The Aquaintaine Progession

by Ludlum, Robert

  “Clarification. “

  “Armed Forces Radio. Oddly enough, it’sprobably got the best news coverage on the air; itpools all the networks. I have one of those smalltransistorised jobs with a couple of shortwave bandsI pack when I’m traveling.”

  “I used to do that,” said Converse. “For the BBC,mainly because I don’t speak French or anythingelse for that matter.

  “They’ve got good coverage, but they shift bandstoo much. Anyway, I had AFR on early thismorning and heard the story, such as it was.”

  “What was it?”

  “Short on details. His apartment on Central ParkSouth was broken into around two in the morning,New York time. There were signs of a struggle andhe was shot in the head “

  “Not quite. According to a housekeeper, nothingwas taken, so robbery was ruled out. That’s it.”

  “Jesus. I’ll call Larry Talbot. He may have moreinformation. There wasn’t anything else?”

  “Only a quick sketch of a brilliant jurist. Thepoint is nothing was taken.”

  “I understand that,” broke in Joel. “”I'll talk to Talbot.” They started walking again, south along thewall. “Last night,” continued Converse, “”why didyou tell Dowling you were an embassy man? Youmust have been at the airport.”

  "I’d been at that airport for seven hours goingfrom counter to counter asking for passengerinformation, trying to find out what plane you wereon.”

  “”You knew I was on my way to Bonn?”

  .Beale thought you were.”

  “Beale?” asked Joel, startled. ”4Mykonos’?”

  "Press gave me his name and the number butsaid I wasn’t to use either unless the worsthappened.” Fitzpatrick paused. “The worsthappened,” he added.

  "What did Beale tell you?”

  "what you went to Paris, and as he understood it,you were going to Bonn next.”

  “What elseP”

  "Nothing. He said he accepted my credentials, ashe called them, because I had his name and knewhow to reach him; only Press could have given methat information. But anything else I’d have to learnfrom you, if you felt there was something to tell me.IIe was pretty damned cold.”

  “He had no choice.”

  “Although he did say that in case I couldn’t findyou, he wanted to see me on Mykonos before Ibegan raising my voice . . . "for everything Mr.Halliday stood for.’ That’s the way he put it. I wasgoing to give you two more days to get here, if Icould hold up.”

  “Then what? Mykonos?”

  “I’m not sure. I figured I’d call Beale again, buthe’d have to tell me a lot more than he did toconvince me.”

  “And if he didn’t? Or couldn’t?”

  “Then I’d have flown straight to Washington andgone to whomever the top floor of the NavyDepartment suggested. If you think for onegoddamned minute I’m going to let this thing passfor what it isn t, you’re wrong and so is Beale.”

  “If you’d have made that clear to him, he wouldhave come up with something. You’d have gone toMykonos.” Converse reached into his shirt pocket forhis cigarettes; he offered one to Fitzpatrick, whoshook his head. “Avery didn’t smoke either,” saidJoel aimlessly as he snapped his lighter. “Sorry . . .Press.” He inhaled.

  “It’s okay; that name’s how I got you to see me.”

  “Let’s go back to that a minute. There’s a slightinconsistency in your testimony, counselor. Let’sclear it up just so neither one of us makes amistake.”

  “I don’t know what you think you’re crowding inon, but go ahead.”

  “You quid you were going to give me two moredays to get here, is that right?”

  “Yes, if I could make arrangements, get some sleepand

  "How did you know I didn’t get here two daysbefore you

  Fitzpatrick glanced at Joel. “I’ve been a legalofficer in the Navy for the past eight years, both asdefense counsel and as Judge advocate in anynumber of situations not always

  courts-marhal. They’ve taken me to most of thecountries where Washington has reciprocal legalagreements.”

  "That’s a mouthful, but I’m not in the Navy.”

  “You were, but I wasn’t going to use it if I didn’thave to, and I didn’t. I flew into Dusseldorf, showedmy naval papers to the Inspektor of immigration, andasked for his cooperation. There are seveninternational airports in West Germany. It tookroughly five minutes with the computers to find outthat you hadn’t entered any of them during theipastthree days, which was all I was concerned about.”

  “But then you had to get to Cologne-Bonn.”

  “I was there in forty minutes and called himback. No Converse had been admitted, and unlessyou were crossing the border incognito which Isuspect I know more about than you do you had tofly in sooner or later.”

  “You’re tenacious.”

  “I’ve given you my reasons.”

  “What about Dowling and that embassy routineat the hotel.”

  “Lufthansa had you listed on the passengermanifest from Hamburg you’ll never know howrelieved I was. I hung around the counter in casethere was a delay or anything like that when thesethree embassy guys showed up flashing their ID’s,the head man speaking rotten German.”

  “You could tell?”

  “I speak German and French, Italian, andSpanish. I have to deal with different nationalities.”

  “I’ll let that pass.”

  “I suppose that’s why I’m a lieutenantcommander at thirty-four. They move me around alot.”

  Pass again. What caught you about the embassypeo

  “Your name, naturally. They wantedconfirmation that you were on flightEight-seventeen. The clerk sort of glanced at me andI shook my head; he cooperated without a break inhis conversation. You see, I’d given him a fewdeutsche marks but that wasn’t it. These peopledon’t really dig the of ficial U.S. over here.”

  "I heard that last night. From Dowling. How did hecome

  “Dowling himself, but later. When the planearrived I stood at the rear of the baggage claim; theembassy boys were by the entrance to the gatesabout fifty feet away. We all

  waited until there was only one piece of luggage onthe conveyor belt. It was yours, but you nevershowed up. Finally a woman came out and theembassy contingent surrounded her, everyoneexcited, upset I heard your name mentioned, butthat’s all I heard because by that time I had decidedto go back and speak to the clerk.

  “To see if l d really been on the plane?’ askedConverse. “Or whether I turned out to be a no-show.

  “Yes,” agreed Fitzpatrick. “He was cute; he mademe feel like I was suborning a juror. I paid him, andhe told me this Caleb Dowling whom I think I wasexpected to know had stopped at the desk beforegoing out to the platform.’

  “Where he left instructions,” said Joel,interrupting quietly.

  “How did you know?”

  “I picked up a set at the hotel.”

  “That was it, the hotel. Dowling told him he’dmet this lawyer on the plane, a fellow Americannamed Converse who’d sat with him sinceCopenhagen. He was worried that his new friendmight not have accommodations in Bonn, and if heasked Lufthansa for suggestions, the clerk shouldsend him to the Konigshof Hotel.’

  “So you totaled up the figures and decided tobecome one of the embassy people who’d lost me,”said Converse, smiling. “To confront Dowling. Whoamong us hasn’t taken advantage of a hostilewitness?”

  “Exactly. I showed him my naval ID and told himI was an attache. Frankly, he wasn’t verycooperative.”

  “And you weren’t very convincing, according tohis theatrical critique. Neither was I. Strangelyenough, that’s why he got us together.” Joel stopped,crushed out his cigarette against the wall and threwit over the stone. “All right, Commander, you’vepassed muster or roster or whatever the hell you callit. Where do we stand? You speak the language andyou’ve got government connections I don t have.You could help.”

  The naval of ficer stood motionless; he lookedhard at Joel, his eyes blinking in the glare of thesunligh
t, but not from any lack of concentration. “Ill do whatever I can,” he began slowly, “as long as itmakes sense to me. But you and I have to un-derstand each other, Converse. I’m not backing awayfrom the two days. That’s all you’ve got"’ve got if Icome on board.”

  “Who made the deadline?”

  “I did. I do now.”

  “It can’t work that way.”

  “Who says?”

  “I did. I do now.” Converse started walkingalong the wall.

  "You’re in Bonn,” said Fitzpatrick, catching up,neither impatience nor supplication in his gait or inhis voice, only control. “You’ve been to Paris andyou came to Bonn. That means you have names,areas of evidence, both concrete or hearsay. I wantit all.”

  “You’ll have to do better than that, Commander.”

  “I made a promise.”

  “To whom?”

  “My sister! You think she doesn’t know? It wastearing Press apart! For a whole goddamned yearhe’d get up in the middle of the night and wanderaround the house, talking to himself but shuttingher out. He was obsessed and she couldn’t crackthe shell. You’d have to know them to appreciatethis, but they were good, I mean good together. Iknow it’s not very fashionable these days to havetwo people with a passer of kids who really likeeach other, who can’t wait to be with each otherwhen they’re apart, but that’s the way they were.”

  “Are you married?” asked Joel without breakinghis stride.

  “No,” answered the Navy man, obviouslyconfused by the question. “I expect to be. Perhaps.I told you, I move around a lot.”

  “So did Press . . . Avery.”

  “What’s your point, counselor?”

  “Respect what he was doing. He knew thedangers and he understood what he could lose. Hislife.”

  “That’s why I want the facts! His body was flownback yesterday. The funeral’s tomorrow and I’m notthere because I gave Meagen a promise! I’mcoming back too, but with everything I need to blowthis whole tucking thing apartl”

  “You’ll only implode it, sending it way downdeep if you’re not stopped before that.”

  “That’s your judgment.”

  “It’s all I’ve got.”

  “I don’t buy it!”

  “Don’t. Go back and talk about rumors, about akilling

  in Geneva that nobody win admit was anything buta robbery or a murder in New York that remainsand probably will remain something it wasn’t. If youmention a man on Mykonos believe me, he’lldisappear. Where are you, Commander? Are youjust a freak, after all, a philosophical blood brotherof Press Halliday who stormed the Presidio andburned his draft card in the good old days ofmuscatel and grass?”

  " That’s a crock of shit!”

  “It’s on the record, Commander. By the way, asa judge advocate, how many officers did youprosecute?”

  “What?”

  “And as defense counsel, how many cases did youlose?”

  “I’ve had my share of wins and losses, mostlywins, frankly.’

  “Mostly? Frankly? You know there are certainpeople who can take fifteen numbers, insert whatthey call variables and make the statistics sayanything they want them to say.”

  “What’s that got to do with anything? How is itconnected to Press’s death, his murder?”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised, Commander Fitzpatrick.Beneath that brass could be a very successfulinfiltrator, perhaps even an agent provocateur in auniform you shouldn’t be

  wearing.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? . . . Forgetit, I don’t want to know. I don’t have to listen to you,but you have to listen to me! You’ve got two days,Converse. Am I on board or not?”

  Joel stopped and studied the intense young facebeside him young and not so young, there werehints of creases around the angry eyes. “You’re noteven in the same fleet,” said Converse wearily. “OldBeale was right. It’s my decision and l choose to tellyou nothing. I don’t want you on board sailor.You’re a hotheaded piss ant and you bore me.”

  oel turned and walked away.

  “All right, curl That’s a print! Nice work, Cal, Ialmost believed that drivel.” The director, RogerBlynn, checked the clipboard thrust in front of himby a script girl and issued instructions to the cameracrew’s interpreter before heading over to theproduction table.

  Caleb Cowling remained seated on the large rockon the slope of the hill above the Rhine; he pattedthe head of an odoriferous goat, which had justdefecated on the toe of his

  boot. “I’d like to kick the rest of the shit out of you,li’l partner, " he said quietly, “but it wouldn’t fit mywell-developed image.”

  The actor got up and stretched, aware that theonlookers beyond the roped-off set were staring athim, chattering away like tourists in a zoo. In a fewminutes he would walk over no, not walk, ambleover and pull the rope off the carriage of an arclight so he could mingle with the fans. He nevertired of it, probably because it came so late in hislife and was, after all, symbolic of what he and hiswife currently could afford. Also every now andthen there was a bonus: the appearance of one ofhis former students, who usually approached himcautiously, obviously wondering if the good-naturedrapport he had established in the classroom hadsurvived the onslaught of national recognition orbeen drowned in the hdal wave of so-calledstardom. Cal was good at remembering faces, andnot too bad with at least one of a person’s twonames, so when these occasions arose, he invariablywould eye his former charge and ask him if he hadcompleted yesterday’s assignment. Or would walkup to him or her and pedagogically inquiresomething like “Of the chronicles Shakespeare drewfrom for his histories, which had the greatest impacton his language, Daniel, Holinshed, or Froissart?”If the answer came back naming the last, he wouldslap his thigh and exclaim words akin to “Hot damn,li’l wrangler, you busted a tough bronc there!”Laughter would follow, and frequently drinks andreminiscences later.

  It was a good life these days, almost perfect. Ifonly some sunlight would reach into the painfullydark corners of his wife’s mind. If it could, she’d behere on a hillside in Bonn chatting in her quietlyvivacious way with the people beyond therope mostly women, mostly those around herage telling them that her husband was really quitelike their own. He never picked up his socks andwas a disaster in the kitchen; people liked to hearthat even if they didn’t believe it. But the sunlightdid not reach those far, dark corners. Instead, hisFrieda remained in Copenhagen, walking along thebeaches of Sjaelland Island, having tea in thebotanical gardens, and waiting for a call from herhusband saying that he had a few days off andwould come out of hated Germany. Dowling lookedaround at the efficient, enthusiastic crew and thecurious spectators; laughter punctuated theirconversations, a certain respect as well. These werenot hateful people,

  " Cal?” the voice belonged to Blynn, the film’sdirector who was walking rapidly across the slope ofthe hill. “There’s someone here to see you.”

  "I hope more than one, Roger. Otherwise themen who go under the dubious title of ouremployers are grossly overpaying me.”

  "Not for this pile of kitsch.” The director’s smiledisappeared, as he approached the actor. Are youin any trouble, Cal?

  "Constantly, but not so it’s noticeable.”

  "I’m serious. There’s a man here from theGerman po.lt,ce the Bonn police He says he has totalk to yo I i

  "What about?” Dowling felt a rush of pain in hisstomach it was the fear he lived with.

  "He wouldn’t tell me. Just that it was anemergency and he had to see you alone.”

  "Oh, Chrzst!” whispered the actor. Freddie! .. . where is he?”

  "Over in your trailer.”

  “In my “

  Rest easy,” said Blynn. "That stunt jock Moose Rosenberg’s with him. If he moved an ashtray, Ithink that gorilla would throw him through the wall.”

  Thanks, Roger.”

  “He meant it when he said ”alone’!”

  Dowling did not hear this; he had started runningacross the hill toward the small camper he used forb
rief periods of relaxation. He prayed to no one inparticular for the best, preparing himself for theworst.

  It was neither, simply another complication in anenigma. Fneda Dowling was not the subject; insteadit was Joel Converse, an American attorney-at-law.The stunt man climbed out of the trailer, leavingCaleb and the police officer alone. The man was incivilian clothes, his English fluent, his mannervaguely officious yet courteous.

  “I’m sorry to have upset you, Herr Dowling,” saidthe German in response to Caleb’s initial, intenseinquiry about his wife. “We know nothing of FrauDowling. Is she ill, perhaps?”

  She’s had a few spells lately, that’s all. She’s inCopenhagen.”

  “Yes, so we understand. You fly therefrequently, don’t you?”

  "Whenever I can.,’

  She does not care to join you here in Bonn?”

  Tier was Oppenfeld, and the last time she was inGermany she wasn’t considered much of a humanbeing. Her memories are, let’s say, memorable inthe extreme. They come back with a lot of acid.”

  "Yes,” said the police officer, his eyes as steadyas Caleb’s. “We will live with that for generations.”

  “I hope so,” said the actor.

  “I wasn’t alive, Herr Dowling. I’m very happyshe survived, I mean that.”

  Dowling was not sure why but he lowered hisvoice, the words nearly inaudible, if not involuntary.“Germans helped her.”

  “I would hope so,” said the German quietly. “Mybusiness, however, concerns a man who sat next toyou last night on the planes from Copenhagen toHamburg and from Hamburg to Bonn. His name isJoel Converse, an American attorney.”

  “What about him? By the way, may I see youridentification?”

  “Certainly.” The police officer reached into hispocket removed his plastic ID case, and handed itto the actor, who had his glasses firmly in place. “Itrust everything is in order,” added the man.

  “What’s this Sonder Dezernat?” asked Dowling,squinting at the small print on the card.

  “It is best translated as ’special’ "branch’ ordepartment.’ We are a unit of the Bundespolizei,the federal police. It is our job to look into mattersthe government feels are more sensitive than thenormal jurisdictional complaints.”