The Bourne Supremacy, the second book in Robert Ludlum's series, continues off of when David Webb and his wife Marie have taken to a quiet life in a university in Maine after their earlier adventure. Over in Hong Kong, an important official is assassinated, the killer claiming to be Jason Bourne (who was David's undercover name when he was working for the US government). The government wants David to help them track down the killer and kidnaps his wife to make sure that he follows whatever they say. When David travels to Hong Kong, he is told that if he finds and captures the killer, then his wife will be freed.