“The jury’s still in place, Joel, ” said Valerie, hereyes alive, again levered at his. “I don’t want asummation, I want it all. I think you should begin atthe beginning where it began for you.”
“Okay. It started in Geneva "
“I knew it,’ interrupted Val, whispering.
“What?”
“Nothing. Go on.”
“With a man I hadn’t seen in twenty-three years.I knew him by one name then, but in Geneva he wasusing another. He explained it and it didn’t matter.Except that it was a little eerie. I didn’t know howeerie it was, or how much he didn’t explain, or howmany lies he told me in order to manipulate me. Thehell of it is he did what he did for all the rightreasons. I was the man they needed. They. And Idon’t know who they are, only that they’re there,somewhere…. As long as I live however long I’mpermitted I’ll never forget the words he used whenhe reached the core of why he had come to Geneva.“They’re beck,’ he said. ”The generals are back.’”
He told her everything, allowing his mind and histhoughts to wander, to include every detail he couldrecall. The countdown was in progress. In a matter ofdays or at best a week or two there would beeruptions of violence everywhere like what wastaking place in Northern Ireland right now.“Accumulations,’ they said. ”Rapid acceleration!’Only, no one knew who or what or where the targetswere. George Marcus Delavane was the madmanwho conceived it all, and other powerful madmenwere listening to him, following his orders, movinginto positions from which they would leap for thecontrols. Everywhere
Finally he was finished, a part of him in anguish,knowing that if she was caught by the soldiers ofAquitaine, the narcotics inserted in her body wouldreveal the information that would result in her death.He said as much when he had finished, wantingdesperate! v to breach the space between them andhold her, telling her how much he hated himself fordoing what he knew he had to do. But he made nomove toward
her; her eyes told him not to; she was evaluating,thinking things out for herself.
“Sometimes,” she said quietly, "when the dreamswould come, or you drank too much, you’d talkabout this Delavane. You d become so panickedyou’d tremble and close your eyes and every nowand then you’d scream. You hated that man so.You were also frightened to death of him.”
“He caused’ a lot of death, unnecessary death.Kids . . . children in grown-up uniforms who didn’tknow that Bung ho meant search and destroy andget blown apart.”
“There’s no way you could be what do they callit transferring your emotions?”
“If you believe that, I’ll drive you back to theAmstel and you can fly home in the morning and goback to your easels. I’m not crazy, Val. I’m hereand it’s happening.”
“All right, I had to ask. You didn’t live throughsome of those nights, I did. You were eithercrashing into the bed or so scratched by a bottle youdidn’t know where you were:”
“It didn’t happen often.”
“I’ll grant you that; but when it did you werethere. And hurting.”
“Which is exactly why I was reached in Gene-va recruited in Geneva.”
“And this Fowler, or Halliday, knew the exactwords to use. Your own.”
“Fitzpatrick got it all for him. He thought he wasdoing the right thing too.”
“Yes, I know, you told me. What do you thinkhappened to him? Fitzpatrick, I mean.”
“For days I’ve tried to come up with a reason forthem to keep him alive. I can’t. He’s moredangerous to them than I am. He’s worked thestreets they’re undermining; he knows his wayaround Pentagon procurements and export clear-ances so well he could nail them with half theevidence They’ve killed him.”
“You liked him, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did, and just as important, I was almostin awe of that mind of his. He was quick andperceptive and had one hell of an imagination,which he wasn’t afraid to use.”
“He sounds like someone I was married to,” saidVal gently.
Converse kept his e yes on her for a moment,then looked away at the water. “If I get out of thisalive and I don’t really
think I will I’m going hunting. I’m going to find outwho did it, who pulled the trigger. There won’t beany trial, no witnesses for the prosecution thedefence, no circumstances mitigating or otherwise.Just me and a gun.”
“Sorry to hear that, Joel. I always admired yourprinciples. They were a constant, like yourattraction your reverence, I think for the law. Itwasn’t all conceit and ambition, I knew that. It gaveyou the only real roots you ever had. You could lookat the law and argue, as a child does with a parentknowing the parent is some kind of absolute…. Yourfather never gave you that by his own admission,incidentally.”
“I think that’s pretty tasteless. "
“I’m sorry. He brought it up once. I am sorry.”
“It’s all right. We’re talking. We didn’t do muchof that the last year or so together, did we?”
“I didn’t think you wanted to.”
“You’re on target. Forget it. There’s now.”
"And there’s so much you can deny! All theyhave is words against you! I said the same thing toLarry they say you were here, you were there, youdid this and you did that, but you weren’t where theysaid you were and you didn’t do what they say!You’re the lawyer, Converse. For God’s sake, standup and defend yourself”
“I’d never get near a courtroom, can’t youunderstand that? Wherever and whenever I showedup, someone would be there, someone ordered to killme even if it meant losing his own life consideringthe consequences, an insignificant sacrifice. My ideawas to use the envelope the dossiers and all theinformation they contained, the information thatcould only have come from government sources,which means I have partners somewhere inWashington. With all of that I could reach people Iknew the firm knew and with Nathan’s help getthem to listen to me, see I wasn’t crazy. Hear fromme what I saw, what I heard, what I learned. Butwithout that envelope, even Nate couldn’t help.Besides, he’d insist I go by the book and come in,telling me he had guarantees of full protection.There is no protection, not from them. They’re inembassies and naval stations and Army bases; in thePentagon, police departments, Interpol, and theDepartment of State. They’re bag ladies on a trainand commuters with attache cases you don’t knowwho they are but they’re there. And they can’t affordto let me live. I’ve heard their almighty credofirsthand.”
"Checkmate,” said Val softly.
"Check,” agreed Converse.
“Then we have to find somebody else.”
“What?’
“Someone those people you want to reach wouldlisten to. Someone whose presence might forcethose men in Washington who sent you out fromGeneva to say who they are to show themselves.”
“Who are you thinking of? John the Baptist?”
“Not John. Sam. Sam Abbott.”
“Sam? I thought about him that night in Paris!How did you ?”
“Like you, I’ve had a lot of time to think. In NewYork
t,h"eyOpuane, Ita?s,t, night after I saw my auntin Berlin.”
“I’ll get to that…. I knew that if you were alivethere had to be a reason why you stayed in hiding,why you didn’t come out shouting, denying all thoseinsane things they were saying about you. It didn’tmake sense; it wasn’t you And if you’d been killedor captured it would have been on the front pageseverywhere, on all the broadcasts. Since there wasno such story, I assumed you had to be alive. Butwhy did you keep running, hiding? Then I thought,My God, if Larry Talbot doesn’t believe him, whowill? And if Larry didn’t, it meant that the peoplearound him, men like him, all your friends andthose so-called contacts you had had been reachedand convinced that you were the maniac everyonein Europe was talking about. No one would touchyou and you needed someone. Not me, heavenknows. I’m your ex-wife and I don’t carry any weightand you needed someone who did…. So I thoughtabout everyone you’d ever talked about, everyonewe knew. One name kept on coming back to me.Sam Abbott. Brigadier General Abhott now,
according to the papers about SIX months ago.”
” “Sam the Man,’ ” said Joel, shaking his head inapproval.
e was shot down three days after I was, and wewere both shoved around from one camp toanother. Once he was in the cell next to mine andwe d tap out Morse on the walls until they movedme. He stayed in the Air Force for all the rightreasons. He knew he could be his best there.”
“He thought the world of you,” said Val, hervoice a mixture of conviction and quiet enthusiasm.“He said you did
more for morale than anyone in the camps, that yourlast escape gave everyone hope.”
“That’s a crock. I was a troublemaker that’swhat they called me who could afford to takechances. Sam had the roughest job. He could havedone what I did, but he was the ranking officer. Heknew there’d be reprisals if he ever tried. He heldeveryone together, I didn’t.”
“He said otherwise. I think he’s the reason younever thought much of your sister’s husband.Remember when Sam flew into New York and youtried to match him up with Ginny? We all haddinner at that restaurant we couldn’t afford.”
“Ginny scared the hell out of him. He told melater that if she’d been drafted and put in charge ofCommand-Saigon it never would have fallen. Hewasn’t going to refight that war for the rest of hislife.”
“And you lost a desirable brother-in-law.” Valeriesmiled then the smile faded and she leaned forward.“I can reach him Joel. I’ll find him and talk to him,tell him everything you ve told me. Above all, thatyou’re no more insane than I am, than he is. Thatyou were manipulated by people you don’t know,men who lied to you so you’d do the work theyeither couldn’t do or were afraid to do.”
“That’s unfair,” said Converse. “If they starteddigging around State and the Pentagon, there couldbe a rash of accidents very fatal and very dead….No, they were right. It had to start over here and betraced back. It was the only way.”
“If you can say that after all you’ve been through,you’re saner than any of us. Sam will know that.He’ll help.”
“He could, ” said Joel slowly, pensively, breakingoff another reed of grass. “He’d have to becareful none of the usual channels but he coulddo it. Three or four years ago, after you and I brokeup, he found out I was in Washington for a few daysand called me. We had dinner and later too manydrinks; he ended up spending the night on the sofain my hotel room. We talked both of us too much.Me about me and you and Sam about his newestmonumental frustration.”
“Then you’re still close. It wasn’t the tong ago.”
“That isn’t my point. It’s what he was doing. He’dworked his ass off to get into the NASA program,but they turned him down. They said he was toovaluable where he was. No one
was in his class when it came to all-altitude,sub-mach maneuvers. He designed more patterns inthe sky than any designer on Seventh Avenue everdid on the ground. He could look at anaircraft specs aside and tell you what it coulddo.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Oh, sorry. He’d been brought to Washingtonfrom wherever he was stationed as a consultant tothe National Security Agency, cross-pollinating withthe CIA. It was his job to evaluate the capabilitiesof the new Soviet and Chinese equipment. ”
“What?”
“Airplanes, Val. He worked over at Langley andat a dozen different safe houses in Virginia andMaryland, appraising photographs brought out byagents, questioning defectors especially pilots,mechanics and technicians. He knows the people Ihave to reach, he’s worked with them.”
“You’re talking about the intelligence service orservices I gather.” "
“Not just services,” corrected Joel. “Men whocrawl around in the shadows of those paintings ofyours. People trained to cut down bastards likeDelavane and his tribe, cut them out silently byusing methods and techniques you and I knownothing about drugs and whores and little boys.They should have been brought in at the beginning!Not Geneva, not me. They kill when it’s thepragmatic thing to do, and justify the killing becauseit’s in the ultimate interests of the country. AndLord, how I railed against them, the righteousattorney in me demanding that they be heldaccountable. Well, Mr. Naive has changed beenchanged because I’ve seen the enemy and he isn’tus, not the us I think we are. If it takes a garrote tochoke off a cancer when legal medicine can’t do it,hand me the wire, pal, and I’ll read the manual.”
“I thought you loathed fanatics.”
“I do. I . . . do.”
“Sam,” persisted Valerie. “I’ll go home tomorrowand find him.”
“No,” said Converse. “I want you to fly backtonight. You always carried your passport in yourpurse still the same?”
“Of course. But I have “
“I don’t want you going back to the Amstel.You’ve got to get out of Amsterdam. There’s aKLM night Hight to New York at eleven-forty-five.”
“But my things “
“They’re not worth it. Call the hotel when you getback. Wire them money and say it was anemergency. They’ll mail everything to you. "
“You’re serious, aren’t you?’,
“Never more so in my life. I think you shouldknow the truth about Rene. He wasn’t killed becausewe met in Paris nothing had happened then. I calledhim from Bonn four days ago and we talked. Hebelieved me. He was shot to death because he sentme to Amsterdam, to reach a man who might havegotten me on a plane to Washington. That’s out nowand it doesn’t matter. You do. You came here andyou found me, and the people who are looking forme all over the city will know it soon if they don’tknow it already.”
“I never said I was going to Amsterdam,” Valeriebroke in. “I specifically left word at the Kempinskithat I was Hying directly home, that if I got any callsto refer them to New York.”
“Did you have a reservation on the plane?”
“Naturally. I just never showed up.”
“Good, but not good enough. Delavane’s peopleare efficient. Leifhelm has connections at everyairport and immigration point in Germany. They’llfind out otherwise. We might have fooled them oncetonight, not twice. My guess is there’s a Germanwaiting for you at the Amstel now, probably in yourroom. I want him to think you’re coming back, thatyou’re still here.”
“If someone like that goes to my room into myroom he’s in for a shock.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone else is there. An old man with a longmemory, who’s been given instructions I’d rather notrepeat.”
“Your aunt’s doing?”
“She sees things in black and white, no grays.There is the enemy and there is not the enemy. Andanyone who would harm her sister’s daughter is verydefinitely the enemy. You don’t know these people,Joel. They live in the past; they never forget. They’reold now and not what they once were, but theyremember what they were and why they did thethings they did. It was so simple for them. Good andevil. They live with those memories frankly, it’s alittle scary, they’re a little scary, to tell you the truth.Nothing in their lives since has been so alive, soimportant to them. I honestly think they’d all prefergoing back to those days, the horror and all.”
“What about your aunt, though? After everythingthat’s been said about me in the newspapers and ontelevision, she went along with you? She didn’t askany questions? The fact that you were her sister’sdaughter was enough ?”
“Oh, no, she asked one very specific questionand I answered it. That was enough. I must tell you,though. She’s odd very odd but she can do whathas to be done and that’s all that matters.”
“Okay…. You will go back tonight?”
“Yes,” said Val, nodding. “It’s reasonable and Ican do more from New York in the morning thanfrom here. From everything you’ve said, every hour’simportant.”
“Vital. Thanks…. Also you may have troublereaching Sam. I don’t have any idea where he is andthe services aren’t cooperative when it comes to awoman trying to locate an oflicer especially onewith high rank. It’s too complicated an overseaslove affair, a child the man never kn
ew about,probably not his they’re very circumspect.”
“Then I won’t ask them to tell me where he is.I’ll say I’m a relative he’s been trying to reach, thatI travel a great deal and if he wishes to call me, I’llbe at the such-and-such hotel for the nexttwenty-four hours. Certainly they have to relay thatkind of message to a general.”
“Certainly,” agreed Joel. “But if you leave yourname you’re risking too much. For you and Sam.”
“I’ll use a variation, one he’ll recognize.” Valerieblinked, staring at the ground. “Like Parquet only,I’ll feminine it Parquette. A floor,wood something associated with a Charpentier, acarpenter. Then I’ll add Virginia he’d rememberGinny because of you. Virginia Parquette, he’ll fig-ure it out.”
“He probably will. So might others. When youdon’t show up tonight, Leifhelm will have theairports checked. They could pick you up atKennedy.”
“Then I’ll lose them at LaGuardia. I’ll go to amotel where I stay when I take the plane to Boston.I’ll check in and get out without their knowing it.”
“You’re very quick.”
“I told you, my roots go back; I’ve heard thestories. . Now, what about you?”
“I’ll stay out of sight. I’m getting pretty good atit and I can pay for anything I need.”
“Your words, Converse: "Not good enough.’ Themore
money you spread, the more of a trail you leave.They’ll find you. You have to get out of Amsterdamtoo.”
" Well, I could slip across a few borders and headdown to Paris for my old suite at the George Cinq.Of course, it might be a little obvious, but then if Itapped high enough they are French.”
“Don’t try to be funny.”
“I don’t feel remotely amusing. Also, I’d like aprivate toilet and a shower even a secondhandbath. The rooms I find you can’t find in the mostesoteric travel guides.”
“You haven’t had a shower in God knows howlong, that much I can tell you in the open air.”
“Oh, beware the wife who’s offended by herhusband’s hygiene. It’s a sign of something.”
The Aquaintaine Progession Page 58