with the power beneath to carry you to your own
destination."
"That's a little heavy, but I guess it says it. As to
where I come from, I'm sure you know that by
now."
Five hours. More than enough time to put the
puppets in place. A killing in New York; it had to be
dealt with.
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 215
"Only bits and pieces, Mr. Converse. And even if
we knew more, how could we be certain it's true?
What people think you are you may not be."
"Are you, General?"
"Ausqezeichnet!" said Leifhelm, slapping his knee
and laughing. It was a genuine laugh, the man's
waxen face creasing with humor. "You are a fine
lawyer, main Herr. You answer as they say in
English a pointed question with another question
that is both an answer and an indictment"
"Under the circumstances, it's merely the truth.
Nothing more. "
'also modest. Very commendable, very attractive."
Joel uncrossed his legs, then crossed them again
impatiently. "I don't like compliments, General. I
don't trust them under the circumstances. You
were saying before about where I wanted to go,
about Bonn, Tel Aviv, and Johannesburg. What did
you mean?"
' Only that we have complied with your wishes,"
said Leifhelm, spreading his hands in front of him.
"Rather than your making such tedious trips, we
have asked our representatives in Tel Aviv and
Johannesburg, as well as Bertholdier, of course, to
fly to Bonn for a conference. With you, Mr. Con-
verse. "
He had done it! thought Joel. They were fright-
ened panicked was perhaps the better description.
Despite the pounding and the pain in his chest, he
spoke slowly, quietly. "I appreciate your
consideration, but in all frankness, my client isn't
ready for a summit. He wanted to understand the
parts before he looked further at the whole. The
spokes support the wheel, sir. I was to report how
strong they were how strong they appeared to me."
"Oh, yes, your client. Who is he, Mr. Converse?"
"I'm sure General Bertholdier told you I'm not at
liberty to say."
"You were in San Francisco, California "
"Where a great deal of my research was done,"
interrupted Joel. "It's not where my client lives.
Although I readily admit there's a man in San
Francisco Palo Alto, to be exact whom I'd like
very much to be my client."
"Yes, yes, I see." LeifLelm put the ends of his
fingers together as he continued, "Am I to
understand that you reject the conference here in
Bonn?"
Converse had taken a thousand such questions in
opening
216 ROBERT IUDLUM
gambits with attorneys seeking accommodations
between corporate adversaries. Both parties wanted
the same thing; it was simply a question of
flattening out the responsibility so that no one party
would be the petitioner.
"Well, you've gone to a lot of trouble," Joel
began. "And as long as it's understood that I have
the option of speaking to each man individually
should I wish to do so, I can't see any harm."
Converse permitted himself a strained smile, as he
had done a thousand times. "In the interests of my
client of course."
"Of course," said the German. "Tomorrow say,
four o'clock in the afternoon. I'll send a car for you.
I assure you I set an excellent table."
"A table?"
"Dinner, naturally. After we have our talk."
Leifhelm rose from the chair. '61 wouldn't think of
your coming to Bonn and forgoing the experience.
I'm known for my dinner parties, Mr. Converse.
And if it concerns you, make whatever security
arrangements you like. A platoon of personal
guards, if you wish. You'll be perfectly safe. Mein
Haus ist dein Haus. "
"I don't speak German."
"Actually, it's an old Spanish saying. Mi casa, su
casa. 'My house is your house.' Your comfort and
well-being are my most urgent concerns."
"Mine, too," said Joel, rising. "I wouldn't think of
having anyone accompany me, or follow me. It'd be
counterproductive. Of course, I'll inform my client
as to my whereabouts telling him approximately
when he can expect my subsequent call. He'll be
anxious to hear from me."
"I should think so." Leifhelm and Converse
walked to the door; the German turned and once
more offered his hand. "Until tomorrow, then. And
may I again suggest while you're here that you be
careful, at least for several days."
"I understand."
The puppets in New York. The killing that had to
tee deals with the first of two obstacles, two sharp,
sickening aches ... his chat.
"By the way," said Joel, releasing the field
marshal's hand. "There was a news item on the BBC
this morning that interested me EO much that I
phoned an associate. A man was killed in New
York, a judge. They say it was a revenge killing,
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 217
a contract put out by organised. Did you happen to
hear anything about it?"
"Id" asked Leithelm, his blond-white eyebrows
raised, his warlike lips parted. "It seems people are
killed by the dozens every day in New York, judges
included, I presume. Why should I know anything
about it? The answer, obviously, is no."
"I just wondered. Thank you."
"But . . . but you. You must have a . . ."
"Yes, General?"
"Why does this judge interest you? Why did you
think I would know him?"
Converse smiled, but without a trace of humor.
"I won't be telling you anything when I tell you he
was our mutual adversary enemy, if you like."
"Our? You really must explain yourselfl"
"As you and as I said, I am what I want
people to think I am. This man knew the truth. I'm
on leave of absence from my firm, working
confidentially for a personal client. He tried to stop
me, tried to get the senior partner to cancel my leave
and call me back."
"By giving him reasons?"
"No, just veiled threats of corruption and
impropriety. He wouldn't go any further; he's on the
bench and couldn't back it up; his own conduct
would be suspect. My employer is completely
ignorant angry as hell and confused but I've
calmed him down. It's a closed issue; the less it's
explored, the better for us all." Joel opened the door
for Leifhelm. "Till tomorrow " He paused for a
brief moment, loathing the man standing in front of
him but showing only respect in his eyes. "Field
Marshal," he added.
"Gate Nacht," said Erich Leifhelm, nodding his
head sharply once in military acknowledgment.
Converse persuaded the switchboard operator to
send someone into
the dining room for the
American, Commander Fitzpatrick. The task of
finding the naval officer was not easy, for he was not
in the dining room or the bar but outside on the
Spanrsche Terrasse having a drink with friends,
watching the Rhine at twilight.
"What goddamned friends?" demanded Joel over
the phone.
218 ROBERT LUDLUM
'just a couple I met out there. He's a nice
guy an executive type, pretty much into his
seventies, I think."
"And she?" asked Converse, his lawyer's antenna
struck by a signal.
"Maybe thirty, forty years younger," replied
Connal with less elaboration.
"Get up here, sailor!"
Fitzpatrick leaned forward on the couch, his
elbows on his knees, his expression a mixture of
concern and astonishment as he looked over at Joel,
who was smoking a cigarette in front of the open
balcony doors. "Let me run this again," he said
warily. "You want me to stop someone from getting
your service record?"
"Not all of it, just part of it."
"Who the hell do you think I am?"
"You did it for Avery for Press. You can do it
for me. You have tol"
"That's backwards. I opened those files for him,
I didn't keep them closed."
'Either way it's control. You've got access; you've
got a
"I'm here, not there. I can't scissor something
out you don't like ten thousand miles away. Be
reasonable!"
"Somebody can, somebody has tol It's only a
short segment, and it's got to be at the end. The
final interview."
"An interview?" said Connal, startled, getting to
his feet. "In a service record? You mean some kind
of operational report? Because if you do, it
wouldn't be "
"Not a report," interrupted Converse, shaking his
head. "The discharge my discharge interview. That
stuff Press Halliday quoted to me."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Fitzpatrick held
up his hands. "Are you referring to the remarks
made at your discharge hearing?"
"Yes, that's it. The hearing!"
"Well, relax. They're not part of your service
record, or anyone else's."
"Halliday had them Avery had theml I just told
you, he quoted my words verbatim!" Joel walked to
a table where there was an ashtray; he crushed out
his cigarette. "If they're not part of the record, how
did he get them? How did you get them for him?"
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 219
"That's different," said Connal, obviously
remembering as he spoke. "You were a POW, and a
lot of those hearings were put under a debriefing
classification, and I do mean classified. Even after all
these years, many of those sessions are still touchy.
A lot of things were talked about that no one to this
day wants made public for everyone's good, not just
the military's."
"But you got them! I heard my own words, goddamn
ill"
"Yes, I got them," admitted the Navy lawyer
without enthusiasm. "I got the transcript, and I'd be
busted to seaman third class if anyone knew about it.
You see, I believed Press. He swore to me he needed
it, needed everything. He couldn't make any
mistakes."
"How did you do it? You weren't even in San
Diego at the time, that's what you saidl"
"By calling the vaults and using my legal-release
number to have a photostat made. I said it was a
Four Zero emergency and I'd take responsibility. The
next morning when the authorization came in by
pouch for countersignature, I had the chief legal
officer at the base sign it with a lot of other things It
simply got buried in the paper work."
"But how did you know about it in the first place?"
"Selected POW records have flags on their
discharge sheets."
"Clarification, please?"
"Just what I said, flags. Small blue seals that
denote additional information stilt held under tight
security. No flags, everything's clean; but if there is
one, that means there's something else. I told Press,
and he said he had to have whatever it was, so I
went after it."
"Then anyone else could, too."
"No, not anyone. You need an officer with a
legal-release number, and there aren't that many of
us. Also there's a minimum forty-eight-hour delay so
the material can be vetted. That's almost always in
the area of weapons and technology data that still
might be classified."
"Forty~i'
to count the hours since Paris, since the first moment
his name had surfaced. "There's still times" he said,
his voice taut, his words clipped. "If you can do it
there's still time. And if you can, I'll tell you
everything I know because you'll deserve it. No one
will deserve it more."
"Spell it out."
220 ROBERT LUDLUM
Joel turned aimlessly, shaking his head. "That's
funny. I said the same thing to Avery. I said 'Spell
it out, Avery.' . . . Sorry, his name was Press."
Converse turned back to the Navy lawyer, a military
lawyer with a mystifying military privilege called a
legal-release number. "Listen to me and hear me
clearly. A few minutes ago something happened that
I wasn't sure would or could happen something
your brother-in-law was killed to prevent. Tomorrow
at four o'clock in the afternoon I'm going to walk
into the midst of that group of men who'vecome
together to promote a kind of violence that'll stun
this world, toppling governments, allowing these
same men to step in and fill the voids. They'll run
things their way, shape the laws their way. One big
Supreme Court, each chair owned by a fanatic with
specific convictions as to who and what has value
and who and what doesn't, and those who don't can
go to hell, no appeals on the agenda.... I'm going to
meet them Pace-to-face! I'm going to talk with
them, hear their words! I admit I'm the most
amateurish fox you've ever heard of in a chicken
coop only, in this case it's a vultures' nest, and I
mean the type that swoops down and tears the flesh
off your back with one pass. But I've got something
going for me: I'm one hell of a good lawyer, and I'll
learn things they won't know I've learned. Maybe
enough to piece together a couple of cases that will
blow it all apart blow them apart. I told you before
that I rejected your deadline. I still reject it, but
now it doesn't seem so out of the question.
Certainly not two days, but perhaps not ten! You
see, I thought I was going to have to fly to Tel Aviv,
then Johannesburg. Prime everyone, frighten them.
Now I don't have to! We've already done it! They're
coming to me because they're the ones who are
frightened now! They
don't know what to think, and
that means they've panicked." Converse paused,
sweat forming on his hairline; then he added, "I
don't have to tell you what a good lawyer can do
with panicked hostile witnesses. The materials he
can collect for evidence."
"Your plea's accepted, counselor," said
Fitzpatrick, not without awe. "You're convincing.
Now, tell me why my intercession can help? What
does it accomplish?"
"I want those men to think I'm one of them! I
can live with everything they can put together about
me I'm not proud of it all; I've made my
compromises but I can't live with that transcript of
my discharge! Don't you see? It's what
Avery Press understood! I understand now. He
knew me
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 221
nearly twenty-five years ago, and when I think back
we were actually pretty damned good friends. And
no matter what happened to us individually, he was
banking on the fact that I hadn't really changed that
much, not in the deeper things. By the time we reach
the voting age we're pretty well set, all of us. The
real changes come later, much later, dictated by such
things as acceptance or rejection and the state of our
wallets the prices we pay for our convictions, or to
support our talents, defending success or explaining
failure. That transcript confirmed what Halliday
believed, at least enough to make him want to meet
me, talk with me, and finally to recruit me. Only, he
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