Read Online The Bourne Dominion by Robert & Lustbader Ludlum - Free Book Online Page A

campsite. He and Essai sat near the fire, talking.
    Some distance away, Corellos was talking animatedly to his lieutenant. “Petty victories,” Essai said, eyeing him.
    Bourne looked at him inquiringly.
    “You see how it is. He knows I can’t eat pork and yet this is what he offers for dinner. If you ask him, he’ll say it’s a treat for his men.”
    “Let’s return to Boris Karpov.”
    The enigmatic smile returned. “Benjamin El-Arian, our enemy, is a master chess player. He thinks many moves ahead. He planned for the eventuality that you might succeed in keeping the Domna from finding Solomon’s hoard of gold.” He turned his head, the firelight glinting off his eyes. “You’ve heard of Viktor Cherkesov, yes?”
    “Until several months ago, he was the head of FSB-2. He left under mysterious circumstances and Boris took his place. Boris told me all this. Cleaning up FSB-2 has been a long-held dream of his.”
    “A good man, your friend Boris. Did he happen to tell you why Cherkesov abdicated his powerful throne?”
    “Mysterious circumstances,” Bourne repeated.
    “Not so mysterious to me. Benjamin El-Arian contacted Cherkesov through the appropriate intermediary and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
    Bourne’s muscles tensed. “Cherkesov is part of the Domna now?”
    Essai nodded. “And now I can see by your expression that you have intuited the rest of it. Cherkesov offered your friend Boris a deal: He’d give him FSB-2 in return for future favors.”
    “And the first one is killing me.”
    Essai saw that Corellos, having finished giving orders, was coming toward them. He sat forward and, lowering his voice, said with some urgency, “You see what a clever fellow Benjamin El-Arian is. The Domna is no ordinary cabal. Now you know the extent of what we are up against.”
    As Corellos pulled over a camp chair, Bourne said, “There’s still the matter of why I came here in the first place.”
    Corellos stared at him with stainless-steel eyes. Above him a tree grew with bark peeling off like strips of flayed skin. The air shimmered and danced with mosquitoes.
    “Assurances,” Bourne said. It was clear he was addressing both Essai and the drug lord.
    Corellos made a soundless laugh, bared his teeth and snapped his jaws together like a villain in a Tarantino film. “My dead partner’s sister is paranoid. I mean her no harm, all assurances given.”
    “The business was Gustavo’s and yours,” Bourne said. “Now it belongs to you.”
    “That’s the line she fed you.”
    “She has no use for blood money derived from drugs.”
    Corellos spread his hands wide. “Then why did he want her to take it over?”
    “Family. But she’s not like him.”
    “You don’t know her.”
    Bourne made no reply. There was something about the drug lord that brought out an instinctive animosity, like seeing a scorpion or a black widow spider. The creature might not be threatening you at the moment, but what about in the future? Bourne studied him. He was the polar opposite of Gustavo Moreno, whom Bourne had met years ago. Whatever else he might have been, Moreno was a gentleman—that is, when he gave his word it meant something. Bourne did not have that sense with Corellos. Berengária was right to be afraid of him.
    During this buzzing lull, Corellos sat back, lounging in his chair so that it creaked like an old man’s bones. “So. What
does
the
puta
want?”
    “Berengária wants only to be left alone.”
    Corellos threw his head back and laughed. Bourne could see the thick red welt from where he’d begun to strangle him.
    “
Bueno
. Okay, we go to the next step. How much does she want?”
    “I told you,” Bourne said evenly, “nothing.”
    “Now I know you’re fucking with me. Come on, give it.”
    A thin breeze stirred the swarms of mosquitoes. The forest was dense with the sounds of insects, tree frogs, and small nocturnal mammals. Bourne wanted nothing more than to bury his fist in