Winter Bourne

Chapter Two

Three weeks later

Pamela Landy eyed the plate of donuts on the conference table. The chocolate donut, its sugary glaze melting onto the plate made her mouth water. Pamela refused to succumb to its lure and took another sip of her coffee. The milk was enough of an indulgence. She knew perfectly well that the craving was a reflection of depression. And why wouldn't she feel depressed? She'd informed on a CIA deep cover operation. Despite federal mandates providing protection for whistleblowers, she was hanging onto to her position at the CIA by her fingernails.

She'd been removed from her job, lost her people, and her security clearance had been busted down to top secret, but she had a desk in CIA headquarters at Langley. Quite an accomplishment for someone in her position.

It annoyed her to know that the CIA was clearing house while she sat without access to any information from Blackbriar. At least she had the satisfaction of seeing the very public removal of Ezra Kramer and his pal Vosen. The rest of the Blackbriar staff were being de-briefed, packed up and put out into virtual Siberia until the Agency determined what to do with them.

Pamela was using every favor owed to stay where she might secure some justice for David Webb, more recently known as Jason Bourne, and for Nicky Parsons, another agent caught between Treadstone and treason. At least one immediate benefit of her testimony to Congress was that the CIA had canceled the kill orders on Jason and Nicky. Nicky would have to face charges for treason and conspiracy to commit treason. Pamela was optimistic that these charges would be mitigated with a pardon at the end of the road.

The charges against Jason started where Nicky's left off. Forgetting crimes committed against other nations, he was wanted for treason, murder, attempted murder, espionage, conspiracy, assault, multiple counts of grand theft larceny, breaking and entering, and destruction of government property. The list of lesser crimes was longer. At least, now there was a chance Jason wouldn't get shot on sight.

Two things could change Jason's future, and Pamela kept working them both. Her tentative planning was interrupted when the conference room door was shoved open.

Nathan Basnight, acting deputy director, overseeing the fallout from Blackbriar, sank his bulk into the chair at the head of the table. Eight other people, people Pamela didn't know and hadn't been introduced to, were already seated. She'd made no effort to introduce herself or to ask names. It wasn't that kind of a meeting. At least she'd been able to get Tom Conti, her former assistance, to provide back up.

"All right, let's get started." Basnight rapped the table with his knuckles, as if calling unruly children to order. The low conversations died away.

Ass. Pamela kept her eyes down at the table, pretending to read the files she'd already memorized.

"Let's not waste time repeating the sequence of events that resulted in a black ops program being exposed to public scrutiny."

Pamela didn't allow herself to react visibly. Basnight's tone of disapproval made his position clear. Apparently, he thought Blackbriar, despite the clear evidence of the abuse associated with it, should have remained a secret.

"We're here on a fact finding mission to discuss what went wrong to insure that the next time the Agency runs into this problem that we have a better model to follow. We want no repeats of the mistakes that were made," Basnight said.

Alarm bells went off inside Pamela's mind. It was so carefully phrased that she couldn't be sure what he problem he was talking about. She knew what that meant. The real purpose of this meeting was to stick all the blame on a plausible scapegoat. Pamela had no intention of allowing Basnight, or anyone, to make her that scapegoat. Let the games begin. She pulled a compact voice recorder from her purse, slapped it onto the table, and turned it on with a loud click.

"Sir, the meaning of 'what went wrong' and 'problem' wasn't at all clear," Pamela said. "Did you mean how a group of rogue senior agents could get away with establishing and maintaining an illegal training program that included torture and brainwashing for over six years? Or how they then used the resultant team of assassins to further their personal agendas by any means at their disposal up to and including the unauthorized murder of US citizens? These murders included loyal agents of this Agency and were ordered in order to hide their traitorous actions and protect their jobs?" Pamela raised her voice to override Basnight as he tried to interrupt her.

"Turn that damn thing off!" Basnight's mouth pinched and his eyes got mean.

The rest of the room was silent. Pamela assessed the others and knew from the reactions that she scored some serious points. "Here's the letter from Director Sloane authorizing this recording,"

Pamela laid a copy of the letter on the polished wood table and pushed it toward him. Sloane was a full three ranks above Basnight, and a bastard par excellence. Basnight stared at the letter, but backed down. His nostrils flared as if he had trouble controlling his temper.

Good.

"Where are we starting with the review, sir? I mean, are we starting with Treadstone? Or just looking at Blackbriar?" Tom asked from behind Pamela.

"We're examining three distinct events." Basnight ignored Pamela's statement and Tom's question. "One, the failure to capture Jason Bourne after his reemergence in Berlin three months ago. Two, the failure to detect Nathaniel Daniel's disaffection in time enough to prevent his treason. And three, the failure to detect that agent Nicolette Parsons had become a mole for Jason Bourne."

Pamela nodded. Yes, she'd been right. This careful selection of events were a clear signal that Basnight's goal was to discredit her. Pinning the blame on her for these failures would force her remaining supporters to abandon her, and she'd get her fired outright – not for whistle blowing - but for incompetency. Well, she'd always liked a good fight, or she'd never have made it this far. She took a deep breath and re-engaged.

"Let's begin with correcting the most egregious assumption. Nicolette Parsons a mole for Jason Bourne?" Pamela snorted. "In Berlin, Nicky was terrified of him, and was very vocal about wanting Bourne dead. I took her concerns into account when I agreed to post snipers in Alexanderplatz Square. Then Bourne kidnapped, assaulted and interrogated her with a gun to her head. Nicky needed medical treatment for shock after we found her." Pamela slid another file from the pile and shoved it toward Basnight. "Here's the after mission reports. Please note that none of the debriefers or Nicky's therapist imagined that she would ever help Bourne."

Basnight ignored the file. Instead he gave her a triumphant smile. "If that's true, Pam, please explain why she gave Vosen the wrong code-in in Madrid? Why did she help Bourne escape? Why did she help him find Daniels?"

"No one can explain it. We don't know what happened. Bourne might have kidnapped and threatened her." Pamela added, "What would you do if Jason Bourne held a gun to your head?"

"If she's so innocent, why hasn't she come in now that Bourne's in the US?" Basnight's voice rose.

"After Vosen put a kill order out on her?" Pamela let her voice rise as if the suggestion was insane. "If nothing else, Vosen is the one to blame if Nicky did side with Bourne – what options did we give her? You must have read the reports about Bourne's behavior in Tangiers, yes? He went to an extraordinary effort to save her life." Pamela raised an eyebrow. "I told Vosen it was a mistake, but he wouldn't listen. So if you want to lay blame for Nicky's behavior, blame Vosen for sheer arrogance and haste."

"This is all speculation," Basnight dismissed her words.

She turned it back on him. "Exactly. All you have is speculation. Until we can safely bring Nicky in and debrief her." Before he could speak, Pamela held up a hand. "Let me mention another fascinating failure that might have escaped your attention."

Tom placed the stack of newspaper clippings into her waiting hand. She passed copies out as she spoke. "Why did no one in the entire Blackbriar organization, including Agent Vosen, notice a three part article printed in a major British newspaper about Treadstone? Please notice the article's dates. And notice too the prominent placement of the name 'Jason Bourne', along with photographs from his passport and Wanted poster."

The silence in the room this time was from shock.

Pamela smiled.