Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM 307 The...
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
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The woman laughed charmingly“I know the driver who brought you in hereHe’s American
security, and quite nice, very attractive
“Security? You mean like in ‘police’?”
“Oh, very much so, but we never use the wordOh, here’s your companion coming back
inside The hostess lowered her voice“May I ask quickly, Doctor? Does he require a
wheelchair?”
“Good heavens, noHe’s walked like that for yearsEnjoy your stay in Paris, sir The woman left as Alex, limping, weaved around
several groups of chattering Europeans to the chair next to PanovHe sat down and leaned forward
awkwardly in the soft leatherHe was obviously disturbed
“What’s the matter?” asked Mo
“I just talked to Charlie Casset in Washington
“He’s the one you like, the one you gucci purse trust, isn’t he?”
“He’s the best there is when he has personal access, or, at least, human intelligenceWhen he
can see and hear and look for himself, and not simply read words on paper or a computer screen
without asking questions
“Are you, perchance, moving into my territory again, Doctor Conklin?”
“I accused David of that last week and I’ll tell you what he told meIt’s a free country, and your
training notwithstanding, you don’t have a franchise on common sense
“Mea culpa,” agreed Panov, nodding“I gather your friend did something you don’t approve
of
“He did something he wouldn’t approve of if he had more information on whom he did it with
“That sounds positively Freudian, even medically imprudent
“Both are part of it, I guessHe made an outside unsanctioned deal with a chanel j10 watch knock off man named Dimitri
Krupkin at the Russian embassy here in ParisWe’ll be working with the local KGB—you, me,
Bourne and Marie—if and when we find themHopefully, in Rambouillet in an hour or so
“What are you saying?” asked Mo, astonished and barely audible
“Long story, short timeMoscow wants the Jackal’s head, the rest of him separated from it
Washington can’t feed us or protect us, so the Soviets will act as our temporary paterfamilias if we
find ourselves in a bind
Panov frowned, then shook his head as though absorbing very strange information, then spoke
“I suppose it’s not your run-of-the-mill development, but there’s a certain logic, even comfort, to
it
“On paper, Mo,” said Conklin“Not with Dimitri Krupkin
“Oh? He’s one of the evil people?”
“Kruppie evil? No, not men's omega seamaster really—”
“Kruppie?”
“We go way back as young hustlers to Istanbul in the late sixties and Athens after that, then
Amsterdam laterKrupkin’s not malevolent, and he works like a son of a bitch for Moscow with
a damn good second-rate mind, better than eighty percent of the clowns in our business, but he’s
got a problemHe’s fundamentally on the wrong side, in the wrong societyHis parents should
have come over with mine when the Bolsheviks took the throneYour family was Russian
“Speaking the language helps with KruppieI can nail his nuancesHe’s the quintessential
capitalistLike the economic ministers in Beijing, he doesn’t just like money, he’s obsessed with
it—and everything that goes with itOut of sight and out of sanction, he could be bought
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE replica mulberry roxanne handbags ULTIMATUM
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“You mean by the Jackal?”
“I saw him bought in Athens by Greek developers selling additional airstrips to Washington
when they knew the Communists were going to throw us outThey paid him to shut upThen I
watched him broker diamonds in Amsterdam between the merchants on the Nieuwmarkt and the
dacha-elite in MoscowWe had drinks one night in the Kattengat and I asked him, ‘Kruppie, what
the fuck are you doing?’ You know what he said? He said in clothes I couldn’t afford, ‘Aleksei, I’ll
do everything I can to outsmart you, to help the supreme Soviet to gain world dominance, but in the
meantime, if you’d like a holiday, I have a lovely house on the lake in Geneva That’s what he
said, MoOf course, you told your friend Casset all this—”
“Of course I didn’t,” broke in black leather chanel purse Conklin