the meat the desert chicken and the lamb, caught
in the outlying marshes and fed the units of the
Irgun and the Haganah, never questioning death
then. Fighting for a hope, a simple hope that was the
beginning of a dream. The land was theirs, rightfully,
Biblically, logically theirs! They had fought and they
had won! Two thousand years of being out-
casts despised, reviled, and spat upon by the
almighty Gentiles until the tribes were burned and
gassed and told to eliminate themselves from the
face of the earth and yet they had survived. Now
the tribes were strong. They were the conquerors, not
the conquered.
"It's what we fought for! What we prayed for!
Why do you insult me with your eyes!" Chaim
Abrahms roared as he pressed his forehead against
the dead flesh of his wife's face.
Hitabdut was among the most heinous crimes
committed against the laws of the Talmud. It was
ebudeatzmo, the taking of one's own life against the
wishes of Almighty God, in whose image man was
created. A Jew who consigned his or her earthly
being to hitabdut was denied burial in the Hebrew
cemetery. It would be so for Chaim Abrahm's wife,
the most devout human being he had ever known.
616 ROBERT LUDLUM
' I have to do it!" he screamed, raising his eyes
in supplication. ' It is for the best, can t you
understand ?"
Prudhomme poured himself a cup of coffee and
returned to his chair. Valerie sat opposite him as
Converse stood by the window looking over at the
man from the Surete, listening.
"I cannot think of any other questions," said the
Frenchman, his intensely troubled eyes darting
about, his lined face looking wearier than before.
"Although it's possible I'm still too deep in shock to
think at all. To say it's incredible serves no purpose;
also it would not be true. It's all too credible. The
world is so frightened it cries out for stability, for a
place to hide, for protection from the skies, from
the streets, from each other. I believe the time has
come when it will settle for sheer, absolute strength,
no matter the cost."
"The operative word is 'absolute,' " said Joel, "as
in controls and power. A confederation of military
governments fueling one another, interlocking
policies and altering the laws all in the name of
stability and anyone who disagrees with them is
declared unstable and silenced. And if too many
disagree, the chaos erupts again stability wins,
Aquitaine wins. All they need is that initial wave of
terror, a tidal wave of killing and confusion. 'Key
figures' were the words they used. 'Accumulation' .
. . 'rapid accelerahon' chaos. Powerful men cut
down as riots break out in half a dozen capitals and
the generals march in with their commanders.
That's the scenario, right from their own words."
"That also is the problem, monsieur. They are
only words, but they are words you can pass along
to very few people, for they could be the wrong
people. You could move up this countdown, as you
call it, trigger this holocaust yourself."
"The countdown's running out, make no
mistake," Converse broke in. "But there is a way.
'accumulation' end 'rapid acceleration'can be used
in another manner, and you're right it's only with
words accumulated words, accelerated words. I
can't come out, not yet. I can't show myself. There's
no protection any court or government agency or
the police could provide that would stop them from
killing me, and then, once I'm dead, calling
whatever I said the ravings of a psychopath. Don't
misunderstand me, I have no death wish, but my
death in itself isn't important. What is important is
that the truth goes down with me, because I'm the
only one who's talked
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 617
directly to Delavane's four caesars over here, and
probably the fifth, the Englishman."
"And these declaration~these affidavits you speak
of can change that?"
"They can turn things around, maybe just enough."
"Why?"
"Because that's a real world out there, a practical,
complicated world that has to be penetrated as fast
as possible people have to be reached who can be
trusted, who can do something. Quickly. It's what I
wanted to do a couple of weeks ago, but I was going
about it the wrong way. I wanted to get everything I
knew to someone I knew. Nathan Simon, the best
attorney I've ever met. I wrote it all out twice not
realizing that I was only tying his hands, probably
killing him." Joel stepped away from the window, a
lawyer in summation. 'Whom could he go to without
me, without the presence of an obviously sane man
and not simply the words of a 'psychopathic killer'?
And if I did come out, as he would have rightfully
insisted, we're both dead. Then Val told me about
the man in New York who reached her on the phone
and the other who chased her down the street and I
guessed right. Those aren't the methods of people
who want to kill you; they don't announce
themselves. They were the men in Washington who
had sent me out and were now trying to make
contact with me. Then she described her meeting
with Sam Abbott and his mentioning this Metcalf, a
man he trusted and who had to be some kind of very
important person for him to tell the story to. Finally,
there was you in Paris what you said, what you did,
and how you offered to help, using the same code as
Rene Mattilon the Tatiana family. Tatiana, a name
or a word I think means trust, even among sharks."
"You are right, monsieur."
"That's when it all came together for me. If I
could somehow establish lines of communication and
reach all of you, there was a way. You people knew
the truth some of you knew all of it; others, like
yourself, knew only fragments, but regardless, you
understood the immensity, the reality of the generals
and their Aquitaine and what they could do, what
they're doing. Even you, Prudhomme. What did you
say? Interpol is compromised, the police
manipulated, the Surete corrupted official reports
all lies. Added to these, Anstett in New York,
Peregrine, the commander of NATO, Mattilon,
Beale, Sam Abbott . . . Connal Fitzpatrick the only
question
618 ROBERT LUDLUM
mark and God knows how many others. All dead.
The generals are marching forget theories, they're
killing! . . . If I could convince all of you to write out
affidavits have depositions taken and get them to
Nathan Simon, he'd have the ammunition he needs.
I fed legal mumbo jumbo to Stone in New York;
some of it applies, most of it doesn't, but he'll do
his part and f
orce the others to join him he has no
choice. The main point, the only point, is to get this
material to Simon. Once he has written testimony,
a series of events and observations all sworn to be
true by diverse men of experience, he has a case.
Believe me, he'll treat them like the plans of a
neutron bomb. He'll have it all tomorrow, and he'll
reach the right people if he has to walk into the
Oval Office which he could do, but may not
choose to. " Joel paused and looked hard at the
man from the Surete; he nodded at the pages of his
own affidavit on the table beside the Frenchman.
"I've made arrangements for that to be flown to
New York tomorrow. I'd like one from you."
"Certainly you may have it. But can you trust the
couri
"The world could blow apart and she'd still be
sitting in her house in the mountains and not know
it. Or care. How's your English?"
"Adequate, I believe. We've talked for several
hours."
"I mean written English. It'd save time if you
wrote it out tonight."
"My spelling is probably no better than yours is
in French."
"Make that English," said Valerie. "I'll straighten
it out and if you're not sure of something, write it in
French."
"That would help. I must write it tonight?"
"The secretary will be here first thing in the
morning," explained Converse. 'She'll type it up.
She's the one taking the Hight from Geneva to New
York tomorrow afternoon."
"She agreed to do this?"
"She agreed to accept a large donation to a
nature organizahon that apparently runs her life."
"Very convenient."
"There's something else," said Joel, sitting on an
arm of Valerie's chair and leaning forward. "You
know the truth now, and beyond the material that
has to reach Simon, there's one last thing I have to
do. I've got a lot of money and a banker in
Mykonos who'll confirm I have access to a great
deal
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 619
more but you've read all that. With hme to find the
personnel and the equipment I might be able to pull
it off myself, but we don't have the time. I need your
help, I need the resources you have."
"For what, monsieur?"
"The final depositions. The last part of the
testimony. I want to kidnap three men."
37
1, Peter Charles Stone, ageffty-eight, a residentof
Washington, D.C, was employed by the Central
Intelligence Agency for twenty-nine years, during which
time l attained the rank of station chief in various
European posts and ultimately Second Director of
Clandestine Operations, Langley, Virginia. My record is
on file at the Central Intelligence Agency and may be
obtained pursuant to the regulations governingsuch
procedures. Sinceseparation from the CIA, I have
worked asa consultantand anaIystfor numerous
intelligence departments, the specif as therein withheld
from this statement pending government clearances
should they be deemed pertinent to this document.
On or about last March 15, I was contacted by
Captain Andrew Packard, United StatesArmy, who
asked if he might come to my apartment to discuss a
conk dential matter. When he arrived, he stated at the
outset that he was speaking for a small group of men
from both the military services and the State
Department, the number and identities of which he
would not divulge. He statedfurther that they sought
professional consultation from an experienced
intelligence officer no longer associated (permanently)
with any branch of the intelligence community. Ile said
he had certain funds available he believed would be
adequate and would I be interested. It should be noted
here that Captain Packard and his associates had made
a thorough if not exhaustive search of my
background warts and alcohol and all, as is said....
* * *
620 ROBERT LUDLUM
I, Captain Howard NMI Packard, US. Army,
507538, age thirty-one, currently residing in Oxon Hill,
Maryland, am assigned to Section 27, Department of
Technological Controls, the Pentagon, Arlington,
Virginia. In December of last year, Mr. A. Preston
Halliday, an attorney from San Francisco with whom
I had struck u p a friendship as a result of his
numerous petitions to oursectionon behalf of clients
(all successful and above reproach), asked me to have
dinner with him at a small restaurant in Clinton,
approximately ten miles from my house. He a
pologized for not asking my wife, explaining that what
he had to say would only disturb her, as, indeed, it
would disturb me, but in this case it was my
responsibility to be disturbed. He added that there was
no conceivable conJqiCt in our meeting, as he had no
business pending, only business that should be
investigated and stopped . . .
1, Lieutenant U G.) William Michael Landis, Us.
Navy, a bachelor, age twenty-eight; current address,
Somerset Garden Apartments, Vienna, Virginia, am a
computer programmer for the Department of the Navy,
Sea-Armament's Procurements Division, stationed at
the Pentagon, Arlington Virginia. Actually, in all but
rank (due within sixty days), I'm in command of most
programming for Pentagon-Navy, having received a
doctorate in advanced computer technology from the
University of Michigan, College of Engineering. . . .
I'm probably not saying this right, sir.
Go ahead, young man.
I state this because with the highly sophisticated
equipment at my disposal as well as the classified
micro-conversion codes available to me, I'm able to
tap into a great many restricted computers with a
tracing capacity that can circumvent or penetrate, if
you like closures placed on extremely sensitive
information.
Last February, Captain Howard Packard, United
States Army, and three other men two from the
Department of State, Office of Munitions Controls,
and the third a Marine Corps officer I knew from the
Am phibious Section, Navy Procurements came out
to see me on a Sunday morning. They said they
werealarmed opera series of weapons and high-tech
transfers that appeared to violate D.O.D. and State
Department sanctions. They gave me the data they had
concerning nine such incidents, impressing upon me
the confidentiality of the inquiry.
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 621
The next afternoon I went to the maximum-security
computers and with the conversion codes inserted the
data for the nine transfers. The initial entries were
confirmed those numbers never change so as to
eliminate the possibilities of duplication but in each
case, after confirmation, the remaining information was
erased, wiped off the compu
ter tapes. Six of those nine
transfers were traced through the initial entries to a firm
Palo Alto International, owned by a retired Army
general named Delavane. This was myfirst involvement,
sir.
Who were the three other men, Lieutenant?
It wouldn't do any good to give their names, sir. It
could only hurt their families.
I'm not sure I understand can possibly understand.
They're dead. They went back and asked questions
and they're dead, sir. Two supposedly in automobile
accidents involving trucks on back roads they never
took home and the third indiscriminately shot by a
deranged sniper while jagging in Rock Creek Park. All
those joggers and he was the one who got it....
[Captain Packard]
As an Army captain with full security clearance
andirequently dealing in top-secret procedures, I was
able to set up a sterile telephone (i.e., one that is
constantly scannedfor taps or intercepts) so Mr.
Halliday could reach me at any time of day or night
withoutiear of being overheard. Also in concert with Mr.
Stone and LieutenantLandis, we pooled oursources and
obtained in-depth intelligence dossiers on the
well-known names Halliday found among General
Delavane's notes. Specifically, Generals Bertholdier,
Leifhelm, Abrahms, and Van Headmer. Using funds
provided by Dr. Edward Beale, we secured the services
of private firms in Paris, Bonn, Tel Aviv, and
Johannesburg to up-date the dossiers with all available
current information about the subjects.
By now we had uncovered ninety-seven additional
computer erasures directly related to export licensing
and military transfers involving an estimated $45
million. A great many were initiated by Palo Alto
International, but without further data there was
Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt Page 96
