|
?What the hell are they doing?? shouted a frustrated Casset over the phone?Putting out false
death notices?from Moscow, no less! What for??
?Jason Bourne?s gone hunting,? said Peter Holland?And when the hunt is over?if it?s over and
if the kill is made?he?s going to have to get out of the woods before anyone turns on himI
want every station and listening post on the borders of the Soviet Union on full alert
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
410
40
NovgorodTo say it was incredible was to obliquely recognize the existence of credibility and that
was nearly impossibleIt was the ultimate fantasy, its optical illusions seemingly more real than
reality, the phantasmagoria there to be touched, felt, used, entered into and departed from; it was a
collective masterpiece of invention cut out of the immense forests along the Volkhov RiverFrom
the moment Bourne emerged from the deep underground tunnel below the water with its guards,
gates and myriad cameras, he was as close to being in a state of shock while still being able to keep
walking, observing, absorbing, thinking
The American compound, presumably like those of the different balenciaga bag countries, was broken up into
sections, built on areas anywhere from two to five acres, each distinctly separate from the others
One area, erected on the banks of the river, might be the heart of a Maine waterfront village;
another, farther inland, a small Southern town; yet another, a busy metropolitan city streetEach
was completely ?authentic? with the appropriate vehicular traffic, police, dress codes, shops,
grocery and drug stores, gas stations and mock structures of buildings?many of which rose two
stories high and were so real they had American hardware on the doors and windowsObviously, as
vital as the physical appearances was language?not merely the fluent use of English but the
mastery of linguistic idiosyncrasies, the dialects that were characteristic of specific locationsAs
Jason wandered from one section to another he heard all around him the distinctive soundsFrom
New England Down East with its ?eeahh? to Texas?s drawl and its familiar ?you-alls?; from the
gentle nasality of the Midwest to the loud abrasiveness of the large Eastern cities with the
inevitable ?know what I mean?? tacked on to conversational sentences, whether questions prada replica handbags or
statementsIt was all incredibleIt was not simply beyond belief, it made the true suspension of
disbelief frighteningly viable
He had been briefed on the flight from Vnokova by a late-middle-aged Novgorod graduate who
had been urgently summoned from his Moscow apartment by KrupkinThe small, bald man was
not only garrulously instructive, but in his own way mesmerizingIf anyone had ever told Jason
Bourne that he was going to be briefed in depth by a Soviet espionage agent whose English was so
laced with the Deep South that it sonorously floated out of his mouth with the essence of
magnolias, he would have deemed the information preposterous
?Good Lawd, Ah do miss those barbecues, especially the ribsYou know who grilled ?em best?
That black fellow who I believed was such a good friend until he exposed meCan you imagine? I
thought he was one of those radicalsHe turned out to be a boy from Dartmouth workin? for the
FBIHell, the exchange was made at Aeroflot in New York and we still write
each other
?Adolescent games,? had mumbled BourneOh yes, he was a mighty fine coach
?Coach??
?Sure ?nuffA few of us started a Little League in East chanel purses PointThat?s right outside Atlanta
?May we concentrate on Novgorod, please??
?Sutt?nlyDimitri may have told you, I?m semi-retired, but my pension requires that I spend five
days a month there as a tak govorya?a ?trainer,? as you would say
?I didn?t understand what he meant
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
411
?Ah?ll explain The strange man whose voice belonged to the old Confederacy had been
thorough
Each compound at Novgorod was divided into three classes of personnel: the trainers, the
candidates and operationsThe last category included the KGB staff, guards and maintenanceThe
practical implementation of the Novgorod process was simple in structureA compound?s staff
created the daily training schedules for each individual section, and the trainers, both permanent
and part-time retirees, commandeered all individual and group activities while the candidates
carried them out, using only the language of the compound and the dialects of the specific areas in
which they were locatedNo Russian was permitted; the rule was tested frequently by the trainers
who would suddenly bark orders or insults in the native language, which the candidates could prada bags online not
acknowledge understanding
?When you say assignments,? Bourne had asked, ?what do you mean??
?Situations, mah friendJest about anything you might think ofLike ordering lunch or dinner,
or buying clothes, or fillin? the tank of your car, requesting a specific gasoline leaded or unleaded
and the degrees of octane?all of which we don?t know a thing about hereThen, of course, there
are the more dramatic events often unscheduled so as to test the candidates? reactionsSay, an
automobile accident necessitating conversations with ?American? police and the resulting insurance
forms that must be filled out?you can give yourself away if you appear too ignorant
The little things, the insignificant things-they were vitalA back door at the Kubinka Armory
?What else??
?So many inconsequential things that a person might not consider significant, but they can be
Say, being mugged in a city street at night?what should you do, what shouldn?t you do?
Remember, many of our candidates, and all of the younger ones, are trained in self-defense, but
depending upon the circumstances, it may not be advisable to use those skillsQuestions of
background could be fake cartier watches rai |
| 