"Ludlum, Robert - Bourne 01 - The Bourne Identity" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

'That's ridiculous!'

'Not to them. It's their honour ... Now, hurry, get your things together. There's a boat in from Marseilles; the captain's agreed to stow you, and drop you a half-mile offshore north of La Ciotat'

The man with no memory held his breath. Then it's time,' he said quietly.

'It's time,' replied Washburn. 'I think I know what's going through your mind. A sense of helplessness, of drifting without a rudder to put you on a course. I've been your rudder, and I won't be with you; there's nothing I can do about that. But believe me when I tell you, you are not helpless. You will find your way.!

To Zurich,' added the patient.

To Zurich,' agreed the doctor. 'Here. I've wrapped some things together for you in this oilcloth. Strap it around your waist!

'What is it?"

"All the money I have, some two thousand francs. It's not much, but it will help you get started. And my passport for whatever good it will do. We're about the same age and it's eight years old; people change. Don't let anyone study it It's merely an official paper.'

'What will you do?'

'I won't ever need it if I don't hear from you.'

'You're a decent man.'

'I think you are, too ... As I've known you. But then I didn't know you before. So I can't vouch for that man. I wish I could, but there's no way I can.'

The man leaned against the railing, watching the lights of lie de Port Noir recede in the distance. The fishing boat was heading into darkness, as he had plunged into darkness nearly five months ago.

As he was plunging into another darkness now.

There were no lights on the coast of France, only the wash of the dying moon outlined the rocky shore. They were two hundred yards from land, the fishing boat bobbing gently in the cross-currents of the inlet The captain pointed over the side.

There's a small stretch of beach between those two clusters of rock. It's not much, but you'll reach it if you swim to the right We can drift in another thirty, forty feet, no more than that. Only a minute or two.'

'You're doing more than I expected. I thank you for that!

'No need to. I pay my debts.'

'And I'm one?'

'Very much so. The doctor in Port Noir sewed up three of my crew after that madness five months ago. You weren't the only one brought in, you know.'

The storm? You know me?'

'You were chalk white on the table, but I don't know you and I don't want to know you. I had no money then, no catch; the doctor said I could pay when my circumstances were better. You're my payment.'

'I need papers,' said the man, sensing a source of help. 'I need a passport altered."

'Why speak to me?' asked the captain. 'I said I would put a package over the side north of La Ciotat. That's all I said.'

'You wouldn't have said that if you weren't capable of other things.'