"If there is, I’m not aware of it, either.”
“Then why would they want to destabilise thepolitical structures that guarantee them theirinfluence? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Ever hear of the phrase "Everything’s relative’?”
“To a fare-thee-well. So what?”
“So think.”
“About what?”
“Influence.” Joel took out his cigarettes, shookone to his lips and lighted it. The younger manstared at the Seven Mountains of the Westerwald inthe distance.
“They want more,” said Fitzgerald slowly, turningback to Converse.
“They want it all,” said Joel. “And the only waythey can get it is to prove that their solutions are theonly solutions, all others having proved worthlessagainst the eruption of chaos suddenly everywhere.”
Connal’s expression was fixed, immobile, as heabsorbed Converse’s words. “Holy Mary. . . ” hebegan, his voice a whisper, yet still a cry. “Aninternational plebiscite the peoples’ will for thealmighty state. Fascism. It’s multinationalfasasm. “
“I’m sick of saying “Bingo,’ so I’ll say ”Right on,’counselor. You’ve just said it better than any of us.”
“Us? Which is "use,’ but you don’t know who youarel” added Fitzpatrick, both bewildered and angry.
“Live with it,” said Joel. “As I have.”
“Why?”
“Avery Fowler. Remember him?”
“Oh, jesust”
“And an old man on the island of Mykonos.That’s all we have. But what they said is true. It’sreal. I’ve seen it, and that’s all I need to know. InGeneva, Avery said there was very little time left.Beale refined it; he called it a countdown.Whatever’s going to happen will happen before yourleave is up two weeks and four days is the earliestreport. That’s what I meant before.”
“Oh my God,” whispered Fitzpatrick. “What elsecan you tell me will you tell me?”
“Very little.”
“The embassy,” Connal interrupted. “It’s been acouple of years, but I was there. I worked with themilitary attache. I don’t need any introductions. Wecan get help there.”
“We can also get killed there.”
“What?”
“It’s not clean. Those three men you saw at theairport the ones from the embassy “
“What about them?”
“They’re on the other side.”
“I don’t believe your”
“Why do you think they were at the airport?”
“To meet you, talk to you. There could be adozen different reasons. Whether you know it ornot, you’re considered a hotshot lawyer on theinternational scene. Foreign service personnelfrequently want to touch base with guys like you.”
“I’ve had this conversation before,” saidConverse, irritated.
“What does that mean?”
“If they wanted to see me, why didn’t they go tothe gate?”
“Because they thought you’d come into theterminal like everybody else.”
“And when I didn’t according to you theywere upset, angry. That’s what you said.”
“They were.”
“All the more reason to meet me at the gate.”
Fitzpatrick frowned. “Still, that’s kind of flimsy “
“The woman. Do you remember the woman?”
“Of course.”
“She spotted me in Copenhagen. She followedme. Also there’s something else. Later, on theplatform, all four were picked up by a car belongingto a man we know we know is part of everythingI’ve described to you. They drove to
the embassy, and you’ll have to take my word forthat. I saw them.”
Connal fixed his gaze on Joel, accepting what hehad heard. “ Oh, Jesus, ” he said. ”Okay, no embassy.What about Brussels, SHAPE? There’s a Navyintelligence unit; I ve dealt with those peoplebefore.”
Not yet. Maybe not at all.”
"I thought you wanted to use the uniform, myconnections.”
"Maybe I will. It’s nice to know they’re there.”
"Well, what do you want me to do? I’ve got todo something. “
Are you really fluent in German?”
“Hochdeutsch, Schwa’bisch, Bayerisch, and severaldialects in between. I told you, I can handle fivelanguages “
You’ve made it obnoxiously clear,” interruptedConverse. "4There’s a woman named Fishbein herein Bonn. That’s the first name I’m going to give you.She’s involved we’re not sure how, but she’ssuspected of being a conduit a relayer ofinformation. I want you to meet her, talk with herestablish a relationship. We’ll have to think ofsomething that’ll be convincing in order for you todo it. She’s in her forties, and she’s the youngestdaughter of Hermann Goring. She married asurvivor of the holocaust for obvious reasons; he’slong gone. Any ideas?”
“”Sure,” said Fitzpatrick without hesitating.“”Inheritance. There are a couple of thousand lastwills and testaments every year that the deceasedwant processed through the military. They’re fromcrazies who leave everything they’ve got to the othersurvivors. The true Aryan Germanic stock and allthat horseshit. We bounce them back to the civilcourts, which don’t know what to do with them, sothey end up in limbo and eventually in the TreasuryDepartment’s coffers.”
“No kidding?”
“girls, owed drei. Believe me, those people mean it.”
“Can you use the device?”
“How about a million-plus legacy from a smallMidwest brewer of lager beer?”
“You’ll do,” said Joel. “You’re on board.”
Converse did not mention Aquitaine or GeorgeMarcus Delavane or Jacques-Louis Bertholdier orErich Leifhelm, or twenty-odd names at the StateDepartment and the Pentagon. Nor did he describethe network as it appeared in the dossiers, or asdescribed by Dr. Edward Beale on Mykonos.
.=OBERTLUDLUM
He gave Connal Fitzpatrick the barest bones of the bodyof information. Joel’s reasoning was far less benign thanhe had stated: if the Navy lawyer was taken andinterrogated no matter how brutally there was littleof substance he could reveal.
“You’re not really telling me a hell of a lot,” saidFitzpatrick.
“I’ve told you enough to get your head blown off,and that’s not a phrase normally in my lexicon.”
“Nor mine.”
“Then consider me a nice fellow,” said Converse, asthe two men headed for the entrance gate of the AlterZoll.
“On the other hand,” continued Halliday’s broth-er-in-law, “you’ve been through a lot more than I everhave I read that stuff about you in the securityfiles files, not file they were cross-correlated with thefiles of a lot of other prisoners. You were somethingelse. According to most of the men in those camps, youheld them together until they put you into solitary.”
“They were wrong, sailor. I was shaking and scaredto death and would have fucked a Peking duck to savemy skin.”
“That’s not what the files say. They say “
“I’m really not interested, Commander,” said Joel asthey passed through the ornate gate, “but I’ve got animmediate problem you can help solve.”
“What is it?”
“I gave my word I’d call Dowling on some mobilephone line. I wouldn’t know how to ask for it.”
“There’s a booth over there,” said Connal, pointingto a white plastic bubble that protruded from a concretepylon on the pavement abutting the drive. “Do you havethe number?”
“It’s here somewhere,” replied Converse, rummagingthrough various pockets. “Here it is,” he said as heseparated the scrap of paper from several credit-cardcharges.
”Vermittlung, bitts.” The naval officer soundedauthentic as he spoke crisply into the telephone. “Sieben,drei, pier zwei, zwei. Bitte, Fraulein. ” Fitzpatrick theninserted a series of coins into the metal box and turnedto Joel. “Here you are. They’re ringing.”
Stay there. Ask for him say it’s his lawyer calling the
“Guten Tag, Fraulein. Ist Herr
Oh, no, I speakEnglish. Do you spealc English? No, I’m not callingfrom California, but it’s an emergency…. Dowling, Ihave to reach “
“Caleb, ” said Joel quickly.
"Caleb Dowling.” The Navy man covered themouthpiece. “What kind of name is that?”
“Something to do with Gucci shoes.”
“What? . . . la yes, thanks.” Fitzpatrick handedthe phone to Converse. “They’re getting him.”
“foe?”
“Yes, Cal. I said I’d call you after I met withFowler. Everything’s okay.”
"No, it’s not, Mr. Lawyer,” said the actor quietly.“You and I had better have a very serious talk, andI don’t mind telling you a hunk of beef namedRosenberg will be just a few feet away.”
“I don’t understand.”
“A man died in Paris. Does that clear things up foryou?”
“Oh, God ” Converse felt the blood draining fromhis head and a hollowness in his throat. For amoment he thought he was going to be sick. “Theycame to you?” he whispered.
“A man from the German police a little over anhour ago, and this time I didn’t have any doubtsabout my visitor. He was the real item.”
“I don’t know what to say,” stammered Joel.
“Did you do it?”
“I. . . I guess I did.” Converse stared at thetelephone dial, seeing the bloodied face of the manin the alleyway, feeling the blood on his own fingers
“You guess? That’s not something you guess about.”
“Then yes…. The answer is yes. I did it.”
“Did you have a reason?”
“I thought I did.”
“I want to hear it, but not now. I’ll tell you whereto meet me.”
“Nor” exclaimed Joel, confused but emphatic. “Ican’t involve you. You can’t be involved!”
“This fellow gave me a card and wants me to callhim if you got in touch with me. He was very specificabout withholding information, how it’s consideredaiding a fugitive.”
“He was right, absolutely rightl For God’s sake,tell him everything, Call The truth. You got me aroom for the night because you thought I might nothave a reservation and we had a pleasant few hourson the plane. You put it in your name because youdidn’t want me to pay. Don’t hide anything! Not eventhis call.”
“Why didn’t I tell him before?”
“That’s all right, you’re telling him now. It wasa shock and I’m a fellow American and you’re in aforeign country. You wanted time to think, toreflect. My phone call shook you into behavingrationally. Tell him you confronted me with theaccusation and I didn’t deny it. Be honest with him,Cal.”
“How honest? Should I include my session withFowler?”
“That’s all right, too, but it’s not necessary. Letme back up and clarify. Fowler’s a false name andhe’s not relevant to Paris, I give you my word.Bringing him in is only volunteering an unnecessarycomplication.”
“Should I tell him you’re at the Alter Zoll?”
“It’s where I’m calling you from. I just admitted it.”
“You won’t be able to go back to the Konigshof.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Joel, speaking rapidly,wanting to get off the phone and start thinking. “Myluggage is at the airport and I can’t go back thereeither.”
“You had a briefcase.”
“I’ve taken care of that. It’s where I can get it.”
The actor paused, then spoke slowly. “So youradvice to me is to level with the police, to tell themthe truth.”
“Without volunteering extraneous and unrelatedmaterial. Yes, that’s my advice, Cal. It’s the way youcan stay clean and you are clean.”
“It sounds like fine advice, Joe Joel, and Icertainly wish I could take it, but I’m afraid I can’t.”
“What? Why?”
“Because bad men like thieves and killers don’tgive advice like that. It’s not in any script I everread.”
“That’s nonsense! For Christ’s sake, do as I tellyou!”
“Sorry, pardner, it’s not good dramaturgy. Soyou do as I tell you. There’s a big stone building atthe university beautiful place, a restored palaceactually with a layout of gardens you don’t seevery often. They’re on the south side with bencheshere and there on the main path. It’s a nice placeon a summer’s night, kind of out of the way and nottoo crowded. Be there at ten o’clock.”
“Cal, I won’t involve you in thist”
“I’m already involved. I’ve withheld informationand I’ve aided a fugitive.” Dowling paused again.“There’s someone I want you to meet,” he said.
“No. “
There was a click and the line went dead.
Converse hung up the phone and braced himselfon the sides of the plastic booth, trying to clear hishead. He had killed a man, not in a war anyone knewabout, and not in the heat of survival in a SoutheastAsian jungle, but in a Paris alleyway because he hadto make an instant decision based on probabilities.Rightly or wrongly the act had been done and hecould not dwell on it. The German police werelooking for him, which meant that Interpol hadentered the picture, transmitting the information fromParis somehow supplied by Jacques-Louis Bertholdier,who remained out of sight, beyond the scope of thehunt. Joel recalled his own words spoken onlyminutes ago. If Press Halliday’s life was not terriblyimportant compared with what he was going after,neither was the life of a minion who worked forBertholdier, Delavane’s disciple, Aquitaine’s arm inFrance. There were no options, thought Converse. Hehad to go on; he had to stay free.
“What’s the matter?” asked Fitzpatrick, standinganxiously near him. “You look like you got kicked bya mule.”
“I got kicked,” agreed Converse.
“What happened to Dowling? Is he in trouble?”
“He mall be!” exploded Joel. “Because he’s amisguided idiot who thinks he’s in some kind ofgoddamned moviel”
“That wasn’t your opinion a little while ago.”
“We met; it came out all right. This can’t, not forhim.” Converse pushed himself away from the boothand looked at the Navy lawyer, his mind now tryingdesperately to concentrate on the immediate. “I maytell you and I may not,” he said, glancing around foran available taxi. “Come on, we’re going to put yourawesome linguistic abilities to work. We need shelter,expensive but not showy, especially not a place wherethe well-heeled tourists go who don’t speak German.If there’s one thing they’ll spread about me, it’s thatI can’t talk my way through the five boroughs of NewYork. I want
a rich hotel that doesn’t need foreigners, doesn’tcater to them. Do you know the kind of place Imean?”
Fitzpatrick nodded. “Exclusive, clubby,Germanbusiness-oriented. Every large city has hotels likethat, and they’re always twenty times my per diemfor breakfast.”
“That’s okay, I ve got money here in Bonn. Imight as well try to get it out.”
“You’re full of surprises,” said Cormal. “I meanreal surprises.”
“Do you think you can handle it? Find a hotel likethat?”
“I can explain what I want to a cabdriver; he’llprobably know. Bonn’s small, nothing like NewYork or London or Paris…. There’s a taxi lettingpeople out.” The two men hurried to the curb,where the cab was discharging a quartet ofpassengers balancing camera equipment andoutsized Louis Vuitton handbags.
“How will you do it?” asked Converse as theynodded to the tourists, two couples in the midst ofan argument, male versus female, Nikon versusVuitton.
“A combination of what we both said,” answeredFitzpatrick. “A quiet, nice hotel away from theAusl“nderl”r"n. “
“What?”
“The clamor of tourists and worse. I’ll tell himwe’re calling on some very important Germanbusinessmen bankers, say and we’d like a placethey’d be most comfortable in for confidentialmeetings. He’ll get the drift.”
“He’ll see we don’t have any luggage,” objected Joel.
“He’ll see the money in my hand first,” said thenaval olficer, ho
lding the door for Converse.
Lieutenant Commander Connal Fitzpatrick,USN, member of the military bar and limitedthereby, impressed Joel Converse, vauntedinternational attorney, to the point where the latterfelt foolish. Effortlessly the Navy lawyer got them ina two-bedroom suite at an inn on the banks of theRhine called Das Rektorat. It was one of thoseconverted prewar estates where most of the guestsseemed to have at least a nodding acquaintance withseveral others and the clerks rarely looked anyonein the eye, as if tacitly confirming their subser-vience or the fact that they would certainly notacknowledge having seen Herr So-and-So shouldsomeone ask them.
Fitzpatrick had begun his campaign with the taxidriver by leaning forward in the seat and speakingrapidly and quiet
ly.Their exchanges seemed to grow more confidentialas the cab sped toward the heart of the city; then itabruptly veered away, crossing the railroad tracksthat intersected the capital, and entered a smoothroad paralleling the river north. Joel had started tospeak, to ask what was happening, but the Navylawyer had held up his hand, telling Converse to bequiet.
Once they had stopped at the entrance of an inn,reached by an interminably long, manicured drive,Fitzpatrick got out.
“Stay here,” he said toJoel. “I’ll see if I can get usa couple of rooms. And don’t say anything.”
Twelve minutes later Connal returned, hisdemeanor stern, his eyes, however, lively. “Come on,Chairman of the Board, we’re going straight up.” Hepaid the driver handsomely and once again held thedoor for Converse now a touch more deferentially,thought Joel.
The lobby of Das Rektorat was unmistakablyGerman, with oddly delicate Victorian overtones;thick heavy wood and sturdy leather chairs werebeside and below filigrees of brass ornamentationforming arches over doorways, elegant borders forlarge mirrors, and valances above thick bay windowswhere none were required. One’s first impression wasof a quiet, expensive spa from decades ago, itssolemnity lightened by flashes of reflecting metal andglass. It was a strange mixture of the old and the veryold. It smelled of money.
Fitzpatrick led Converse to a paneled elevatorrecessed in the paneled corridor; no bellboy ormanservant was in attendance. It was a smallenclosure, room for no more than four people, thewalls of tinted, marbled glass, which vibrated as theelevator ascended two stories.
The Aquaintaine Progession Page 23
