The Bourne Vengeance

Chapter 8: Filling in the Pieces

A/N: This is the chapter where all will be revealed...and the build-up to the final confrontation begins...

Jason lay on the bed of his hotel room. Beside him was on the tape recorder Janet had given him a little less than half an hour ago.

"You've heard it?" he'd asked her.

"No, I think it's best if you heard if first. If my guess is right, what is on it...is something I'm perhaps better off not knowing", she'd said softly.

Bourne had to agree with her on that. She'd told him about Peter Conneau's suspicions that Paul Renauld had become involved with an American 'black bag' job. The father had already gotten in too deep...there was no need for his daughter to necessarily go the same way.

He stared at the tape recorder and somehow, it filled him with a feeling of dread. True, he was curious, but he was oddly enough, apprehensive as well. He both wanted and didn't want to know what was in the tape. For the tape represented a piece of his forgotten past; a past which had already yielded more nightmares than most men could digest in several lifetimes. Did he really need another?

But he had needs for his present. He needed to protect his family, and to do that he would have to discover the secrets of his past, however horrifying they were this time...

So he switched on the recorder and lay back in bed, eyes closed...listening...

"Subject: Interrogation of Eduardo Romero. Interrogators; Superintendant Paul Renauld, Paris Interpol, and Andrew B. Franklin, consultant, United States Department of Defence", the recorded voice began. Even without the introduction, Bourne would have recognised Paul Renauld's voice.

"Senor Romero, you have on previous occasions stated to me and Monsieur Franklin, confidentially, that you have compromising information concerning one Illich Ramirez Sanchez, also known as Carlos", Renauld began.

"Yes", Romero replied. Bourne somehow seemed to vaguely remember that voice as well...had he met Romero too?

"However, thus far, you have yet to reveal anything substantive to that effect", said Renauld.

"I've said this before, Superintendant...I must have...guarantees" said Romero. "The information I have...can destroy the Jackal. Cripple him completely. If it is known that I am the supplier of such information to the authorities...I can only expect a bullet in the throat".

"Well, then there's all the more reason you should tell us what you know", said Renauld. "The sooner Carlos is...neutralized...the safer the world is for you when you're free to rejoin it".

"There is no guarantee that you, or anyone else, will succeed in acting upon this information" argued Romero

"Leave that to us", snapped Renauld. "Why bother telling me you have information, if you refuse to reveal it?"

"I never said I wouldn't", said Romero. "Provided you meet my terms, as discussed earlier".

"One million francs and 24 hour security cover, both during the period of your incarceration and after, up till the death of Illich Ramirez Sanchez has been incontrovertibly confirmed", said Renauld. "One million is too steep, as we've discussed".

Romero gave a short laugh wryly stated, "Interpol spends several million buying informers across Europe who only supply the same old misinformation".

"Well, if you want us to meet you're price, you will have to earn it", said Renauld.

"Yes or no?" said Romero.

"Monsieur Franklin here represents the American government, who as you know, has no shortage of funds. Rest assured you will get your money" said Renauld.

"And the protection? Wealth is relative to the time one has to enjoy it, after all" said Romero.

"If you're information warrants it", said Renauld. "Now let me be frank with you, Senor Romero", the Interpol man said firmly. "You are really in no position to negotiate here. We have been willing to humour you so far...we even guarantee you money and protection if your information proves to be accurate and useful. If you persist in playing your little games of hide and seek however, Monsieur Franklin here has other methods to...persuade...you to part with your information...for free".

"Very well then" said Romero. "Until eight months ago, I was in command of a small contingent serving as security detail for a high value asset".

"For Carlos, I assume?" said Renauld.

"Yes", replied Romero. "We were based in a villa, on the outskirts of Madrid. There were five of us...all contracted by Carlos himself. There was a sixth person, living in the villa in the guise of valet. He was one of Carlos' soldiers...put in place to observe and if necessary, relay instructions to my contingent".

"Did you have any direct contact with Carlos, at any point?" asked Renauld.

"I spoke to him a few times on the phone" replied Romero.

Finally, the mysterious American, 'Andrew B. Franklin' spoke, and the moment Jason heard his voice, yet another mystery was instantly cleared up. He knew now why Romero's voice sounded familiar...

It was his own voice!

Andrew B. Franklin, the DOD 'consultant', was none other than Jason Bourne...

Jason almost laughed out loud at the irony. No wonder he found Franklin's name familiar. It was after all one of his own aliases! Conklin must have fixed him up with DOD credentials, so that he would be able to work with Renauld openly, even gain access to the Interpol holding cells, without anyone suspecting his true identity and purpose.

So stunned had he been by this discovery that he realized he hadn't paid attention to the tape. He rewound it a little and then re-played it at the point when Franklin...he...had first spoken...

"Who was this asset? Was he being held captive, or was he being protected?" Bourne heard his own voice ask.

"It was a she", Romero said. "And she was being protected".

"Well...who was she?" asked Renauld.

"A young woman. A girl actually. Probably not much older than sixteen or seventeen" said Romero.

"Nationality?" asked Jason.

"Her passport was Spanish. It identified her as a Maria Gonzalez", said Romero.

"I take it that wasn't who she really was though" said Bourne.

"Oh no. She could pass off as Spanish, but I knew she wasn't. She was Venezuelan" said Romero.

Venezuelan. Bourne's blood frozen. Every instinct in him told him what this was likely leading up to...He felt an eerie sense of déjà vu overpower him, because he knew he had felt the same way when he'd heard all this the first time round...

"Venezuelan" Renauld said. "How can you be so certain?"

"We conversed a few times while I was there. She let things slip sometimes. She referred to Venezuela as 'home'...even though she had spent the last several years in Europe. All this and more led me to suspect what I now know to be the truth" said Romero.

"Which is?" Bourne asked, though Jason knew that even back then, he had already guessed the answer.

"The she was Carlos' daughter" Romero said plainly.

There. He had said it! The words which answered everything! Well, almost everything...

And I expect the murderer of my father to give me no less than a thrilling chase before his inevitable demise, he had written. Except that 'he' was in fact a she. The 'new' Carlos wasn't the original's son, she was his daughter!

"Carlos' daughter?" Bourne heard his own voice exclaim on the tape. Evidently, his younger self had found this revelation as astounding as he did now.

"Yes", said Romero. "No one would believe it of course...a man like him having a family. But he does have a daughter, Monsieur. And she is still in Madrid, to my knowledge. But she may not be for long. Which is why you will need to act quickly..."

Act quickly...act quickly...the word's echoed through Jason's consciousness, conveying a sense of urgency which he now recalled they had conveyed all those years ago when he'd first heard them from Romero's lips. They had conveyed a necessity to get moving; to devise a strategy, implement it, and to swiftly strike...

Was that what he had done all those years ago? Was that the 'black bag' job Conneau had been referring to?

All his suspicions, all the vague feelings and apprehensions he'd had right from the beginning were beginning to take concrete shape...It all fit in...far too perfectly!

Carlos' daughter wanted revenge. Revenge against Jason Bourne for killing her father. But also, revenge for whatever had happened all those years ago. And revenge against Janet Renauld, for the part her father had played in that affair...

Vengeance.

That was what this was all about. That was all it had been since the beginning. The childish threats, the laughable cloak and dagger games...all the trappings ultimately, of a little girl lost...

Lost in a shadow world that had a penchant for devouring souls, as Jason Bourne knew all too well...