| You can?t fault me for thatNot considering what you had me do, what I think you had me do
?Merely act as a confidential messenger, that?s allYou certainly can?t object to the money
?Object?? said the visitor, with a high-pitched and tremulous laugh?Let me tell you something,
RandyYou can be disbarred at thirty or thirty-five and still get by, but when you?re disbarred at
fifty and your trial is given national press along with a jail sentence, you?d be shocked at how your
options disappear?even for a learned manYou become an untouchable, and I was never much
good at selling anything but my witsI proved that, too, over the last twenty-odd years,
incidentallyAlger Hiss did better with greeting cards
?I haven?t time to reminisceThe information, please
?Oh, yes, of courseWell, first the money was delivered to me on the corner of
Commonwealth and Dartmouth, and naturally I wrote down the names and the specifics you gave
me over the phone??
?Wrote down?? asked cartier tank must Gates sharply
?Burned as soon as I?d committed them to memory?I did learn a few things from my
difficultiesI reached the engineer at the telephone company, who was overjoyed with your?
excuse me?my largess, and took his information to that repulsive private detective, a sleaze if I
ever saw one, Randy, and considering his methods, someone who could really use my talents
?Please,? interrupted the renowned legal scholar?The facts, not your appraisals
?Appraisals often contain germane facts, ProfessorSurely you understand that
?If I want to build a case, I?ll ask for opinionsWhat did the man find out??
?Based on what you told me, a lone woman with children?how many being undetermined?
and on the data provided by an underpaid telephone company mechanic, namely, a narrowed-down
location based on the area code and the first three digits of a number, the unethical sleaze went to
work at an outrageous hourly rateTo my astonishment, he was productiveAs a matter of prada replica handbags fact,
with what?s left of my legal mind, we may form a quiet, unwritten partnership
?Damn you, what did he learn??
?Well, as I say, his hourly rate was beyond belief, I mean it really invaded the corpus of my own
well-deserved retainer, so I think we should discuss an adjustment, don?t you??
?Who the hell do you think you are? I sent you three thousand dollars! Five hundred for the
telephone man and fifteen hundred for that miserable keyhole slime who calls himself a private
detective??
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
49
?Only because he?s no longer on the public payroll of the police department, RandolphLike
me, he fell from grace, but he obviously does very good workDo we negotiate or do I leave??
In fury, the balding imperious professor of law stared at the gray-faced old disbarred and
dishonored attorney in front of him?How dare you??
?Dear me, Randy, you really do believe your press, don?t you? Very well, I?ll tell why I dare,
my arrogant old gucci backpack friendI?ve read you, seen you, expounding on your esoteric interpretations of
complex legal matters, assaulting every decent thing the courts of this country have decreed in the
last thirty years, when you haven?t the vaguest idea what it is to be poor, or hungry, or have an
unwanted mass in your belly you neither anticipated nor can provide a life forYou?re the darling
of the royalists, my unprofound fellow, and you?d force the average citizen to live in a nation where
privacy is obsolete, free thought suspended by censorship, the rich get richer, and for the poorest
among us the beginnings of potential life itself may well have to be abandoned in order to survive
And you expound on these unoriginal, medieval concepts only to promote yourself as a brilliant
maverick?of disasterDo you want me to go on, Doctor Gates? Frankly, I think you chose the
wrong loser to contact for your dirty workdare you?? repeated the perplexed professor, sputtering as he regally strode to cc chanel logo earrings the
window?I don?t have to listen to this!?
?No, you certainly don?t, RandyBut when I was an associate at the law school and you were
one of my kids?one of the best but not the brightest?you damn well had to listenSo I suggest
you listen now
?What the hell do you want?? roared Gates, turning away from the window
?It?s what you want, isn?t it? The information you underpaid me forIt?s that important to you,
isn?t it??
?I must have it
?You were always filled with anxiety before an exam??
?Stop it! I paidI demand the information
?Then I must demand more moneyWhoever?s paying you can afford it
?Not a dollar!?
?Then I?m leavingFive hundred more, that?s it
?Five thousand or I go
?Ridiculous!?
?See you in another twenty years??
?All rightAll right, five thousand
?Oh, Randy, you?re so obviousIt?s why you?re not really one of the brightest, just someone
who can use language to make yourself appear bright, and I think we?ve seen and heard enough of
that these sac hermes kelly d |
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