She ripped the headset from her head, threw it to the floor, and kicked it away. She felt an urge to pull the trigger on her rifle, just to shoot up the walls in fury, but she held her fire. At that moment, eight expert assassins should have been converging from the lower floors for their final assault on the tech cabal. They should have been about to embark on a last orgy of killing, a frenzy she would feel like electricity between her legs.
Instead, the three of them were alone. Miss Shirley, one last Medusa agent, code-named Dallas, and the utterly worthless Gabriel Fox.
Fox stared at her, his face suddenly filled with fear. “What the hell’s going on?”
“They’re off the air,” she said. “All of them. Jersey, Philly, Chicago, New York, Memphis, the whole fucking lot of them, they’re all gone. Nobody’s coming to regroup with us. There’s no backup. It’s just us.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying they’re dead. This is a catastrophe. A disaster.”
She stared down the open-air hallway on the estate’s top floor. At the far end was a locked door, and on the other side, she knew, was the entire tech cabal. These were the people she’d come here to kill, and she’d failed.
The head of Medusa, the man who’d been her lover for almost twenty years, would never forgive her.
“We need to go,” she concluded.
“Are you out of your mind?” Gabriel demanded. “What about our plan? What about you and me taking over the cabal?”
“Oh, Gabriel, shut your lunatic mouth for once in your life. Don’t you get it? We need to get to one of the helicopters and get the hell off this island. If we don’t, we’ll be dead, too. We’ve lost.”
Gabriel shook his head, his face screwed up with rage. “You underestimated them!”
Miss Shirley signaled Dallas to lead the way toward the stairs. She grabbed Gabriel’s arm and dragged him with her. “I underestimated nothing. We knew exactly what we were walking into. Don’t you get it? This isn’t the tech cabal, you fucking fool. They’re not the ones who did this.”
Gabriel tried to keep up with her, but he stumbled over his own feet. “Then who did?”
Miss Shirley didn’t answer, but she knew exactly who’d destroyed her plan. She could picture the man’s face in her head, expressionless, infuriating. He was the man she was going to kill slowly, taking him apart limb by limb.
“Bourne.”
FORTY-ONE
THE barrels of half a dozen rifles surrounded Bourne.
He regained consciousness in an open-air terrace that looked out across the darkness of the island. The only light around him came from a dozen flickering candles, which cast strange, giant shadows. The dark crowns of jungle trees waved on the other side of the railings. A warm breeze blew across his bare skin; he wore only shorts. When he went to get up, he discovered that his wrists and ankles were tightly bound to a wrought-iron chaise where his body had been carried. He stared into the dirty, bloody faces of the estate security guards who’d survived the Medusa assault. They kept their guns focused on him. Meanwhile, an attractive doctor tended to his wounds. She’d already removed the bullet from his leg and bandaged the other gashes on his body.
When the doctor was done, two of the guards moved aside, and Nelly Lessard approached him, her face pale and tired. He’d met her during his meetings with Scott and Miles. Another guard brought her a chair, and she sat down next to Bourne with her short, birdlike legs squeezed together. She wore an elegant dark suit that was torn in several places, and her coiffed gray hair was in disarray. Nonetheless, she projected an aura of calm authority as she waved a hand at the security team.
“I appreciate the abundance of caution, gentlemen, but I think we can dispense with the guns. Also, please untie Mr. Bourne’s hands and legs.”
The guards freed Bourne, and he sat up slowly, fighting off another wave of dizziness and nausea. The doctor had anesthetized his wounds, but the pain wouldn’t stay away for long. He studied his surroundings and noticed the glint of broken glass on the terrace floor and furniture tipped over. He spotted three of the tech cabal’s CEOs hovering in the background, pacing near the top-floor railings with a kind of shell shock.
“Medusa?” he asked, hearing the ragged sound of his own voice.
“Gone,” Nelly told him. “Gabriel Fox and that awful woman hijacked one of the helicopters. They kidnapped the pilot and escaped.”
“How many dead?”
“Sadly, we’re still counting. The carnage is appalling. Fortunately, the majority of us—not just the tech cabal but most of the estate staff—were able to take refuge on the top floor when the assault began. Medusa never got to us, but that’s only because you wiped most of them out. Had you not arrived when you did, I have no doubt that we’d all be dead right now. We’re enormously grateful.”
Bourne said nothing.
Nelly looked as if she were trying to make sense of the man in front of her and all she could find were contradictions. “Obviously, I was wrong about you, Jason. We all were. We were convinced that Medusa had exploited your psychological damage and turned you against us.”
“It was a setup,” Bourne replied. “A very good one.”
“Yes, so it seems. We should have been helping you, and instead—”
“Instead, you were trying to kill me,” he replied.
“I’m afraid so. I won’t apologize, because we both know that’s how the game is played. We make choices based on the information we have. I doubt you would have expected us to act any differently.”
“You’re right.”
“Nonetheless, I’m curious, Jason, why you went to so much trouble to save us.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t selfless on my part, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t care what happens to you. The only way out for me is to expose the conspiracy. Until then, I’m a wanted man. I’d rather not live the rest of my life on the run.”
A smile played around the edges of Nelly’s lips, as if she didn’t believe him. “Well, whatever your motives, I’m glad you were here.”
“Are the police on their way?” Bourne asked.
“Oh, yes. Bahamian police and navy. FBI. CIA. We’ll be inundated soon enough. I waited as long as I could, but there’s no way we could keep an incident like this under wraps. It’s going to be worldwide news.”
He nodded. “I can’t stay here. I need to go.”
“Yes, I assumed that was the case. I wish I could help you, but the authorities won’t take my word for your innocence. If the U.S. government finds you, you’ll be arrested, and after that, I suspect you’ll simply disappear. Anyway, I’ve arranged for fresh clothes and any supplies you may need. Do you want a transport back to Nassau or Freeport? I can get you shuttled there discreetly and put on a private plane wherever you need to go.”
Bourne shook his head. “A friend of mine is waiting for me on a boat offshore. At least, I hope he still is. If you have a sat phone, I’ll call him.”
“Are you sure? The least we can do is arrange your getaway.”
“No offense, Nelly, but I don’t trust anyone in the tech cabal.”
“I suppose we deserve that,” she said.
“It’s not just because you’ve been trying to kill me. You’re compromised. You have a spy.”
Nelly looked around to make sure they were out of earshot. “What do you mean?”
“Medusa has someone inside the cabal.”
“Are you sure?”
“There’s no other explanation. The assault team knew too much. They knew where the tunnel was and how to get through. They knew the power specs for the island. They were familiar with your defenses and the layout of the estate. Someone on the inside had to give them that kind of information. It could have been someone on the security team, but it could have been one of your CEOs, too.”
“I can’t belie
ve that’s possible,” Nelly said. “I know these people backward and forward.”
“Like you knew me?” Bourne asked.
She frowned. “That’s a fair point.”
“All I’m saying is, you don’t know who to trust, and neither do I. That means I’m safer working on my own.”
“Understood.”
“The one thing that would be helpful right now is a new gun. And ammunition.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged. I take it that means you’re still going after them. You’re going after Medusa.”
“They’re not done,” Bourne replied. “A setback like this won’t make them stop.”
“So how will you track them down? Where do you think they’re planning to strike next?”
Bourne said nothing. Nelly read his face and knew what he was thinking. “I see. You don’t trust me, either. Well, I can’t blame you for that.”
“It’s better if no one knows where I’m going.”
“No, you’re right. Tell me nothing. If you’re correct that we have a spy, it could be anyone. I’ll get everything ready and make sure you get off this island safely. Then it’s up to you, Jason.”
Nelly left him alone. The light of the candles played across his skin, and when he moved, he felt shocks of pain all over his body. He was already deep inside his head, planning what came next. These were the moments when his loss of memory became a kind of advantage. Having no past made it easier to leave himself behind and imagine the world through the eyes of his enemies.
He needed to get inside the head of someone he didn’t know. Medusa was more than Miss Shirley. It had a leader. A strategist dictating every move, like a chess grand master. Whoever that leader was, he or she would already know that their plan had gone wrong. Medusa had aimed a body blow against the tech cabal, and they’d failed. But they wouldn’t go away and lick their wounds. They’d strike again, hard and fast.
If you fail to kill your enemy with a body shot, then you cut off his head.
Treadstone.
Bourne already knew what Medusa would do next. They’d go after Miles Priest.
* * *
—
THE open door of the helicopter let a cold, driving wind into the passenger cabin. It was dark all around them, with no land in sight and nothing but miles of Atlantic water below. Miss Shirley sat on the cabin floor, dangling her bare feet out the open door. The fierce wind swirled her black hair and assaulted her skin, but she liked the bite of the cold. It kept her awake and alert. It kept her angry.
The Medusa operative named Dallas sat up front, monitoring the pilot. Only Gabriel Fox sat in back with Miss Shirley, and he was belted into the nearest leather seat, with his arms wrapped tightly around himself and his entire body shivering.
“Do we need to keep the door open?” Gabriel complained like a whining ten-year-old. “I’m shriveling up to nothing here.”
“I like the chill,” Miss Shirley replied calmly.
At high speed over the water, the helicopter jostled and bucked. Her body stayed in perfect balance, moving gracefully with the bumps of air. Gabriel, by contrast, clung to the straps of the seat belt as the turbulence threw him back and forth. His face was pale, and he had his mouth clamped tightly shut. She watched the bulge of his throat swell as he swallowed down bile.
“I hate choppers,” he said. “They scare the shit out of me.”
“You have to be one with the vibration,” she told him.
“I don’t know what the hell that means.”
Miss Shirley got to her feet. She leaned as far as she could outside the helicopter, holding herself steady with nothing but the lightest touch on the door frame. She extended one bare leg straight out the door, level with her hip, then did the same with her left arm. Balanced on one foot, she finally let go of the door frame altogether and rode the waves of turbulence like an aerial surfer.
“Jesus Christ,” Gabriel shouted. “Stop that! You’re freaking me out!”
“You need to relax, my love. Here, let me help.”
Slowly, Miss Shirley drew her body back inside the helicopter. She gave Gabriel a wicked smile. She spread her legs and mounted him with her knees on either side of his thighs. Underneath the thin silk of his robe, she felt him begin to grow hard against the fabric of her bikini bottom. She took his face roughly in her hands and kissed him, shoving her tongue inside his mouth.
“There’s nothing to fear,” she said.
“But we lost. We were supposed to take out the tech cabal. First them, then Medusa. You and I were supposed to take over everything. Now what happens?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Are you kidding? I was seen. People know it was me. They’re going to arrest me for murder.”
“That will never happen.”
Gabriel shook his head. “I need protection! I need to talk to the head of Medusa. You know who he is, right? You know how to get hold of him?”
“Of course.”
“Well, we need to set up a meeting. I’ve got what he wants. Prescix. All of my code. Medusa has wanted that from the beginning. But it’s not free. He needs to get me out of this mess, pull strings, whatever the hell he does. Plus, I want a seat at the table. Influence. That’s my price.”
“I already informed him of our situation,” Miss Shirley replied. “I told him what happened on the island. He anticipated your demands.”
“Smart man. What did he say?”
“He said to assure you that Medusa has a place for you.”
Gabriel sagged against the seat and let out a whistle of relief. “Hot damn. That’s good news. You know what this means, don’t you? Our plan is still good. We get me inside Medusa, and when the time is right, you and me push out the big man, and we take over instead. Then we can focus on the tech cabal again. The new legislation is moving forward in Congress. They’ll be weak, distracted. We’ll pick them off one by one.”
“Yes, we will.”
Gabriel let his hands roam over her body, his arousal returning. “This calls for a celebration.”
“You’re right, it does.”
She stood up inside the helicopter, swaying with its side-to-side motion. She tugged on the strings of her bikini top to free her breasts and then did the same with the bikini bottoms and stood naked in front of Gabriel. With a seductive smirk, she flicked the bikini out the open door of the helicopter, where the wind whipped it away.
Miss Shirley sank to her knees in front of him. She pushed Gabriel’s legs apart and clicked open the straps of the seat belt on his chest. With her fingernails scraping along his skin, she shoved the silk robe back off his shoulders and stripped it from his body until he, like her, was naked inside the helicopter. She leaned over and grabbed him by the waist, and then she bit his earlobe hard enough to draw blood. As he cringed with pain and pleasure, she whispered to him.
“Medusa has a very special place for you, Gabriel.”
“Oh, yeah? Where’s that?”
“The bottom of the sea.”
He only had an instant for his eyes to widen in fear. In one smooth motion, Miss Shirley hoisted Gabriel’s body into the air and launched him through the helicopter’s open door. The tumult of the wind drowned out his scream, and with a flash of white skin, he vanished, falling to the empty ocean below them.
Miss Shirley blew a kiss to the air and waved after him with the tips of her fingers. She slipped Gabriel’s Chinese robe around her body and tied it, and then she slid the door shut. Humming softly to herself, she did a little dance in the bouncing cabin as the helicopter flew on through the night.
FORTY-TWO
THE stars spread across the Caribbean night sky, crystal clear over the dark ocean. Bourne lay on his back on the deck of the catamaran with his hands behind his head. Inside, at the boat’s bridge, Teeling steered them no
rth toward the Bahamian town of Freeport. From there, Bourne could charter a plane back to the U.S. and make arrangements to cross the Atlantic on his way to find Miles Priest.
His mind swirled with details. Maps. Money. Equipment. Transport. Scott had taught him long ago to break down a plan into a thousand steps, like a flowchart, with moves and countermoves that depended on how each component of the plan played out in real life.
A strategy is only as good as the steps you take to execute it.
Scott DeRay.
Bourne hadn’t told Nelly what he was planning to do, but it didn’t matter. He was sure that Scott knew he was coming. Scott would have put himself inside the heads of the Medusa leadership and come to the same conclusion that Bourne did. The next attack would happen in Scotland. They would strike at Miles Priest directly. And if that was where Medusa was headed, then Bourne would be there, too.
The exhaustion of the day made him want to sleep, but he couldn’t do that yet. He stared at the stars and felt the wind racing across his body and listened to the low throb of the motor. Normally, that was the perfect environment in which to separate himself from everything else and focus exclusively on the mission in front of him.
But he couldn’t.
He kept finding his mind distracted. The more he thought about what he had to do, the more he found his thoughts interrupted by something else.
Someone else.
Abbey Laurent.
He’d left her behind, but he hadn’t really left her behind at all. She was still with him. When he closed his eyes, he could picture her face, the spiky red bangs hanging over her eyes, the pale lips when she wiped her lipstick off, the smart dark eyes that didn’t miss a thing. He could feel the softness of her skin and her fingertips running across his body. He remembered the catch in her breath as they coupled in bed.
Don’t think about her! She’s gone!
Marie had left him alone. Nova had left him alone. And now the only safe thing he could do was let Abbey go. He couldn’t have anyone in his life. As soon as he did, they were both vulnerable. Both at risk.
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