“Why do I have the idea that I’m going to have to... “Why do I have the idea that I’m going to have to ride herd on both you gentlemen?”
“Because you’re an analyst at heart, Charlie,” answered Holland
The object of controlled surveillance is to expose those who shadow others so as to establish
their identities or take them into custody, whichever suits the strategyThe aim in the present case
was to trap the agents of the Jackal who had lured Conklin and Panov to the amusement park in
BaltimoreWorking through the night and most of the following day, the men of the Central
Intelligence Agency formed a detail of eight experienced field personnel, defined and redefined the
specific routes that Conklin and Panov were to take both individually and together for the next
twenty-four hours—these routes covered by the armed professionals in swift progressive relays—
and finally to design an irresistible rendezvous, unique in terms of time and locationThe early
morning hours at the Smithsonian InstitutionIt was the Dionaea muscipula, the Venus flytrap
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
25
Conklin stood in the narrow, dimly lit lobby of his apartment house
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squinting to read the dialIt was precisely 2:35 in the morning; he opened the heavy door and
limped out into the dark street, which was devoid of any signs of lifeAccording to their plan he
turned left, maintaining the pace agreed upon; he was to arrive at the comer as close to 2:38 as
possibleSuddenly, he was alarmed; in a shadowed doorway on his right was the figure of a man
Unobtrusively Alex reached under his jacket for his Beretta automaticThere was nothing in the
strategy that called for someone to be in a doorway on this section of the street! Then, as suddenly
as he had been alarmed, he relaxed, feeling equal parts of guilt and relief at what he understood
The figure in shadows was an indigent, an old man in worn-out clothes, one of the homeless in a
land of so much plentyAlex kept going; he reached the corner and heard the low, single click of
two fingers snapped apartHe crossed the avenue and proceeded down the pavement, passing an
alleywayanother old man in disheveled clothing moving slowly
out into the street and then back into the alleyAnother derelict protecting
tiffany jewelry canada his concrete caveAt any
other time Conklin might have approached the unfortunate and given him a few dollars, but not
nowHe had a long way to go and a schedule to keep
Morris Panov approached the intersection still bothered by the curious telephone conversation
he had had ten minutes ago, still trying to recall each segment of the plan he was to follow, afraid to
look at his watch to see if he had reached a specific place within a specific time span—he had been
told not to look at his watch in the street and why couldn’t they say “at approximately such and
such” rather than the somewhat unnerving term “time span,” as if a military invasion of
Washington were imminentRegardless, he kept walking, crossing the streets he was told to cross,
hoping some unseen clock kept him relatively in tune with the goddamned “time spans” that had
been determined by his striding back and forth between two pegs on some lawn behind a garden
apartment in Vienna, VirginiaHe would do anything for David Webb—good Christ,
anything!—but this was insaneYet, of course, it wasn’tThey would not ask him to do what he
was doing
chloe bag if it were
What was that? A face in shadows peering at him, just like the other two! This one hunched over
on a curb, raising wine-soaked eyes up at himOld men—weather-beaten, old, old men who could
barely move—staring at him! Now he was allowing his imagination to run away with him-the
cities were filled with the homeless, with perfectly harmless people whose psychoses or poverty
drove them into the streetsAs much as he would like to help them, there was nothing he could do
but professionally badger an unresponsive WashingtonThere was another! In an indented space
between two storefronts barricaded by iron gates-he, too, was watching himStop it! You’re being
irrationalOr was he? Of course, he wasGo on, keep to the schedule, that’s what you’re
supposed to doGood God! There’s anotherKeep going!
The vast moonlit grounds of the Smithsonian dwarfed the two figures as they converged from
intersecting paths, joining each other and proceeding to a benchConklin lowered himself with the
aid of his cane while Mo Panov looked around nervously, listening, as if he expected the
unexpectedIt was 3:28 in the
cheap prada handbags predawn morning, the only noises the subdued rattle of crickets and
mild summer breezes through the treesGuardedly Panov sat down
“Anything happen on the way here?” asked Conklin
“I’m not sure,” replied the psychiatrist“I’m as lost as I was in Hong Kong, except that over
there we knew where we were going, whom we expected to meet
“You’re contradicting yourself, Mo,” said Alex, smiling“You told me I was cured
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
26
“Oh, that? That was merely obsessive manic-depression bordering on dementia praecoxThis is
nuts! It’s nearly four o’clock in the morningPeople who aren’t nuts do not play games at four
o’clock in the morning
Alex watched Panov in the dim wash of a distant Smithsonian floodlight that illuminated the
massive stone structure“You said you weren’t sureWhat does that mean?”
“I’m almost embarrassed to say—I’ve told too many patients that they invent uncomfortable
images to rationalize their panic, justify their fears
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It’s a form of transference—”
“Come on, Mo!” interrupted Conklin“What bothered you? What did you see?”
“Figures
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