— All I know is that he thinks the man who tried to kill him is here. The same man who must have hired the Torturer.
— That‘s not me. He‘s been given the wrong information.
— Then I don‘t understand why I was hired to make sure he got here.
Yevsen shook his head. -Who hired you to do this?
— Leonid Arkadin.
Yevsen aimed the.45 at her right shoulder. -Another lie! Why would Leonid Danilovich hire you to ensure Bourne arrived here?
— I don‘t know, but… Gauging his response, noting the look on his face, caused her to make a delayed connection. -Wait a minute, it must have been Arkadin who told you I had Bourne with me. He must be the one who hired the Torturer, which means he must be here, lying in wait for Bourne.
— Being so close to death has made you desperate. At this very moment, Leonid Danilovich is in Nagorno- Karabakh, Azerbaijan.
— But don‘t you see, Arkadin is the only one who knew Bourne was with me.
— This is bullshit! Leonid Danilovich is my partner.
— Why would I make up a lie like that? Arkadin paid me twenty thousand in diamonds.
Yevsen recoiled as if he‘d been struck. -Diamonds are Leonid Danilovich‘s signature-how he gets paid and how he pays. Damn him to hell, what‘s that lying sack of shit up to? If he thinks he can double-cross me-
And at that moment Tracy saw Bourne sprinting down the hallway. Yevsen recognized the surprise in her eyes and began to turn toward the door, his
45 at the ready.
Noah Perlis‘s sense of triumph vanished as soon as he saw a Sudanese lurker and one of the guards that Yevsen‘s security personnel had cornered on the street level just inside loading dock A.
— What the hell is this? he said in Sudanese Arabic. With a wave of his hand, he sent some of the security people out into the street to check for anyone else who had no business being on the block. Then he confronted the guard, quickly determining that he knew nothing. The chief of security-who had, by that time, joined him-fired the man on the spot.
Addressing the lurker, he said, — Who are you and what are you doing on these premises?
— I… I lost my way, sir. I was talking with my cousin‘s cousin-the man who was just fired, which, I think when you hear my story, you‘ll agree is too harsh a punishment. The man kept his eyes lowered and his shoulders hunched in a pose of servility. -My cousin‘s cousin had to urinate, you see, but he didn‘t want to turn me away because I needed money to pay for my child‘s-
— That‘s enough! Noah slapped him hard across the face. -Do you think I‘m some tourist you can gull with your idiotic stories? He slapped the man again, harder this time, so that his teeth clacked together and he winced.
— Tell me what you‘re doing here or I‘ll turn you over to Sandur. The chief of security grinned, showing black gaps between his teeth. -Sandur knows what to do with vermin like you.
— I don‘t-
This time Noah‘s fist slammed into the lurker‘s mouth, spraying bits of teeth and blood onto the man‘s filthy shirt. -There‘s a full moon tonight, but don‘t count on seeing it.
The lurker had just launched into his story about being accosted by an American who wanted to get inside 779 El Gamhuria Avenue when the contingent of security people Noah had sent out into the street returned. One of the men leaned over and whispered something into his ear.
At once Noah grabbed the lurker and threw him into the arms of Sandur.
— Here, take care of him.
— Sir, have pity, the lurker protested, — I don‘t deserve this, I swear I‘m telling the truth.
But Noah was no longer concerned with the lurker or who had tried to gain access to the Air Afrika headquarters. An urgent sense of self-preservation had taken hold of him. He approached the glare of the loading dock and peered out from the shadows. Sure enough, as the security man had said, there was a minibus parked across the street. It was full of people-all male-which was what had raised a red flag for the guard. Then Noah saw the flash of metal-
the muzzle of an AK-47-and his worst fears were confirmed. Someone was planning an imminent raid on the Air Afrika offices. He was so stunned he couldn‘t even think of who might have the knowledge and the wherewithal to attempt what most considered unthinkable. But that wasn‘t the issue now. He needed to get away from ground zero before he was caught in the crossfire between Yevsen‘s mercenaries and the raiding party crowded into the Sudanese minibus across the street.
Bourne, combing the third floor of the building while keeping out of the way of both the staff and the security personnel, heard a deep, rough-edged voice coming from a large room ahead of him. When he heard Tracy‘s voice in the interval between the male voice‘s questions, he broke into a flat-out run because he was certain that she had been captured by Arkadin as the last bit of bait for him.
As he burst through the open doorway, he curled himself into a ball, rolling fast into the room then unfolding himself all in one smooth motion. He saw a burly man with a bat tattooed on the side of his neck turn and fire at him. He ducked, rolling toward the conference table laden with food. In that moment he saw Tracy pull her ceramic gun out of a thigh holster. He heard the report of another gunshot and launched himself, his body low and twisting, into the massive legs of the Batman, taking him down just as he fired at Tracy, who instinctively turned away. The bullet went low into one of the heavy glass bowls, sending shards exploding in all directions.
Bourne and Bat-man crashed to the floor with Bourne trying to wrest the
45 out of his left hand. The gun went off again, the bullet whining past Bourne‘s ear, rendering him temporarily deaf. Bat-man drove his right hand into Bourne‘s ribs, Bourne slammed his knuckles into Bat-man‘s jaw, then followed it with three quick chops with the edge of his hand to the side of Bat-man‘s neck. Using all his strength, his adversary inched the muzzle of the.45 toward Bourne‘s temple. Bourne drove it back, but three successive punches to the same spot on his rib cage caused him to suck in air and, all at once, the muzzle was aimed at his head. Bat-man bore down on the trigger with his left forefinger.
