@@@@@The Jackal was heading down the flights of 973
@@@@@The Jackal was heading down the flights of steps to the lobbyIf the front desk had
listened to Conklin, he was trapped!
Bourne looked at the elderly couple in the corner, affected by the fact that the old man was
covering the woman with his own bodysaid, trying to calm them by lowering
his voice?I know you probably don?t understand me?I don?t speak Russian?but you?re safe
now
?We don?t speak Russian either,? admitted the man, an Englishman, in clipped, guarded tones,
straining his neck as he looked at Jason while trying to rise?Thirty years ago I would have been
standing at that door! Eighth Army with Monty, y?knowRather grand at El Alamein?all of us, of
courseTo paraphrase, age doth wither, as they say
?I?d rather not hear it, General??
?No, no, merely a brigadier??
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
392
?Fine!? Bourne crept over the bed, testing his knee; whatever it was had snapped back?I have
to get to a phone!?
?Actually, what outraged me was the goddamned robe!? went on the veteran of El Alamein
?Fucking disgraceful, I say?forgive me, darling
?What are you talking about??
?The white robe, lad! It had to be Binky?s?the couple across the hall we?re traveling with?he
must have copped it from that lovely Beau-Rivage in LausanneThe rotten theft is bad enough, but
to have given it to that swine is unforgivable!?
In seconds, Jason had grabbed the Jackal?s weapon and crashed his way into the room across the
hall, immediately knowing that ?Binky? deserved more admiration than the brigadier afforded him
He lay on the floor bleeding from knife wounds across his stomach and throat
?I can?t reach anyone!? screamed the woman with thinning gray hair; she was on her knees
above the victim, weeping hysterically?He fought like a madman?somehow he knew that priest
wouldn?t fire his gun!?
?Hold the skin together wherever you can,? yelled Bourne, looking over at the telephoneIt was
intact! He ran to it, and instead of calling the front desk or the operator, he dialed the numbers for
the suite
?Krupkin?? cried Alex
?No, me! First: Carlos is on the staircase?the hallway I went into! Second: a man?s cut up,
same hallway, seventh door on the right! HurryI?ve got a clear line to the office
?Where the hell is the KGB team??
?They just got hereKrupkin called only seconds ago from the lobby?it?s why I thought you
were??
?I?m going to the staircase!?
?For God?s sake, why??
?Because he?s mine!?
Jason raced to the door, offering no words of comfort for the hysterical wife; he could not
summon themHe crashed his way through the exit door, the Jackal?s weapon in his handHe
started down the staircase, suddenly hearing the sound of his own shoes; he stopped on the seventh
step and removed both, and then his ankle-length socksThe cool surface of the stone on his feet
somehow reminded him of the jungles, flesh against the cold morning underbrush; for some
abstract, foolish memory he felt more in command of his fears?the jungles were always the friend
of Delta
