Chapter 20
Present Day
Southampton, England
Jason Bourne stood, looking through the lens at Reina Tanaka and was… surprised? He wasn't shocked by her appearance, or that she found them, but by her complete and total disregard for her own safety, exposing herself like that. She was standing on an open air, second story walk over, that was mostly and observation deck for those looking for loved ones. Most of the passengers had departed leave her nearly alone on the platform.
Reina was holding a pen lighting her hand, subtly against the railing, and was sending Morse code with it… her phone number. She smiled and waved at someone she didn't know as her phone rang.
Her Australian accent was fuller and more pronounced than ever before, " 'ello?"
"Love the dress! Bit out of season in the dead of winter though."
"It's summer down under, but thanks, it was on clearance. I wanted to make sure you saw me and understood that I wanted to be seen. Code in please dearest."
"Kiwis aren't always fruits…" Nicky said, a joke from their past.
"… and Orange Julius's aren't made with apples. Thank you Nic… is JB with you?"
Jason nodded his approval to Nicky, not wanting his voice print broadcast. "Yeah, are you up for a game of shuffle board?" Nicky replied.
"I would love to join you. A lot of the people we work with are retiring this week. I'm with K, JB's latest bromance. They offered us both a retirement package too, but we declined," she was referring to Kirill. Nicky covertly watched Jason for outward body language signs as to his thoughts on this; there was a slight tightening of the jaw, which could mean anything. "We have some toys for you. He is covering us from on high. What are you up to?"
"We were going to Newark to hunt a white whale." Jason raised an eyebrow at Newark but remain silent.
"Figures," she huffed."Well you all need to get out of there. If I made you, they will too. Everything looks clear to walk off, or if you don't trust me you can jump over the port side and swim for it… either way you're exposed."
Jason motioned for Nicky to hang up, "Okay, hold on a sec…" she muted the phone.
They heard Reina scoff, "Did that sow really just put me on hold? I can't believe this… Really…?" and she started humming the Jeopardy theme.
"Why should we trust either of them?" Jason asked.
Nicky offered, "I don't really know Kirill, but he wasn't known as a butcher like Castel. Reina I trust implicitly."
Paz cleared his throat, "I trust Reina fine. Kirill I did a couple of jobs with. He is okay, kind of quiet but not in an odd way. I did save his life once… kind of."
"We always work alone, that's what the Professor said…" Bourne said in a suspicious tone.
Nicky butted it, "You and Roy did. You were two of the best and preferred it that way. Others sometimes worked in pairs…"
Paz laughed, "His name was Roy? I never knew that…"
"Yeah, Roy Hinkley…"
Paz scoffed, "The Professors name was Roy Hinkley…"
"That's what I said…" Nicky snapped defensively.
"No, the Professor… on Gilligan's Island, his name was Roy Hinkley!"
Jason reared his head back in mild shock, "He didn't have a name…"
Paz laughed, "They only said it in the pilot on a radio broadcast. I never miss an episode of Jeopardy," he nodded to the phone where Reina's poor rendition on the Jeopardy theme was being piped in.
Nicky let out a snort and then laughed sadly, "Shit, I guess when they had him strapped into the electric chair that was the first name he thought of. God, he told a thousand secret jokes about that. I teased him about only liking me because I was blond and he said he had a thing for short brunettes and tall red heads. I wanted to go to Fiji and he said that he had spent enough time in the topics to last a lifetime… his rants about abhorring coconut… his favorite song was Message in Bottle by the Police."
Paz laughed again until he saw Bourne glaring at him, then looked at Nicky. "Oh… I'm sorry Nicky."
Before she could say anything Reina's Jeopardy theme ran out, "Okay fine. Whatever… Good luck guys."
Paz hit the mute button, turning it off and said warmly, "Hey it's your favorite Czech Mate…"
Reina laughed and for once her voice wasn't full of ice but was warm and inviting, "Hey you… I was hoping you were laying low somewhere. I can see that's far from the case. I'm glad you're okay…" Jason saw Nicky's eyes narrow slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Paz laughed, "You know me; I love the action. We'll join you in a bit…"
Thirty minutes later the three disembarked and it was then that they were at their most vulnerable. They had to clear customs and had no weapons; if they had been acquired they were easy targets. Bourne whispered to Nicky, "They will take me out first, if anything happens, just get clear and don't look back…"
"You do love to flatter yourself dear… While you are apparently indestructible, I am a walking encyclopedia of dirty laundry. I knew all the missions. They will do me first…" he looked at her and knew she was right. He went back to scanning the crowd.
They cleared customs and as they walked through the terminal Reina and Kirill fell in behind them. Bourne caught a glimpse of the five of them walking together in a reflection and he realized the absolute hell storm they could bring. Five of the deadliest people on the planet were gathered for a joint cause and for the first time Jason felt like he belonged to something… larger.
They got on a bus leaving the port; the bus was packed to the gills. Jason was clutching Nicky's forearm, ready to drag her to the ground. He was aware that a teenage punk was ghosting Nicky as well, sneaking up to pick her pocket or snatch her purse. He felt her tighten her bicep as a signal to release her and as notice that she was aware of the miscreant. Reina, ever so helpful, spoke up from behind the punk, "wow, five MMA fighters on a cramped bus together, can you imagine if someone actually tried to mug one of us?!" they all snickered and the punk looked around, unsure as to who laughed. He wisely got off at the next stop, but not before Reina stole his wallet and his watch. "Twelve Euros?" she baulked. "It makes me sorry I stole it… Fucking pathetic…"
They took the bus to the airport and Nicky chartered a plane to fly them to London where they were going to 'acquire' a plane to fly to Lisbon, only they weren't going to make it the whole way, they were going to bail out over their target and leave the plane on auto pilot, set to crash into the Atlantic.
On their plane ride to London, Bourne made Nicky sit in the window seat and in protest she closed the window blind as forcefully as possible, she then shoved the fifth piece of gum, within three minutes, into her mouth. She put on her seatbelt and tightened it as much as humanly possible and started muttering what sounded like the Lord's Prayer. He saw her rocking slightly and a thin sheen of sweat was beading on her forehead. The plane lurched into motion down the runway and she gripped her armrests tightly as she turned a slight shade of green.
He scoffed, "You're afraid of flying? You're a pilot!"
"Shhhh," she shushed angrily. "I'm not flying. I'm riding in a plane."
"You're afraid?" he hissed.
"I'm not afraid!" she snapped as the plane lurched off the tarmac.
With a flash and a lurch he was gone into the past… "I'm not afraid!" she snapped as the plane rocketed through the rain storm, sheeting the canopy of the fighter jet he was in the back of.
"You're voice is shaking!"
"I'm not afraid, now shut it! I have to radio control…"
["...Lindbergh Baby 101, Mig ball, 8.6]
{Roger ball. Baby you're at three quarters…}
She sighed, "There you are…" [I have you America].
Jason looked over her shoulder from the rear seat of the Mig and saw the aircraft carrier, the USS America, moving all over the place and felt his stomach lurch. It was above them then completely below the plane, then hard port, then starboard."JESUS CHRIST! Have you done this before?!"
"Yes. Please be quiet, I have to do a hundred things at once…" She heard him frantically shifting around and stole a glance over her shoulder, "Get your hand OFF of the ejection handle!"
"You're all over the place…"
"Well the carrier is moving up and down and moving to the right of where we land… It's not all me…"
"JESUS!"
She flipped a switch, [LSO please order Eagle Scout to remove his hands from the ejection handle…]
{Eagle, sit tight. Approach is solid. You'll be on the deck in a second…}
"That's kind of vague," he hissed.
The closer they got to the deck the more they flattened out, they slammed into the deck hard and he felt her punch it to full throttle and thought they missed the wires or something until their tail hook caught and they lurched forward against their restraints at a hundred and fifty miles an hour. "Fuck…" he grimaced.
"Sorry, you have to punch it in case you miss the wires or you'll dump over the side and the carrier will run you over... Speaking of dropping over the side of the carrier, do you see a little man in a canary yellow jumpsuit? I don't want to drive over the edge…"
Bourne's memory flashed forwarded and saw them below decks in the hanger getting out of the Mig and she was clutching the ladder doubled over quivering… "See I said you were afraid…"
"For the last time I'm not afraid… Now wasn't this a lot more fun than that flight out of Barcelona I could have booked you on…" she panted.
"What?! You mean this wasn't the only way?"
"I never said it was the only way, I said it was the fastest… I thought we could use some quality time together, besides I never get out of the Safe House."
"…and Conklin signed off on this?"
"Yes, kind of…"
He glared at her.
"Well, every week I email him a stack of requisition forms and he just tells me to sign them, he doesn't even look at them anymore…"
With a jolt he snapped back to the present, "Bourne is it over? It's Nicky Parsons. It's 2010; we are on our way to London…"
"Yeah, I remembered landing on a carrier. You're afraid to fly…" he stated with a dry voice. "I remember you getting out of the plane shaking so hard that you couldn't stand up straight…"
"I wasn't afraid on the carrier Jason…"
"You were quivering so hard you couldn't stand up!"
He heard Reina's snarky voice in his ear; she was sitting behind them, "she wasn't quivering in fear mate… Hasn't anyone ever taught you about the birds and the bees?"
Jason blurted louder than he had intended, "You got off on that?!" Several people turned and gawked. "Wait, are you turned on NOW?!" A college aged guy across the aisle locked eyes with her and threw her a 'nod' towards the toilet.
"Jesus Jason! Shut it!" Nicky blurted her face a sheet of crimson. "Okay, I am afraid right now. I'm not afraid to fly if I'm the pilot. I just don't trust other people…" She glared at him, "I seem to have developed deep trust issues…"
The rest of the short flight was awkward but uneventful. Once in London they set about drawing up their plans and Nicky went to work on the logistics, locating parachutes, gear, weapons, and Intel. Kirill and Paz went to collect the weapons and other gear.
Reina told them that during the last week everyone that survived the programs was being eliminated. "Rothschild in a 'house fire', Franklin 'committed suicide' in his maximum security cell, Angus 'ODed', Malcolm and Floyd where shot in Central Park... Cross they tried for and missed. They tried for Kirill and I as well but we were ready for them… Those are just the ones I know about."
The names meant nothing to Jason, besides Malcolm and Floyd, but he saw Paz clench his fists and knew from Reina's voice that she had liked some of them. Nicky leaned over and kissed his forehead to which he raised an eyebrow. She explained, "If you had a friend at Treadstone that isn't on this plane or Conklin, it was Rothschild."
He stated sadly, "I don't remember him…."
"…her. Erin Rothschild." Nicky corrected without even a shred of jealousy. "You always said she reminded you of your sister… Franklin was a friend of mine…"
"Well, this ends, all of it. It all stops tonight…"
Later that evening after stealing a small private jet, which is remarkably difficult unless five of the most resourceful people on the planet were doing it, they flew off into the night bound for 'Lisbon'. Nicky's voice came across the PA is the classic 'this is your captain' sing-song voice, [Good evening and thank you for choosing Bourne Again Airlines, or Baa, the world's oldest provider of suicidal combat missions. Today we will be flying at 20,000 feet, at least unless something unfortunate occurs. In the likely event of antiaircraft fire your seat is equipped with body armor instead of a life jacket… so in the unlikely event of a water landing, you're screwed. On a Historical note, all pilots speak in this voice because they are impersonating Chuck Yeager's voice, even if they don't realize it…]
Paz spoke up in the rear of the plane, "Haha, she really put vests under the seats…"
[… Please direct your attention to the rear of the plane where parachutes are located for your convenience. Also, for those of you that may not be members of the Mile High Club, your Stewardess Ms Tanaka will be signing people up in the rear toilet, free penicillin shot are also being offered as well as highly encouraged…]
"That's it Constance, laugh it up, but I'm charging for the penicillin…" Reina laughed.
Later around midnight Jason listened to Nicky through the stolen planes head set, only this time she was speaking French and sounding nervous on purpose, [Venez m'aider, m'aider, m'aider (Mayday, Mayday, Mayday) Jersey Island, are you there? This is x2435 out of London bound for Lisbon, are you there?]
[Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Jersey Field, are you still open? This is x2435 out of London bound for Lisbon. My port engine is sputtering and I am losing altitude… requesting emergency landing clearance…]
{This is control at Cherbourg, Jersey Field is closed. Can you redirect to heading 3.25?}
[Negative, I won't make it Cherbourg. Jersey is in my glide path…]
{Roger 2435, we will try to raise them…}
She laughed wondering if they would really try. Several minutes went by and she radioed again, [Cherbourg, this x2435. My engines have flattened out and are running fine. It must have been some bad fuel or something. Sorry to wake you.]
{Roger x2435. Recommend you reroute to Cherbourg for inspection.}
[Negative, resuming flight path... Sorry for panicking, have a nice night, out.]
She had made the rouse to alter their flight path to take them over the castle without looking suspicious or obvious. She was looking at her stop watch and then glanced at a chart before folding it and jamming it into her pocket. Looking at her stop watch, [96 seconds until the drop zone, open the hatch,] she said over the PA system.
She took off the headset and looked at Bourne who was staring at her blankly. "Don't they have GPSs for that now?"
"Who do you trust more, me or some asshole at Garmin?"
He paused but for a moment, and as she tried to squeeze by him, "You… I trust you…" he said as he cupped her cheek.
She smiled broadly, "I love you too… Let's do this." She took his hand and kissed it hurriedly before waving him on, "come on move it, I have to gear up." She jammed her helmet on and buckled it as he worked to the rear of the plane already in his full gear as were the others. She was strapping her Thompson submachine gun to her chest, when at the rear of the plane Bourne tossed her parachute out of the hatch. She saw him do it and the others looked in surprise from him to her and she did the unexpected, she laughed. "Really Bourne," she reached down to the floorboard of the pilots seat a retrieved the chute she had hidden there, "you thought the best logistic officer in the biz wouldn't pack and extra chute? You are so cliché…" she said as she strapped it on. Her watch beeped, "Line up, sixty seconds."
As they shuffled around and Kirill locked eyes with Bourne and stated in a low firm voice with a thick Russian accent, "They will never touch her…" It was his job to cover the roof and the rear of the house from a distance, protecting Nicky as she hotwired the chopper and also to cover Tanaka as she sabotaged the land vehicles. He saw the resoluteness in the man's eyes, Bourne curtly nodded.
They lined up in their jump order: Paz, Bourne, Parsons, Tanaka, and Kirill. They were all pressed tightly against each other and he heard her watch beep again and Nicky screamed, "GO! GO! GO!" They all went together, one second apart. They each counted to three and pulled their chutes. Each then looked around in the darkness trying to count chutes. He counted five chutes just as something streaked by in front of them and hit their plane that exploded in a burst of fire. They had been expected…