Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt

by The Aquitaine Progression [lit]

  "Except for him," Converse added, permitting his

  expression to relax slightly, with a hint of a smile.

  "All right, I believe you, but there are ground rules.

  You either accept them or, as you put it, on board

  you're not."

  "Let's hear them. I ll wince inside so you can't see

  it."

  "Yes," agreed Joel, "you'll wince. To begin with,

  I'll tell you only what I think you have to know in a

  given situation. Whatever you develop will be on

  your own; that way it's freewheeling, no way can you

  tip the evidence we've compiled."

  "That's rough."

  "That's the way it is. I'll give you a name now

  and then when I think it will open a door, but it will

  always be a name you heard second or third hand.

  You're inventive; figure out your own unidentifiable

  sources so as to protect yourself."

  "I've done that on quite a few waterfronts "

  wohu heave? How good are you at playactin'g?"

  "Never mind, I think you just answered that. You

  didn't go down to those waterfronts in your dress

  whites as a lieutenant commander."

  "Hell, no."

  "You'll do."

  "You've got to tell me something."

  "I'll give you an overview, a lot of abstractions

  and a few facts. As we progress ii we

  progress you'll learn more. If you think you've put

  it together, tell me. That's essential. We can't risk

  blowing everything while you operate under wrong

  assumptions."

  "Who's 'we'?"

  "I wish to hell I knew."

  "That's comforting."

  "Yes, isn't it."

  "Why don't you tell me everything now?" asked

  fitzpatrick.

  190 ROBERT LUDLUM

  "Because Meagen Halliday lost a husband. I

  don't want to see her lose a brother."

  "I'll accept that."

  "By the way, how long have you got? I mean

  you're on active duty."

  "My initial leave is thirty days, with extensions as

  warranted. Christ, an only sister with five kids and

  her husband is killed. I could probably write my

  own ticket."

  "We'll stick to the thirty days, Commander. It's

  more than we're allowed. We may not have even

  two weeks."

  "Start talking, Converse."

  "Let's walk," said Joel, heading back to the Alter

  Zoll wall and the view of the Rhine below.

  The "overview" delivered by Converse described

  a current situation in which like-minded individuals

  in various countries were coming together and using

  their considerable influence to get around the laws

  and ship armaments and technology to hostile

  governments and organisations.

  "For what purpose?" asked Fitzpatrick.

  'I could say 'profits,' but you'd see through it."

  "As the only motive, yes," said the Navy lawyer

  pensively. "Influential people as I understand the

  word 'influential' as related to existing laws would

  operate singly or at best in small groups within their

  own countries. That is, if profits were the primary

  objective. They wouldn't coordinate outside; it isn't

  necessary. It's a sellers' market; they'd only water

  down the profits."

  "Bingo, counselor."

  "So?" Fitzpatrick looked at Joel, as they strolled

  toward a break in the stone wall where a bronzed

  cannon was in place.

  "Destabilization," said Converse. "Mass

  destabilisation. A series of flash points in highly

  volatile areas that will call into question the ability

  of democratic governments to cope with the

  violence."

  "I've got to ask you again, for what purpose?"

  "You're quick," said Joel, "so I'll let you answer

  that. What happens when an existing political

  structure is crippled by disorder, when it can no

  longer function, when things are out of control?"

  The two men stopped by the cannon, the naval

  officer's eyes following the line of the huge,

  threatening barrel. "It's

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 191

  restructured or replaced," he said, turning to look at

  Converse.

  "Bingo again," said Converse softly. "That's the

  overview."

  "It doesn't make sense." Fitzpatrick creased his

  eyes in the sunlight, as well as in thought. "Let me

  recap. Am I allowed?"

  "You're allowed."

  " 'Influential individuals' connotes people in

  pretty good standing in very high places. Assuming

  we're not talking about an out-and-out criminal

  element which the lack of a pure profit motive

  would seem to eliminate we're talking about

  reasonably respectable citizens. Is there another

  definition I'm not aware of?"

  'If there is, I'm not aware of it, either."

  "Then why would they want to destabilise the

  political structures that guarantee them their

  influence? It doesn't make sense."

  "Ever hear of the phrase 'Everything's relative'?"

  "To a fare-thee-well. So what?"

  "So think."

  "About what?"

  "Influence." Joel took out his cigarettes, shook

  one to his lips and lighted it. The younger man

  stared at the Seven Mountains of the Westerwald in

  the distance.

  "They want more," said Fitzgerald slowly, turning

  back to Converse.

  "They want it all," said Joel. "And the only way

  they can get it is to prove that their solutions are the

  only solutions, all others having proved worthless

  against the eruption of chaos suddenly everywhere."

  Connal's expression was fixed, immobile, as he

  absorbed Converse's words. "Holy Mary. . . " he

  began, his voice a whisper, yet still a cry. "An

  international plebiscite the peoples' will for the

  almighty state. Fascism. It's multinationalfasasm. "

  "I'm sick of saying 'Bingo,' so I'll say 'Right on,'

  counselor. You've just said it better than any of us."

  "Us? Which is 'use,' but you don't know who you

  arel" added Fitzpatrick, both bewildered and angry.

  "Live with it," said Joel. "As I have."

  "Why?"

  "Avery Fowler. Remember him?"

  192 ROBERT LUDLUM

  "Oh, jesust"

  "And an old man on the island of Mykonos.

  That's all we have. But what they said is true. It's

  real. I've seen it, and that's all I need to know. In

  Geneva, Avery said there was very little time left.

  Beale refined it; he called it a countdown.

  Whatever's going to happen will happen before your

  leave is up two weeks and four days is the earliest

  report. That's what I meant before."

  "Oh my God," whispered Fitzpatrick. "What else

  can you tell me will you tell me?"

  "Very little."

  "The embassy," Connal interrupted. "It's been a

  couple of years, but I was there. I worked with the

  military attache. I don't need any introductions. We

  can get help there."

  "We can also get killed there."

  "What?"

  "
It's not clean. Those three men you saw at the

  airport the ones from the embassy "

  "What about them?"

  "They're on the other side."

  "I don't believe your"

  "Why do you think they were at the airport?"

  "To meet you, talk to you. There could be a

  dozen different reasons. Whether you know it or

  not, you're considered a hotshot lawyer on the

  international scene. Foreign service personnel

  frequently want to touch base with guys like you."

  "I've had this conversation before," said

  Converse, irritated.

  "What does that mean?"

  "If they wanted to see me, why didn't they go to

  the gate?"

  "Because they thought you'd come into the

  terminal like everybody else."

  "And when I didn't according to you they

  were upset, angry. That's what you said."

  "They were."

  "All the more reason to meet me at the gate."

  Fitzpatrick frowned. "Still, that's kind of flimsy "

  "The woman. Do you remember the woman?"

  "Of course."

  "She spotted me in Copenhagen. She followed

  me. Also there's something else. Later, on the

  platform, all four were picked up by a car belonging

  to a man we know we know is part of everything

  I've described to you. They drove to

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 193

  the embassy, and you'll have to take my word for

  that. I saw them."

  Connal fixed his gaze on Joel, accepting what he

  had heard. ' Oh, Jesus, " he said. 'Okay, no embassy.

  What about Brussels, SHAPE? There's a Navy

  intelligence unit; I ve dealt with those people

  before."

  Not yet. Maybe not at all."

  41 thought you wanted to use the uniform, my

  connections."

  `Maybe I will. It's nice to know they're there."

  ~Well, what do you want me to do? I've got to

  do something. "

  Are you really fluent in German?"

  "Hochdeutsch, Schwa'bisch, Bayerisch, and several

  dialects in between. I told you, I can handle five

  languages "

  You've made it obnoxiously clear," interrupted

  Converse. '4There's a woman named Fishbein here

  in Bonn. That's the first name I'm going to give you.

  She's involved we're not sure how, but she's

  suspected of being a conduit a relayer of

  information. I want you to meet her, talk with her

  establish a relationship. We'll have to think of

  something that'll be convincing in order for you to

  do it. She's in her forties, and she's the youngest

  daughter of Hermann Goring. She married a

  survivor of the holocaust for obvious reasons; he's

  long gone. Any ideas?"

  '~Sure," said Fitzpatrick without hesitating.

  '`Inheritance. There are a couple of thousand last

  wills and testaments every year that the deceased

  want processed through the military. They're from

  crazies who leave everything they've got to the other

  survivors. The true Aryan Germanic stock and all

  that horseshit. We bounce them back to the civil

  courts, which don't know what to do with them, so

  they end up in limbo and eventually in the Treasury

  Department's coffers."

  "No kidding?"

  "girls, owed drei. Believe me, those people mean it."

  "Can you use the device?"

  "How about a million-plus legacy from a small

  Midwest brewer of lager beer?"

  "You'll do," said Joel. "You're on board."

  Converse did not mention Aquitaine or George

  Marcus Delavane or Jacques-Louis Bertholdier or

  Erich Leifhelm, or twenty-odd names at the State

  Department and the Pentagon. Nor did he describe

  the network as it appeared in the dossiers, or as

  described by Dr. Edward Beale on Mykonos.

  .=OBERTLUDLUM

  He gave Connal Fitzpatrick the barest bones of the body

  of information. Joel's reasoning was far less benign than

  he had stated: if the Navy lawyer was taken and

  interrogated no matter how brutally there was little

  of substance he could reveal.

  "You're not really telling me a hell of a lot," said

  Fitzpatrick.

  "I've told you enough to get your head blown off,

  and that's not a phrase normally in my lexicon."

  "Nor mine."

  "Then consider me a nice fellow," said Converse, as

  the two men headed for the entrance gate of the Alter

  Zoll.

  "On the other hand," continued Halliday's broth-

  er-in-law, "you've been through a lot more than I ever

  have I read that stuff about you in the security

  files files, not file they were cross-correlated with the

  files of a lot of other prisoners. You were something

  else. According to most of the men in those camps, you

  held them together until they put you into solitary."

  "They were wrong, sailor. I was shaking and scared

  to death and would have fucked a Peking duck to save

  my skin."

  "That's not what the files say. They say "

  "I'm really not interested, Commander," said Joel as

  they passed through the ornate gate, "but I've got an

  immediate problem you can help solve."

  "What is it?"

  "I gave my word I'd call Dowling on some mobile

  phone line. I wouldn't know how to ask for it."

  "There's a booth over there," said Connal, pointing

  to a white plastic bubble that protruded from a concrete

  pylon on the pavement abutting the drive. "Do you have

  the number?"

  "It's here somewhere," replied Converse, rummaging

  through various pockets. "Here it is," he said as he

  separated the scrap of paper from several credit-card

  charges.

  ''Vermittlung, bitts." The naval officer sounded

  authentic as he spoke crisply into the telephone. "Sieben,

  drei, pier zwei, zwei. Bitte, Fraulein. " Fitzpatrick then

  inserted a series of coins into the metal box and turned

  to Joel. "Here you are. They're ringing."

  Stay there. Ask for him say it's his lawyer calling the

  "Guten Tag, Fraulein. Ist Herr Oh, no, I speak

  English. Do you spealc English? No, I'm not calling

  from California, but it's an emergency.... Dowling, I

  have to reach "

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 195

  "Caleb, " said Joel quickly.

  'Caleb Dowling." The Navy man covered the

  mouthpiece. "What kind of name is that?"

  "Something to do with Gucci shoes."

  "What? . . . la yes, thanks." Fitzpatrick handed

  the phone to Converse. "They're getting him."

  "foe?"

  "Yes, Cal. I said I'd call you after I met with

  Fowler. Everything's okay."

  'No, it's not, Mr. Lawyer," said the actor quietly.

  "You and I had better have a very serious talk, and

  I don't mind telling you a hunk of beef named

  Rosenberg will be just a few feet away."

  "I don't understand."

  "A man died in Paris. Does that clear things up for

  you?"

  "Oh, God " Converse felt the blood draining from

  his head and a hol
lowness in his throat. For a

  moment he thought he was going to be sick. "They

  came to you?" he whispered.

  "A man from the German police a little over an

  hour ago, and this time I didn't have any doubts

  about my visitor. He was the real item."

  "I don't know what to say," stammered Joel.

  "Did you do it?"

  "1. . . I guess I did." Converse stared at the

  telephone dial, seeing the bloodied face of the man

  in the alleyway, feeling the blood on his own fingers

  "You guess? That's not something you guess about."

  "Then yes.... The answer is yes. I did it."

  "Did you have a reason?"

  "I thought I did."

  "I want to hear it, but not now. I'll tell you where

  to meet me."

  "Nor" exclaimed Joel, confused but emphatic. "I

  can't involve you. You can't be involved!"