"There's one brother left-only one, Alex. I killed the other two-I was responsible."

"Cut that out. Stop it. Do what you have to do."

"Goddamn you, I can't. Someone's got to be here and I won't be!"

"You're right. There's too much to keep under wraps out there and you've got to be in Montserrat. I'll drive out with the car and take your place."

"Alex, tell me what happened on Tranquility!"

"The old men ... your 'old men of Paris,' that's what happened."

"They're dead," said Jason Bourne quietly, simply.

"Don't be hasty. They've turned-at least I gather the real one turned and the other's a God-given mistake. They're on our side now."

"They're never on anyone's side but the Jackal's, you don't know them."

"Neither do you. Listen to your wife. But now you go back to the house and write out everything I should know. ... And Jason, I must tell you something. I hope to Christ you can find your solution-our solution-on Tranquility. Because all things considered, including my life, I can't keep this Medusa on our level much longer. I think you know that."

"You promised!"

"Thirty-six hours, Delta."

In the woods beyond the fence a wounded man crouched, his frightened face against the green links. In the bright wash of the headlights, he observed the tall man who had gone into the patrol car and now came out, awkwardly, nervously thanking the policemen. He did not, however, permit them inside.

Webb. The killer had heard the name "Webb."

It was all they had to know. All Snake Lady had to know.

15

"God, I love you!" said David Webb, leaning into the pay phone in the preboarding room at the private airfield in Reston, Virginia. "The waiting was the worst part, waiting to talk to you, to hear from you that you were all all right."

"How do you think I felt, darling? Alex said the telephone lines had been cut and he was sending the police when I wanted him to send the whole damned army."

"We can't even allow the police, nothing official anywhere at the moment. Conklin's promised me at least another thirty-six hours. ... We may not need that now. Not with the Jackal in Montserrat."

"David, what happened? Alex mentioned Medusa-"

"It's a mess and he's right, he has to go higher up with it. Him, not us. We stay out. Far away out."

"What happened?" repeated Marie. "What's the old Medusa got to do with anything?"

"There's a new Medusa-an extension of the old one, actually-and it's big and ugly and it kills, they kill. I saw that tonight; one of their guns tried to kill me after thinking he'd killed Cactus and murdering two innocent men."

"Good God! Alex told me about Cactus when he called me back, but nothing else. How is your Uncle Remus?"

"He'll make it. The Agency doctor came out and took him and the last brother away."

" 'Brother'?"

"I'll tell you when I see you. ... Conklin's out there now. He'll take care of everything and have the telephone fixed. I'll call him from Tranquility."

"You're exhausted-"

"I'm tired, but I'm not sure why. Cactus insisted I get some sleep and I must have had all of twelve minutes."

"My poor darling."

"I like the tone of your voice," said David. "The words even better, except I'm not poor. You took care of that in Paris thirteen years ago." Suddenly his wife was silent and Webb was alarmed. "What is it? Are you all right?"

"I'm not sure," answered Marie softly, but with a strength that was the result of thought, not feeling. "You say this new Medusa is big and ugly and it tried to kill you-they tried to kill you."

"They didn't."

"Yet they, or it, wanted you dead. Why?"

"Because I was there."

"You don't kill a man because he was at someone's house-"

"A lot happened at that house tonight. Alex and I penetrated its circle of secrets and I was seen. The idea was to bait the Jackal with a few rich and all too famous bandits from the old Saigon who would hire him to come after me. It was a hell of a strategy but it spiraled out of control."

"My God, David, don't you understand? You're marked! They'll come after you themselves!"

"How can they? The hit man from Medusa who was there never saw my face except while I was running in shadows, and they have no idea who I am. I'm a nonperson who'll simply disappear. ... No, Marie, if Carlos shows up and if I can do what I know I can do in Montserrat, we'll be free. To borrow a phrase, 'free at last.' "

"Your voice changes; doesn't it?"

"My what does which?"

"It really does. I can tell."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Jason Bourne. "I'm being signaled. The plane's here. Tell Johnny to keep those two old men under guard!"

The whispers spread through Montserrat like rolling pockets of mist. Something terrible had happened on the out island of Tranquility. ... Bad times, mon." ... "The evil obeah come across the Antilles from Jamaic' and there was death and madness." ... "And blood on the walls of death, mon, a curse put on the family of an animal." ... "Sshh! There was a cat mother and two cat children ... !"

And there were other voices. ... "Dear God, keep it quiet! It could ruin what tourism we've built!" ... "Never anything like this before-an isolated incident, obviously drug related, brought over from another island! ... "All too true, mon! I hear it was a madman, his body filled with dope." ... "I'm told a fast boat running like the wind of a hurricane took him out to sea. He's gone! ... Keep it quiet, I say! Remember the Virgins? The Fountainhead massacre? It took them years to recover. Quiet!"

And a single voice. "It's a trap, sir, and if successful, as we believe it will be, we'll be the talk of the West Indies, the heroes of the Caribbean. It'll be positively marvelous for our image. Law and order and all that."

"Thank heavens! Was anyone actually killed?"

"One person, and she was in the act of taking another's life."

"She? Good God, I don't want to hear another word until it's all over."

"It's better that you not be available for comment."

"Damned good idea. I'll go out on the boat; the fish are running well after the storm."

"Excellent, sir. And I'll stay in radio contact with developments."

"Perhaps you shouldn't. Anything can be picked up out there."

"I only meant so as to advise you when to return-at the appropriate moment to make a most advantageous appearance. I'll fill you in, of course."

"Yes, of course. You're a good man, Henry."

"Thank you, Crown Governor."

It was ten o'clock in the morning and they held each other fiercely, but there was no time for talk, only the brief comfort of being together, safe together, secure in the knowledge that they knew things the Jackal did not know and that knowledge gave them an enormous advantage. Still, it was only an advantage, not a guarantee, not where Carlos was concerned. And both Jason and John St. Jacques were adamant: Marie and the children were being flown south to Guadeloupe's Basse-Terre island. They would stay there with the Webbs' regal maid, Mrs. Cooper, all under guard until they were called back to Montserrat. Marie objected, but her objections were met with silence; her husband's orders were delivered abruptly, icily.

"You're leaving because I have work to do. We won't discuss it any further."

"It's Switzerland again ... Zurich again, isn't it, Jason?"

"It's whatever you like," replied Bourne, now preoccupied as the three of them stood at the base of the dock, two seaplanes bobbing in the water only yards apart at the far end. One had brought Jason directly to Tranquility from Antigua; the other was fueled for the flight to Guadeloupe with Mrs. Cooper and the children already inside. "Hurry up, Marie," added Bourne. "I want to go over things with Johnny and then grill those two old scumballs."