SyndicationAug052010
What?s his place got to do with your changing...
What?s his place got to do with your changing clothes??
?I want to look aroundI?ll get there while it?s light to see what it?s like from the road, then
when it?s dark I?ll pay him a surprise visit
?That?ll be effective, but why the looking around??
?I like farmsThey?re so spread out and extended and I can?t imagine why a professional soldier
who knows that he can be transferred anywhere in the world at a moment?s notice would saddle
himself with such a large investment
?The same as my reasoning except I was concerned about the how, not the whyYour approach
may be more interestingHe may have alarms and dogs, things like that
?I?m prepared,? said Jason Bourne?I did some shopping after I left Georgetown
The summer sun was low in the western sky as he slowed down the rental car and lowered the
visor to keep from being blinded by the yellow globe of fireSoon it would drop behind the
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
79
Shenandoah mountains, twilight descending, prelude to darknessAnd it was the darkness that
Jason Bourne craved; it was his friend and ally, the blackness in which he moved swiftly, with sure
feet and alert hands and arms that served as sensors against all the impediments of natureThe
jungles had welcomed him in the past, knowing that although he was an intruder he respected them
and used them as a part of himHe did not fear the gucci boston bag jungles, he embraced them, for they protected
him and allowed him passage to accomplish whatever his objective was; he was at one with the
jungles?as he would have to be with the dense woods that flanked the estate of General Norman
Swayne
The main house was set back no less than the distance of two football fields from the country
roadA stockade fence separated the entrance on the right from the exit on the left, both with iron
gates, fronting a deep drive that was basically an elongated U-turnImmediately bordering each
opening was a profusion of tall trees and shrubbery that was in itself a natural extension of the
stockade fence both left and rightAll that was missing were guardhouses at each point of entry and
exit
His mind floated back to China, to Beijing and the wild bird sanctuary where he had trapped a
killer posing as Jason BourneThere had been a guardhouse then and a series of armed patrols in
the dense forest and a madman, a butcher who controlled an army of killers, foremost among
them the false Jason BourneHe had penetrated that deadly sanctuary, crippled a small fleet of
trucks and automobiles by plunging the blade of his knife into every tire, then proceeded to take out
each patrol in the Jing Shan forest until he found the torch-lit clearing that held a swaggering
maniac and his brigade of fanaticsCould he do it all today? wondered Bourne pink vuitton bag as he drove slowly
past Swayne?s property for the third time, his eyes absorbing everything he could seeFive years
later, thirteen years after Paris? He tried to evaluate the realityHe was not the younger man that he
had been in Paris, nor the more mature man in Hong Kong, Macao and Beijing; he was now fifty
and he felt it, every year of itHe would not dwell on itThere was too much else to think about,
and the twenty-eight acres of General Norman Swayne?s property were not the forest primeval of
the Jing Shan sanctuary
However, as he had done on the primitive outskirts of Beijing, he drove the car off the country
road deep into a mass of tall grass and foliageHe climbed out and proceeded to cover the vehicle
with bent and broken branchesThe rapidly descending darkness would complete the camouflage,
and with the darkness he would go to workHe had changed his clothes in the men?s room at the
gas station: black trousers below a black long-sleeved, skintight pullover; and black thick-soled
sneakers with heavy treadThese were his working apparelThe items he spread on the ground
were his equipment, the shopping he had done after leaving GeorgetownThey included a longbladed
hunting knife whose scabbard he threaded into his belt; a dual-chambered CO2 pistol,
encased in a nylon shoulder holster, that silently shot immobilizing darts into attacking animals,
such omega pocket watches as pit bulls; two flares designed to assist stranded drivers in broken-down cars to attract or
deter other motorists; a pair of small Zeiss Ikon 8x10 binoculars attached to his trousers by a
Velcro strip; a penlight; raw-hide laces; and finally, pocket-sized wire cutters in case there was a
metal fenceAlong with the automatic supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency, the gear was
either lashed to his belt or concealed in his clothingThe darkness came and Jason Bourne walked
into the woods
The white sheet of ocean spray burst up from the coral reef and appeared suspended, the dark
blue waters of the Caribbean serving as a backdropIt was that hour of early evening, a long
sundown imminent, when Tranquility Isle was bathed in alternating hot tropical colors, pockets of
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
80
shadows constantly changing with each imperceptible descent of the orange sunThe resort
complex of Tranquility Inn had seemingly been cut out of three adjacent rock-strewn hills above an
elongated beach sandwiched between huge natural jetties of coralTwo rows of balconied pink
villas with bright red roofs of terra-cotta extended from each side of the resort?s central hub, a large
circular building of heavy stone and thick glass, all the structures overlooking the water, the villas
connected by a white concrete path bordered by low-cut shrubbery le dix balenciaga and lined with ground lamps
Waiters in yellow guayabera jackets wheeled room-service tables along the path, delivering bottles
and ice and canap?s to Tranquility?s guests, the majority of whom sat on their individual balconies
savoring the end of the Caribbean dayAnd as the shadows became more prominent, other people
unobtrusively appeared along the beach and on the long dock that extended out over the water
These were neither guests nor service employees; they were armed guards, each dressed in a dark
brown tropical uniform and?again unobtrusively?with a MAC-10 machine pistol strapped to his
belted waistOn the opposite side of each jacket and hooked to the cloth was a pair of Zeiss Ikon
8x10 binoculars continuously used to scan the darknessThe owner of Tranquility Inn was
determined that it live up to its name
On the large circular balcony of the villa nearest the main building and the attached glassenclosed
dining room, an elderly infirm woman sat in a wheelchair sipping a glass of Chateau
Carbonnieux ?78 while drinking in the splendors of sundownShe absently touched the bangs of
her imperfectly dyed red hair as she listenedShe heard the voice of her man talking with the nurse
inside, then the sound of his less than emphatic footsteps as he walked out to join her
?My God,? she said in French?I?m going to get pissed!?
?Why not?? asked the Jackal?s women's rolex watch courie
?I want to look aroundI?ll get there while it?s light to see what it?s like from the road, then
when it?s dark I?ll pay him a surprise visit
?That?ll be effective, but why the looking around??
?I like farmsThey?re so spread out and extended and I can?t imagine why a professional soldier
who knows that he can be transferred anywhere in the world at a moment?s notice would saddle
himself with such a large investment
?The same as my reasoning except I was concerned about the how, not the whyYour approach
may be more interestingHe may have alarms and dogs, things like that
?I?m prepared,? said Jason Bourne?I did some shopping after I left Georgetown
The summer sun was low in the western sky as he slowed down the rental car and lowered the
visor to keep from being blinded by the yellow globe of fireSoon it would drop behind the
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
79
Shenandoah mountains, twilight descending, prelude to darknessAnd it was the darkness that
Jason Bourne craved; it was his friend and ally, the blackness in which he moved swiftly, with sure
feet and alert hands and arms that served as sensors against all the impediments of natureThe
jungles had welcomed him in the past, knowing that although he was an intruder he respected them
and used them as a part of himHe did not fear the gucci boston bag jungles, he embraced them, for they protected
him and allowed him passage to accomplish whatever his objective was; he was at one with the
jungles?as he would have to be with the dense woods that flanked the estate of General Norman
Swayne
The main house was set back no less than the distance of two football fields from the country
roadA stockade fence separated the entrance on the right from the exit on the left, both with iron
gates, fronting a deep drive that was basically an elongated U-turnImmediately bordering each
opening was a profusion of tall trees and shrubbery that was in itself a natural extension of the
stockade fence both left and rightAll that was missing were guardhouses at each point of entry and
exit
His mind floated back to China, to Beijing and the wild bird sanctuary where he had trapped a
killer posing as Jason BourneThere had been a guardhouse then and a series of armed patrols in
the dense forest and a madman, a butcher who controlled an army of killers, foremost among
them the false Jason BourneHe had penetrated that deadly sanctuary, crippled a small fleet of
trucks and automobiles by plunging the blade of his knife into every tire, then proceeded to take out
each patrol in the Jing Shan forest until he found the torch-lit clearing that held a swaggering
maniac and his brigade of fanaticsCould he do it all today? wondered Bourne pink vuitton bag as he drove slowly
past Swayne?s property for the third time, his eyes absorbing everything he could seeFive years
later, thirteen years after Paris? He tried to evaluate the realityHe was not the younger man that he
had been in Paris, nor the more mature man in Hong Kong, Macao and Beijing; he was now fifty
and he felt it, every year of itHe would not dwell on itThere was too much else to think about,
and the twenty-eight acres of General Norman Swayne?s property were not the forest primeval of
the Jing Shan sanctuary
However, as he had done on the primitive outskirts of Beijing, he drove the car off the country
road deep into a mass of tall grass and foliageHe climbed out and proceeded to cover the vehicle
with bent and broken branchesThe rapidly descending darkness would complete the camouflage,
and with the darkness he would go to workHe had changed his clothes in the men?s room at the
gas station: black trousers below a black long-sleeved, skintight pullover; and black thick-soled
sneakers with heavy treadThese were his working apparelThe items he spread on the ground
were his equipment, the shopping he had done after leaving GeorgetownThey included a longbladed
hunting knife whose scabbard he threaded into his belt; a dual-chambered CO2 pistol,
encased in a nylon shoulder holster, that silently shot immobilizing darts into attacking animals,
such omega pocket watches as pit bulls; two flares designed to assist stranded drivers in broken-down cars to attract or
deter other motorists; a pair of small Zeiss Ikon 8x10 binoculars attached to his trousers by a
Velcro strip; a penlight; raw-hide laces; and finally, pocket-sized wire cutters in case there was a
metal fenceAlong with the automatic supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency, the gear was
either lashed to his belt or concealed in his clothingThe darkness came and Jason Bourne walked
into the woods
The white sheet of ocean spray burst up from the coral reef and appeared suspended, the dark
blue waters of the Caribbean serving as a backdropIt was that hour of early evening, a long
sundown imminent, when Tranquility Isle was bathed in alternating hot tropical colors, pockets of
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
80
shadows constantly changing with each imperceptible descent of the orange sunThe resort
complex of Tranquility Inn had seemingly been cut out of three adjacent rock-strewn hills above an
elongated beach sandwiched between huge natural jetties of coralTwo rows of balconied pink
villas with bright red roofs of terra-cotta extended from each side of the resort?s central hub, a large
circular building of heavy stone and thick glass, all the structures overlooking the water, the villas
connected by a white concrete path bordered by low-cut shrubbery le dix balenciaga and lined with ground lamps
Waiters in yellow guayabera jackets wheeled room-service tables along the path, delivering bottles
and ice and canap?s to Tranquility?s guests, the majority of whom sat on their individual balconies
savoring the end of the Caribbean dayAnd as the shadows became more prominent, other people
unobtrusively appeared along the beach and on the long dock that extended out over the water
These were neither guests nor service employees; they were armed guards, each dressed in a dark
brown tropical uniform and?again unobtrusively?with a MAC-10 machine pistol strapped to his
belted waistOn the opposite side of each jacket and hooked to the cloth was a pair of Zeiss Ikon
8x10 binoculars continuously used to scan the darknessThe owner of Tranquility Inn was
determined that it live up to its name
On the large circular balcony of the villa nearest the main building and the attached glassenclosed
dining room, an elderly infirm woman sat in a wheelchair sipping a glass of Chateau
Carbonnieux ?78 while drinking in the splendors of sundownShe absently touched the bangs of
her imperfectly dyed red hair as she listenedShe heard the voice of her man talking with the nurse
inside, then the sound of his less than emphatic footsteps as he walked out to join her
?My God,? she said in French?I?m going to get pissed!?
?Why not?? asked the Jackal?s women's rolex watch courie