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Perlis had his laptop open, the latest iteration of the Bardem program ru
Perlis never did one thing when he could do two or, preferably, three at once. He was a man whose mind was so quick and restless that it needed a kind of internal web of goals, puzzles, and conjectures to keep from imploding into chaos. So while he studied the probabilities of Pinprick‘s end phase the program was spitting out he thought about the devil‘s deal he‘d been forced to make with Dimitri Maslov and, by extension, Leonid Arkadin. First and foremost, it galled him to partner with Russians, whose corruption and dissolute lifestyle he both loathed and envied. How could a bunch of scummy pigs like that be so awash in money? While it was true that life was never fair, he mused, sometimes it could be downright malevolent. But what could he do? He‘d tried many other routes but, in the end, Maslov had been the only way to get to Nikolai Yevsen, who felt about Americans the way he, Perlis, felt about Russians. Accordingly, he‘d been forced to make a deal with too many partners—too many partners for whom double dealing and backstabbing had been ingrained in their nature virtually from birth. Contingencies had to be made against the threat of such treachery, and that meant triple the pla
Simultaneously, he was thinking of Moira. Like a cinder in his eye, she had become an irritant. She was firmly lodged in a corner of his mind ever since she had abruptly quit Black River and, after a short hiatus, had started her own company in direct competition with him. Because, make no mistake, Perlis had taken her defection and subsequent treachery personally.
It hadn‘t been the first time, but he vowed to himself that it would be the last. The first time… well, there were good reasons not to think about the first time. He hadn‘t for years and he wasn‘t about to start now.
Besides, how else should he take actions that directly drained him of his best perso
When his satellite phone rang, he assumed it was Bud Halliday, giving him the signal to launch the final phase of Pinprick, but instead he discovered Humphry Bamber on the line.
―Bamber,‖ he shouted, ―where the hell are you?‖
―Back at my office, thank God.‖ Bamber‘s voice sounded thin and metallic.
―I finally managed to escape because the woman Moira Something was too badly hurt in the explosion to hold on to me for long.‖
―I heard about the explosion,‖ Noah said truthfully, though of course he didn‘t add that he‘d ordered it to keep Veronica Hart and Moira from finding out about Bardem from Bamber. ―Are you all right?‖
―Nothing a few days‘ rest won‘t cure,‖ Bamber said, ―but listen, Noah, there‘s a glitch in the version of Bardem you‘re ru
Noah stared out at the rivers, the begi
―No, nothing like that. There‘s a calculation error; the program isn‘t producing accurate data.‖
Now Noah was alarmed. ―How the hell did that happen, Bamber? I paid through the nose for this software and now you tell me that—‖
―Calm down, Noah, I‘ve already solved the internal error and corrected it. All I need to do now is to upload it to you, but you‘ll have to shut down all your programs.‖
―I know, I know, and Jesus, I ought to know the protocol by now considering how many versions of Bardem we‘ve been through.‖
―Noah, you have no idea how complex this program is—I mean, come on, literally millions of factors had to be incorporated into the software‘s architecture, and per your orders at the speed of light, too.‖
―Can it, Bamber. The last thing I need now is a lecture from you. Just get the fucking thing done.‖ Perlis‘s fingers were ru
―Absolutely, Noah. That‘s why Bardem has one monster-size cache.‖
―Nothing better be missing,‖ Noah said, and silently he added, Not at this late date. We’re almost at the finish line.
―Just let me know when you‘re ready,‖ Bamber prompted.
All the programs were closed, but it took several minutes of going through one deliberately convoluted protocol after another until he exited the proprietary Black River security software. While this was happening, he muted his line with Bamber and dialed a number on a second satellite phone.
―Someone needs to be put to sleep,‖ he said. ―Yes, right away. Hold on and I‘ll transfer the particulars in a minute.‖
He unmuted the line with Bamber. ―All set,‖ he said.
―Then here we go!‖
26
KHARTOUM HAD about it the air of a disreputable mortuary. The sweet rot of death was everywhere, mingled with the sharp odor of gun barrels. Baleful shadows hid men smoking as they observed the night-lit street with the inscrutable look of a hunter searching for prey. Bourne and Tracy, in a jangling three-wheeled raksha, going at a hellish speed against traffic, rushed down avenues filled with donkey-pulled carts, wheezing minibuses, men in both traditional and Western dress, and vehicles belching blue smoke.
They were both tired and on edge—Bourne had had no luck contacting either Moira or Boris, and, despite what she‘d claimed, Tracy‘s experience in Seville seemed to have made her anxious about meeting Noah.
―I don‘t want to be caught napping when I walk in the door,‖ she‘d said as they checked into a hotel in the main section of the city. ―That‘s why I told Noah I wasn‘t coming over until tomorrow morning. Tonight I need a good night‘s sleep more than I need his money.‖