lianlan2026

@@@@@It seemed to rise out of the earth, a huge boxlike intrusion on the pastoral scene, an ugly man-made interruption of heavy brown wood and miserly windows reaching three stories high and covering two acres of landLike the structure itself, the front entrance was large, square and unadorned except for the dull bas-relief profiles above the door of three Soviet soldiers rushing into the deadly winds of battle, their rifles at port arms, about to blow one another?s heads off Armed with an authentic Russian AK-47 and five standard thirty-round magazine clips, Bourne jumped out the far side of the silent coasting government car, using the bulk of the rolling vehicle to conceal himself in the grass directly across the road from the entranceThe armory?s huge dirt parking area was to the right of the long building; a single row of unkempt shrubbery fronted the entrance lawn, in the center of which stood a tall white pole, the Soviet flag hanging limp in the breezeless morning airJason ran across the road, his body low, and crouched by the hedgerow; he had only moments to peer through the bushes and ascertain the existence or nonexistence of the armory?s security proceduresAt best, they appeared lax to the point of being informal, if not irrelevantThere was a glass window in the right wall of the entrance similar to that of a theater?s box office; behind it sat a uniformed guard reading a magazine, and alongside him, less visible but seen clearly enough, was another, his head on the counter, asleepTwo other soldiers emerged from the immense armory door?double doors?both casual, unconcerned, as one glanced at his watch and the other lighted a cigarette So much for Kubinka?s security; no sudden assault was anticipated nor had one taken place, at least none that had set off alarms reaching the front patrols, usually the first to be alertedIt was eerie, unnatural, beyond the unexpectedThe Jackal was inside this military installation, yet there was no sign that he had penetrated it, no indication that somewhere within the complex he was controlling a minimum of five personnel?a man impersonating him, three other men and a woman The parking area itself? He had not understood the exchanges between Alex, Krupkin and the voice over the radio, but now it was clear to him that when they had spoken of people coming outside and running to the stolen car, they were not referring to the front entrance! There had to be an exit on the parking area! Christ, he had only seconds before the driver of the Komitet car started up the engine and roared into the huge dirt lot, circling it and racing out, both actions announcing the government vehicle?s arrival and swift, calamitous departureIf Carlos was going to make his break, it would be then! After waiting for the standard radio backup, every moment of distance he put between himself and the armory would make it more difficult to pick up his trailAnd he, the efficient killing machine from Medusa, was in the wrong place! Further, the sight of a civilian running across a lawn or down a road carrying an automatic weapon within a military compound was to invite disasterIt was a small, stupid omission! Three or four additional words translated and a less arrogant, more probing listener would have avoided the errorIt was always the little things, the seemingly insignificant that crippled gray to black operationsGoddamn it! Five hundred feet away the KGB sedan suddenly thundered as it swerved into the dirt parking area raising clouds of dry dust while crushing and spitting out pieces of rock from its spinning tires Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM 401 There was no time to think, time only to actBourne held the AK-47 against his right leg, concealing it as much as possible as he rose to his feet, his left hand skimming the top of the low hedgerow?a gardener, perhaps, surveying an anticipated assignment, or an indolent stroller aimlessly touching the roadside shrubbery, nothing remotely threatening, just a sign of the commonplace; to the casual observer, he might have been walking down that road for several minutes without being noticed He glanced over at the armory?s entranceThe two soldiers were laughing quietly, the one without a cigarette again looking at his watchThen the object of their minor conspiracy came out of the left front door, an attractive dark-haired girl, barely in her twentiesShe humorously clapped both her hands over her ears, made a grotesque face and walked rapidly to the time-conscious man in uniform, kissing him on the lipsThe threesome linked arms, the woman in the center, and started to their right, away from the entrance A crash! Metal colliding with metal, glass shattering glass, the loud harsh sound coming from the distant parking are