Robert Ludlum - The Parcifal Mosaic.txt

by The Parcifal Mosaic [lit]

  anyone studying the Lancia and the immediate area would assume he had run

  down the intersecting street. He then stopped, awkwardly removed both

  shoes, and sidestepped carefully to the curb, pulling his jacket around

  him. He reversed direction and hobbled across the intersection to the side

  of the street that housed Ariale et Fils.

  He lay on his back, matches in his hand, staring up at the black

  grease-laden underside of a Peugeot facing the parkIng-lot wall, keeping his

  mind alert with an exercise in the improbable. Proposition: The owner

  returned with a companIon, and both got into the car. What should Michael do

  and how would he do It without being seen? The answer to the first was to

  roll out-obviously-but on which side?

  Twin headlight beams pierced the entrance of the parking lot, cutting short

  his rurninations. The headlights were tamed off ten feet inside the

  unmanned gate; the car stopped, the motor still running. It was Salanne,

  telling him be had arrived. Havelock crawled to the edge of the Peugeot!s

  chassis and struck a match. Seconds later the doctor was above him, and

  within minutes they were driving south on the road toward Antibes, Michael

  in the back seat, angled in the corner, legs stretched, out of sight.

  "If you recall," said Salanne, "there Is a side entrance to my house,

  reached by the driveway. It leads directly to my office and the examining

  room."

  "I remember. rve used ft."

  "III go inside first, just to make certain."

  "What are you going to do ff there are cars in front?"

  'Td rather not think about it."

  THE PARSIFAL MOSAIC205

  -Maybe you should.'

  "Actually, I have. Theres a colleague of mine In Villefranche, an elderly

  man, above reproach. rd prefer not to involve him, of course."

  .1 appreciate what yoere doing," said Havelock, looking at the back of the

  doctoes bead in the coruseating light, noting thatthe hair touched with

  gray only a year or so ago was practically white now.

  161 appreciate what you did for me," replied Salanne softly. 'I assumed a

  debt. I never thought otherwise."

  "I know. That's pretty cold, isn't itr

  "Not at all. You asked how Claudie was, so let me tell YOU. She is happy

  and with child and married'to a young intern at the hospital in Nice. Two

  years ago she nearly took her own life. How much is that worth to me, my

  friendr

  "rm glad to hear it."

  "Besides, what they say about you is preposterous."

  "What do they sayr

  'That you are insane, a dangerous psychopath who threatens us all with

  exposure-certain death from roving jackals of the KGB-if you are allowed to

  live

  "And that's preposterous to your

  "As of an hour ago, man ami m_Xchant. You remember the man in Cannes who

  was involved with my indiscretion?"

  "The KGB informant?"

  "Yes. Would you say he's knowledgeabler

  "As any in the sector," replied Havelock. '*ro the point where we left him

  alone and tried to feed him disinformation. What about himr

  "When the word came through about you, I rang him up-from a public booth,

  of course. I wanted confirmation of this new, incredible iudgrnent, so I

  asked him how soft the market was, how flexible in terms of price for the

  American consular attach6 whose origins were in Prague. What he told me was

  both startling and specific."

  IAUch wasr asked Michael, leaning forward in pain.

  There is no market for you, no price-high, low or otherwise. You are a

  leper and Moscow wants no part of your disease. You are not to be touched,

  even acknowledged. So whom could you expose in this manner?" The doctor

  shook his head. "Rome lied, which means that someone in Washington lied to

  Rome. 'Beyond salvage? Beyond beUef."

  200 RoBzRT LuDLum

  'Would you repeat those words to someGne?"

  'And by doing so, call for my own execution? There are limits to iny

  gratitude.-

  "You won't be Identifled, my word on it.*

  'Who would believe you without naming a source he could check?"

  "Anthony Matthim"

  "Matthias?" cried Salanne, whipping his head to the side, gripping the

  wheel, his eyes straining to stay on the road. Why would he . . . ?-

  "Because yotere with me. Again, my word on it."

  "A man like Matthias is beyond one's well-intentioned word, my friend. He

  asks and you must tell him."

  "Only if you cleared it."

  "Why would he believe you? Believe me?"

  "You just said it. The attach6 whose origins were In rrague. So were his."

  "I see," said the doctor pensively, his head tamed front again. "I never

  made the connection, never even thought about it."

  'Ies complicated, and I don't talk about ft. We go back a long time, our

  families go back."

  "I must think. To deal with such a man puts everything in another

  perspective, doeset it? We are ordinary men doing our foolish things; he is

  not ordinary. He lives on another plane. The Americans have a phrase for

  what you ask."

  "A different baUgame?'

  'Mat's the one."

  "Ies not. les the same game, and fes rigged against him. Against all of

  us."

  There were no strange automobiles within a four-block radius of Salanne's

  house, no need to travel to Villefranebe and an elderly physician above

  reproach. Inside the examining room, Havelocles clothes were removed, his

  body sponged, and the wounds artured, the doctor's petite, somewhat

  uncommunicative wife assisting Salanne.

  "YOU should rest for several days," said the Frenchman, after his wife had

  left, taking Michaers garments to wash out what she could and burn the

  irrecoverable. "if there are no ruptures, the dressing will hold for five,

  perhaps six days, then it should be changed. But you should rest."

  THE PARSIFAL MOSAIC207

  'I can't," answered Havelock, grimacing, raising himself Into a sitting

  position on the table, his legs over the edge.

  "It hurts to move even those few inches, doeat it?*

  "Only the shoulder, that's all."

  "You've lost blood, you know that."

  "rve lost more, I know that, too." Michael paused, studying Salanne. "Do

  you have a dictating machine in your office?"

  "Of course. Letters and reports-medical reports-must be dealt with long

  after nurses and receptionists have gone home~"

  "I want you to show me how to use it, and I want you to listen. It won't

  take long, and you won't be identified on the tape. Then I want to place an

  overseas call to the United States."

  "Matthias?'

  'Yes. But the circumstances will determine how much I

  S he'll

  can tell him. Who' with him, how sterile the phone is; know what to do. The

  point is, after you bear what rve got to say, the tape in your machine, you

  can decide whether to speak to him or not-if it comes up~"

  'You place a burden on me."

  "I'm sorry~ihere won't be many more. In the morning, r1l need clothes.

  Everything I had is back in Monesi."

  "No problem. Mine would not fit, but my wife buys for me. Tomorrow, she

  will
buy for you."

  "Speaking of buying, rve got a fair amount of money, but nl need more. I

  have accounts in Paris; youll get it ba&"

  "Now you embarrass me.'

  "I don~t meant to, but, you see, theres a catch. In order for you to get it

  back, I have to get to Paris.

  "Surely Matthias can effect swift, safe transportation."

  "I doubt it. You'll understand when you hear what I say in your office.

  Those who lied to Rome are very high in WashIngton. I don~t know who or

  where they are, but I know they'll trimsmit only what they want to. His

  orders will be sidetracked, because their orders have gone out and they

  doet want them voided. And if I say where I am, where I can be reached,

  they'll send in men after me. In any cas% they might succeed, which is why

  I need the tape. May we do it now, please?"

  208 ROBERT LUDLUM

  Thirty-fDur minutes later, Havelock depressed the switch on the cassette

  microphone and placed it on the Frenchman's desk. He had tc)ld It all, from

  the screams at Costa Brava to the explosions at Col des Moulinets. He could

  not refrain from adding a last judgment. The civilized world might well

  survive the compromising of any sprawling, monolithic Intelligence

  service--regardless of race, creed or national originbut not when one of the

  victims was a man that the same civilized world depended on: Anthony

  Matthias, a statesman respected by geopolitical friends and adversaries

  everywhere. He had been systematically Ifed to regarding a matter to which

  he had addressed himself in depth. How many more Res had been fed him?

  Salanne sat across the office, deep in a soft leather armchair, his body

  motionless, his face rigid, his eyes staring at Havelock. He was stunned,

  speechless. After several moments be shook his head and broke his silence.

  "Whyr be asked in a barely audible voice. 'Tes all so preposterous, as

  preposterous as what they say about you. WhyP"

  . rve asked myself that over and over again, and I keep going back to what

  I said to Baylor in Rome. They think I know something I shouldn't know,

  something that frightens them."

  "Do you?"

  "He asked me that."

  OWW"

  "BaylGr. And I was honest with hfin-perhaps too honestbut the shock of

  seeing her had blown my mind. I couldn't think straight. Especially after

  what Rostov bad said in Athens."

  "What did you say?"

  ~Me truth. That if I did know something, Ird forgotten it, or it had never

  made much of an impression on me."

  'Maes not like you. They say you are a walking data bank someone who

  recalls a name, a face, a minor event that took place years ago."

  "Like most such opinions, it's a myth. I was a graduate student for a long

  time, so I developed certain disciplines, but rm no computer."

  *Tm aware of that," said the Frenchman quietly. "No computer would have

  done what you did for me." Salanne

  T]RE PARSTFAL MOSAic209

  paused, leaning forward in the chair. "Have you gone over the months

  preceding Costa Brava?"

  'Months, weeks, days-everything, every place we were . I was. Belgrade,

  Prague, Krakow, Vienna, Washington, Paris. There was nothing remotely

  startling, but I suppose thaes a comparative term. With the exception of an

  exercise in Prague where we got some documents out of the Stfitni

  Bezpe6nost-the secret police headquarters-everything was pretty routine.

  Gathering information, which damn near any tourist could have done, that's

  all."

  "Washingtonr

  "Less than nothing. I flew back for flve days. les an annual event for

  field men, an evaluation interview, which is mostly a waste of time, but I

  suppose they catch a whacko now and then."

  "Whacko?'

  "Someone whos crossed over the mental line, thinks hes someone he's not,

  who's fantasized a basically routine job. Cloak-and-dagger flAes, I suppose

  you could call them. It comes with the stress, with too often pretending

  you are someone yoere not.*

  "Interesting," said the doctor, nodding his bead in some abstract

  recognition. "Did anything else happen while you were therer

  'Zero. I went to New York for a night to see a couple I knew when I was

  young. He owns a marina on Long Island, and ff he ever bad a political

  thought in his bead, I've never heard it. Then I spent two days with

  Matthias, a duty vis% really."

  'You were close ... are close."

  'I told you, we go back a long time. He was there when I needed him; he

  understood."

  'What about those two days?"

  "Less than zero. I only saw him during the evenings when we had dinner

  together-two dinners, actually. Even then, although we were alone, he was

  constantly interrupted by phone calls and by harried people from

  State-supplicants, be called them-who insisted on bringing him reports."

  Havelock stopped, seeing a sudden tight expression on Salanne's face, but

  continued quickly, "No one saw me, if thaes what you're thinking. He!d

  confer with them in his study, and the dining room's on the other side of

  the house. Again, he understood;

  210 RoBERT LunLum

  we agreed not to display our friendship. For my benefit, really. No one

  likes a great man's prot6g6."

  "Ies difficult for me to think of you that way."

  "It'd be impossible if you'd bad dinner with us," said Michael, laughing

  quietly. "All we did was rehash papers I'd written for him nearly twenty

  years ago; he could still punch holes in them. Talk about total recall, be

  has it." Havelock smiled, then the smile faded as he said, "Ies time," and

  reached for the telephone.

  The lodge in the Shenandoah was reached by a sequence of telephone numbers,

  the first activating a remote mechanism at Matthias's residence in

  Georgetown, which in turn was electronically patched into a line a hundred

  and forty miles away, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, ringing the private

  telephone of the Secretary of State. If be was not on the premises, that

  phone was never answered; if he was, only he picked it up. The original

  number was known to perhaps a dozen people in the nation, among them the

  President and Vice-President, the Speaker of the House, the chairman of the

  Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense, the president of the Security

  Council of the United Nations, two senior aides at State, and Mikhail

  Havlif6ek. The last was a privilege that Matthias had insisted upon for his

  krajana, his srolopracotmika from the university, whose father in Prague

  had been a colleague in intellect and spirit, if not in good fortune.

  Michael had used it twice during the past six years. The first time, when

  he was briefly in Washington for new instructions, Matthias bad left word

  at his hotel that he should do so, and the call was merely social. The

  second was not pleasant for Havelock to recall. It bad concerned a man

  named Ogilvie who Michael felt strongly should be removed from the field.

  The Antibes operator offered to ring him back when the call to Washington,

  D.C., was put through, but experience had taught Havelock to stay on the

  line. Nothing so tested the concentr
ation of an operator as an open

  circuit, calls were more swiftly completed by remaining connected. And

  while he listened to the series of high-pitched sounds that signified

  international transmission, Salanne spoke.

  "Why haven't you reached him before now?"

  'Because nothing made sense, and I wanted it to. I

  . THE PARsrFAL MosAic211

  wanted to give him something concrete. A name or names, a position, a title,

  some kind of identity."

  "But from what Ive heard, you still can~t do that."

  "Yes, I can. The authorization for dispatch had a source. Code name

  Ambiguity. It could only come from one of three or four offices, the word

  itself cleared by someone very high at State who was in touch with Rome.

  Matthias reaches Rome, has the fncon-dng logs checked, talks to the

  receiver, and learns who gave Ambiguity its status. There's another name,

  too, but I doet know bow much good iell do. There was a second, so-called

  confimation at Costa Brava, includIng torn pieces of bloodstained clothing.

  Ies all a he; there were no clothes left behind."

  "Then find that man."

  'He's dead. They say be died of a heart attack on a sailboat three weeks

  later. But there are things to look for, if they haven't been obscured.

  Where be came from, who assigned him to Costa Brava."

  "And if I may add," said the Frenchman, "the doctor who made out the death

  certificate."

  "You're right." The singsong tones disappeared from the fine, replaced by

  two short, steady bums, then a break of silence, followed by a normal ring.

  The electronic remote had done its work; the telephone in the Shenandoah

  lodge was zinging. Michael felt the pounding in his throat and the

  shortness of breath that came with anNiety. He had so much to say to this

  phitele; he hoped to Christ be could say it and so begin the ending of the

  nigbtmare. The ringing stopped; the phone bad been picked up. Thank Godl

  "Yes?" asked the voice over four thousand miles away in the Blue Ridge

  Mountains, a male voice, but not the voice of Anton Matthias. Or was the

  sound distorted, the single word too short to identify the man?

  "Jak se vdm dafi?"

  'What? Who's this?"

  It was not Matthias. Had the rules been changed? If they bad, it did not

  make sense. This was the emergency line, Matthias's personal phone, which