| 2:58a |
@@@@@The early morning light broke over the
@@@@@The early morning light broke over the eastern horizon, slowly
revealing through the mists the blue-green out islands of MontserratThe first boats cautiously,
dolefully lumbered out to the favored fishing grounds, for the catch of the day meant one more
day’s survivalMarie, her brother and the two old men were around a table on the balcony of an
unoccupied villaOver coffee, they had been talking for the better part of an hour, treating each
point of horror coldly, dissecting facts without feelingThe aged false hero of France had been
assured that all proper arrangements would be made for his woman once phone service had been
restored to the big islandIf it was possible, he wanted her to be buried in the islands; she would
understandThere was nothing left for her in France but the ignominy of a tawdry graveIf it was
possible—
“It’s possible,” said St“Because of you my sister’s alive
“Because of me, young man, she might have died
“Would you have killed me?” asked Marie, studying the old Frenchman
“Certainly not after I saw what Carlos had planned for me and my womanHe had broken the
contract, not I
“When I had not yet seen the needles, understood what was all too obvious?”
“Yes
“That’s difficult to answer; a contract’s a contractStill, my woman was dead, and a part of her
dying was because she sensed that a terrible thing had been demanded of meTo go through with
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
128
that demand would deny that aspect of her death, don’t you see? Yet again, even in her death, the
monseigneur could not be totally denied—he had made possible years of relative happiness that
would have been impossible without himI might have reasoned that I
owed him your life—your death—but certainly not the children’s and most certainly not the rest
of it
“Rest of what?” asked St
“It’s best not to inquire
“I think you would have killed me,” said Marie
“I tell you, I simply don’t knowThere was nothing personalYou were not a person to me, you
were simply an event that was part of a business arrangeme |