@@@@@Jesus, Delta, back up! The missiles are
@@@@@Jesus, Delta, back up! The missiles are colliding!”
Though he was standing in front of Swayne’s desk, the general’s corpse in the chair beside him,
Bourne managed a tentative, slow smile“That’s what we’re counting on, isn’t it? It’s a scenario
that could have been written by our beloved Saint Alex himself
“I’m only along for the ride, I’m not steering—”
“What about the doctor?” interrupted Jason“You’ve been out of operation for almost five
yearsHow do you know he’s still in business?”
“I run into him now and then; we’re both museum mavensA couple of months ago at the
Corcoran Gallery he complained that he wasn’t given much to do these days
“Change that tonightWhat are you going to do?”
“Delicately pull apart everything in this room
“Gloves?”
“Surgical, of course
“Don’t touch the body
“Only the pockets—very delicatelySwayne’s wife is coming down the stairsI’ll call you
back when they’re goneGet hold of that doctor!”
Ivan Jax, Mby way of Yale Medical School, surgical training and residency at Massachusetts
General, College of Surgeons by appointment, Jamaican by birth, and erstwhile “consultant” to the
Central Intelligence Agency courtesy of a fellow black man with the improbable name of Cactus,
drove through the gates of General Swayne’s estate in Manassas, VirginiaThere were times,
thought Ivan, when he wished he had never met old Cactus and this was one of them, but tonight
notwithstanding, he never regretted that Cactus had come into his lifeThanks to the old man’s
“magic papers,” Jax had gotten his brother and sister out of Jamaica during the repressive Manley
years when established professionals were all but prohibited from emigrating and certainly not with
personal funds
Cactus, however, using complex mock-ups of government permits had sprung both young adults
out of the country along with bank transfers honored in LisbonAll the aged forger re quested were
stolen blank copies of various official documents, including import/export bills of lading, the two
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
108
people’s passports, separate photographs and copies of several signatures belonging to certain men
in positions of authority—easily obtainable through the hundreds of bureaucratic edicts published
in the government-controlled pressIvan’s brother was currently a wealthy barrister in London and
his sister a research fellow at Cambridge
Yes, he owed Cactus, thought DrJax as he swung his station wagon around the curve to the
front of the house, and when the old man had asked him to “consult” with a few “friends over in
Langley” seven years ago, he had obligedSome consultation! Still, there were further perks
forthcoming in Ivan’s silent association with the intelligence agencyWhen his island home threw
out Manley, and Seaga came to power, among the first of the “appropriated” properties to be
returned to their rightful owners were the Jax family’s holdings in Montego Bay and Port Antonio
That had been Alex Conklin’s doing, but without Cactus there would have been no Conklin, not in
Ivan’s circle of friend