Robert Ludlum - Aquatain Progression.txt

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by The Aquitaine Progression [lit]


  no one would come forth to claim him. It was sound

  strategy, General. It still remains sound. No one's

  come forth no one's coming forth. You held them

  back, and now it's too late."

  Delavane's eyes widened as he appraised the

  calonel's

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 647

  face. "You've always been the best of adjutants, Paul.

  You tactfully remind a superior that regardless of

  periodic setbacks, his decisions were based on sound

  reasons, and that those reasons will prevail."

  "I've disagreed when I thought it was necessary,

  General, because whatever I learned I learned from

  you, so l merely reminded you of yourself. Right

  now, at this moment, I'm right. You were right."

  "Yes, I was I am. Nothing matters now.

  Everything's set in motion and nothing can stop it.

  This Converse this bold, resourceful enemy was

  also held in check by having to keep running. And

  now he's too late. In any event, the men he's taken

  are merely symbols, magnets to attract others. That's

  the beauty of clean strategy, Colonel. Once it's set in

  motion, it rolls like the ocean wave. The power

  underneath is unseen, but it is relentless. Events will

  dictate the only acceptable solutions. It's my legacy,

  Colonel."

  Nathan Simon had nearly finished his

  explanation. It had taken less than three minutes,

  during which time Peter Stone remained motionless,

  his eyes riveted on the older man, his face ashen, the

  taste in his mouth unbearable.

  "You can see the pattern, can't you?" concluded

  the attorney. "The protests begin in the Middle East

  and follow the sun and the time zones across the

  Mediterranean, up through Europe, and over the

  Atlantic, culminating in Canada and the United

  States. They start with the Peace Now movement in

  Jerusalem, then Beirut, Rome, Paris, Bonn, London,

  Toronto, Washington, New York, Chicago, et cetera.

  Gigantic rallies in the major cities and capitals,

  covering every nation and government Delavane and

  his people have infiltrated. Confrontations

  occur the initial unrest growing into major disrup-

  tions with the infusion of terrorist units. Bombs

  wired into cars, or under the streets in sewers, or

  simply rolled into the crowds the second wave of

  greater violence all leading to the mass confusion

  and disorder they require to put their leading players

  in position. Or more precisely, once in position to

  exercise their assignments."

  ' The final assaults," said Stone quietly. Selected

  assassinations."

  Chaos," agreed Simon. 'World leaders suddenly

  dead, the descending mantles of authority unclear,

  too many men

  648 ROBERT LUDLUM

  protesting, one another, screaming that they are in

  charge. Total chaos."

  "Scharhorn!" said the former intelligence officer.

  ' We have no other choice now. We have to go in!

  May I use your telephone, Mr. Justice?" Without

  waning for a reply, Stone walked to Wellfleet's desk

  as he removed his billfold and pulled out the small

  piece of paper with a number in Cuxhaven, West

  Germany, written on it. He turned the phone

  around under the harsh gaze of the Supreme Court

  justice, picked it up and dialed. The sequence of

  transatlantic relays was intolerable. It rang.

  "Rebel?"

  The explosive invective over the line from half

  a world away could be heard even by Simon and

  Wellfleet. Stone broke it off. "Stop it, Johnny! I

  haven't been near the hotel in hours and I haven't

  time for this! . . . You what?" The CIA man

  listened, holding his breath, his eyes growing wide.

  He covered the mouthpiece and turned to Nathan

  Simon. "My God, there's a breakthrough!" he

  whispered. "Photographs. Infrared, taken last night

  and developed this morning all clear. Ninety-seven

  men from Scharhorn getting off a boat, heading for

  the airport and train station. He thinks they're the

  hit teams."

  "Get those photographs to Brussels and flown to

  Washington on the fastest goddamned military

  transport you can find!" ordered the venerated

  justice of the Supreme Court.

  39

  "Preposterous!" shouted General Jacques-Louis

  Bertholdier from the brocaded wing chair in the

  spacious study of the Alpine chateau. "I don't

  believe you for a minute'"

  "That's a favorite word of yours, isn't it?" said

  Converse, standing by the open cathedral window

  across the room, the mountain fields beyond. He

  was dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and a

  regimental tie, all purchased in Chamonix. "The

  word 'preposterous,' I mean," he continued. "You

  used it at least twice when we spoke in Paris, I

  think. It's as though

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 649

  whatever information you don't like is

  preposterous absurd, unwarranted not only the

  information itself but also the person who gives you

  the information. Is that the way you look at people

  who don't accommodate you?"

  "Certainly not! It is the way I treat liars." The

  legend of France began to rise. 'And I see no

  reason "

  "Stay in that chair!" Joel commanded. "Or only

  your corpse will get back to Paris," he added simply,

  without hostility. "I told you, all I wanted was this

  conversation with you. It won't take long, and then

  you'll be free to go. That's more charity than any of

  you showed me."

  "You were expendable. I apologise for being so

  blunt, but it is the truth.'

  "If I was so expendable, why didn't you just kill

  me? Why the elaborate buildup, all that trouble to

  make me a killer, an assassin, a man hunted all over

  Europe."

  "The Jew gave us that."

  "The Jew? Chaim Abrahms?"

  "It makes no difference now," said Bertholdier.

  "Our man in the Mossad incidentally, a brilliant

  analyst made it clear that if we could not find out

  where you came from, if you yourself did not know,

  then we had to put you in'forbidden territory' I

  believe that was the expression. And that was not

  preposterous. No one claims you. You were you

  are indeed, untouchable."

  "Why doesn't it make any difference now the

  fact that you've told me what you presume I already

  know?"

  "You've lost, Monsieur Converse."

  "I have?"

  "Yes, and if you have delusions about drugging

  me as we drugged you let me spare you and me

  the discomfort of such procedures. I do not have the

  information. Actually, no one does. Only a machine

  that is set in motion and issues commands."

  "To other machines?"

  "Of course not. To men men who will do what

  they have been trained to do, who believe in what

  they're doing. I have no idea who they are."
/>   "That's the killing, isn't it? They're the killers."

  "All war is reduced to killing, young man. And

  make no mistake. This is war. The world has had

  enough. We will put it to rights, as the English say.

  You will see; we will not be opposed. We are not

  only needed, we are wanted."

  650 ROBERT LUDLUM

  "'Accumulation, rapid acceleration,' those were

  the words, weren't they?"

  'The Jew was precipitate. He talks too much.

  "He says you re the pompous asshole of creation.

  He told me that he and Van Headmer were going

  to put you in a glass room with little boys and girls

  and watch you screw yourself into a coronary.

  "His conversations were always tasteless. . . But

  no, I don't believe you.

  "So we re back to my original statement." Joel

  walked away from the window and sat down in an

  armchair diagonally opposite Bertholdier. "Why do

  you find it so difficult to believe? Because you didn

  t think of it?"

  "No, monsieur. Because it s unthinkable.'

  Converse pointed to a telephone on the desk.

  "You know their private numbers, he said. "Call

  them. Call Leifhelm in Bonn and Abrahms in Tel

  Aviv. Also Van Headmer, if you like, although I'm

  told he s in the States, probably California."

  "California?"

  "Ask each of them if he came to see me at that

  little stone house on Leifhelm s property. Ask them

  what we talked about. Go on, the phone s right over

  there."

  Bertholdier looked sharply at the telephone as

  Joel held his breath. Then the soldier turned back to

  Converse, reluctance winning out over inclination.

  "What are you trying to do? What sort of trick is

  this?"

  "What trick? There s the phone. I can't rig it, I

  can't make it dial numbers or hire people hundreds

  or thousands of miles away to impersonate those

  men."

  The Frenchman looked again at the telephone.

  "What could I say?" he asked quietly, the question

  directed more at himself than at Joel.

  "Try the truth. You're very big on the truth as

  you see it, as it pertains to large global concepts,

  and this is only a small matter of several minor

  omissions. They're omitting to tell you that each one

  of them came to see me. Or perhaps the omissions

  weren't so minor."

  "How would I know they came to see you?'

  "You weren't listening to me. I said 'Try the

  truth. I had you kidnapped, no one else. I did it

  because I didn t understand, and if push comes to

  shove, I want to save my life. There's a huge world

  out there, General. Large parts of it you'll leave

  intact, and I could live very nicely as long as I

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 651

  didn't have to worry about someone coming out of

  a doorway to blow my head off."

  ' You're not the man I thought you were we

  thought you were."

  "We're all what circumstances make us. I've had

  my share of sweat. I'm bowing out of the crusading

  business, or the lid-blowing business, or whatever

  you want to call it. Would you like to know why?"

  "Very much so," said Bertholdier, staring at Joel,

  confusion and curiosity fighting each other in his

  eyes.

  "Because I listened to you in Bonn. Maybe you're

  right, or maybe I just don't care anymore because I

  was left way out in the cold. Maybe the world really

  does need you arrogant bastards right now."

  "It does! There's no other way!"

  "It's the year of the generals then, isn't it?"

  "No, not simply the generals! We are the

  consolidators, the symbols of strength and discipline

  and lawful order. Surely what follows in the

  aggregate in the international marketplaces, in joint

  foreign policies, and yes, in the legal processes

  themselves will reflect our leadership, our example,

  and out of it all will come what is most lacking in

  today's world. Stability, Monsieur Converse! No

  more madmen like the senile Khomeini or the

  hollow braggardQaddafi, or the insane Palestinians.

  Such men and such nations and would-be nations

  will be pincered by truly international forces, crushed

  by the overwhelming might of like-minded

  governments. Retribution will be swift and total. I

  am a military strategist of some reputation, so let me

  assure you the Russians will stand aside, appalled,

  not daring to interfere knowing at last that they

  cannot divide us any longer. They cannot rattle their

  sabers, frightening one segment while appeasing

  others, for we are all one!"

  "Aquitaine," said Joel softly.

  "An adequate code name, yes," agreed Bertholdier.

  "You're as convincing as you were in Bonn,"

  added Converse. "And maybe it could all work, but

  not this way, not with you people."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "Nobody has to divide you you're already

  oceans apart."

  "I don't understand."

  "Place those calls, General. Make it easy on yourself.

  652 ROBERT LUDLUM

  Reach Leifhelm first. Tell him you just heard from

  Abrahms in Tel Aviv and you're appalled. Say

  Abrahms wants to meet with you because he has

  information about me, that he admitted he and Van

  Headmer came to see me alone in Bonn. You could

  add that I told Abrahms he and his Afrikaner friend

  were my second and third visitors. Leifhelm was the

  first. '

  'Why would I tell him this?"

  "Because you're angry as hell. No one told you

  about these separate meetings with me and you

  consider them highly improper which, if you don't

  you damn well should. A little while ago you said I

  was expendable. Well, you're in for a shock,

  General. '

  "Explain that!"

  "No. Use the phone. Listen to what he says how

  he reacts, how they all react. You'll know. See if I'm

  telling you the truth. "

  Bertholdier placed both his hands on the arms

  of the brocaded chair and started to rise, his eyes

  on the telephone. Converse sat motionless, watching

  the Frenchman closely barely breathing, his pulse

  racing. Suddenly the general pushed himself

  violently back into the chair and gripped its arms

  "AII right!" he shouted. "What was said ? What did

  they say?

  "I think you should use that phone first.'

  "Pointless!" snapped Bertholdier. "As you say,

  you cannot make it dial other numbers well, I

  suppose you could, but to what end? Impostors?

  Ridiculous! I could ask any of several hundred

  questions and know they were merely playactors."

  "All the more reason to call them," said Joel

  calmly. "You'd know I was telling the truth."

  "And give an advantage where none was shown to

  me. "

  Converse breathed normally again. "It's up to

  you, General. I'm just looking for a safe way out."

&nb
sp; "Then tell me what was said to you."

  "Each asked me the obvious as if he didn't

  trust the drugs or the one who adminstered them or

  each other. Whom did I really represent?"Joel

  paused; he was about to fish with a witness, but

  knew he had to pull back instantly if the pond was

  barren. "I guess I mentioned Beale on Mykonos,'he

  offered hesitantly.

  "You did," confirmed the general. 'He was

  reached several months ago, but our contact never

  returned. You expla~ned that also."

  THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 653

  'You thought he might be one of you, didn't you?'

  "We thought he threw away a brilliant military

  career out of disgust. Apparently it was a different

  disgust, the very weakness we abhorred. But these

  are not the things I want to hear. You made

  reference to some aspect of expendability That is

  what I want to hear. Now."

  'You want it straight? Without the frills?'

  "No frills, monsieur."

  "LeifLelm said you'll be out in a matter of

  months, if not sooner. You give too many orders; the

  others are sick of them and you want too much for

  France."

  "Leifhelm? The hypocritical weasel who sold his

  very soul to deny everything he espoused? Who

  betrayed his leaders in the dock at Nuremberg,

  furnishing the court with all manner of evidence so

  as to worm his way into the Allies' bowels!

 

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