The Bourne Identity

Bourne and Marie split up on the flight to Paris for their protection. They plan to meet in the late morning, but first, Bourne stops at Sorbonne University. He researches the man whom he was allegedly paid to kill six months ago, per his conversation with the man in the restaurant.

After looking through several weeks’ worth of news articles, Bourne finds an article about the assassination of Howard Leland. Without even reading the article, Bourne recalls several details about Leland’s life. He was killed in Marseilles, leading Bourne to believe that he is responsible for his death. He is convinced that he needs to leave Marie because he is not the man she thought.

After being overwhelmed by physical pain at the memories, Bourne calms down enough to consider the article. Leland was found on August 26, but Bourne was found at sea on the 24th. The assassination was also not six months ago as the man in the restaurant claimed.

Bourne meets up with Marie and tells her about his discovery. The realization that the man in the restaurant lied gives Bourne hope that others are lying about his identity, too. Despite this, he is still bothered that he was near Marseilles when Leland died.

Bourne and Marie devise a plan to see if the bank is being watched. While Marie watches inside, Bourne calls and asks about his account. They learn that a man named Antoine d’Amacourt will handle Bourne’s account. Bourne also sees a man he recognizes from Zurich approaching the bank.

At the end of the day, Bourne corners d’Amacourt as he is leaving the bank. He forces him to go to a café to talk.

Bourne demands answers about his account. D’Amacourt hesitates initially, but Bourne promises to pay him. D’Amacourt explains that Bourne’s account has a fiche attached to it. It is an old-fashioned directive that gives specific instructions for the banker when an account is accessed. This directive was from the bank in Zurich; it instructs d’Amacourt to call a telephone number. However, d’Amacourt explains that he spotted something strange with Bourne’s account: The original number was altered from one in New York to one in Paris.

Bourne leaves and gives the new information to Marie. She tells Bourne that he would have had to agree to the fiche when he set up the account, meaning that he once knew about it. They reason that the original number was to Treadstone. She instructs Bourne to use untraceable bonds to withdraw his money.

Marie takes the phone number from the fiche and the license plate of the man from Zurich outside the bank. She calls her associate Dennis and asks him to discreetly look into them.

A few hours later, Marie calls Peter, who had promised to research information about Treadstone. However, another colleague answers the phone and informs Marie that Peter was found dead at the airport, allegedly on his way to either Washington, DC, or New York.

The narrative shifts back to the church. The informant tells Carlos that they found the man from the park. He admitted to assaulting Marie and killing the watchman. He believes that Marie and Bourne left together. Carlos instructs the informant to watch Marie’s colleagues in Canada.

Bourne and Marie review old magazines for information about Carlos. They are convinced that he is responsible for Peter’s death. When they read the first article, they learn that it is common for him to kill people by shooting them in the neck as punishment for betraying him or refusing to give up information. This fact matches how Peter died.

The rest of what they find is mostly speculation. Bourne pulls out a speculative biography of Carlos. He has Marie ask him questions about Carlos’s life. He is able to answer all of them—without having even read the article. Information about Carlos comes to Bourne without him even needing to think about it.

The next day, Marie and Bourne meet with an attorney. She controls everything, giving clear instructions about the bonds that they want and how the bank will handle it. She sets aside money for both the attorney and d’Amacourt. In return, she is assured that a van will deliver a briefcase with the bonds to a rendezvous point.

Back at the hotel, Bourne prepares to go to the bank. Marie is still upset about Peter. She talks on the phone with Dennis, who reports that the license plate and phone number were useless. The number went to Les Classiques, a fashion house for the designer René Bergeron.

Marie is shocked that Dennis had not heard about Peter. She expresses her worry to Bourne that his death has not been reported anywhere, but Bourne assures her that it may just be an issue with the news reporting.

At the bank, Bourne watches as the armored van travels with the bonds. However, the van stops several blocks short of the rendezvous point. Bourne deduces that the van is likely waiting until a certain time so that someone can sabotage the pickup. When Bourne approaches the van, he realizes that one of the men is the one from Zurich. They pull their weapons on him, causing Bourne to kill the man from Zurich and disarm the other. Bourne flees with the briefcase of bonds.

Bourne gives the briefcase to Marie and explains what happened. He has her find a hotel that will hold it in their vault while he travels to Les Classiques.

At Les Classiques, Bourne pretends to browse. While looking at the most expensive items, he draws the attention of the woman in charge, Jacqueline Lavier. She invites him to her office to purchase three of their most expensive dresses.

On the way up to the office, Bourne sees a man in a room answering phones at a switchboard. He is convinced that he knows who he is but cannot recall why or what his name is. Bourne turns away before the man sees him.

Lavier leaves Bourne in her office while she chooses a few more items for him. Bourne pretends to look at the photographs on the wall while actually looking over her desk. The phone rings, bringing a man into the room. He introduces himself as Bergeron, the designer. Bourne tells him that Lavier was looking for him, so Bergeron leaves. When he is gone, Bourne finds an index card with two phone numbers—one for Zurich and one for Paris—on Lavier’s desk.

When Lavier returns, Bourne pays. He tells her that he lives in the Bahamas. He asks her if she would consider opening a fashion house there, implying that he would fund it. She agrees to meet him later that night for dinner.

Meanwhile, Marie puts the bonds in a vault at a hotel. She then calls her supervisor, Alan. She asks about Peter’s death, but Alan insists that they are only doing what they were told to do. He begs Marie to return to Canada and then orders her to do so. She hangs up on him. She is shocked at how much she loves Bourne.

As Bourne leaves with Lavier, the narration shifts to the man at the switchboard. He hears Jacqueline laughing on the stairs. He catches a glimpse of the man she is walking with and immediately recognizes him as a “killer.” As they get into a taxi together, the man tells Bergeron that he is certain that Lavier just left with “Cain.”

Colonel Jack Manning sits at a conference table in the Pentagon. He is meeting with Alfred Gillette of the NSC, Peter Knowlton of the CIA, David Abbott of the Committee of Forty, and Congressman Walters, who heads Congressional Oversight. Manning reports that the Army has intel that Cain was in Zurich 10 days ago and is likely still there.

The men at the table argue over whether the information can be trusted. Knowlton points out that the CIA knows that Cain killed someone 11 days ago in Brussels, Belgium, based on the method of execution. However, all the men at the table refuse to share their resources. The CIA and NSC keep most of their informants and information to themselves. Gillette wonders aloud whether they are attributing too many kills to Cain. He speculates that they should be searching for Carlos or that Carlos himself may even be manipulating them to put attention on Cain.

Gillette informs the group for the first time that he has information about the assassination of Leland. They were tracking Cain, as they had word that he was in Marseilles; however, the NSC is certain that the assassination was carried out by Carlos. In response, the men begin arguing. They are angry at the NSC for not sharing the information sooner, as they could have helped to save Leland.

Congressman Walters interrupts the men, scolding them for their secrecy and lack of intel sharing. In the end, he asks one question that none of them can answer: “Who the hell is this Cain?” (265).

After Walters asks his question, the men sit silent for several seconds. Abbott then explains that they believe Cain is originally of Southeast Asian descent. He is directly responsible for 38 assassinations, with several more believed to be his work. He only cares about being paid, with no allegiance to anyone.

Manning breaks in to discuss Medusa, a covert operation during the Vietnam War in which several governments trained people to infiltrate North Vietnam, carrying out sabotage, theft, and assassination. Most were not soldiers but local thieves or criminals whom the US helped recruit. They believe that Cain was one of them.

Walters asks why they can’t look at the records of those from Medusa to figure out who Cain is. In response, Manning shows him a file containing hundreds of names. After the Vietnam War, many were unaccounted for. They are doing their best to track them down but have no way of knowing who Cain is.

After the meeting, Abbott asks Manning to show him the list of known Medusa members. When Manning isn’t paying attention, Abbott turns to the page with Bourne’s name. He is the only one in the room who knows Bourne’s real name. To his relief, he finds that Bourne is believed to still be alive.

In Paris, the switchboard operator discusses Cain with Bergeron. He is certain that the man is Cain because they were part of the Medusas together in Vietnam. Cain used to go by “Delta,” the letter “D” in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) phonetic alphabet, but switched to “Cain,” as it was used for “C” during the Vietnam War. He speculates that he planned to replace “Carlos.” However, Bergeron assures him that Carlos will stop Cain.

Bourne takes Lavier to a restaurant. He demands to know what she knows about Cain. When he mentions Carlos, Lavier guesses that Bourne hired Cain as an assassin and that Cain failed him. Bourne does not correct her. Instead, he urges her to talk about Cain.

Lavier expresses her disgust at Cain. She tells Bourne about the Medusa project. Carlos learned that Bourne was Cain through their informant in Washington, DC. She does not appear to realize who Bourne is; instead, she keeps talking about his past. He was a businessman in Singapore before being recruited for Medusa. About two years ago, he appeared as an assassin, taking many contracts in a short time before moving his operations to Paris.

These revelations cause Bourne physical pain. He has vivid flashbacks to his time in Vietnam and Singapore. He remembers that he was once called “Delta.” He tries to focus on what Lavier is saying but becomes increasingly disoriented by her information and his memories.

Seeing that Bourne is ill, Lavier requests to go to the restroom. Bourne stands outside for several minutes. He knows that something is wrong but cannot focus.

A man takes a photo of Bourne, the flash from which brings him back. A concierge hands him a letter. In it, Lavier explains that she is already on her way to speak with Carlos. Bourne’s photograph will be sent to Paris.

Still overwhelmed by the new information, Bourne is desperate to get back to Marie. He tells himself that he will spend a few more hours with her and not tell her what he learned; then, he will leave her forever because he cannot escape the “stigma of Cain” (299).