Who is Jason Bourne?

"Who is Jason Bourne?" Desmond asked Rebecca as he listened to the audio log carefully. She shrugged and returned back to her computer. Desmond played the audio log again.

"This is Ocelot12. I am recording this and uploading it to the Abstergo server. I have found the person who killed a Templar sleeper in Prague two days ago. His name is Jason Bourne. However, he is not a member of the Assassin Order as we initially believed him to be. He's a rogue American Black-ops agent. Part of a CIA program called 'Treadstone'. He was believed to have been involved in the Wombosi Assassination in France a couple years back. I am recording this now because I believe Bourne has identified me as well. He could be he-"

The log stopped there. Desmond listened to it all over again and took off the headphones. He let out a low whistle and recalled everything that had happened in the past few hours.

It started when Rebecca intercepted an outgoing signal in Prague. She tracked it to a secret Abstergo server and accessed the files; in this case, the audio log. The recording had been done through a poor microphone and the audio had not been clear. Rebecca and Shaun had worked patiently for hours to clean the audio file.

Desmond had paid a visit to the hotel room where this log had been recorded. There was nothing there. No sign of a struggle, no forced entry, nothing. This puzzled him. Desmond had not seen anyone perform a cleanup job this well other than Assassin specialists. Whoever killed the Templar was clearly a professional. Not only had he managed to kill a highly trained Templar agent but also managed to clean up the body well. But Desmond had an unfair advantage in this field. He concentrated for a few seconds and activated his Eagle vision. Immediately, stains of blood became visible on the floor. The Templar's body had been dragged through the room and stuffed inside a wardrobe. The body was gone by now. He had little doubt that the body had been taken by Templars. They were probably watching this place now. Desmond exited through the windows into the pool below.

He had returned to find the audio log cleaned up.

"This Jason Bourne. What have you got about him so far?" Desmond asked Rebecca again. She swirled around in her chair and replied, "Nothing! That's what pisses me of so much. I accessed a CIA server and found nothing. I've looked everywhere and have found nothing."

Shaun chuckled at Rebecca's frustration and spoke. "Maybe we've been going at it the wrong way. I checked the hotel's surveillance footage and 4 minutes worth of surveillance footage has been wiped out. Courtesy of Mr. Jason Bourne I believe. However there was a demonstration going outside the hotel all day today. The whole event was covered by the local media. If we can get footage of people who entered and exited the hotel at the 4 minutes time-frame, we can narrow down the suspects and maybe identify Bourne."

Desmond nodded. "Good thinking Shaun."

Shaun grinned and thankfully spared the group from another clever quip about himself.

The Assassins got to work. Shaun, Rebecca and Desmond checked through the day's media coverage. The trio looked carefully through the footage and Desmond found something odd immediately.

"There!" He paused the screen and pointed out to a man with short, cropped hair and a narrowly set face. He was wearing a long black overcoat and black pants.

"What's odd about that guy? Could be a Goth. Or a Devil worshipper." Shaun replied.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and Desmond pointed to the man's overcoat pocket.

"Don't you see, the pocket is torn. And not just torn but ripped open."

Desmond chose a footage shot from the opposite angle and scrolled back approximately 4 minutes before the other footage. The man in the overcoat walked in with a perfectly stitched pocket.

Rebecca looked carefully and replied, "I don't know Desmond. This still doesn't prove anything. He could have just caught the pocket on a door knob and ripped it open."

Desmond sighed and replied, "Maybe. Look we don't have any leads about this guy or who he is. But this is a potential lead. So can we just focus on it? We can track him for a while. If he doesn't pan out well, we'll let it go. Deal?"

Rebecca nodded and so did Shaun. The traffic cameras picked up the suspect getting inside a cab. Rebecca ran the number plate of the cab and hacked into the cab service's company server. They had detailed GPS logs of their cabs. Rebecca tracked down the suspect's drop off point to a small hotel near a busy street. Desmond dressed into a comfortable pair of jeans, a windproof jacket and flexible sneakers. He then made his way to the hotel where the suspected Jason Bourne had gotten off at. He had not told Rebecca and Shaun but Desmond had also carried a USP. 45 with a Suppressor. He had a spare magazine and was also wearing Kevlar. Desmond was convinced this guy was Jason Bourne, whether the others believed him or not.

The hotel was shabby and run-down. It had 2 floors and Desmond waited till nightfall to approach it. He was halfway out the door when he saw several SUVs pull up on the other side of the road. He ducked down inside the seats as he recognized the armed men getting off the vehicle. They were Templars!

Slowly, he raised his head a few inches and inspected the surroundings. The men carried MP5s with suppressors and were moving towards the hotel carefully. Luckily, they were focused on the hotel and not the street. Desmond got out of the car quietly and ran silently across the street. He hid behind the Templar SUV and planned his next course of action. The Templars were here for the same reason he was. For Jason Bourne. Although he wasn't sure if they knew the man to be Bourne or were confirming a hunch like Shaun and Rebecca believed he was doing. In any case, Desmond was not taking any chances. He drew out the handgun and readied himself. The Templars carefully made their way up the stairs to the second floor. 2 men waited at the bottom of the staircase while 3 moved to the farthest room. 2 of them moved to either side of the door and readied as the third kicked the door wide open. The three men rushed in immediately. Desmond took this opportunity. He walked out of cover and fired 3 shots. The two Templars guarding the staircase fell to the ground. They were too concentrated on the upstairs and had forgotten to check behind them. Desmond quickly ran to them and holstered his own gun. The men upstairs would be ready for a firefight, a handgun would not do. He picked up an MP5 and made his way upstairs. Sounds of crashing could be heard and Desmond only hoped Bourne was fighting. He was right. Bourne was efficiently fighting the three Templars, his body just a blur as he landed punch after punch in the bodies of the Templars. Desmond waited till Bourne had knocked out two of his opponents and crawled out of cover, firing a neat shot in the skull of the third. Bourne had excellent reflexes. He reached for an MP5 himself and aimed it at Desmond.

"Who are you?" he asked in a calm voice.

"A friend" Desmond replied.

Desmond lowered the gun and slowly walked into the light. A look of recognition passed through Bourne's face.

He steadied the gun, never lowering it.

"I've seen your face. A man I fought before was looking through a set of wanted posters with your face on it. Who are you?"

Desmond smiled and replied, "Desmond. Desmond Miles."

Bourne looked at Desmond carefully, evaluating the stranger. He wasn't sure what to do. He had to make a decision quickly. Desmond had lowered his gun but he wasn't fooled by his frank smile and calm demeanor. Desmond was very skilled, he could see that. Bourne considered shooting Desmond. He was about to pull the trigger when a massive explosion hit the outside of the room. Someone was firing RPGs at them. Bits of cement and debris flew inside. Desmond turned around with extreme grace and speed.

"Templars!" he roared.

Bourne had no idea what that meant but he didn't have time to ask. He glanced at Desmond. A temporary alliance formed between the two men as the threat of death loomed at both of them. They tossed the rifles aside and ran towards the window. Desmond jumped. Bourne paused for a moment, looked back and took a leap of faith.