She followed the trio as they broke at last from the bubbling crowd, went down the block, and into a restaurant. For a moment, she stood gazing through one of the enormous windows, as the three removed their coats, handed them to a young woman, and were led by the maître d’ to a choice table. Their small movements were like that of a family—intimate, secure with each other. Her pride in Liis swelled once again, making her eyes enlarge with tears, and glow brighter than the blighted streetlights overhead. Her fingertips traced an unknown pattern on the icy glass.
Abruptly, she turned, stepped decisively away, placing herself within the safety of the holiday throng. The rhythmic sound of a Salvation Army bell ringer floated to her from farther down Broadway, packed so tightly with pedestrians she couldn’t see across to the east sidewalk. Boys shouted to one another, and a brief snowball fight erupted before an errant missile struck an old man in the back, and they ran away, laughing.
It’s life and life only, she thought. But it had nothing to do with her. She took out her mobile, blew on her fingertip to warm it, then pressed a speed-dial key. With the phone against her ear, she listened so intently her sense of the frenetic activity around her vanished. She might have been in a vacuum. Her body trembled.
A moment later, she was talking with the Somali Yibir. His name was Keyre. Every scar on her body resonated to the sound of his voice, set up a yearning like a tide irresistibly bearing her back into the past.
Moments later, she was a speck in the crowd. After that, she was gone.
Acknowledgments
Once again, thank you to all the people who helped with the research for this novel. Most of you have asked to remain anonymous, but you know who you are. Without your invaluable assistance The Bourne Engima would not see light in its current form. Having said that, any and all alterations (for dramatic effect) and (inadvertent) errors are mine alone.
Biggest thank-you of all to my wife, Victoria Schochet Lustbader, my first and best editor. You make my writing so much easier.
About the Author
ROBERT LUDLUM was the author of twenty-seven novels, each one a New York Times bestseller. There are more than 225 million of his books in print, and they have been translated into thirty-two languages. He is the author of The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Chancellor Manuscript, and the Jason Bourne series—The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum—among others. Mr. Ludlum passed away in March 2001. To learn more, you can visit Robert-Ludlum.com.
ERIC VAN LUSTBADER is the author of numerous bestselling novels including First Daughter, Beloved Enemy, The Ninja, and the international bestsellers featuring Jason Bourne: The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Betrayal, The Bourne Sanction, The Bourne Deception, The Bourne Objective, The Bourne Dominion, The Bourne Imperative, The Bourne Retribution, and The Bourne Ascendancy. For more information, you can visit EricVanLustbader.com. You can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
The JASON BOURNE NOVELS
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne Legacy (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Betrayal (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Sanction (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Deception (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Objective (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Dominion (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Imperative (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Retribution (by Eric Van Lustbader)
The Bourne Ascendancy (by Eric Van Lustbader)
THE COVERT-ONE NOVELS
The Hades Factor (by Gayle Lynds)
The Cassandra Compact (by Philip Shelby)
The Paris Option (by Gayle Lynds)
The Altman Code (by Gayle Lynds)
The Lazarus Vendetta (by Patrick Larkin)
The Moscow Vector (by Patrick Larkin)
The Arctic Event (by James Cobb)
The Ares Decision (by Kyle Mills)
The Janus Reprisal (by Jamie Freveletti)
The Utopia Experiment (by Kyle Mills)
The Geneva Strategy (by Jamie Freveletti)
The Patriot Attack (by Kyle Mills)
THE PAUL JANSON NOVELS
The Janson Directive
The Janson Command (by Paul Garrison)
The Janson Option (by Paul Garrison)
The Janson Equation (by Douglas Corleone)
ALSO BY ROBERT LUDLUM
The Scarlatti Inheritance
The Matlock Paper
Trevayne
The Cry of the Halidon
The Rhinemann Exchange
The Road to Gandolfo
The Gemini Contenders
The Chancellor Manuscript
The Holcroft Covenant
The Matarese Circle
The Parsifal Mosaic
The Aquitaine Progression
The Icarus Agenda
The Osterman Weekend
The Road to Omaha
The Scorpio Illusion
The Apocalypse Watch
The Matarese Countdown
The Prometheus Deception
The Sigma Protocol
The Tristan Betrayal
The Ambler Warning
The Bancroft Strategy
ALSO BY ERIC VAN LUSTBADER
NICHOLAS LINNEAR NOVELS
Second Skin
Floating City
The Kaisho
White Ninja
The Miko
The Ninja
CHINA MAROC NOVELS
Shan
Jian
JACK MCCLURE / ALLI CARSON NOVELS
Beloved Enemy
Father Night
Blood Trust
Last Snow
First Daughter
OTHER NOVELS
The Testament
Art Kills
Pale Saint
Dark Homecoming
Black Blade
Angel Eyes
French Kiss
Zero
Black Heart
Sirens
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Epigraph
PROLOGUE
PART ONE 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
PART TWO 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
PART THREE 38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
FORTY DAYS LATER
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The JASON BOURNE NOVELS
Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, chara
cters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Myn Pyn, LLC
Jacket design by Brigid Pearson
Jacket photo by Roy Bishop/Arcangel
Jacket copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
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First Edition: June 2016
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939869
ISBNs:
978-1-4555-9794-9 (hardcover)
978-1-4555-9812-0 (large print edition)
978-1-4555-7088-1 (international edition)
978-1-4555-9796-3 (ebook)
E3-2016-053016-DA-NF