Cain (fictional character)

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Cain is the name of the artificial assassin created by the American black ops intelligence unit Treadstone Corporation in a series of novels by Robert Ludlum and later Eric Van Lustbader who picks up where Ludlum left off. The "role" of Cain was played by David Webb, also known as Delta and more frequently Jason Bourne as a means to draw the super-assassin Carlos into the open.

[edit] The Myth of Cain

Treadstone Corporation paid off informants and spread false information in order to create the impression in the underworld of an elite assassin making dozens of hits in quick succession in the East. These stories were supported by occasional brief appearances by Webb in the guise of Cain to corroborate the existence of the assassin.

Eventually, stories were spread that Cain was taking credit for hits performed by Carlos, and that Cain was intending to replace Carlos as the chief hitman in Europe.

The identity of Cain is destroyed when Carlos's henchman turn a member of the intelligence community and infiltrate Treadstone. However, the identity succeeds in its original purpose in that it draws Carlos into the open as he attempts to kill Bourne/Cain/Webb and is in the process seen for the first time as Carlos.

[edit] Name Origin

The name of Cain was carefully chosen to optimally annoy Carlos in order to draw him out of hiding. As "Charlie," the conventional military radio designation for the letter C, came to be synonymous with enemy forces in the Vietnam War, the phonetic "Cain" came to replace it in radio chatter. As "Carlos" is the Spanish equivalent of "Charles" and thus "Charlie", the choice of the name Cain for an assassin whose goal was to supplant Carlos served a symbolic purpose.