LUNCH WITH PARMINDA
"How can I trust you?" Jason asked as Parminda drove down the freeway.
Parminda looked at Jason, then back at the road. She smiled.
"I don't know, you tell me." Parminda replied.
Jason was unsure, his face was blank.
"I guess you can't. I guess the only way you can trust me is to take my word for it. You can either kill my father, or wonder for probably a much while longer who killed that Landy girl and who you really are."
"How do you know so much?"
"I think it's how can't I know so much? My father is a busy man, and I just love to snoop. It makes my life interesting. Without it, I don't know what I would do."
Jason was still unsure.
"How about lunch then?" Parminda asked.
"What?"
"Can I buy you lunch? Maybe then you'll trust me. Even, I need to show my father that I can get a date around here without his permission. Plus, I know this great cafe near the beach."
Jason looked at Parminda.
"Maybe you can trust me then." Parminda smiled.
Jason hesitated. "Okay."
"Okay!" Parminda replied.
Jason and Parminda were seated at a small metal cafe table outside while overlooking the water.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Parminda asked.
"Yeah." Jason replied.
The waiter came over with the menus and left. Parminda picked one up and started to search through it intensely.
"Do you know anything else about what your father does or who the top boss is?" Jason asked.
"Ooh, enough about my father for now, he's a big you know what, even that's all I know."
"Nothing else?"
"Only that MacDultry had a list of names who were in on the plots. He kept the names in a black book."
"Something like this?" Jason took the book out of his jacket pocket.
"Oh my god! Do you know what could happen if they found you with that book? They'll kill for it!"
"You know who's in here? If I read off the names?"
"Just hand me the book."
Jason scooted his chair around to Parminda, and held the book up for Parminda to see. Parminda tried to grab the book, but Jason pulled it away.
"Still don't trust me?" Parminda asked.
"I'll see after I take a look at the dessert menu."
Jason held the book back up for Parminda to read.
"Well, most of them work in Istanbul, near the warehouse where the main meetings are held." Parminda told Jason.
"Then why here in Nice?" Jason asked.
"This is my father's home and hideout. If he didn't live here or have his big fancy mansion in the mountains, then we'd be living in Istanbul."
"Anyone you know?" Jason asked.
"Roberto, he's my father's right hand man. He's a mystery man all together. The crew aren't sure where this guy lives. He disappears for a while, and magically appears. Some say he goes to Canada."
"Roberto."
"Yeah, the guy you saw talking to my father earlier on."
"This whole book is full of names."
"It sure is. Some live around the world, others mostly in Istanbul."
The waiter came back over to the table; nonetheless, Jason scooted back over to the other side of the table, and placed the book back into his pocket.
In fluent Italian, the waiter spoke, "Ready to order?"
"Yes, I'll have the catch of today, with a side of potatoes." Parminda replied.
"The same." Jason responded.
"Right away." The waiter went off with the menus.
"Where's your father's safe house?"
"Already wanting to kill him? Time must be of the essence with you. I will tell you later, but for now, we will enjoy this afternoon. Enough talk about my father, let's make regular talk."
Jason looked at Parminda.
"What do you mean?" Jason asked.
"Talk. What you American's call, small talk. You know, where do you work, do you have any family, etcetera."
"I think you know the answers to those questions." Jason replied.
"You are very bad at this small talk. I'll start with an easy question then. Have a special lover? Or what American's call a girlfriend."
Jason paused.
"Is that a yes or no?" Parminda was curious.
"Marie was her name."
"She left?"
"Presumably dead." Jason replied.
"Dead? Bad question. How about, what's it like living in America? That's an easy one."
"Knowing that the only person who has your file was blown up in her office and you're the one to blame. Being shot at by police and trying to be killed because you're a threat to the CIA?"
"You really are bad at this talk." Parminda replied.
The waiter came over with the food and set it down on the table.
"Enjoy." The waiter went off on his way.
Jason took his knife and fork and started to cut into the fish while Parminda did the same.
"So, this girl of yours, you say she's presumably dead? Is she alive?" Parminda took a bite of the fish.
"I don't know. I hope she is."
"You hope? So, you don't know?"
"She was shot, we crashed into the water, I had to leave her behind. I'm not sure."
"Shot? Oh, you really have a... interesting life. Very interesting." Parminda replied.
Jason cut into the fish slightly harder than before. Parminda noticed.
"You okay?"
Jason clinched his fists and got up from the table.
"I'll be right back."
"Okay?" Parminda watched as Jason walked away.
Jason went into the bathroom and turned the tap on. He fiercely splashed water onto his face as images of Marie came back into his mind.
Marie and Jason were sitting on the beach in Goa while watching the sun set.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Marie asked.
"It sure is, it sure is." Jason smiled as he put his arms around Marie.
The two cuddled while the world revolved around them.
Jason stopped splashing and looked into the mirror.
"Marie..." He whispered.
Jason exited the bathroom moments later, and started to walk toward the table where Parminda was when he glanced at a girl picking up dishes at an empty table.
The tattoo, the hair. Jason stopped in his tracks and watched the woman pick up the dishes. Was it coincidence?
Jason kept looking at the girl, he couldn't take his eyes off her. His heart beated irregularly and his mind went into a phase he hadn't felt in a while.
The woman stopped to look at Jason who was still staring.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked.
Jason snapped out of his trance.
"What is your name?" Jason asked.
"Rosa, why do you ask?"
"I'm sorry, you just looked familiar." Jason replied.
"I get that a lot." She replied.
"Sorry." Jason started to walk away.
"Were you looking for somebody?" Rosa asked.
Jason turned to her.
"Yes."
Jason put his head down and started to walk away, but he stopped. He went back over to Rosa.
"You remind me of a girl I used to know, her name was Marie."
"I've never heard of that girl, I hope you find her."
Rosa, with the plates, walked away from Jason. Jason looked at her one more time, and went back over to Parminda.
"Find yourself a new bimbo already?" Parminda laughed.
"She reminded me of someone." Jason looked back again, then started to eat his fish.
After the lunch was over, Jason and Parminda started to walk back for her car when Jason saw Rosa again. The girl was at her car. She had locked her keys inside of her Mini Cooper. Jason went over to Rosa.
"You drive a Mini?" Jason asked.
"My favorite car."
"You left your keys inside?"
"Yes. I also left my spare at home, and I don't know where the key actually is, it's in one of the boxes or under my junk. I just moved here."
"Do you need a ride to your home?" Jason asked.
Rosa smiled.
"I would appreciate that."
Jason walked Rosa to Parminda's car, and the two got inside where Parminda was waiting.
"About time, and who is this?" Parminda asked.
"Rosa, she needs her extra keys." Jason replied.
"Great." Parminda smirked.
Jason walked Rosa to her apartment door, and Rosa went inside.
"Come in."
Jason went inside the messy apartment. Cardboard boxes were piled around the room, and newspaper was spread across the floor.
"Sorry for the mess, I'll only be a second."
Rosa started to search the apartment while Jason went over to the coffee table to find trinkets laying around. He picked one up and observed it. He put it down a moment later, and just stared at the others. Nothing was here that Jason could know that the girl in that room was actually Marie.
Rosa came out with the keys.
"Found them!"
Jason smiled, "Okay!" He then followed Rosa out of the apartment, and the two went back to Parminda's car.
"Next time, take your own car." Parminda sarcastically responded when Rosa and Jason got into the car.
Parminda then hit the gas and turned the car around heading back to the cafe.
Parminda parked the car near the cafe, and Rosa and Jason got out of the car. The two went over to the Mini, and Rosa successfully opened the door. She looked at Jason.
"Thank you ever so much. It would have taken me forever to get home." She smiled at Jason.
"You're welcome."
Parminda was watching the two from the car and rolled her eyes in disgust.
"I was wondering... I am new to this town, and I hardly know the place. I was wondering if maybe you could take me on a tour of the city and just show me around."
Jason stopped for a moment.
"I would love that."
"Great! What's a good day? I'm off tomorrow if that helps."
"Tomorrow is fine." Jason replied.
"Okay! Meet me here tomorrow, say around ten. That's if your girlfriend will let you come."
"Oh no, we just friends. And ten is great."
"Okay then. Good night."
"Good night."
Rosa got into the Mini, and Jason got back into Parminda's car.
"Done?" Parminda asked sarcastically.
"Yeah."
"Okay, I now suppose that you want to go get your car?"
Parminda looked at Jason.
"Yeah."
"Tally-ho then."
Parminda shifted into first and drove off while Rosa watched them drive off. She smiled then turned over the engine and shut the door.
A/N: Okay, the plot is now thickening. But I'm now faced with a challenge. I'm trying to keep an accurate fic of what might happen during 'The Bourne Supremacy' and 'The Bourne Ultimatum', and it looks like Marie may not be coming back in the third film. So here's the question to the readers, would you like to see Rosa as Marie, who is actually suffering from amnesia as Jason did in 'Identity' and finally remembers who she really is at the end of the fic to make the happy go-lucky ending, or should Rosa be a whole different person in which Jason finds out that it's not Marie at the end of the fic to make the tragic romance drama ending? Think and answer carefully, I know I will... More to come soon.