remembered you were in this very hotel. You did
give me the number of your suite. Do I intrude?"
"Of course not, General," said Converse, on his feet.
"Did you expect met"
"Not this way."
"But you did expect me?"
Joel paused. 'Yes."
"A signal sent and received?"
Again Joel paused. "Yes."
You are either a provocatively subtle attorney or
a strangely obsessed man. Which is it, Monsieur
Simon?"
`If I provoked you into coming to see me and I
was subtle about it, I'll accept that gladly. As to
being obsessed, the word implies an exaggerated or
unwarranted concern. Whatever
92 ROBERT LUDLUM
concerns I have, I know damned well they're
neither exaggerated nor unwarranted. No
obsession, General. I'm too good a lawyer for
that."
"A pilot cannot lie to himself. If he does so
blindly, he crashes to his death."
"I've been shot down. I've never crashed
through pilot error."
Bertholdier walked slowly to the brocaded
couch against the wall. "Bonn, Tel Aviv, and
Johannesburg," he said quietly as he sat down and
crossed his legs. "The signal?"
"The signal."
"My company has interests in those areas."
"So does my client," said Converse.
"And what do you have, Monsieur Simon?"
Joel stared at the soldier. 'A commitment,
General."
Bertholdier was silent, his body immobile, his
eyes searching "May I have a brandy?" he said
finally. "My escort will remain in the corridor
outside this door."
4
Converse walked to the dry bar against the wall,
conscious of the soldier's gaze, wondering which
tack the conversation would take. He was oddly
calm, as he frequently was before a merger
conference or a pretrial examination, knowing he
knew things his adversaries were not aware
of buried information that had surfaced through
long hours of hard work. In the present
circumstances there had been no work at all on his
part, but the results were the same. He knew a
great deal about the legend across the room named
Jacques-Louis Bertholdier. In a word, Joel was
prepared, and over the years he had learned to trust
his on-the-feet instincts as he had once trusted
those that had guided him through the skies years
ago.
Also, as it was part of his job, he was familiar
with the legal intricacies of import-export
manipulations. They were a maze of often
disconnected authorisations, easily made incompre-
hensible for the uninitiated, and during the next few
minutes
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 93
he intended to baffle this disciple of George Marcus
Delavane warlord of Saigon until the soldier s
trace of fear became something far more
pronounced.
Clearances for foreign shipments came in a wide
variety of shapes and colors, from the basic export
license with specific bills of lading to those with the
less specific generic limitations. Then there were the
more coveted licenses required for a wide variety of
products subject to governmental reviews; these were
usually shunted back and forth between vacillating
departments until deadlines forced bureaucratic
decisions often based on whose influence was the
strongest or who among the bureaucrats were the
weakest.
Finally, there was the most lethal authorisation
of all, a document too frequently conceived in
corruption and delivered in blood. It was called the
End-User's Certificate, an innocuously named permit
that was a license to ship the most abusive
merchandise in the nation's arsenals into air and sea
lanes beyond the controls of those who should have
them.
In theory, this deadly equipment was intended
solely for allied governments with shared objectives,
thus the 'use" at the discretion of the parties at the
receiving "end" calculated death legitimised by a'
certificate" that obfuscated everyone's intentions. But
once the equipment was en route, diversion was the
practice. Shipments destined for the Bay of Haifa or
Alexandria would find their way to the Gulf of Sidra
and a madman in Libya, or an assassin named
Carlos training killer teams anywhere from Beirut to
the Sahara. Fictional corporations with nonexistent
yet strangely influential officers operated through
obscure brokers and out of hastily constructed or
out-of-the-way warehouses in the U.S. and abroad.
Millions upon millions were to be made; death was
an unimportant consequence and there was a phrase
for it all. Boardroom terrorism. It fit, and it would
be Aquitaine's method. There was no other.
These were the thoughts the methods of opera-
tion that flashed through Converse's mind as he
poured the drinks. He was ready; he turned and
walked across the room.
"What are you seeking, Monsieur Simon?" asked
Bertholdier, taking the brandy from Converse.
"Information, General."
"About what?"
"World markets expanding markets that my client
94 ROBERT LUDI.UM
might service. " Joel crossed back to the chair by the
window and sat down.
"And what sort of service does he render?"
"He's a broker."
"Of what?"
"A wide range of products." Converse brought
his glass to his lips; he drank, then added, "I think
I mentioned them in general terms at your club this
afternoon. Planes, vehicles oceangoing craft,
munitions material. The spectrum."
"Yes, you did. I'm afraid I did not understand."
"My client has access k production and
warehouse sources beyond anyone I've ever known
or ever heard of."
"Very impressive. Who is he?"
"I'm not at liberty to say."
"Perhaps I know him."
"You might, but not in the way I've described
him. His profile is so low in this area, it's
nonexistent."
"And you won't tell me who he is," said Bertholdier
"It's privileged information."
"Yet, in your own words, you sought me out,
sent a signal to which I responded, and now say you
want information concerning expanding markets for
all manner of merchandise, including Bonn, Tel
Aviv, and Johannesburg. But you won't divulge the
name of your client who will benefit if I have this
information which I probably do not. Surely, you
can't be serious."
"You have the information and, yes, I'm very
serious. But I'm afraid you've jumped to the wrong
conclusion."
"I have no fear of it at all. My English is fluent
and I heard what you said. You came out of
nowhere, I know nothing about you, you speak
elusively of this un
named influential man "
"You asked me, General," interrupted Joel firmly
without raising his voice. "What I was seeking."
"And you said information."
"Yes, I did, but I didn't say I was seeking it from
you."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Under the circumstances for the reasons you
just mentioned you wouldn't give it to me anyway,
and I'm well aware of that."
"Then what is the point of this shall I say, in-
duced~onversation? I do not like my time trifled
with, monsieur. "
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 95
"That's the last thing on earth we'd do I'd do."
"Please be specific."
"My client wants your trust. I want it. But we
know it can't be given until you feel it's justified. In
a few days a week at the outside I hope to prove
that it is."
"By trips to Bonn, Tel Aviv Johannesburg?'
"Frankly, yes."
"Why?"
"You said it a few minutes ago. The signal."
Bertholdier was suddenly wary. He shrugged too
casually; he was pulling back. "I said it because my
company has considerable investments in those areas.
I thought it was enhrely plausible you had a
proposition, or propositions, to make relative to
those interests."
"I intend to have. '
"Please be specific," said the soldier, controlling
his irritation.
"You know I can't," replied Joel. "Not yet."
"When?"
"When it's clear to you all of you that my client,
and by extension myself, have as strong motives for
being a part of you as the most dedicated among
you."
"A part of my company? Juneau et Compagrue?"
"Forgive me, General, I won't bother to answer that."
Bertholdier glanced at the brandy in his hand,
then back at Converse. "You say you flew from San
Francisco."
"I'm not based there," Joel broke in.
"But you came from San Francisco. To Paris.
Why uJere you there?"
"I'll answer that if for no other reason than to
show you how thorough we are and how much
more thorough others are. We traced I
traced overseas shipments back to export licenses
originating in the northern California area. The li-
censees were companies with no histories and
warehouses with no records chains of four walls
erected for brief, temporary periods of convenience.
It was a mass of confusion leading nowhere and
everywhere. Names on documents where no such
people existed, documents themselves that came out
of bureaucratic labyrinths virtually
un-traceable rubber stamps, of iicial seals, and
signatures of authorisation where no authority was
granted. Unknowing middle-level personnel told to
expedite departmental clearances That's what I
96 ROBERT [UDDER
found in San Francisco. A morass of complex, highly
questionable transactions that could not bear
intense scrutiny."
Bertholdier's eyes were fixed, too controlled. "I
would know nothing about such things, of course,"
he said.
"Of course," agreed Converse. "But the fact that
my client does through me and the additional fact
that neither he nor I have any desire whatsoever to
call attention to them must tell you something."
"Frankly, not a thing."
"Please, General. One of the first principles of
free enterprise is to cripple your competition, step
in, and fill the void."
The soldier drank, gripping the glass firmly. He
lowered it and spoke. "Why did you come to me?"
"Because you were there."
"What?"
"Your name was there among the morass, way
down deep, but there."
Bertholdier shot forward. "Impossible! Preposterous!"
"Then why am I here? Why are you here?" Joel
placed his glass on the table by the chair, the
movement that of a man not finished speaking. "Try
to understand me. Depending upon which
government department a person's dealing with
certain recommendations are bound to be helpful.
You wouldn't do a damn thing for someone
appealing to Housing and Urban Development, but
over at the State Department's Munitions Controls
or at Pentagon procurements, you're golden."
"I have never lent my name to any such appeals."
"Others did. Men whose recommendations
carried a lot of weight, but who perhaps needed
extra clout."
"What do you mean? This 'clout.'"
"A final push for an affirmative
decision without any apparent personal
involvement. It's called support for an action
through viable second and third parties. For
instance, a memo might read: 'We' the
department, not a person 'don't know much about
this, but if a man like General Bertholdier is
favorably disposed, and we are informed that he is,
why should we argue?'"
"Never. It could not happen."
"It did," said Converse softly, knowing it was the
moment to bring in reality to support his
abstractions. He would be able to tell instantly if
Beale was right, if this legend of France was
responsible for the slaughter and chaos in the cities
and
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 97
towns of a violently upended Northern Ireland. "You
were there, not often but enough for me to find you.
Just as you were there in a different way when a
shipment was air-freighted out of Beloit, Wisconsin,
on its way to Tel Aviv. Of course it never got there.
Somehow it was diverted to maniacs on both sides in
Belfast. I wonder where it happened? Montreal?
Paris? Marseilles? The Separatists in Quebec would
certainly follow your orders, as would men in Paris
and Marseilles. It's a shame a company named
Solidaire had to pay off the insurance claim. Oh, yes,
you're a director of the firm aren't you? And it's so
convenient that insurance carriers have access to the
merchandise they cover."
Bertholdier was frozen to the chair, the muscles
of his face pulsating, his eyes wide, staring at Joel.
His guilt was suppressed, but no less apparent for
that control. "I cannot be lieve what you are
implying. It's shocking and incredible!"
"I repeat, why am I here?"
"Only you can answer that, monsieur," said
Bertholdier, abruptly getting to his feet, the brandy
in his hand. Then slowly, with military precision, he
leaned over and placed the glass on the coffee table;
it was a gesture of finality the conference was over.
"Quite obviously I made a foolish error," he contin-
ued, shoulders square again and head rigid, but now
with a strained yet oddly convincing smile on his lips.
"I am a soldier, not a businessman; it is a late
direction in my life. A soldier tries to seize an
initiative and I attempted to do just that; only, there
was there is no initiative. Forgive me, I misread
your signal this afternoon."
"You didn't misread anything, General."
"Am I contradicted by a stranger I might even
say a devious stranger who arranges a meeting
under false pretenses and proceeds to make
outrageous statements regarding my honor and my
conduct? I think not." As Bertholdier strode across
the room toward the hallway door Joel rose from his
chair. "Don't bother, monsieur, I'll let myself out.
You've gone to enough trouble, for what purpose I
haven't the faintest idea."
"I'm on my way to Bonn," said Converse. "Tell
your friends I'm coming. Tell them to expect me.
And please, General, tell them not to prejudge me.
I mean that."
"Your elliptical references are most annoying
Lieutenant. It was 'lieutenant,' wasn't it? Unless you
also deceived poor Luboque as well."
98 ROBERT LUDLUM
"Whatever deception employed to meet you can
only be for his benefit. I've offered to write a legal
opinion for his case. He may not like it, but it'll save
him a lot of pain and money. And I have not
deceived you."
"A matter of judgment, I think." Bertholdier
Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt Page 15
