@@@@@ THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM A Bantam Book /
@@@@@
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
A Bantam Book / published by arrangement with the author
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Random House edition published March 1990
Bantam Export edition / August 1990
Bantam rack edition / March 1991
All rights reserved
Copyright ? 1990 Robert Ludlum
Cover art copyright ? 1990 by Paul Bacon
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 89-43201
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisherFor information address: Bantam Books
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen propertyIt was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the
publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book
ISBN 0-553-28773-7
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, IncIts trademark, consisting of the words
“Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in UPatent and Trademark Office and in other countries
Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
OPM 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
6
For Bobbi and Leonard Raichert,
two lovely people who have enriched
our lives—Our Thanks
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
7
THE BOURNE
ULTIMATUM
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
8
Prologue
Darkness had descended on Manassas, Virginia, the countryside alive with nocturnal undercurrents,
as Bourne crept through the woods bordering the estate of General Norman SwayneStartled birds
fluttered out of their black recesses; crows awoke in the trees and cawed their alarms, and then, as
if calmed by a foraging co-conspirator, kept silent
Manassas! The key was here! The key that would unlock the subterranean door that led to
Carlos the Jackal, the assassin who wanted only to destroy David Webb and his familyWebb!
Get away from me, David! screamed Jason Bourne in the silence of his mindLet me be the killer
you cannot be!
With each scissoring cut into the thick, high wire fence, he understood the inevitable, confirmed
by his heavy breathing and the sweat that fell from his hairlineNo matter how hard he tried to keep
his body in reasonable shape, he was fifty years of age; he could not do with ease what he did
thirteen years ago in Paris when, under orders, he had stalked the JackalIt was something to think
about, not dwell uponThere were Marie and his children now—David’s wife, David’s children—
and there was nothing he could not do as long as he willed it! David Webb was disappearing from
his psyche, only the predator Jason Bourne would remain
He was through! He crawled inside and stood up, instinctively, rapidly checking his equipment
with the fingers of both handsWeapons: an automatic, as well as a CO2 dart pistol; Zeiss Ikon
binoculars; a scabbarded hunting knifeThey were all the predator needed, for he was now behind
the lines in enemy territory, the enemy that would lead him to CarlosThe bastard battalion from Vietnam, the unlogged, unsanctioned, unacknowledged
collection of killers and misfits who roamed the jungles of Southeast Asia directed by Command
Saigon, the original death squads who brought Saigon more intelligence input than all the searchand-
destroys put togetherJason Bourne had come out of Medusa with David Webb only a
memory—a scholar who had another wife, other children, all slaughtere