Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Identity (Bourne Trilogy No.1)

ROBERT

LUDLUM

THE UNSURPASSED MASTER

OF THE SUPERTHRILLER

AND ON SALE

IN BANTAM HARDCOVER

IN MAY 1993

THE SCORPIO

ILLUSION

THE AMNESIAC REMEMBERS

You appear to be a mass of contradictions, Dr. Washburn said. Theres a subsurface violence almost always in control, but very much alive. Theres also a pensiveness that seems painful for you, yet you rarely give vent to the anger that pain must provoke.

Youre provoking it now, said the man.

And well continue to do so, as long as theres progress.

I wasnt aware any progress had been made.

Not in terms of an identity or an occupation. But we are finding out whats most comfortable for you, what you deal with best. Its a little frightening.

In what way?

Let me give you an example. The doctor put the clipboard down and got out of the chair. He walked to a primitive cupboard against the wall, opened a drawer, and took out a large automatic handgun. The man with no memory tensed in his chair; Washburn was aware of the reaction. Ive never used this, not sure Id know how to, but I do live on the waterfront. He smiled, then suddenly, without warning, threw it to the man. The weapon was caught in midair, the catch clean, swift, and confident. Break it down; I believe thats the phrase.

What?

Break it down. Now.

The man looked at the gun. And then, in silence, his hands and fingers moved expertly over the weapon. In less than thirty seconds it was completely dismantled.

Bantam Books by Robert Ludlum

Ask your bookseller for the books you have missed

THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION

THE BOURNE IDENTITY

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT

THE GEMINI CONTENDERS

THE HOLCROFT COVENANT

THE ICARUS AGENDA

THE MATARESE CIRCLE

THE MATLOCK PAPER

THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND

THE PARSIFAL MOSAIC

THE RHINEMANN EXCHANGE

THE ROAD TO GANDOLFO

THE ROAD TO OMAHA

THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE

TREVAYNE

THE

BOURNE

IDENTITY

ROBERT LUDLUM

BANTAM BOOKS

NEW YORK TORONTO SYDNEY AUKLAND

This edition contains the complete text

of the original hardcover edition.

NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.

THE BOURNE IDENTITY

A Bantam Book / published by

arrangement with the author

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Marek Edition published March 1980

A Selection of Literary Guild, April 1980, and

a Doubleday Book Club Selection, June 1980

Serialized in Book Digest, Spring 1980

Bantam edition / March 1981

Acknowledgment and thanks are made for permission to reprint articles

from: The Associated Press, 1975 by The Associated Press. The New York

Times, 1975 by The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.

Copyright 1980 by Robert Ludlum.

Cover artwork copyright 1988 by Bantam Books.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information

storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing

from the publisher.

For information address: Bantam Books.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

ISBN 0-553-26011-1

Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada.

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

RAD 36 35 34 33 32

For Glynis

A very special light we all adore.

With our love and deep respect.

The New York Times

Friday, July 11, 1975

FRONT PAGE

DIPLOMATS SAID TO BE LINKED

WITH FUGITIVE TERRORIST

KNOWN AS CARLOS

PARIS , July 10France expelled three high-ranking Cuban diplomats today in connection with the worldwide search for a man called Carlos, who is believed to be an important link in an international terrorist network.

The suspect, whose real name is thought to be Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, is being sought in the killing of two French counterintelligence agents and a Lebanese informer at a Latin Quarter apartment on June 27.

The three killings have led the police here and in Britain to what they feel is the trail of a major network of international terrorist agents. In the search for Carlos after the killings, French and British policemen discovered large arms caches that linked Carlos to major terrorism in West Germany and led them to suspect a connection between many terrorist acts throughout Europe.

Reported Seen in London

Since then Carlos has been reported seen in London and in Beirut, Lebanon.

Associated Press

Monday, July 7, 1975

syndicated dispatch

A DRAGNET FOR ASSASSIN

LONDON (AP)Guns and girls, grenades and good suits, a fat billfold, airline tickets to romantic places and nice apartments in a half dozen world capitals. This is the portrait emerging of a jet age assassin being sought in an international manhunt.

The hunt began when the man answered his doorbell in Paris and shot dead two French intelligence agents and a Lebanese informer. It has put four women into custody in two capitals, accused of offenses in his wake. The assassin himself has vanishedperhaps in Lebanon, the French police believe.

In the past few days in London, those acquainted with him have described him to reporters as good looking, courteous, well educated, wealthy and fashionably dressed.

But his associates are men and women who have been called the most dangerous in the world. He is said to be linked with the Japanese Red Army, the Organization for the Armed Arab Struggle, the West German Baader-Meinhof gang, the Quebec Liberation Front, the Turkish Popular Liberation Front, separatists in France and Spain, and the Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army.

When the assassin traveledto Paris, to the Hague, to West Berlinbombs went off; guns cracked and there were kidnappings.

A breakthrough occurred in Paris when a Lebanese terrorist broke under questioning and led two intelligence men to the assassins door in Paris on June 27. He shot all three to death and escaped. Police found his guns and notebooks containing death lists of prominent people.

Yesterday the London Observer said police were hunting for the son of a Venezuelan Communist lawyer for questioning in the triple slaying. Scotland Yard said, We are not denying the report, but added there was no charge against him and he was wanted only for questioning.

The Observer identified the hunted man as Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, of Caracas. It said his name was on one of the four passports found by French police when they raided the Paris apartment where the slayings took place.

The newspaper said Ilich was named after Vladimir Ilych Lenin, founder of the Soviet state, and was educated in Moscow and speaks fluent Russian.

In Caracas, a spokesman for the Venezuelan Communist Party said Ilich is the son of a 70-year-old Marxist lawyer living 450 miles west of Caracas, but neither father nor son belong to our party.