Bourne - 09 - The Bourne Dominion by Robert Ludlum

Author:Robert Ludlum
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Thriller
Publisher: Hachette Book Group USA
Published: 2011-07-18T22:00:00+00:00

We owe you a great debt,” Don Fernando Hererra said. “You did us a great service.”

“And now I’d like my payment,” Bourne said. “I’m not an altruist.”

“Oh, but you’re wrong, Jason.” Don Fernando crossed one elegant leg over the other, opened a beautifully filigreed humidor, offered a robusto to Bourne, who declined. Don Fernando plucked one out and went about the elaborate ritual of cutting and lighting it. “You’re one of the world’s last true altruists.” He puffed, getting the cigar going. “In my opinion, that is what defines you.”

The two men were sitting in Don Fernando’s comfortable living room. Vegas was lying down in one of the bedrooms, Don Fernando having administered a light sedative. As for Rosie, she’d disappeared into one of the guest bathrooms, saying she was in desperate need of a long, hot shower.

That left Bourne and his host, a man whom he had gotten to know first in Seville, where they had matched wits and sparred verbally, and later, more intimately, in London following the violent death of the old man’s son.

“I want half an hour alone with Jalal Essai,” Bourne said.

A smile haloed Don Fernando’s lips. He leaned forward. “More sherry?” He refilled Bourne’s glass, which stood beside a plate of Serrano ham, pink and smoky, and rough-cut chunks of Manchego cheese.

Bourne sat back. “Where is Essai, anyway?”

Don Fernando shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Then I can start with you. Why are you friends with him?”

“Not friends. Business partners. He’s a means to an end, nothing more.”

“And those ends?”

“He makes me money. Not drugs.”

“Human beings?”

Don Hernando crossed himself. “God forbid.”

“He’s a liar,” Bourne said.

“True enough.” Don Hernando nodded soberly. “He knows no other way of operating. It’s pathological.”

Bourne sat forward. “What I really want to know, Don Fernando, is the nature of your connection with Severus Domna.”

“Also a means to an end. At times, these people can be useful.”

“They will compromise you, if they haven’t already.”

Don Hernando’s smile was like a slow signal waxing. “Now you underestimate me, my young friend. I should be offended, but with you…” He waved a hand, dismissing the thought. “The fact is, ever since they formed an alliance with Abdul-Qahhar’s Mosque in Munich, I felt it incumbent on me to keep an eye on them.”

Seeing Bourne’s expression, he chuckled. “I see I have surprised you. Good. You must learn, my friend, that all knowledge doesn’t reside with you.”

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