burst that cut that kid's face apart. When I reached
him, half of that face in my hands, I heard the
cackle, the obscene laughter of an obscene man who
personified for me everything I found de-
spicable whether North Vietnamese or American.
If you want to know the truth, whatever I did I did
against both because both were guilty, all of us
turned into animals, myself included. Those other
three men, those enemies, those uniformed robots,
probably with wives and children back in villages
somewhere up north, had no idea I got behind them.
I shot them in the back, counselor. What would
Johnny Ringo say about that? Or John Wayne?"
Connal was silent as Joel walked over to the hunt
table to pour himself a whisky. The Navy lawyer
drank, then spoke. "A few hours ago you said you
knew where I was coming from because you'd been
there. Well, I haven't been where you were, but I'm
beginning to see where you're coming from. You
really hate everything that Aquitaine stands for, don't
you? Especially those running it."
Converse turned. "With everything that's in me,"
he said. "That's why we've got to talk about tonight."
"I told you, I had no choice. You said the
embassy people I saw at the airport were with
Delavane. I couldn't take the chance."
"I know. Now we're both running, hunted by our
own people and protected by the men we want to
trap. We've got to think, Commander."
The telephone rang twice abrasively. Fitzpatrick
leaped from the chair, his initial reaction one of
shock. Joel watched him, calming him with his look.
"Sorry," said Connal. "I'm still edgy. I'll get it; I'll be
all right." The Navy lawyer crossed to the phone and
picked it up. ':7a?" He listened for several seconds,
covered the mouthpiece and looked at Converse. "It's
the overseas operator. San Francisco. It's Meagen."
"Which means Remington," saidJoel, his throat
suddenly dry, his pulse accelerating.
"Meagen? Yes, I'm here. What is it?" Fitzpatrick
stared
250 ROBERT LUDLUM
straight ahead as his sister talked; he nodded
frequently, the muscles of his jaw working as he
concentrated. "Oh, Chr~st! . . . No, it's all right. I
mean it, everything s okay. Do you have the
number?" Connal looked down at the small
telephone table; there was a message pad but no
pencil. He glanced over at Joel, who had already
started for the desk and a hotel pen. Fitzpatrick
held out his hand, took the pen and wrote out a
series of numbers. Converse stood aside, conscious
that he was barely breathing, his fingers gripping the
glass. "Thanks, Meagen. I know it's a hell of a time
for you; you don't need this but if you have to call
again, make it station-to-station, okay? . . . I will,
Meg, I give you my word. Good-bye." The Navy
lawyer hung up, his hand for a moment remaining
on the telephone.
"Remington called, didn't he?" said Joel.
"Yes."
'What happened ?"
"Someone tried to get the flag on your service
record released," said Fitzpatrick, turning, looking at
Converse. "It's okay. Remington stopped it."
"Who was it?"
"I don't know, I'll have to reach David. Meagen
doesn't have any idea what a flag is, much less who
you are. The message was only that 'a release was
sought for the flag,' but he stopped it."
"Then everything's all right."
"That's what I said, but it's not."
"Clarification, goddamn it!"
"There's a time limit on how long my order
stands. It's only a day or two after the vetting
process "
"Which is forty-eight hours," interrupted Joel.
"Yes, I'm sure of that; it's after that. You see,
you thought this would happen, but frankly I didn't.
Whoever's asking for that flag isn't small potatoes.
You could walk out of that meeting and a few hours
later your new associates could have that stuff in
their hands. Converse the Delavane-hater. Is he now
the Delavane-hunter?"
"Call Remington."Joel went to the French doors,
opened them, and walked out on the small balcony.
Drifting wisps of clouds filtered the moonlight, and
far to the east there were Hashes of heat lightning
reminding Converse of the silent artillery fire he and
the other escaping prisoners would see in the hills,
knowing it was sanctuary but unreachable. He could
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 251
hear Fitzpatrick inside; from the sound of his voice
he was getting a line through to San Diego. Joel
reached into a pocket for his cigarettes; he lighted
one. Whether it was the bright glow of the flame
that illuminated the movement he did not know, but
he looked in the direction of that movement. Two
balconies away, about thirty feet to his right, a man
stood watching him. The figure was a silhouette in
the dim light; he nodded and went back inside. Was
the man simply another guest who had coincidentally
gone outside for a breath of air? Or had Aquitaine
posted a guard? Converse could hear the Navy
lawyer talking conversationally; he turned and
walked back into the room.
Connal was seated in the chair on the other side
of the table. He held the phone to his ear with his
left hand; his right held the pen above the message
pad. He made a note, then said quickly, "Wait a
minute. You say Hickman told you to let it ride but
he wouldn't tell you who specifically made the re-
quest? . . . I see. All right, David, thanks very much.
Are you going out tonight? . . . So if I need you I
can reach you at this number.... Yes, I know, it's
these damn phones up in Sonoma. One heavy rain in
the hills and you're lucky to get a line, forget a clear
one. Thanks again, David. Good-bye." Fitzpatrick
hung up the phone and looked strangely, almost
guiltily, at Joel. Instead of speaking, he shook his
head, breathing out and frowning.
'What is it? What's the matter?"
"You'd better get everything you can at that
meeting tomorrow. Or is it today?"
"It's past midnight. It's today. Why?"
"Because twenty-four hours later that flag will be
released to a section in the Fifth Naval
District that's Norfolk, and it's powerful. They'll
know everything you don't want them to know about
you. The time limit is seventy-two hours."
"Get an extension!"
Connal stood up, helplessness in his expression.
"On what basis?"
"What else? National security."
"I'd have to spell out the reasons, you know that."
"I don't know that. Extensions are granted for all
sorts of contingencies. You need more time to
prepare. A source or a witness has been
postponed illness or an injury. Or per
252
ROBERT LUDLUM
sonal matters goddamn it, your brother-in-law's
funeral, your sister's grief--they've delayed your
progress!"
"Forget it, Joel. If I tried that, they'd tie you in
with Press and good-bye Charlie. They killed him,
remember?"
"No," said Converse firmly. "It's the other way
around. It separates us further."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've thought about this, tried to put myself in
Avery's shoes. He knew his every move was being
watched, his telephone probably tapped. He said the
geography, the Comm Tech-Bern merger, the
breakfast, Geneva itself, everything had to be
logical; it couldn't be any other way. At the end of
that breakfast he said if I agreed we'd talk later."
"So?"
"He knew we'd be seen together it was
unavoidable and I think he was going to give me
the words to say if someone in Aquitaine asked me
about him. He was going to turn everything around
and give me the push I needed to reach these men."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Avery was going to stamp me with the label I
had to wear to get inside Delavane's network. We'll
never know, but I have an idea he was going to tell
me to say that he, A. Preston Halliday, suspected
me of being one of them, that he had inserted
himself in the Comm Tech-Bern merger to threaten
me with exposure, to stop me."
"Wait a minute." Connal shook his head. "Press
didn't know what you were going to do or how you
were going to do it."
"There was only one way to do it, he knew that!
He also knew I'd reach the same conclusion once I
understood the particulars. The only way to stop
Delavane and his field marshals is to infiltrate
Aquitaine. Why do you think all that money was put
up front? I don't need it and he knew he couldn't
buy me. But he knew it could be used would have
to be used to get inside and start talking, start
gathering evidence.... Call Remington again. Tell
him to prepare an extension."
"It's not Remington, it's the commander of
SAND PAC an admiral named Hickman. David said
I could expect a call from him tomorrow. I'll have
to figure that one out and phone Meagen back.
Hickman's uptight; he wants to know who you are
and why all the interest."
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 253
'How well do you know this Hickman?"
' Fairly well. I was with him in New London and
Galveston. He requested me as his CLO in San
Diego; that's what gave me the stripe."
Converse studied Fitzpatrick's face, then without
saying anything he turned and walked to the open
balcony doors. Connal did not interrupt; he
understood. He had seen too many attorneys, himself
included, struck by a thought they had to define for
themselves, an idea upon which a case might hinge.
Joel turned around slowly, haltingly, the dim,
abstract shadows of a possibility coming into focus.
"Do it," he began. "Do what I think your
brother-in-law might have done. Finish what he
might have said but never got a chance to say it.
Assume he and I had that meeting after the merger
conference. Give me the springboard I need."
"As you would say, clarification, please, counselor."
"Present Hickman with a scenario as it might
have been written by A. Preston Halliday. Tell him
that flag's got to remain in place because you have
reason to believe I was connected with your
brother-in-law's murder. Explain that before Halliday
flew to Geneva he came to see you as he did and
told you he was meeting me, an opposing attorney he
suspected of being involved with corrupt export
licensing, a legal front for some boardroom
profiteers. Say he said he was going to confront me.
Preston Halliday had a history of causes."
"Not for the past ten or twelve years, he didn't,"
corrected Fitzpatrick. "He joined the establishment
with a vengeance and with a healthy respect for the
dollar."
"It's the history that counts. He knew that; it was
one of the reasons he came to me. Say you're
convinced he did confront me, and since millions are
made out of that business you think I methodically
had him removed, covering myself by being there
when he died. I have a certain reputation for being
methodical."
Connal lowered his head and ran his hand
through his hair, then walked in thought toward the
hunt table. He stopped, raised his gaze to one of the
racehorse prints and turned back to Converse. "Do
you know what you're asking me to do?"
"Yes. Give me the springboard that'll catapult me
right in the middle of those would-be Genghis
Khans. To do it you'll have to go further with
Hickman. Because you're so person
254 ROBERT LUDLUM
ally involved and so goddamned angry which again
is the truth tell him to explain your position to
whoever wants the flag released. It's a nonmilitary
matter, so you're taking what you know to the
civilian authorities."
"I understand all that," said Fitzpatrick.
"Everything I say is the truth, as I saw it when I flew
over here to find you. Except that I reverse the
targets. Instead of being the one who can help me,
you're now the one I want nailed."
"Right on, counselor. And I'm met by a
welcoming committee at Leifhelm's estate."
"Then I guess you don't see."
"What?"
"You're asking me to go on record implicating
you in first-degree murder. I'll be branding you as
a killer. Once I say it, I can't take the words back."
"I know that. Do it."
George Marcus Delavane twisted his torso in his
chair behind the desk in front of the strangely
colored fragmented map on the wall. It was not a
controlled movement; it was an action in search of
control. Delavane did not care for obstrucbons and
one was being explained to him now by an admiral
in the Fifth Naval District.
"The status of the Hag is Four Zero," said
Scanlon. "To get it released we'd have to go through
Pentagon procedures, and I don't have to tell you
what that means. Two senior officers, one from
naval intelligence, plus a supporting signature from
the National Security Agency; all would have to
appear on the request sheet, the level of the inquiry
stated, thus escalating the request to a sector
demand. Now, General, we can do all this, but we
run the risk "
"I know the risk," interrupted Delavane. "The
signatures are the risk, the identities a risk. Why the
Four Zero? Who placed it and why?"
"The chief legal officer of SAND PAC. I
checked him out. He's a lieutenant commander
named Fitzpatrick, and there's nothing in his record
to give
us any indication as to why he did it."
"I'll tell you why," said the warlord of Saigon.
"He's hiding something. He's protecting this
Converse."
"Why would a chief legal officer in the Navy
protect a civilian under these circumstances?
There's no connection.
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 255
Furthermore, why would he exercise a Four Zero
condition? It only calls attention to his action."
"It also clamps a lid down on that flag." Delavane
paused, then continued before the admiral could
interrupt. "This Fitzpatrick," he said. "You've checked
the master list?"
"He's not one of us."
"Has he ever been considered? Or approached?"
' I haven't had time to find out." There was the
sound of a buzzer, not part of the line over which
the two men spoke. Scanlon could be heard punching
a button, his voice clear, officious. "Yes?" Silence
followed, and seconds later the admiral returned to
Palo Alto. "It's Hickman again."
"Maybe he has something for us. Call me back."
"Hickman wouldn't give us anything if he had the
slightest idea we existed," said Scanlon. In a few
weeks, he'll be one of the first to go. If it were up to
me he'd be shot."
'~Call me back," said George Marcus Delavane,
looking at the map of the new Aquitaine on the wall.
Chaim Abrahms sat at the kitchen table in his
small stone Mediterranean villa in Tzahala, a suburb
of Tel Aviv favored by the retired military and those
Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt Page 39