Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt

by The Aquitaine Progression [lit]

  remembered you were in this very hotel. You did

  give me the number of your suite. Do I intrude?"

  "Of course not, General," said Converse, on his feet.

  "Did you expect met"

  "Not this way."

  "But you did expect me?"

  Joel paused. 'Yes."

  "A signal sent and received?"

  Again Joel paused. "Yes."

  You are either a provocatively subtle attorney or

  a strangely obsessed man. Which is it, Monsieur

  Simon?"

  `If I provoked you into coming to see me and I

  was subtle about it, I'll accept that gladly. As to

  being obsessed, the word implies an exaggerated or

  unwarranted concern. Whatever

  92 ROBERT LUDLUM

  concerns I have, I know damned well they're

  neither exaggerated nor unwarranted. No

  obsession, General. I'm too good a lawyer for

  that."

  "A pilot cannot lie to himself. If he does so

  blindly, he crashes to his death."

  "I've been shot down. I've never crashed

  through pilot error."

  Bertholdier walked slowly to the brocaded

  couch against the wall. "Bonn, Tel Aviv, and

  Johannesburg," he said quietly as he sat down and

  crossed his legs. "The signal?"

  "The signal."

  "My company has interests in those areas."

  "So does my client," said Converse.

  "And what do you have, Monsieur Simon?"

  Joel stared at the soldier. 'A commitment,

  General."

  Bertholdier was silent, his body immobile, his

  eyes searching "May I have a brandy?" he said

  finally. "My escort will remain in the corridor

  outside this door."

  4

  Converse walked to the dry bar against the wall,

  conscious of the soldier's gaze, wondering which

  tack the conversation would take. He was oddly

  calm, as he frequently was before a merger

  conference or a pretrial examination, knowing he

  knew things his adversaries were not aware

  of buried information that had surfaced through

  long hours of hard work. In the present

  circumstances there had been no work at all on his

  part, but the results were the same. He knew a

  great deal about the legend across the room named

  Jacques-Louis Bertholdier. In a word, Joel was

  prepared, and over the years he had learned to trust

  his on-the-feet instincts as he had once trusted

  those that had guided him through the skies years

  ago.

  Also, as it was part of his job, he was familiar

  with the legal intricacies of import-export

  manipulations. They were a maze of often

  disconnected authorisations, easily made incompre-

  hensible for the uninitiated, and during the next few

  minutes

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 93

  he intended to baffle this disciple of George Marcus

  Delavane warlord of Saigon until the soldier s

  trace of fear became something far more

  pronounced.

  Clearances for foreign shipments came in a wide

  variety of shapes and colors, from the basic export

  license with specific bills of lading to those with the

  less specific generic limitations. Then there were the

  more coveted licenses required for a wide variety of

  products subject to governmental reviews; these were

  usually shunted back and forth between vacillating

  departments until deadlines forced bureaucratic

  decisions often based on whose influence was the

  strongest or who among the bureaucrats were the

  weakest.

  Finally, there was the most lethal authorisation

  of all, a document too frequently conceived in

  corruption and delivered in blood. It was called the

  End-User's Certificate, an innocuously named permit

  that was a license to ship the most abusive

  merchandise in the nation's arsenals into air and sea

  lanes beyond the controls of those who should have

  them.

  In theory, this deadly equipment was intended

  solely for allied governments with shared objectives,

  thus the 'use" at the discretion of the parties at the

  receiving "end" calculated death legitimised by a'

  certificate" that obfuscated everyone's intentions. But

  once the equipment was en route, diversion was the

  practice. Shipments destined for the Bay of Haifa or

  Alexandria would find their way to the Gulf of Sidra

  and a madman in Libya, or an assassin named

  Carlos training killer teams anywhere from Beirut to

  the Sahara. Fictional corporations with nonexistent

  yet strangely influential officers operated through

  obscure brokers and out of hastily constructed or

  out-of-the-way warehouses in the U.S. and abroad.

  Millions upon millions were to be made; death was

  an unimportant consequence and there was a phrase

  for it all. Boardroom terrorism. It fit, and it would

  be Aquitaine's method. There was no other.

  These were the thoughts the methods of opera-

  tion that flashed through Converse's mind as he

  poured the drinks. He was ready; he turned and

  walked across the room.

  "What are you seeking, Monsieur Simon?" asked

  Bertholdier, taking the brandy from Converse.

  "Information, General."

  "About what?"

  "World markets expanding markets that my client

  94 ROBERT LUDI.UM

  might service. " Joel crossed back to the chair by the

  window and sat down.

  "And what sort of service does he render?"

  "He's a broker."

  "Of what?"

  "A wide range of products." Converse brought

  his glass to his lips; he drank, then added, "I think

  I mentioned them in general terms at your club this

  afternoon. Planes, vehicles oceangoing craft,

  munitions material. The spectrum."

  "Yes, you did. I'm afraid I did not understand."

  "My client has access k production and

  warehouse sources beyond anyone I've ever known

  or ever heard of."

  "Very impressive. Who is he?"

  "I'm not at liberty to say."

  "Perhaps I know him."

  "You might, but not in the way I've described

  him. His profile is so low in this area, it's

  nonexistent."

  "And you won't tell me who he is," said Bertholdier

  "It's privileged information."

  "Yet, in your own words, you sought me out,

  sent a signal to which I responded, and now say you

  want information concerning expanding markets for

  all manner of merchandise, including Bonn, Tel

  Aviv, and Johannesburg. But you won't divulge the

  name of your client who will benefit if I have this

  information which I probably do not. Surely, you

  can't be serious."

  "You have the information and, yes, I'm very

  serious. But I'm afraid you've jumped to the wrong

  conclusion."

  "I have no fear of it at all. My English is fluent

  and I heard what you said. You came out of

  nowhere, I know nothing about you, you speak

  elusively of this un
named influential man "

  "You asked me, General," interrupted Joel firmly

  without raising his voice. "What I was seeking."

  "And you said information."

  "Yes, I did, but I didn't say I was seeking it from

  you."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "Under the circumstances for the reasons you

  just mentioned you wouldn't give it to me anyway,

  and I'm well aware of that."

  "Then what is the point of this shall I say, in-

  duced~onversation? I do not like my time trifled

  with, monsieur. "

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 95

  "That's the last thing on earth we'd do I'd do."

  "Please be specific."

  "My client wants your trust. I want it. But we

  know it can't be given until you feel it's justified. In

  a few days a week at the outside I hope to prove

  that it is."

  "By trips to Bonn, Tel Aviv Johannesburg?'

  "Frankly, yes."

  "Why?"

  "You said it a few minutes ago. The signal."

  Bertholdier was suddenly wary. He shrugged too

  casually; he was pulling back. "I said it because my

  company has considerable investments in those areas.

  I thought it was enhrely plausible you had a

  proposition, or propositions, to make relative to

  those interests."

  "I intend to have. '

  "Please be specific," said the soldier, controlling

  his irritation.

  "You know I can't," replied Joel. "Not yet."

  "When?"

  "When it's clear to you all of you that my client,

  and by extension myself, have as strong motives for

  being a part of you as the most dedicated among

  you."

  "A part of my company? Juneau et Compagrue?"

  "Forgive me, General, I won't bother to answer that."

  Bertholdier glanced at the brandy in his hand,

  then back at Converse. "You say you flew from San

  Francisco."

  "I'm not based there," Joel broke in.

  "But you came from San Francisco. To Paris.

  Why uJere you there?"

  "I'll answer that if for no other reason than to

  show you how thorough we are and how much

  more thorough others are. We traced I

  traced overseas shipments back to export licenses

  originating in the northern California area. The li-

  censees were companies with no histories and

  warehouses with no records chains of four walls

  erected for brief, temporary periods of convenience.

  It was a mass of confusion leading nowhere and

  everywhere. Names on documents where no such

  people existed, documents themselves that came out

  of bureaucratic labyrinths virtually

  un-traceable rubber stamps, of iicial seals, and

  signatures of authorisation where no authority was

  granted. Unknowing middle-level personnel told to

  expedite departmental clearances That's what I

  96 ROBERT [UDDER

  found in San Francisco. A morass of complex, highly

  questionable transactions that could not bear

  intense scrutiny."

  Bertholdier's eyes were fixed, too controlled. "I

  would know nothing about such things, of course,"

  he said.

  "Of course," agreed Converse. "But the fact that

  my client does through me and the additional fact

  that neither he nor I have any desire whatsoever to

  call attention to them must tell you something."

  "Frankly, not a thing."

  "Please, General. One of the first principles of

  free enterprise is to cripple your competition, step

  in, and fill the void."

  The soldier drank, gripping the glass firmly. He

  lowered it and spoke. "Why did you come to me?"

  "Because you were there."

  "What?"

  "Your name was there among the morass, way

  down deep, but there."

  Bertholdier shot forward. "Impossible! Preposterous!"

  "Then why am I here? Why are you here?" Joel

  placed his glass on the table by the chair, the

  movement that of a man not finished speaking. "Try

  to understand me. Depending upon which

  government department a person's dealing with

  certain recommendations are bound to be helpful.

  You wouldn't do a damn thing for someone

  appealing to Housing and Urban Development, but

  over at the State Department's Munitions Controls

  or at Pentagon procurements, you're golden."

  "I have never lent my name to any such appeals."

  "Others did. Men whose recommendations

  carried a lot of weight, but who perhaps needed

  extra clout."

  "What do you mean? This 'clout.'"

  "A final push for an affirmative

  decision without any apparent personal

  involvement. It's called support for an action

  through viable second and third parties. For

  instance, a memo might read: 'We' the

  department, not a person 'don't know much about

  this, but if a man like General Bertholdier is

  favorably disposed, and we are informed that he is,

  why should we argue?'"

  "Never. It could not happen."

  "It did," said Converse softly, knowing it was the

  moment to bring in reality to support his

  abstractions. He would be able to tell instantly if

  Beale was right, if this legend of France was

  responsible for the slaughter and chaos in the cities

  and

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 97

  towns of a violently upended Northern Ireland. "You

  were there, not often but enough for me to find you.

  Just as you were there in a different way when a

  shipment was air-freighted out of Beloit, Wisconsin,

  on its way to Tel Aviv. Of course it never got there.

  Somehow it was diverted to maniacs on both sides in

  Belfast. I wonder where it happened? Montreal?

  Paris? Marseilles? The Separatists in Quebec would

  certainly follow your orders, as would men in Paris

  and Marseilles. It's a shame a company named

  Solidaire had to pay off the insurance claim. Oh, yes,

  you're a director of the firm aren't you? And it's so

  convenient that insurance carriers have access to the

  merchandise they cover."

  Bertholdier was frozen to the chair, the muscles

  of his face pulsating, his eyes wide, staring at Joel.

  His guilt was suppressed, but no less apparent for

  that control. "I cannot be lieve what you are

  implying. It's shocking and incredible!"

  "I repeat, why am I here?"

  "Only you can answer that, monsieur," said

  Bertholdier, abruptly getting to his feet, the brandy

  in his hand. Then slowly, with military precision, he

  leaned over and placed the glass on the coffee table;

  it was a gesture of finality the conference was over.

  "Quite obviously I made a foolish error," he contin-

  ued, shoulders square again and head rigid, but now

  with a strained yet oddly convincing smile on his lips.

  "I am a soldier, not a businessman; it is a late

  direction in my life. A soldier tries to seize an

  initiative and I attempted to do just that; only, there

 
was there is no initiative. Forgive me, I misread

  your signal this afternoon."

  "You didn't misread anything, General."

  "Am I contradicted by a stranger I might even

  say a devious stranger who arranges a meeting

  under false pretenses and proceeds to make

  outrageous statements regarding my honor and my

  conduct? I think not." As Bertholdier strode across

  the room toward the hallway door Joel rose from his

  chair. "Don't bother, monsieur, I'll let myself out.

  You've gone to enough trouble, for what purpose I

  haven't the faintest idea."

  "I'm on my way to Bonn," said Converse. "Tell

  your friends I'm coming. Tell them to expect me.

  And please, General, tell them not to prejudge me.

  I mean that."

  "Your elliptical references are most annoying

  Lieutenant. It was 'lieutenant,' wasn't it? Unless you

  also deceived poor Luboque as well."

  98 ROBERT LUDLUM

  "Whatever deception employed to meet you can

  only be for his benefit. I've offered to write a legal

  opinion for his case. He may not like it, but it'll save

  him a lot of pain and money. And I have not

  deceived you."

  "A matter of judgment, I think." Bertholdier