Bourne 7 – The Bourne Deception

18

NOTHING, Amun Chalthoum said with evident disgust.

He was staring down at the young man Soraya had fished out of the Red Sea after he‘d jumped overboard to escape her questioning. They were in one of the shipboard cabins provided for them by the owner of the dive shop, a narrow, foul-smelling place whose exaggerated rocking made the sunlight an inconstant companion.

Chalthoum‘s expression was a combination of frustration and fear. -He‘s nothing but a runner-an advance man for drug smugglers.

That didn‘t seem like nothing to Soraya, but she could see that Amun wasn‘t in the mood for thinking about anything other than the terrorist cadre. It was at this moment, when his distress was most evident, that she abandoned the notion that he might be misleading her. She was sure he wouldn‘t be so emotional about this situation if he was covering up al Mokhabarat‘s involvement. The wave of relief that ran through her was so powerful, she rocked on her feet. When she recovered, she turned her full concentration on the origin of the terrorist cell.

— All right, so they didn‘t come through here, she said, — but there must be other places along the coast-

— My men have checked, Amun said darkly. -Which means the route I proposed is wrong. They didn‘t come overland through Iraq, after all.

— Then how did they get into Egypt? Soraya asked.

— I don‘t know. Chalthoum seemed to chew over this notion for some time.

— They wouldn‘t be stupid enough to try transshipping the Kowsar missile from Iran by plane. It would have been picked up by our radar-or one of your satellites.

That was true enough, she thought. Then how did the Iranian terrorists get the missile into Egypt? This enigma brought her full circle, back to her first suspicion that Egyptians-but not al Mokhabarat-had been involved, but it wasn‘t until they were back on deck, the runner was in custody, and the boat was heading back to land that she proposed it aloud to Chalthoum.

They were standing by the starboard rail, the wind whipping at their hair, sunlight turning the skin of the water to a white dazzle. He had his forearms on the rail, his hands clasped loosely, staring down into the water.

— Amun, she said softly, — is it possible that someone in your government-

one of your enemies, one of our enemies-created the opportunity for the Iranian terrorists?

Even though she‘d been careful to phrase the question in the most benign way, she felt him stiffen. A muscle in his cheek began to spasm, but he surprised her when he answered.

— I‘ve already thought of that, azizti, and much to my chagrin I made several discreet inquiries this afternoon while I was alone in my search of the dive clubs. It cost me in political capital, but I did it, and it came to nothing. He turned to her, his dark eyes more sorrowful than she‘d ever seen them. -Truly, azizti, it would have been the end of me if what you asked had been the truth.

And it was at this precise moment that she knew. He‘d been fully cognizant of her suspicions, had accepted them uncomfortably until the possibility became too much for him to bear. He‘d been humiliated making his calls, because just asking the question was traitorous in nature, and now she realized what he meant by — political capital, because it was likely-

probable, even-that some of the people he‘d called would not forgive him his doubts. This, too, was part of the modern-day Egypt, something he‘d have to live with for the rest of his life. Unless…

— Amun, she said so softly he had to lean into the wind to hear her,

— after this is over, why don‘t you come back with me?

— To America? He said it as if she were speaking about Mars, or someplace even more distant and alien, but when he continued there was a kindness in his voice she‘d never heard before. -Yes, azizti, that would solve many problems. On the other hand, it would raise an army of different ones. What would I do, for instance?

— You‘re an intelligence officer, you could-

— I am an Egyptian. Worse, I am the head of al Mokhabarat.

— Think of the intel you could provide.

He smiled sadly. -Think of how I would be reviled, both here and in your America. To them, I am the enemy. No matter what intel I provided I would always be the enemy, always distrusted, always watched, never accepted.

— Not if we were married. It came out practically before she thought it.

There was a shocked silence between them. The boat, nearing the dock, had slowed, and the wind had died. The sweat, popping out, dried against their skin.

Amun took her hand, his thumb rubbing the splay of small bones in its back. — Azizti, he said, — marrying me would be the end of you as well-the end of your career in intelligence.

— So what? Her eyes were fierce. Now that she had said what was in her heart she felt a kind of wild freedom she‘d never experienced before.

He smiled. -You don‘t mean that, please don‘t pretend you do.

She turned fully to him. -I don‘t want to pretend with you, Amun. All the secrets I carry have made me sick at heart, and I keep saying to myself that there must be an end to it somewhere, with someone.

He slipped one arm around her narrow waist and, as the crew around them snapped to, tying off the ropes on the gleaming metal cleats on the side of the slip, he nodded. -At least on this one thing we can agree.

And she tilted her face up into the sunlight. -This is the one thing that matters, azizti.

Ms. Trevor, have you any idea who could have…?

Though the man heading the investigation into DCI Veronica Hart‘s death-

what was his name? Simon Something-Simon Herren, yes, that was it-kept asking her questions, Moira had ceased to listen. His voice was barely a drone in ears that were filled with the white noise of the explosion‘s aftermath. She and Humphry Bamber were lying side by side in the ER, having been examined and treated for fistfuls of cuts and abrasions. They were lucky, the ER

doctor had said, and Moira believed him. They had been transported via ambulance, made to stay lying down while they were given oxygen, and given superficial exams for concussions, broken bones, and the like.

— Who do you work for? Moira said to Simon Herren.

He smiled indulgently. He had short brown hair, small rodent eyes, and bad teeth. The collar of his shirt was stiff with starch, and his rep tie was strictly government issue. He wasn‘t going to answer her and they both knew it. Anyway, what did it matter what part of the intelligence alphabet soup he belonged to? In the end, weren‘t they all the same? Well, Veronica Hart wasn‘t.

All at once, the hammer blow hit her and tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.

— What is it? Simon Herren looked around for a nurse. -Are you in pain?

Moira managed to laugh through her tears. What an idiot, she thought. To stop herself from telling him so, she asked how her companion was.

— Mr. Bamber is understandably shaken up, Herren said without a hint of sympathy. -Not surprising, since he‘s a civilian.

— Go to hell. Moira turned her head away from him.

— I was told you could be difficult.

That got her attention, and she turned back, catching his eyes with hers.

— Who told you I could be difficult?

Herren gave her his most enigmatic smile.

— Ah, yes, she said, — Noah Perlis.

— Who?

He shouldn‘t have said that, she thought. If he‘d kept his mouth shut he might have stopped the flicker of response in his eyes before it gave him away. So Noah was still just a step away from her. Why? He didn‘t want anything from her, which meant that he‘d become afraid of her. That was good to know; that would help her through the bleak days and weeks ahead when, alone and at risk, she would blame herself for Ronnie‘s death, because hadn‘t the bomb been meant for her? It had been slipped into the tailpipe of her rental car. No one-not even Noah-could have foreseen that Ronnie would be driving it. But even the small satisfaction that he had failed paled against the collateral damage.

She‘d been near death before, she‘d had colleagues or targets die in the field, that was part of wet work. She‘d been prepared for it, as much as any human being could be prepared for the death of someone known to you. But the field was far away, across one ocean or another; the field was at a certain remove from civilization, from her personal life, from home.

Ronnie‘s death was something altogether different. It was caused by a series of events and her reaction to those events. All at once a tide of ifs engulfed her. If she hadn‘t started her own firm, if Jason weren‘t — dead, if she hadn‘t gone to Ronnie, if Bamber weren‘t working for Noah, if, if, if…

But they‘d all happened, and like a daisy chain she could look back and see how all these events interlocked, how one led inexorably to another, and how the end result was always the same: the death of Ronnie Hart. She thought then of the Balinese healer Suparwita, who had looked into her eyes with an expression she hadn‘t been able to decipher until now. It had been the sure knowledge of loss, as if even then, back in Bali, he‘d known what was in store for her.

The insistent buzzing of Simon Herren‘s voice drew her away from the blackness of her own thoughts. Her eyes refocused.

— What? What did you say?

— Mr. Bamber is being released into my custody.

Herren stood between her bed and Bamber‘s, as if daring her to defy him. Bamber was already dressed and ready to go, but he seemed frightened, indecisive, shell-shocked.

— The doctor tells me you need to stay here for more tests.

— The hell I will. She sat up, swung her legs over the side, and stood up.

— I think you‘d best lie down, he said in that vaguely mocking tone of his. -Doctor‘s orders.

— Fuck you. She started putting on her clothes, not caring if he saw flashes of her body or not. -Fuck you and the broom you flew in on.

He could not keep the contempt off his face. -Not a very professional response, is-

In the next instant he doubled over as she buried her fist in his solar plexus. Her knee came up to meet his descending chin, and as he crumpled, she dragged him up, splaying him out on the bed. Then she turned to Bamber and said, — You have only one shot at this. Come with me now or Noah will own you forever.

Still Bamber didn‘t move. He was staring at Simon Herren as if in a daze, but when she extended her hand, he took it. He needed someone to guide him now, someone who might tell him the truth. Stevenson was gone, Veronica Hart had been blown apart in front of him, and now there was only Moira, the person who had dragged him out of the doomed Buick, the woman who had saved his life.

Moira led him out of the emergency room as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Fortunately, the ER was a madhouse, EMTs and cops trotting this way and that alongside their patients, giving reports on the fly to the residents, who in turn barked orders to the nurses. Everyone was overworked and overstressed; no one stopped them or even noticed their departure.

A contingent of Amun‘s men met them on the dock, where he held the young drug trafficker by the scruff of his neck. The poor kid was scared shitless. He wasn‘t one of the tough Egyptian youths who knew very well what they were getting into. He looked like what he was: an indigent tourist who‘d been hoping to score some quick money to continue his world odyssey. It was probably why he‘d been chosen by the drug runners in the first place. He looked innocent.

Chalthoum could have let him go with a warning, but he was in no mood to be magnanimous. He‘d cuffed his hands behind his back, then leapt back when the young boy had heaved up his last meal.

— Amun, have some pity, Soraya said now.

— Drug trafficking cannot be dismissed.

This was the Amun she knew, rock-hard and gimlet-eyed. An involuntary shiver ran through her. -He‘s nothing, you said so yourself. If you put him away, they‘ll just find another fool to take his place.

— Then we‘ll find him, too, Chalthoum said. -Lock him up, and throw away the key.

At this, the young man began to wail. -Please help me. I never signed on for this.

Chalthoum looked at him so darkly that the young man recoiled. -You should have thought of that before you took the criminals‘ money. He slung him roughly into the arms of his men. -You know what to do with him, he said.

— Wait, wait! The young man tried to dig in his heels as Chalthoum‘s men turned to take him away. -What if I have information? Would you help me then?

— What information could you have? Chalthoum said dismissively. -I know how these drug networks are structured. Your only contact was with the people on the rung right above you, and since you‘re on the lowest rung… He shrugged and signed to his men to take the prisoner away.

— I don‘t mean those people. The young man‘s voice had risen in fear.

— There‘s something I overheard. Other divers talking.

— What divers? Talking about what?

— They‘re gone now, the young man said. -They were here ten days ago, maybe a little more.

Chalthoum shook his head. -Too long ago. Whoever they were, whatever they said is of no interest to me.

Soraya stepped toward the young man. -What‘s your name?

— Stephen.

She nodded. -My name is Soraya, Stephen. Tell me, were these divers Iranian?

— Look at him, Chalthoum interrupted. -He wouldn‘t know an Iranian from an Indian.

— The divers weren‘t Arab, Stephen said.

Chalthoum snorted. -You see what I mean? Sonny, Iranians are Persians, descended from the Scythian-Sarmatian nomads of Central Asia. They‘re Shi‘a Muslims, not Arabs.

— What I mean… Stephen swallowed hard. -What I meant to say was that they were white like me. Caucasians.

— Could you tell what nationality they were? Soraya asked.

— They were Americans, Stephen said.

— So what? Chalthoum was losing patience.

Soraya ventured closer still. -Stephen, what did you overhear? What were these divers talking about?

With a fearful glance at Chalthoum, Stephen said, — There were four of them. They were coming off a vacation, that was clear. Only they called it leave.

Soraya made eye contact with Chalthoum. -Military men.

— So he says, he rumbled. -Continue.

— They‘d just come up from the second dive of the day and they were kind of giddy. I was helping them off with their tanks, but they acted as if I wasn‘t there. Anyway, they were grumbling about having their leave cut short. There was some kind of emergency-an assignment for them that came out of the air-that was what they said. It appeared out of thin air.

— This is nonsense, Chalthoum said. -It‘s clear he‘s making this up to spare himself life imprisonment.

— Oh, God. At the pronouncement of his mortal sentence, Stephen‘s knees gave way and Chalthoum‘s men were obliged to hold him tightly in order to keep him on his feet.

— Stephen. Soraya reached out, turned the young man‘s face toward her. He was as pale as death, and she could see the whites all around his eyes. -Tell us the rest of what you overheard. Did the divers say what their assignment was?

He shook his head. -I got the impression they didn‘t yet know.

— Enough! Chalthoum cried. -Dispose of this rancid piece of meat!

Stephen was openly weeping now. -But they knew their destination.

Soraya held up her hand for Chalthoum‘s men to stop dragging him away.

— Where was it, Stephen? Where were the men headed?

— They were flying to Khartoum, the young man said through his tears, — ‗wherever that godforsaken place is.‘