@@@@@With Dimitri’s authority I’ve
@@@@@With Dimitri’s authority I’ve made
arrangements for your visit to Novgorod—please don’t tell me your objective; it’s not in my
purview any more than the question you asked is in yoursThe arrangements?”
“You will make contact with a young trainer named Benjamin in the manner I will describe in a
few momentsI’ll tell you this much about Benjamin so you’ll perhaps understand his attitudeHis
parents were Komitet officers assigned to the consulate in Los Angeles for nearly twenty years
He’s basically American-educated, his freshman and sophomore years at UCLA; in fact, until he
and his father were hurriedly recalled to Moscow four years ago—”
“He and his father?”
“YesHis mother was caught in an FBI sting operation at the naval base in San DiegoShe has
three more years to serve in prisonThere is no clemency and no exchanges for a Russian
‘momma ”
“Hey, wait a minuteThen it can’t be all our fault
“I didn’t say it was, Ah’m just relayin’ the factsI make contact with Benjamin
“He’s the only one who knows who you are—not by name, of course, you’ll use the name
‘Archie’—and he’ll furnish you with the necessary clearance to go from one compound to the
other
“Papers?”
“He’ll explainHe’ll also watch you, be with you at all times, and, frankly, he’s been in touch
with Comrade Krupkin and knows far more than I do—which is precisely the way this retired
Georgia cracker likes itGood huntin’, polecat, if it’s huntin’ you’re afterDon’t rape no wooden
Indians
Bourne followed the signs—everything was in English—to the city of Rockledge, Florida,
fifteen miles southwest of NASA’s Cape CanaveralHe was to meet Benjamin at a lunch counter in
the local Woolworth store, looking for a man in his mid-twenties wearing a red-checkered shirt,
with a Budweiser baseball cap on the stool beside him, saving itIt was the hour, within the time
span of minutes: 3:35 in the afternoonThe sandy-haired, California-educated Russian was seated at the far right end of
the counter, the baseball cap on the stool to his leftThere were half a dozen men and women along
the row talking to one another and consuming soft drinks and snacksJason approached the empty
seat, glanced down at the cap and spoke politely“Is this taken?” he asked
“I’m waiting for someone,” replied the young KGB trainer, his voice neutral, his gray eyes
straying up to Bourne’s face