anything."
"This is all very strange, sir."
"If you're going to be a lawyer, get used to odd
forms of communication. There's nothing illegal,
simply a means of protecting your client's and your
firm's confidentiality."
"I have much to learn, it seems."
"You're not doing anything wrong," continuedJoel
quiet
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 351
Iy,his eyes level withJohann's. "On the contrary,
you're doing something very right, and I'll pay you
very well for doing it."
"Sehr gut, " said the young man.
Converse waited in the taxi, his eyes scanning the
street concentrating on stationary automobiles and
those pedestrians walking too slowly or not at all, or
anyone whose glances even seemingly strayed to the
American Express office.. Johann went inside and
Joel swallowed repeatedly, a tightness in his throat;
the waiting was awful, made worse by the knowledge
that he was using the student in a high-risk situation
Then he thought briefly of Avery Fowler-Halliday
and Connal Fitzpatrick; they had lost. The young
German had an infinitely far greater chance of living
for many years.
The minutes went by as the sweat crawled
through Converse's hair and down his neck; time was
suspended in fear Finally, Johann came outside,
blinking in the sunlight, inno cence personified. He
crossed the street and climbed into the taxi.
"What did they say to your" asked Joel, trying to
sound casual, his eyes still roaming the street.
"Only if I had been waiting long for the message.
I replied that I expected it was a cablegram from
Mykonos. I didn't know what else to say."
"You did fine." Joel tore open the envelope and
unfolded the wire. There was an unbroken series of
written-out numbers, well over twenty, he judged at
a glance. Again he remembered Laskaris'
instructions: Pick every third number beginning with
the third and ending with the third from the last. Think
merely in terms of three. It's quite simple these things
usually are and in any event, no one else can sign for
you. It's merely a precaution.
"Is everything all right?" asked Johann.
"So far we're ahead one step and you're one step
nearer a bonus, counselor."
"I'm also nearer my examination."
"What time do you take it?"
"Three-thirty this afternoon."
"Good omen. Think in terms of three."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Nothing. Let's find a pay telephone. You've only
got one more thing to do, and tonight you can buy
your friends the biggest dinner in Bonn."
* * *
352 ROBERT LUDLUM
The taxi waited at the corner while Converse
and the young German stood outside the booth,
Johann having written down the bank's number
from the telephone book. The student was reluctant
to go any further; the exotic chores asked of him
now were more than he cared to accept.
'AII you have to do is tell the truth!" insisted
Joel. "Only the truth. You met an American
attorney who doesn't speak German and he's asked
you to make a call for him. This attorney has to
withdraw funds for a client from a confidential ac-
counts-transfer and wants to know whom he should
see. That's all. No one will ask your name, or mine,
either, for that matter."
' And when I do this there will be something
else, main Herr? Nein, I think not. You call
yourself "
"I can't make a mistake! I can't misunderstand
a word. And there is nothing else. Just wait
wherever you like around the bank or near the
bank. When I come out I'll give you two thousand
deutsche marks, and as far as I'm concerned far as
anyone's concerned we never met."
"So much for so little, sir. You can understand my
fears."
"They're nothing compared to mine," said
Converse quietly yet urgently. "Please, do this. I
need your help."
As he had done the night before through the
noise and the smoke and the flashing lights of the
raucous bar, the young German looked hard at Joel,
as if trying to see something he could not be sure
was there. Finally, he nodded once without
enthusiasm. "Sehr gut, " he said, stepping into the
booth with several coins in his hand.
Converse watched through the glass as the
student dialed and obviously had brief conversations
with two or three different people before reaching
the correct party. The one-sided dialogue as
observed by Joel seemed interminable far too long
and too complicated for the simple request of a
name in the transferred-accounts department. At
one point, as he wrote something down on the scrap
of paper with the bank's number on it, Johann
appeared to object and Converse had to restrain
himself from opening the door and terminabng the
call. The German youth hung up and came out, his
expression confused and angry.
"What happened? Was there a problem?"
"Only with the hour and institutional policy, sir."
"What does that mean?"
"Such accounts are serviced only after twelve noon.
I
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 353
made it clear that you had to be at the airport by
then, but Herr Direktor said the bank's policy would
stand." Johann handed Converse the slip of paper.
'You're to see a man named Lachmann on the
second floor."
"I'll catch a later plane." Joel looked at the
chauffeur's watch on his wrist. It was ten-thirty-five;
an hour and a half to go.
"I was hoping to be at the university library long
before noon."
"You can still be there," said Converse sincerely.
"We can stop, get a stamped envelope, and you can
write out your name and address. I'll mail the money
to you."
Johann glanced at the pavement, his hesitation all
too obvious. "I think, perhaps . . . the examination is
not so difficult for me. It's one of my better subjects."
"Of course," agreed Joel. "There's no reason on
earth why you should trust me."
"You mistake me, sir. I believe you would mail
the money to me. It's just that I'm not sure it's such
a good idea for me to receive the envelope."
Converse smiled; he understood. "Fingerprints?"
he asked kindly. "Accepted rules of evidence?"
"It's also one of my better subjects."
"Okay, you're stuck with me for another couple of
hours. I've got about seven hundred deutsche marks
left until I reach the bank. Do you know some
clothing store away from the main shopping district
where I can buy a pair of trousers and a jacket?"
"Yes, sir. And if I may suggest, if you are going
to withdraw enough funds to give me two thousand
deutsche marks perhaps a clean s
hirt and a tie might
be in order."
"Always check your client's appearance. You may
go far, counselor."
The ritual at the Bank aus der Bonner Sparkasse
was a study in awkward but adamant efficiency. Joel
was ushered into Herr Lachmann's office on the
second floor where nei, ther a handshake nor small
talk was offered. Only the business at hand was
addressed.
"Origin of transfer, please?" asked the blunt,
corpulent executive.
"Bank of Rhodes, Mykonos branch, waterfront office.
The
354 ROBERT LUDLUM
name of the dispatcher,' I guess you'd call him, is
Laskaris. I don't recall his first name."
"Even his last is unnecessary,' said the German,
as though he did not care to hear it. The transaction
itself seemed somehow to offend him.
"Sorry, I just wanted to be helpful. As you
know, I'm in a great hurry. I have a plane to catch.'
'Everything will be done according to the
regulations, sir."
~Naturally."
The banker shoved a sheet of paper across the
desk. "You will write out your numerical signature
five times, one below the other, as I read you the
regulations which constitute the policy of the Bank
aus der Bonner Sparkasse as they pertain to the
laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. You will
then be required to sign again in your numerical
signature an affidavit that you thoroughly
understood and accept these prohibitions.
"I thought you said 'regulations.'"
"One and the same, sir."
Converse took the cablegram out of the inside
pocket of his newly purchased sport jacket and
placed it beside the blank page of stationery. He
had underlined the correct numbers and began
writing.
"'You the numerically undersigned, traceable
from the origin of transfer,'" droned the obese
Lachmann, leaning back in his chair and reading
from a single page, " 'swear to the fact that
whatever funds withdrawn from the Bank aus der
Bonner Sparkasse from this confidential account
have been subject to all taxes, individual and
corporate, from whatever sources of revenue. That
they are not being processed through differing
currencies to avoid said taxes, or for the purpose of
making unlawful payments to individuals,
companies, or corporations trafficking in illegal
and
"Forget it, Joel broke in. "I know it; I'll sign it.
"' egregious activities outside the laws of the
Federal Republic of Germany or the laws of the
nation of which the undersigned is a legal resident
with full citizenship.'
"Ever tried half-full or resident alien status?
said Converse, starting the last line of numbers. "I
know a law student who could punch holes in that
affidavit.
"There is more, but you say you ll sign?"
"Im sure there s more and of course I'll sign." Joel
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 355
pushed the page with the handwritten numbers back
to the banker. "There. Just get me the money. One
hundred thousand American, minus your fee. Split it
two thirds and a third. U.S. and Cenman, no bills
over six hundred deutsche marks and five hundred
American."
"That is quite a bit of paper, sir."
"I'll handle it. Please, as quickly as possible."
'Is that amount the entire account? I would not
know of course, until the scanners verify your
'signature.' "
"It's the entire account."
"It could take several hours, natu'rlich."
"What9"
"The regulations, the policy. " The fat man
extended his arms in supplication.
"I don't have several hours!"
"What can I do?" What can you do? A thousand
American for you." One hour, sir."
"Five thousand?"
"Five minutes, my good friend."
Converse walked out of the elevator. The
abrasive newly acquired money belt was far less
comfortable than the one he had purchased in
Geneva, but it would have been pointless to refuse it.
It was a courtesy of the bank, Lachmann had said as
the German pocketed nearly twelve thousand
deutsche marks for himself. The 'five minutes' had
been a persuasive exaggeration, thought Joel as he
glanced at the clock on the wall; it was nearly
twelve-forty-five. The ritual had taken over half an
hour, from his "indoctrination" to the verification of
his "signature" by electronic scanners capable of
detecting the slightest "fundamental" variation in the
writing charactenstics. Apparently no one dared
make any mistakes in the German banks where
questionable practices were concerned. The
regulations were followed right to the borders of
illegality, with everyone covered by following orders
that placed the burden of innocence solely on the
recipients.
Converse started for the bronze-bordered doors
of the entrance when he saw the student,Johann,
sitting on a marble bench, looking out of place but
not uncomfortable. The young man was reading
some sort of pamphlet put out by the bank. Or more
precisely, he was pretending to read it; his eyes, dart-
ing above the page, were watching the crowds
crisscrossing
356 ROBERT LUDLUM
the marble floor. Converse nodded es Johann saw
him; the student got up from the bench and waited
until Joel reached the entrance before he began to
follow.
Something had happened. Outside on the
pavement people were rushing in both directions,
but mainly to the right; voices were raised, questions
shouted, replies blurred with anger and angry
ignorance.
'What the hell is it?" asked Converse.
"I don't know," replied Johann, next to him.
"Something ugly, I think. People are running to the
kiosk on the corner. The newspapers."
"Let's get one," said Joel, touching the young
man's arm, as they started toward the growing
crowd on the block.
"Attentat! Mord!Amerikanische Botschafter ermordet!"
The newsstand operators were shouting, handing
out papers as they grabbed coins and bills with little
or no attempt to give change. There was a sense of
swelling panic that came with sudden unexplained
events that presaged greater disasters. All around
them people were snapping papers, their eyes
riveted on the headlines and the stories beneath.
"Mein Gott!" cried Johann, glancing at a folded
newspaper on his left. "The American ambassador
has been assassinated!"
"Christ! Get one of those!" Converse threw a
number of coins into the kiosk as the young
German grabbed a paper from the extended hand of
a newsstand operator. "Let's get out of here!" yelled
Joel, gripping the student's arm.
But Johann did
not move. He stood there in the
middle of the shouting crowd, staring at the
newspaper, his eyes wide, his lips trembling.
Converse shoved two men away with his shoulders
as he pulled the young man forward, now both of
them surrounded by anxious, protesting Germans
obsessed with getting to the newsstand.
"You!" Johann's scream was muted by some
intolerable fear.
Joel ripped the newspaper from the student's
hands. In the upper canter of the front page were
photographs of two men. On the left was the
murdered Walter Peregrine, American ambassador
to the Federal Republic. On the right was the face
of an American Rechtsanwalt one of the few words
in German Converse knew; it meant attomey. The
photograph was of himself.
20
"No!" roared Joel, crushing the paper in his left
fist, his right hand gripping Johann's shoulder.
"Whatever it says, it's a lie! I'm not any part of this!
Don't you see what they're trying to do? Come on
with me!"
"Rein!" the young German, looking frantically
around, realising his voice was lost in the enveloping
bedlam.
"I said yes!" Converse shoved the newspaper inside
his jacket, and throwing his right arm around
Johann's neck, pulled him alongside. "You can think
Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt Page 55
