“Gone?” cried the Frenchman, his eyes once moreon fire as they had been weeks ago in Paris, hiswhole body trembling with rage. “Convicted by abarbarian, a smelly, uneducated Jew?”
“Van Headmer didn’t go that far. He said youwere simply too vulnerable “
“Forget Van Headmer!” roared Bertholdier. “He’sa fossil! He was courted solely on the basis that hemight deliver raw materials. He’s of noconsequence.”
“I didn’t think he was,” agreed Joel truthfully.
“But the strutting, foul-mouthed Israeli thinkshe can move against me? Let me tell you, I havebeen threatened before by a great man andnothing ever came of those threats because, as youput it, I was ”damned good’ at what I did. I still am!And there is another record, one of outstanding andbrilliant service, that dwarfs any compilation offilthy rumors and barracks gossip. My record isunmatched by any in code-name Aquitaine, and thatincludes the legless egomaniac in San Francisco. Hebelieves it was all his idea! Preposterous! I refined it!He merely gave it a name based on a far-fetchedreading of history.”
“He also got the ball started by exporting onehell of a lot of hardware,” interrupted Converse.
" Because it was there! And there were profits tobe made!” The general paused, leaning forward inthe chair. “I will be frank with you. As with any elitecorps of leadership, one man rises above the othersby the sheer strength of his character and his mind.Beside me the others all others pale intomediocrity. Delavane is a deformed, hystericalcaricature. Leifhelm is a Nazi, and Abrahms is abombastic polarizer; alone he could set off waves ofanti-Semitism, the worst sort of symbol ofleadership. When the tribunals rise out of theconfusion and the panic, they will look to me. Ishall be the true leader of code-name Aquitaine.”
Joel got out of the chair and walked back to thewindow, staring out at the mountain fields, feelingthe soft breezes on his face. “This examination isfinished, General,” he said.
As if on cue the door opened, and a formersergeant major in the French Army based in Algiersstood there waiting to escort the bewildered legendof France out of the room.
Chaim Abrahms sprang out of the brocadedchair, his barrel chest straining the seams of hisblack safari jacket. “He said those things about me?About himself?”
“I told you before we got into any of this to usethe phone,” said Converse, sitting across from theIsraeli, a pistol on a table beside his chair. “Don’ttake my word for it. I’ve heard it said you’ve gotgood gut instincts. Call Bertholdier. You don t haveto say where you are as a matter of fact, I’d put abullet in your head if you tried. Just tell him one ofLeifhelm’s guards, a man you bought to keep hiseyes open for you because of a certain innatemistrust you have of Germans, told you that he,Bertholdier, came to see me alone on two
separate occasions. Since I haven’t been found, youwant to know why. It’ll work. You’ll hear enough toknow whether I’m telling you the truth or not.”
Abrahms stared down at Joel. "But why do youtell me this truth? If it is the truth. Why do youabduct me to tell me these things. Why?”
“I thought I made that clear. My money’s runningout, and although I’m not wild about lox or kreplach,I’d be better off living in Israel under a protectivecover than being hunted and ultimately killedrunning around Europe. You can do that for me, butI know I’ve got to deliver something to you first. I’mdelivering it now. Bertholdier intends to take overwhat he calls code-name Aquitaine. He said you’rea foul-mouthed Jew, a destructive symbol, you’llhave to go. He said the same about Leifhelm; thespecter of a Nazi couldn’t be tolerated and VanHeadmer was a “fossil’ that was the word, ”fossil.”
“I can hear him,” said Abrahms softly, his handsclasped behind his back, pacing toward the window.“Are you sure our military boulevardier with thecock of steel did not say ’smelly Jew’? I’ve heard ourFrench hero use such words always, of course,apologising to me, saying I was exempt.”
“He used them.”
“But why? Why would he say such things to you?I don’t deny his logic, for Christ’s sake. Leifhelm willbe shot once controls are established. A l"lazirunning the goddamned German government?Absurd! Even Delavane understands this, he will beeliminated. And poor old Van Headmer is a relic weall know that. Still, there is gold in South Africa. Hecould deliver it. But why you? Why wouldBertholdier come to you?”
“Ask him yourself. There’s the phone. Use it.”
The Israeli stood motionless, his narrow eyesencased in swells of flesh riveted on Converse. " I will,” he said quietly emphatically. “You are far tooclever, Mr. Lawyer. The fire inside you remains inyour head it has not reached your stomach. Youthink too much. You say you were manipulated? Isay you manipulate.” Abrahms turned and strode likea bulky Coriolanus to the phone. He stood for amoment squinting, remembering, then picked up thephone and dialed the series of numbers long agocommitted to memory.
Joel remained in the chair, every muscle in hisbody taut, his throat suddenly dry. Slowly he inchedhis hand over the
arm of the chair nearer the pistol. In seconds hemight have to use it, his strategy his onlystrategy blown apart by a phone call he had neverthought would be made. What was wrong with him?Where were his vaunted examining tactics taking him?Had he forgotten whom he was dealing with?
“Code Isaiah, " said Abrahms into the phone, hisangry eyes again staring across the room atConverse. “Patch me through to Verdun-sur-Meuse.(prickly!” The Israeli’s massive chest heaved withevery breath, but it was the only part of his stockyframe that moved. He spoke again, furiously. “Yes,code Isaiah! I have no time to waste! Reach Ver-dun-sur-Meuse! Now!” Abrahms eyes grew wide ashe listened. He looked briefly away from Converse,then snapped his head back toward him, his eyesfilled with loathing. “Repeat that!” he shouted. Andthen he slammed the telephone down with suchforce the desk shook. “Liar!” he screamed.
“You mean me?” asked Joel, his hand inchesfrom the gun.
“They say he disappeared! They cannot find him!”
“And?” Converse’s throat was now a vacuum. Hehad lost.
“He lies! The cock of steel is no more than awhining coward! He’s hiding he avoids me! He willnot face me!”
Joel swallowed repeatedly as he moved his handaway from the weapon. “Force the issue,” he said,somehow managing to keep the tremor out of hisvoice. “Trace him down. Call LeifLelm, VanHeadmer. Say it’s imperative you reachBertholdier.”
“Stop it! And let him know I know? He had togive you a reason! Why did he come to see you inthe first place?”
“ I wanted to wait until you’d spoken to him,”said Converse, crossing his legs and picking up apack of cigarettes next to the pistol. “He might havetold you himself then again, he might not. He hasthis idea that I was sent out by Delavane to test allof you. To see who might betray him. ”
“Betray him? Betray the legless one? How?Why? And if our French peacock believed that,again why would he say these things to you?”
“I’m an attorney. I provoked him. Once heunderstood how I felt about Delavane, what thatbastard did to me, he knew I couldn’t possibly haveanything to do with him. His defences were down;the rest was easy. And as he talked I saw
a way to save my own life.’ Joel struck a match,lighting a cigarette. “By reaching you,” he added.
“At the end you bank on the morality of a Jew,then? His acknowledgment of a debt.’
“In part, yes, but not entirely, General. I knowsomething about Leifhelm, about the way he’smaneuvered through the years. He’d have me shot,then send his men after the rest of you, leavinghimself in the number one position.”
“That’s exactly what he’d do,” agreed the Israeli.
“And I didn’t think Van Headmer had any realauthority north of Pretoria.”
“Right again,” said Abrahms, walking back towardConverse. “So the hellhound created in SoutheastAsia is a survivor.”
“Let’s be more specific,” countered Joel. “I wassent out by people I don’t know who aba
ndoned mewithout raising the slightest question as to my guiltor innocence. For all I know, they joined in the huntto kill me to save their own lives. Given theseconditions I intend to survive.”
“What about the woman? Your woman?”
“She goes with me.” Converse put down thecigarette and picked up the gun. “What’s youranswer? I can kill you now, or leave that toBertholdier, or Leifhelm, if he kills the Frenchmanfirst. Or I can bank on your morality, your ac-knowledgment of a debt. What’s it going to be?”
“Put away the gun,” said Chaim Abrahms. “Youhave the word of a sabre.”
“What’ll you do?” asked Joel, placing the weaponback on the table.
“Do?” shouted the Israeli in a sudden burst ofanger. “What I’ve always intended to do! You thinkI give a horse’s fart for this abstraction, thisAquitaine’s infrastructure? Do you think I care onewhit for titles or labels or chains of command? Letthem have it all! I only care that it works, and for itto work respectability must come out of the chaosalong with strength. Bertholdier was right. I am toodivisive a figure as well as a Jew to be so visibleon the Euro-American scene. So I will beinvisible except in Eretz Yisrael, where my word willbe the law of this new order. I, myself, will help theFrench bull get whatever medals he wants. I will notfight him, I will control him.”
“How?”
“Because I can destroy his respectability.”
Converse sat forward, suppressing hisastonishment. “His sex life? Those buried scandals?”
“My God, no, you imbecile! You kick a manbelow his belt in public you ask for trouble. Half thepeople cry "Foul,’thinking it could happen to them,and the other half applaud his courage to indulgehimself which they would very much like to do.”
“Then how, General? How can you do this,destroy his respectability?”
Abrahms sat down again in the brocaded chairhis thick body squeezed dangerously between thedelicately carved mahogany arms. “By exposing therole he played in "code-name Aquitaine.’ The roleswe all played in this extraordinary adventure thatforced the civilized world to summon us and thestrengths of our professional leadership. It’s entirelypossible that all free Europe will turn to Bertholdieras France nearly turned to him after De Gaulle. Butone must understand a man like Bertholdier. Hedoesn’t merely seek power, he seeks the glory ofpower the trappings, the adulation, the mysticism.He would rather give up certain intrinsic authoritythan lose any part of the glory. Me? I don’t give ashit about the glory. All I want is the power to getwhat I need what I command. For the kingdom ofIsrael and its imprimatur in all of the Middle East.”
"You expose him, you expose yourself. How canyou win that way?”
“Because he’ll blink first. He’ll think of the gloryand submit. He’ll do as I say, give me what I want.”
“I think he’ll have you shot.”
“Not when he’s told that if I die several hundreddocuments will be released describing every meetingwe attended, every decision we made. Everything isscrupulously detailed, I assure you.”
“You intended this from the beginning?”
“From the beginning.”
“You play rough.”
“I’m a sabre. I play for the advantage withoutit we would have been massacred decades ago.”
“Among these documents is there a list ofeveryone in Aquitaine?”
“No. It has never been my intention tojeopardise the movement. Call it whatever name youwill, I believe truly in the concept. There must be aunified, international mili
tary-industrial complex. The world will not stay sanewithout it.’
"But there is such a list.
“In a machine, a computer, but it must beprogrammed correctly, the proper codes used.’
“Could you do it?
“Not without help.
“What about Delavane?’
"You have certain perceptions yourself, said theIsraeli, nodding. “What about him?
Again Joel had to control his astonishment. Thecomputer codes that released the master list ofAquitaine were with Delavane. At least the keysymbols were. The remainder were provided by thefour leaders across the Atlantic. Converse shrugged.“You haven t really mentioned him. You’ve talkedabout Bertholdier, about the elimination of Leifhelm,and the impotence of Van Headmer, who could,however, bring in raw materials “
“I said "gold,’” corrected Abrahms.
“Bertholdier said "raw materiels.’ But what aboutGeorge Marcus Delavane?”
“Marcus is finished,” said the Israeli flatly. “Hewas coddled we all coddled him because hebrought us the concept and he worked his end in theUnited States. We have equipment and materiel allover Europe, to say nothing of the contraband we’veshipped to insurgents, just to keep them occupied. "
“Clarification,” interrupted Joel. ” "Occupied’means killing?”
“All is killing. Disingenuous philosophersnotwithstanding, the ends do justify the means. Aska man hunted by killers if he will jump into humanexcrement to conceal himself.”
“I’ve asked him,” said Converse. “I’m he,remember? What about Delavane?”
“He’s a madman, a maniac. Have you ever heardhis voice? He speaks like a man with his testicles ina vise. They cut off his legs, you know, amputatedonly months ago for diabetes. The great generalfelled from an excess of sugar! He’s tried to keep ita secret. He sees no one and no longer goes to hisimpressive office filled with photographs and flagsand a thousand decorations. He operates out of hishome, where the servants come only when he’shidden in a darkened bedroom. How he wished itcould have been a mortar shell or a
bayonet charge, but no. Only sugar. He’s becomeworse, a raving fool, but even fools can have flashes ofbrilliance. He had it once.”
“What about him?”
“We have a man with him, an aide with the rank ofcolonel. When everything begins, when our commandsare in place, the colonel will do as instructed. Marcuswill be shot for the good of his own concept.”
It was Joel’s turn to get out of his chair. Onceagain he walked to the cathedral window across theroom and felt the cool mountain breezes on his face.“This examination is finished, General,’ he said.
“What?” roared Abrahms. “You want your life. /want guarantees!”
“Finished, " repeated Converse as the door openedand a captain m the Israeli Army walked inside, hisgun levered at Chaim Abrahms.
“There will be no discussion between us, Herr Con-verse,” said Erich LeifLelm, standing by the door of thestudy. The doctor from Bonn had just left.the room.“You have your prisoner. Execute him. Over manyyears and in many ways
I have been waiting for this moment. In truth, I’m wearyof the morbidity.”
“Are you telling me you want to die?” asked Joel,standing by the table with the pistol on top.
“No one wants to die, least of all a soldier in thequiet of a strange room. Drums and sharp commandsto a firing squad are preferable there’s a certainmeaning in that. But I’ve seen too much death to gointo hysterics. Pick up your pistol and get it over with.I would if I were you.”
Converse studied the German’s face, whose strangeeyes were noncommittal, expressing only contempt.“You mean it don’t you?”
“Shall I give orders myself? There was a newsreelyears ago. A black man did that against a bloodstainedwall in Castro’s Cuba. I’ve always admired that soldier.”Leifhelm suddenly shouted, “Achtung! Soldaten!P"sentiert das Gewehr!”
“For Christ’s sake, why not talk ?” roared Joel,riding over the fanatical voice.
“Because I have nothing to say. My actions speak,my life has spoken! What is it, Herr Converse? Youhave no stomach for executions? You cannot give theorder to yourself? A small,
insignificant man’s conscience will not permit him tokill? You are laughable!”
“I remind you, General, I’ve killed several peoplethese past few weeks. Killed with less feeling than Iever thought possible.”
" The lowliest coward running for his life will killin p
anic. There is no character in that, merelysurvival. No, Herr Converse, you are insignificant, animpediment even your own forces care nothingabout. You abound in this world. There is an oddphrase you have in your country that so readily ap-plies to you, a phrase our associate uses frequently.You are a ’shit-kicker,’ Herr Converse, nothing moreand probably less.”
"What did you say? What did you call me?”
“You heard me clearly. A shit-kicker. A littleman who steps in waste. Shit-kicker, Herr Converse.Shit-kicker!”
He was back a lifetime ago, on the bridge of acarrier, the face in front of him contorted, obscene, thetwice shrill. Shit-kicker! Shit-kicker, shit-kicker,shit-kicker! Then other explosions followed, and he wasblown into the dark clouds, the wind and the rainbuffeting him, hammering him as he swung downtoward the earth. Down to the ground and four yearsof madness and death and dying children weeping.Madness! Shit-kicker . . . shit-kicker . . . shit-kicker!
Converse reached down for the pistol on thetable. He picked it up and, with his index fingeraround the trigger, leveled it at Erich Leifhelm.
And then a sudden shock went through him.What was he doing? He needed all three men ofAquitaine. Not one, not two, but three! It was thebasis, the spine of what he had to do! But still therewas something else. He had to kill, he had to destroythe deadly human virus staring at him, wantingdeath. Oh, Jesus! Had Aquitaine won, after ally Hadhe become one of them? If he had, he had lost.
"Your kind of courage is cheap, Leifhelm,” hesaid softly, lowering the gun. “Better a quick bulletthan other alternatives.”
“I live by my code. I die by it gladly.”
The Aquaintaine Progession Page 77