Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Ascendancy Read Online Free PDF Page A

end Bourne’s reign of terror once and for all. This is the mandate POTUS has given us.”
    “Us?”
    “The Company has been unsuccessful, so has the NSA. Even Treadstone, which has now been disbanded following the resignation of Soraya Moore and the severe wounding of Peter Marks. POTUS believes the time has come to think outside the box.”
    “Meaning?”
    “If Bourne has a weakness, it’s for people in distress.”
    “Do you have someone in mind, Howard?”
    “Here’s the brief.” Anselm handed her a hefty folder.
    “Good God, it’s as thick as a brick.”
    “The Joint Chiefs put their heads together.”
    She opened the brief. “This plan must be something special if it got the alphabet soup to play nice with one another.”
    Anselm smiled. “It is special, Camilla. Very.”
    She began to read, then looked up, startled. “Wait a minute. This means—”
    “It’s you, Camilla. We’ve created a scenario expressly for you. We’re sending you into the field as the center. Your brief is to terminate Jason Bourne with extreme prejudice.”

4
    E li Yadin , director of Mossad, was tacking into the wind, sails straining, taking full advantage of the weather. His boat, a thirty-three-foot sloop he sailed himself, was perhaps a nautical mile off the coast of Tel Aviv. Sunlight winked in and out from behind puffy cumulus clouds. He looked up, grinned at his daughter Sara. He had taken her out on the boat as a celebration of her recovery from her near-death knifing. They had broken bread together, shared a bottle of rosé, had even gone for a brief swim.
    Then his phone rang—not his mobile, but his sat phone. For a moment they stared at each other, recognizing the portent of disaster. He handed her the sail lines and went belowdecks to take the call.
    It was his asset-in-place in Doha.
    “Director, a Quai d’Orsay operative was just dropped off at the French embassy doorstep.”
    An icy ball of fear formed in the pit of Yadin’s stomach. If it was him…“Dead or alive?”
    “Half his head has been blown off.”
    “Not a professional assassination, then.”
    “Probably not.”
    Yadin looked out a window. Tel Aviv seemed very far away. Nevertheless, his world had found him. He dreaded asking the fateful question.
    “His name?”
    “Aaron Lipkin-Renais. I know the Frenchman was only an occasional, but still I thought his death important enough to—”
    “You did the right thing.” Yadin squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Dammit, he thought. Dammit to hell. “Now tell me all of it.”
    *  *  *
    “Sara!” Eli Yadin called. “Sara!”
    The wind was in her hair, the sun in her eyes. She had never looked more beautiful, he thought, nor felt more precious to him.
    “What is it?” She tied off the line, came toward him as he took the wheel.
    Tears overflowed her eyes when he told her. “How?” she said. “How did it happen?”
    “Aaron had been missing for two days, along with his family. His daughter had been ill; it was assumed he had taken the family away for a rest. Twelve hours later, he still hadn’t responded to the emergency signals from his own office. His colleagues were canvassed. He’d said nothing to any of them. He, his wife, and daughter had vanished.”
    “Then he washes up dead outside the French embassy in Doha?” Sara shook her head. “It makes no sense.” She sat on a teak taffrail. “What about his wife and daughter?”
    “Nothing,” Eli said. “Not a word, not a sign.”
    Sara looked away, didn’t bother to pull her hair back from her face.
    “I know you and Aaron were close.” When she did not immediately respond, Eli went on. “Did your situation change after he was married?”
    She looked at him sharply. “Why should it?”
    Eli shrugged. “A man marries, he has a child. Priorities change.”
    “They didn’t for you, Abba.”
    Now it was his turn to give her a sharp look. “Do you resent me for that?”
    “How can I resent you, Abba? You’re the