@@@@@He slammed the door, locked it, and beat
@@@@@He slammed the
door, locked it, and beat his way out of here back through the window Cactus’s neck arched back,
the pain and the exhaustion overtaking him“He’s out there, Br’er Rabbit—”
“That’s enough!” ordered Bourne as he cautiously reached up, snapping off the desk lamp,
leaving the dim light from the hallway through the shattered door as the only illumination“I’m
calling Alex; he can send the doctor—”
Suddenly, from somewhere outside, there was a high-pitched scream, a roar of shock and
anguish Jason knew only too wellSo did Cactus, who whispered, his eyes shut tight: “He got one
That fucker got one of the brothers!”
“I’m reaching Conklin,” said Jason, pulling the phone off of the desk“Then I’ll go out and get
himOh, Christ! The line’s out—it’s been cut!”
“That honky knows his way around hereStay as quiet as you canI’ll be back for you—”
There was another scream, this lower, more abrupt, an expulsion of breath more than a roar
“May sweet Jesus forgive me,” muttered the old black man painfully, meaning the words
“There’s only one brother left—”
“If anyone should ask forgiveness, it’s me,” cried Bourne, his voice guttural, half choking
“Goddamn it! I swear to you, Cactus, I never thought, never even considered, that anything like this
would happen
“ ’Course you didn’tI know you from back to the old days, Br’er, and I never heard of you
asking anyone to risk anything for youIt’s always been the other way around
“I’m going to pull you over,” interrupted Jason, tugging on the rug, maneuvering Cactus to the
right side of the desk, the old man’s left hand close enough to reach the auxiliary alarm“If you
hear anything or see anything or feel anything, turn on the siren
“Where are you going? I mean how?”
“Another room
Bourne crept across the floor to the mutilated door, lurched through it and ran into the living
roomAt the far end was a pair of French doors that led to an outside patio; he recalled seeing
white wrought-iron lawn furniture on the south end of the house when he was with the guardsHe
twisted the knob and slipped outside, pulling the automatic from his belt, shutting the right door,
and crouching, making his way to the shrubbery at the edge of the grassHe had to move quickly
Not only was there a third life in the balance, a third unrelated, unwarranted death, but a killer who
could be his shortcut to the crimes of the new Medusa, and those crimes were his bait for the
Jackal! A diversion, a magnet, a trap the flares—part of the equipment he had brought with him
to Manas