"Ludlum, Robert - Bourne 03 - The Bourne Ultimatum" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

УHeТs marked nowЧheТs a dead man,Ф interrupted Webb grimly.
УThatТs premature, David. СHeТs the best there ever was,Т those were your words.Ф
УThe only time he wasnТt was thirteen years ago in Paris.Ф
УBecause you were betterЧФ
УNo! Because I didnТt know who I was, and he was operating on prior data that I didnТt know a damn thing about. He assumed it was me out there, but I didnТt know me, so I couldnТt act according to his script. ... HeТs still the best. He saved both our lives in Hong Kong.Ф
УThen youТre saying what IТm saying, arenТt you? WeТre in good hands.Ф
УAlexТs, yes. Not MoТs. That poor beautiful man is dead. TheyТll take him and break him!Ф
УHeТd go to his grave before giving anyone information about us.Ф
УHe wonТt have a choice. TheyТll shoot him up to the moon with Amytals and his whole life will be on tape. Then theyТll kill him and come after me ... after us, which is why you and the kids are heading south, way south. The Caribbean.Ф
УIТll send them, darling. Not me.Ф
УWill you stop it! We agreed when Jamie was born. ItТs why we got the place down there, why we damn near bought your kid brotherТs soul to look after it for us. ... Also, heТs done pretty damn well. We now own half interest in a flourishing inn down a dirt road on an island nobody ever heard of until that Canadian hustler landed therein a seaplane.Ф
УJohnny was always the aggressive type. Dad once said he could sell a broken-down heifer as a prime steer and no one would check the parts.Ф
УThe point is he loves you ... and the kids. IТm also counting on that wild manТsЧ Never mind, I trust Johnny.Ф
УWhile youТre trusting so much in my younger brother, donТt trust your sense of direction. You just passed the turn to the cabin.Ф
УGoddamn it!Ф cried Webb, braking the car and swerving around. УTomorrow! You and Jamie and Alison are heading out of Logan Airport. To the island!Ф
УWeТll discuss it, David.Ф
УThereТs nothing to discuss.Ф Webb breathed deeply, steadily, imposing a strange control. УIТve been here before,Ф he said quietly.
Marie looked at her husband, his suddenly passive face outlined in the dim wash of the dashboard lights. What she saw frightened her far more than the specter of the Jackal. She was not looking at David Webb the soft-spoken scholar. She was staring at a man they both thought had disappeared from their lives forever.

2
Alexander Conklin gripped his cane as he limped into the conference room at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia. He stood facing a long impressive table, large enough to seat thirty people, but instead there were only three, the man at the head the gray-haired DCI, director of Central Intelligence. Neither he nor his two highest-ranking deputy directors appeared pleased to see Conklin. The greetings were perfunctory, and rather than taking his obviously assigned seat next to the CIA official on the DCIТs left, Conklin pulled out the chair at the far end of the table, sat down, and with a sharp noise slapped his cane against the edge.
УNow that weТve said hello, can we cut the crap, gentlemen?Ф
УThatТs hardly a courteous or an amiable way to begin, Mr. Conklin,Ф observed the director.
УNeither courtesy nor amiability is on my mind just now, sir. I just want to know why airtight Four Zero regulations were ignored and maximum-classified information was released that endangers a number of lives, including mine!Ф
УThatТs outrageous, Alex!Ф interrupted one of the two associates..
УTotally inaccurate!Ф added the other. УIt couldnТt happen and you know it!Ф
УI donТt know it and it did happen and IТll tell you whatТs outrageously accurate,Ф said Conklin angrily. УA manТs out there with a wife and two children, a man this country and a large part of the world owe more to than anyone could ever repay, and heТs running, hiding, frightened out of his mind that he and his family are targets. We gave that man our word, all of us, that no part of the official record would ever see the light of day until it was confirmed beyond doubt that Rich Ramirez Sanchez, also known as Carlos the Jackal, was dead. ... All right, IТve heard the same rumors you have, probably from the same or much better sources, that the Jackal was killed here or executed there, but no oneЧrepeat no oneЧhas come forward with indisputable proof. ... Yet a part of that file was leaked, a very vital part, and it concerns me deeply because my name is there. ... Mine and Dr. Morris Panov, the chief psychiatrist of record. We were the onlyЧrepeat onlyЧtwo individuals acknowledged to have been close associates of the unknown man who assumed the name of Jason Bourne, considered in more sectors than we can count to be the rival of Carlos in the killing game. ... But that information is buried in the vaults here in Langley. How did it get out? According to the rules, if anyone wants any part of that recordЧfrom the White House to the State Department to the holy Joint ChiefsЧhe has to go through the offices of the director and his chief analysts right here at Langley. They have to be briefed on all the details of the request, and even if theyТre satisfied as to the legitimacy, thereТs a final step. Me. Before a release is signed, IТm to be contacted, and in the event IТm not around any longer, Dr. Panov is to be reached, either one of us legally empowered to turn the request down flat. ... ThatТs the way it is, gentlemen, and no one knows the rules better than I do because IТm the one who wrote themЧagain right here at Langley, because this was the place I knew best. After twenty-eight years in this corkscrew business, it was my final contributionЧwith the full authority of the president of the United States and the consent of Congress through the select committees on intelligence in the House and the Senate.Ф
УThatТs heavy artillery, Mr. Conklin,Ф commented the gray-haired director, sitting motionless, his voice flat, neutral.
УThere were heavy reasons for pulling out the cannons.Ф
УSo I gather. One of the sixteen-inchers reached me.Ф
УYouТre damned right he did. Now, thereТs the question of accountability. I want to know how that information surfaced and, most important, who got it.Ф
Both deputy directors began talking at once, as angrily as Alex, but they were stopped by the DCI, who touched their arms, a pipe in one hand, a lighter in the other. УSlow down and back up, Mr. Conklin,Ф said the director gently, lighting his pipe. УItТs obvious that you know my two associates, but you and I never met, have we?Ф
УNo. I resigned four and a half years ago, and you were appointed a year after that.Ф
УLike many othersЧquite justifiably, I thinkЧdid you consider me a crony appointment?Ф
УYou obviously were, but I had no trouble with that. You seemed qualified. As far as I could tell, you were an apolitical Annapolis admiral who ran naval intelligence and who just happened to work with an FMF marine colonel during the Vietnam war who became president. Others were passed over, but that happens. No sweat.Ф
УThank you. But do you have any СsweatТ with my two deputy directors?Ф
УItТs history, but I canТt say either one of them was considered the best friend an agent in the field ever had. They were analysts, not field men.Ф
УIsnТt that a natural aversion, a conventional hostility?Ф
УOf course it is. They analyzed situations from thousands of miles away with computers we didnТt know who programmed and with data we hadnТt passed on. YouТre damned right itТs a natural aversion. We dealt with human quotients; they didnТt. They dealt with little green letters on a computer screen and made decisions they frequently shouldnТt have made.Ф
УBecause people like you had to be controlled,Ф interjected the deputy on the directorТs right. УHow many times, even today, do men and women like you lack the full picture? The total strategy and not just your part of it?Ф
УThen we should be given a fuller picture going in, or at least an overview so we can try to figure out what makes sense and what doesnТt.Ф
УWhere does an overview stop, Alex?Ф asked the deputy on the DCIТs left. УAt what point do we say, СWe canТt reveal this . ... for everyoneТs benefitТ?Ф
УI donТt know, youТre the analysts, IТm not. On a case-by-case basis, I suppose, but certainly with better communication than I ever got when I was in the field. ... Wait a minute. IТm not the issue, you are.Ф Alex stared at the director. УVery smooth, sir, but IТm not buying a change of subject. IТm here to find out who got what and how. If youТd rather, IТll take my credentials over to the White House or up to the Hill and watch a few heads roll. I want answers. I want to know what to do!Ф
УI wasnТt trying to change the subject, Mr. Conklin, only to divert it momentarily to make a point. You obviously objected to the methods and the compromises employed in the past by my colleagues, but did either of these men ever mislead you, lie to you?Ф
Alex looked briefly at the two deputy directors. УOnly when they had to lie to me, which had nothing to do with field operations.Ф
УThatТs a strange comment.Ф
УIf they havenТt told you, they should have. ... Five years ago I was an alcoholicЧIТm still an alcoholic but I donТt drink anymore. I was riding out the time to my pension, so nobody told me anything and they damn well shouldnТt have.Ф
УFor your enlightenment, all my colleagues said to me was that you had been ill, that you hadnТt been functioning at the level of your past accomplishments until the end of your service.Ф
Again Conklin studied both deputies, nodding to both as he spoke. УThanks, Casset, and you, too, Valentino, but you didnТt have to do that. I was a drunk and it shouldnТt be a secret whether itТs me or anybody else. ThatТs the dumbest thing you can do around here.Ф
УFrom what we heard about Hong Kong, you did a hell of a job, Alex,Ф said the man named Casset softly. УWe didnТt want to detract from that.Ф