BOURNE ROGUE

CHAPTER ONE

Washington, D.C.

The café was a quaint little place, contrasting sharply with the real estate development around it. Many people passed it by, but the ones who went in discovered a tranquil place perfect for studying, working, and meeting with friends. It wasn't busy today and was mostly empty, save for the staff and a few customers. One of these was a young woman, maybe in her mid twenties. She was enjoying a cup of black coffee and reading a book. War and Peace, it was called. It was terrible. She couldn't for the life of her figure out the plot, and that was assuming there was one. She brushed a piece of her shoulder length auburn hair back behind her ear, took another sip of her coffee and asked herself "Why am I reading this?"
Because it gave her something to do.
She turned the page and continued to read, but the words seemed to blend together into one mass of uninteresting slop. Finally she sighed in frustration and closed the book, then glanced up at the T.V. And what she saw immediately snared her attention. It was on the news channel, and they were showing footage of a blackened heap of rubble. The newscaster was saying ".....a large explosion that completely destroyed the house that the bomb was in, and caused extensive damage to surrounding homes. At the time of the explosion, Doctor Alexander Carruthers was inside with his wife and two children. Sadly, there were no survivors."
She shook her head and looked back down at the book. Some people had such little regard for human life. She was no stranger to killing, but she drew the line at families. Children never deserved to die. She opened her book and tried to remember her page number. It didn't really matter. She could flip through reading pages at random, and it would probably make as much sense as it had been so far. Giving up, she closed the book for good. Then she looked around the coffee shop, and immediately saw him. The man was standing by the road. And he was watching her. She held his gaze for a moment, then stood up and grabbed her coat. Coffee break was over.

Outside she greeted him with "Normal people would think it creepy that you stood and stared at me for however long you were there."
He fell into step beside her, and protested "I was only there for a few minutes."
She stopped and looked at him, causing him to stop as well. He asked "What?"
She shook her head and kept walking. "Ethan, Ethan."
He was about to speak again when she asked "What does Joseph want?"
Ethan, a.k.a. Agent Dumais, dug his hands into his pockets. "Um....I don't really know. He just told me to find you and bring you in."
She rolled her eyes. "He always did have a thing for mysterious dramatics."
Dumais shrugged. "You're supposed to be there by eleven."
She stopped again, checking her watch. Ten forty five. Breaking into a sudden jog, she asked with annoyance "And you couldn't have found me sooner??"
Dumais kept pace with her, a sheepish look on his face. "Well, you looked really comfortable, and I didn't want to interrupt..."
As they neared her car, she remarked "Grow a backbone, Ethan. I wouldn't have killed you if you had torn me away from my oh so interesting book."
She pulled out her keys and unlocked the Honda as they came up to it, then tossed her bag in the back and slid into the driver's seat. Ethan tried to open the passenger door, but it was still locked. "Um, Danielle?..."
She looked over at him, rolled her eyes again, and unlocked the door to let him clamber in. As he got settled, he fumbled with the seatbelt. Finally it clicked in, and he looked up at her. "Okay, we can go now."
As she pulled out into traffic, she murmured "You're a whole other person when you're at work, you know that?"
He grinned. "That's because I have
Joseph breathing down my neck."

Chaos. That was the first word that came to mind when Danielle entered the "control room,"as they liked to call it. People were everywhere, almost four times as many as usual. Most were intently focused on their computer screens, but some were running back and forth, talking on telephones and carrying printouts. Danielle threaded her way through the activity until she reached the man in charge of it all. "Joseph," she called. He turned around and saw her, raising a hand in greeting. "Wait in my office. I'll be there in a couple minutes."
She nodded to show she understood, because it was almost impossible to communicate over all the noise in the room. Then she headed to his office, away from the hubbub. As she walked the din grew quieter, and by the time she reached his office and closed the door behind her, it had quieted down enough to no longer be very noticeable.
She settled herself in a chair and waited. She knew that he would indeed be there "in a couple minutes," because he was absolutely anal about being on time. And just as he said he would, he walked in the door almost exactly two minutes later. She wasted no time in asking "What the hell is going on? It looks like a nuclear fallout is on the way."
Seating himself behind his desk, he answered "You're not that far off."
She was caught off guard by the unexpected reply, so her response wasn't as good as she would have liked it to be. "What? Why do you say that?"
Joseph sighed. He was a middle aged man with angular features and hazel brown eyes, hair combed and gelled in an understated but classy style. He laid his hands on his desk and asked "You remember how there were rumors about a "Doomsday device" a few years ago?"
Danielle nodded. "Yes, of course."
"Those rumors are a reality."
For a moment she was stunned. Then she blinked a few times, as if that would help her fully understand what he just said. "Wait, someone actually built something like that?"
He held her gaze calmly as he answered "Our sources just confirmed it this morning."
She grew more serious as she clarified "You're talking about world ending, apocalyptic, Wrath-of-God stuff."
He nodded mutely. She leaned back in her chair, trying to process it. After a few seconds she asked "How did we find it? And where is it?"
Joseph swiveled in his chair and typed a command on his computer. A moment later several pictures popped up. The first was of an ordinary house. A man dressed in a dark jacket and jeans was taking the case from an older man standing in the doorway, who looked to be about fifty years old. Joseph said "The man who is giving the briefcase to the carrier is Doctor Alexander Carruthers, a brilliant scientist who retired four years ago and moved away from his family to the house he's in here."
Something about the doctor seemed familiar. Then she remembered the news earlier. "He was killed last night. Someone blew up his house."
Joseph nodded. "Exactly. When we found out about his death we were instantly suspicious. I mean, a gas leak? Really? That's what they're saying caused the explosion. But we dug a little deeper, and found out that the good doctor was getting monthly deliveries of very specific materials."
Danielle looked up at him and asked "What kind of materials?"
He shook his head with a slight smile. "I'm afraid the exact materials are classified. But they were specifically designed to build a weapon of mass destruction. And yes, we're talking apocalyptic-level destruction."
He clicked to the next picture. This one showed the man with the black jacket driving away in a grey car, while Dr. Carruthers looked at a piece of paper. "We can only assume that that was the note telling him that he was released from whatever contract he had with whoever had hired him to build this. He immediately packed up and went to see his family, and their house blew up at one in the morning. Now as for the carrier, he drove to a nearby shopping mall and met someone there."
He clicked to the next picture. This one showed the man with the black jacket standing outside the gray car in a parking lot, talking to another man. And the next shot showed him handing the case over in exchange for a fat envelope. It caught Danielle's attention, and she asked "What's in the envelope?"
Joseph answered "Two hundred million dollars. We caught him a couple hours after he made the trade, but by then the buyer was long gone."
She was shocked. "Two hundred million???"
He raised his eyebrows as he glanced at her. "People are willing to pay for that kind of power."
She held up her hands. "Wait wait wait. So he double crossed whoever sent him?"
Joseph turned back to his screen. "Offer enough green and people will do anything. Even sell a Doomsday device. Of course, he didn't plan on getting caught. My guess is that the man he sold it to is either going to sell it or use it as blackmail."
The last picture was of an unassuming black briefcase. "And this is the weapon itself."
She frowned. "That's it? That's all we have to go on?"
Joseph settled back into his chair. "That's it. Hence the gong show in the main room."
Assuming that was it, Danielle stood up. "Then I'll go get started on that."
But he gestured to the chair. "Uh-uh. Sit down, I wasn't finished."
Slightly confused, she took her seat again. "Okay...go on."
Joseph leaned forward and steepled his fingers. "Before I do, you should know that this is classified information that does not leave this room. And you are never to repeat what I'm about to tell you. Understood?"
"Understood, sir."
Danielle wasn't sure why she was suddenly calling him "sir". Maybe it was because of the sudden intensity in his gaze, the one hundred and eighty degree change in his attitude. He thought for a second, then stated "I think Bourne is involved."
For a second she wasn't sure she'd heard right. "Sorry, Bourne? Jason Bourne?"
He nodded wordlessly. Now she was definitely confused. "If I may be so bold, why do you think so?"
Joseph pursed his lips as he decided how much to tell her. Finally he answered "He has an annoying knack for showing up for things like this. I don't know what his motives would be, but God knows what his motives ever were."
Danielle asked "When and where was he last seen?"
Again he turned to his computer, and within fifteen seconds he had the information pulled up. "He was last seen in Singapore, when we were dealing with that whole dirty bomb thing."
She nodded. She didn't know all the details, but she did know that he had been one hell of a nuisance upon numerous occasions. He got away from Vosen that  night three years he ago, and ever since then he had been popping up whenever and wherever they were trying to carry out an important covert op. No one knew how he got his intel, but he had unfailingly resurfaced whenever they didn't want him to. Not to mention that he always got away. Not once had they managed to even get close to catching him. They had always been left with a hell of a mess, a ton of explaining and covering-up to do, and no Jason Bourne. Joseph snapped her out of her thoughts by saying "That was nine months ago. Hopefully he hasn't got wind of this thing, otherwise we're in trouble."
Looking up at her, he continued "Find Bourne. And bring him down."
She nodded and left his office with a plan already forming in her head.
She had work to do.