The Bourne Treachery by Brian Freeman

Author:Brian Freeman [Freeman, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

Clark Cafferty couldn’t hold out much longer.

His heart was already beating erratically under the stress. His hope was that his heart would give out altogether before he cracked and began talking. Because he would talk soon. He’d tell them everything. He knew it. Some drug was in his bloodstream, as freeing as a dose of morphine, and he could already feel his senses wearing down, his perception of reality beginning to fracture.

They’d blindfolded him, so he saw nothing. They’d put headphones over his ears and pounded music into his brain, so loud he was sure his eardrums had burst and were bleeding. Beatles music. John Lennon music. Like it was all a big joke. He’d been tied to a chair in a hot room, his skin covered in sweat. His tongue had swollen with thirst. He had no idea where he was or how much time had passed since they’d put him here. It could have been an hour. It could have been days.

Every now and then the music stopped. When it did, he’d feel his brain throbbing and swelling against his skull, pushing to get out. Then a voice would talk to him. Lennon. The voice really was John Lennon. That same Scouse accent from Liverpool he’d heard on television as a child. Cafferty was sure he was going crazy.

“Talk to me, mate. What’s the plan?”

The voice was loud, but after the music, it sounded like a whisper.

“Tell me about Sorokin. What did you offer him, eh? Come on, give it up, we know you’re going to talk eventually. Why make it hard?”

Cafferty tried to keep his mouth clamped shut, tried to say not a word. The trouble was, he no longer knew if he was talking or thinking. His mind and ears couldn’t tell the difference. The voice asked the questions, and automatically, his brain supplied the answers—but was he doing it out loud?

“Tati. Why’d you bring her here? What’s she got to do with all this? I mean, we both know she’s Kotov’s daughter. Okay. But how is she supposed to help you?”

Cafferty’s brain gave up all of its secrets, but he said nothing.

Or did he?

We need to get Tati out of the country. Once the truth comes out, she’s at risk.

“Okay, we’ll do it the hard way.”

The music began again. It was so loud. Unbearably loud. He wanted to scream. Maybe he was screaming, but he couldn’t hear his own voice over the unrelenting throb that turned his brain to jelly.

“Whatever gets you through the night.”

That was the song. Cafferty wasn’t going to make it through the night. He knew that. Ask me, talk to me, ask me anything, I’ll tell you. You want the truth? I’ll give you the truth.

We’re going to take down the Moth. Putin’s time is done.

The siloviki will back us if we give them a new leader. Power abhors a vacuum.

God help him, was he really talking? Cafferty didn’t know. He found himself singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.