How It All Goes Down
- Argh. Shmoop thought the end of the chapter would mean we didn't have to hear more of this hard-nosed intelligence nattering, but no. It goes on.
- David Abbott proves he is important by giving the exposition.
- Cain, he says, is a dangerous international assassin. (Well, we had already figured that out, right?)
- And the big reveal: Cain was part of Operation Medusa, a U.S. terrorist operation that functioned in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
- But even though Cain was working for Operation Medusa at one point, the intelligence people still can't figure out who he is. This prompts the Congressman to tell them again that they're idiots.
- David Abbott suggests that Cain is trying to displace Carlos as the biggest, baddest assassin in the world.
- And then the meeting ends and we're inside David Abbott's head. We learn that Abbott knows that Cain is Jason Bourne but doesn't know where Bourne is (because, of course, Bourne has amnesia and doesn't know who he is anymore.)
- Paragraph space—and we're back in Paris, where Bergeron is trying futilely to check cafes to find Lavier.
- The telephone operator guy who recognized Bourne insists that Bourne is, in fact, Cain.
- Telephone operator guy was in Medusa, apparently. He did a job with Bourne (who wasn't called Bourne then).
- Telephone operator guy and Bourne were supposed to rescue a man named Webb from the Viet Cong. They parachuted into Tam Quan, which explains why Bourne keeps thinking the name Tam Quan and has nightmares about parachuting. Plotting, ladies and gentleman.
- Telephone operator guy says Cain was incredibly brutal and dangerous. On the mission, they were set up and betrayed. Cain shot the betrayer in the head and managed to get 4 of his 10 men back, along with Webb.
- Telephone operator guy says that Bourne was referred to as Delta.
- Bergeron says that Cain substitutes for Charlie, which replaced Delta, because Charlie is equivalent to Carlos—so it's Cain telling Carlos he's coming for him. Yep, it's complicated. Basically, Carlos is out to get Bourne.
- Bergeron says Cain is doomed, doomed, doomed. It's like Bergeron's a supervillain rather than a fashion designer.
- And we finish up by jumping over to Carlos, who's talking to one of his old guy minions and generally cackling and carrying on in a supervillainy way—just like Bergeron.