin?I?m not about to recommend a posthumous
medal
?I?d say it?s more than coincidence,? interrupted Panov, shaking his head?In the final analysis,
David was omega deville watch rightWhether forced or leaped upon, a connection was there after allSomeone in
Medusa had a killer or killers using the name of ?Jason Bourne? assassinate a high-visibility target
in the Jackal?s own backyard; that someone knew what he was doing
?You mean Teagarten, of courseSince Bourne was on Medusa?s death list, our pathetic turncoat, DeSole, had to tell them
about the Treadstone operation, perhaps not by name but its essentialsWhen they learned that
Jason?David?was in Paris, they used the original scenario: Bourne against the JackalBy killing
Teagarten the way they did, they accurately assumed they were enlisting the most deadly partner
they could find to hunt down and kill DavidSo??
?Don?t you see, Alex? When you think about it, Brussels was the beginning of the end, and at
the end, David used that false accusation to tell Marie he was still alive, to tell Peter Holland that he
was still aliveThe map circling Anderlecht in red
?He gave hope, that?s allHope isn?t something I put much trust cheap chanel purses in |
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