| ?And, please, you understand that many guns are directed
at you when I open the doorIt is understand??
?Understand!? shouted Bourne, at the last second remembering to drop Carlos?s weapon on the
concrete floor
?Da!? said the Soviet police officer, instantly correcting himself as he spotted the machine pistol
at Jason?s feet
?Nye za shto?? said a breathless Krupkin, urging his heavyset body forward
?Pochemu??
?Komitet!?
?Prekrasno The policeman nodded obsequiously, but stayed in place
?What are you doing?? demanded Krupkin?The lobby is cleared and our assault squad is in
place!?
?He was here!? whispered Bourne, as if his intense quiet voice further obscured his
incomprehensible words
?The Jackal?? asked Krupkin, astonished
?He came down this staircase! He couldn?t have gone out on any other floorEvery fire door is
dead-bolted from the inside?only the cartier santos series replica watches crash bars release them
?Skazhi,? said the KGB official to the hotel guard, speaking in Russian?Has anyone come
through this door within the past ten minutes since the orders were given to seal them off??
?No, sir!? replied the mititsiya?Only a hysterical woman in a soiled bathrobeIn her panic, she
fell in the bathroom and cut herselfWe thought she might have a heart attack, she was screaming
soWe escorted her immediately to the nurse?s office
Krupkin turned to Jason, switching back to English?Only a woman came through, a woman in
panic who had inured herself
?A woman? Is he certain? What color was her hair?? Dimitri asked the guard; with the man?s
reply he again looked at Bourne?He says it was reddish and quite curly
?Reddish?? An image came to Jason, a very unpleasant one?A house phone?no, the front
desk! Come on, I may need your help With Krupkin dior handbag following, the barefooted Bourne ran across
the lobby to a clerk at the reception counter?Can you speak English??
?Certainly most good, even many veniculars, mister sir
?A room plan for the tenth floor
?Mister sir??
Krupkin translated; a large loose-leaf notebook was placed on the counter, the plastic-enclosed
page turned to??This room!? said Jason, pointing at a square and doing his best not to alarm the
frightened clerk?Get it on the telephone! If the line?s busy, knock off anybody on it
Again Krupkin translated as a phone was placed in front of BourneHe picked it up and spoke
?This is the man who came into your room a few minutes ago??
?Oh, yes, of course, dear fellowThank you so much! The doctor?s here and Binky?s??
?I have to know something, and I have to know it right nowDo you carry hairpieces, or wigs,
with you when you travel??
?I?d say that?s chanel jumbo rather impertinent??
?Lady, I don?t have time for amenities, I have to know! Do you??
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
394
?Well, yes I doIt?s no secret, actually, all my friends know it and they forgive the artificeYou
see, dear boy, I have diabetes my gray hair is painfully thin
?Is one of those wigs red??
?As a matter of fact, yesI rather fancy changing??
Bourne slammed down the phone and looked over at Krupkin?The son of a bitch lucked outIt
was Carlos!?
?Come with me!? said Krupkin as they both raced across the empty lobby to the complex of
back-room offices of the MetropoleThey reached the nurse?s infirmary door and went insideThey
both stopped; both gasped and then winced at what they saw
There were rolls of torn, unwound gauze and reels of tape in various widths, and broken
syringes and tubes of antibiotics scattered about the gucci bag fake examining table and the floor, as if all were
somehow administered in panicThese, however, the two men barely noticed, for their eyes were
riveted on the woman who had tended to her crazed patientThe Metropole?s nurse was arched
back in her chair, her throat surgically punctured, and over her immaculate white uniform ran a thin
stream of bloodMadness!
Standing beside the living room table, Dimitri Krupkin spoke on the phone as Alex Conklin sat
on the brocaded couch massaging his bootless leg and Bourne stood by the window staring out on
the Marx ProspektAlex looked over at the KGB officer, a thin smile on his gaunt face as Krupkin
nodded, his eyes on ConklinAn acknowledgment was being transmitted between the two of them
They were worthy adversaries in a never-ending, essentially futile war in which only battles were
won, the philosophical conflicts never chanel luxury wallet resolve |
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