Chapter 31

“Are you sure you want to tell me what happened? You may not like it.”

“I need to know, David.”

“I had gone to the gym to do a workout, then to the coffee shop. I like to read the headlines and articles happening around the world. Some of the personal ads are really weird, wanting to hook up for any kind of interest.”

“I noticed an ad in bold letters at the bottom of the page. DW 09131989 Paris is waiting for you. Contact me at 33-431 plus where it all began. PL.”

“I had to reread the notice as the number, 09131989, was my birth date. PL I figured it had to be Pamela Landy. I recalled the coded message she gave me of 4/15/89 to be my birth date, which was fictitious but was actually a hospital at 415 East 89th Street in New York, where I evolved into an assassin.”

“I did the math, and the number was 33-4314-1589, originating in Paris. I had to decide if I should contact her or not. Maybe it was a sting operation to finally catch me. I had to admit that Pam was the CIA agent who revealed my real name to me, the only one I trusted.”

“Curiosity got the better of me, so I called the number.”

“A woman answered, and I recognized her voice. ‘Hi, Pam, you’re looking well,’ I joked.”

“She cursed because she looked out her apartment window for me. I had called her several times in the past when she was hunting me down and saying she looked tired; she knew I was looking right at her from far away.”

“I thought she got fired because Vosen turned on her. She got a slap on the wrist for punishment and was transferred to the Paris office. She said she wanted me to do something for the government or more for her. I said I was through with anything to do with the program.”

“I jokingly asked her who she wanted me to kill, and she replied that she wanted me to prevent a murder, not cause one. She asked me to fly to Paris, and she’d brief me on my mission.”

“I’d be staying at their safe house. She enticed me with the offer of three million euros to do the job. She said it was in the best interest of the U.S. that this man stay alive. I asked her why she wanted me over others who could do the job. She replied that there was only one Jason Bourne.”+

“The one thing I regretted the most was having to tell you I was going away.”

“I remember asking you if you had a wife or girlfriend hidden from me. You did seem a little preoccupied when we fucked.”

“I knew I cared about you and didn’t know if that would be our last time together. I looked at you asleep in my bed, kissed you, and quietly snuck out. As tough as I’m supposed to be I couldn’t face you to say goodbye.”

“I felt empty with you gone.”

I flew from Catania to Paris, where I was met by Pam Landy, and she drove me to the safe house. Old habits stayed with me as I checked out the rooms, the escape route from the third floor, and the alleyway.”

“She handed me the keys to a new Volkswagen GTI in my name. I had my choice of weapons and a few other tools of the trade. I asked who the target was.”

“‘We have credible information that an asset of Russia’s Secret Police is going to attempt to assassinate President Zelensky of the Ukraine as an early Christmas present to Putin,’ she revealed.”

“I asked her why she chose me, and she said that when I’m around, assets don’t live. One thing she told me was that I wouldn’t be working alone; I’d have a partner. I said, I don’t want or need a partner; I work alone.”

“She said, I’d take the partner, or she’d find someone else to do the job. I asked who he was, and she surprised me by saying my partner was a woman.”

“A woman?” Rita asked, looking at him.