They were asking him questions, one or two
crossing themselves as they spoke, as if the fugitive
they had saved were actually a priest.
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 545
‘ Come, my friendI”cried Hermione Geyner.
“Answer the ladies. They deserve the courtesy of
your replies.”
“I can’t answer what I can’t understand,”
protested Joel quietly.
Suddenly, without any warning, Valerie’s aunt
rose quickly out of the chair and struck him across
the face. “Such evasive tactics will not serve you
here!” she screamed, striking him again, the ring on
her finger breaking his skin. “We know you
understand every word that’s been spoken! Why do
you Czechs and Poles always think you can fool us.
You collaborated ! We have proof
The old women began to shout, their lined,
contorted faces filled with hate. Converse got to his
feet; he understood. Hermione Geyner and everyone
else in that room were mad or senile or both. They
were living in a violent time that was forty years in
the past.
And then, as if on some demented cue, a door
opened across the room and two men came out. One
in a raincoat had his right hand in his pocket and
was carrying some kind of package in his left. The
second man held a topcoat over one arm, no doubt
concealing a weapon. And then a third man
appeared, and Joel closed his eyes, pressing them
shut tight, the pain in his chest unbearable. The third
man had a bandage across his forehead and one arm
in a sling. Converse had caused those wounds; he
had last seen the man in a freight car filled with
frantic animals.
The first man came up to him and held out the
package, a thick manila envelope with no stamps on
the cover. It was the brief he had sent to Nathan
Simon in New York.
“General Leifhelm sends you his regards, even his
respects,” said the man, pronouncing the word
“general” with the hard German g
32
Peter Stone watched as the CIA-approved doctor
put the third and final stitch into the corner of the
Army officer’s mouth as the captain sat straining in
the chair.
546 ROBERT LUDLUM
“The bridge will have to be repaired,” said the
doctor. “I have a man in the laboratory who’d do it
in a few hours and a dentist on Seventy-second
Street, he’ll do the rest. “I’ll call you later when I’ve
made the arrangements.”
“Son of a bitch!” roared the captain, as loud as
he could with half his mouth Novocained. “He was
a tank, a tucking black tank! He couldn’t have been
working for her, he was just a goddamned
cabdriver! Why the hell?”
“Maybe you triggered him,” said Stone, walking
away as he looked at several pages of notes. “It
happens.”
“What happens?” yelled the officer.
“Cut it out, Captain. You’ll break the stitches.”
The doctor held up a hypodermic needle; it was a
threat.
“Okay, okay.” The officer spoke in a softer voice.
“What does ‘trigger’ mean in that esoteric language
of yours?”
“It’s perfectly clear English.” Stone turned to the
doctor. “You know I’m not employed any longer, so
you’d better give me a bill.”
“When you’re in town a dinner will do. The lab
and the dentist are different, though. I’d suggest
cash. And get him out of uniform.”
“Will do.”
“What . . . ?” The captain stopped, seeing
Stone’s hand held unobtrusively in front of his
chest, telling the officer to be quiet.
The doctor put his instruments in the black bag
and went to the door. “By the way, Stone,” he said
to the former CIA agent, “thanks for the Albanian.
His wife is spending Moscow’s rubles like mad for
every ache I can find a name for.”
“The ache is her husband. He has an apartment
in D.C. she doesn’t know about and some very
strange sex habits.”
“I’ll never tell.”
The doctor left, and Stone turned back to the
captain. “When you’re with men like that, don’t say
any more than you have to, and that includes
questions. They don’t want to hear and they don’t
want to know.”
“Sorry. What did you mean I triggered that hulk?”
“Come on. An attractive woman being chased
down the street by a beribboned Army officer. How
many memories black memories do you think are
out there with less than fondness for your ilk.”
“ilk? I never thought of myself as an ilk, but I
see what you mean…. You were on the phone when
I got here, and
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 547
then there were two other calls. What is it? Any line
on the Converse woman?”
“No.” Stone again looked down at his notes,
shuffling the pages. “We can assume she came back
to reach someone someone she and her ex-husband
trust.”
“He knows his way around Washington. Maybe
someone on the Hill, or even in the administration,
or State.”
“I don’t think so. If he knew anyone like that and
thought his story would get out before his head was
shot off, he would have surfaced days ago.
Remember, he’s been tried, convicted, and
condemned. Can you think of anyone in Washington
who wouldn’t play it play him strictly by the rules?
He’s contaminated. Too many ‘authoritative sources’
have confirmed it, even diagnosed the disease.”
“And by now he’s learned what we foumd out
months ago. You don’t know where they are or who
you’re talking to.”
“Or whom they’ve hired,” added Stone. “Or whom
they’ve blackmailed into doing what they want
without giving away any trade secrets.” He sat down
opposite the Army officer. “But a couple of other
things have fallen into place. We’re getting a pattern
and a few additional names. If we could pull
Converse out and combine what he’s learned with
what we’ve got it might just possibly be enough.”
“What?” The captain shot forward in the chair.
“Take it easy. I said just possibly. I’ve been
calling in some old debts, and if we could put it all
together, there are one or two left I can trust.”
“That’s why we called you in,” said the officer
quietly. “Because you know what to do, we don’t….
What have you got?”
“To begin with, have you ever heard of an actor
named Caleb Dowling actually, it’s Calvin, but
that’s not important except for the computers.”
“I know who he is. He plays the father on a
television show called Santa Fe. Don’t shout it from
the rooftops, but my wife and I watch it now and
then. What about him?”
Stone looked at his watch. “He’ll be here in a few
mix! uses.”
“No kidding? I’m impressed.”
“You may be more impressed after we’ve talked to
him.”
‘Jesus, fill me inl”
“It’s one of those odd breaks we all look for that
seem to come out of left field but are perfectly
logical. It’s the timing
548 ROBERT IUDLUM
that’s not logical…. Dowling was in Bonn filming a
picture and struck up a friendship with Peregrine.
American celebrity, et cetera. He also met Converse
on a plane and got him a hotel room when they
were tough to find. Most significant, Dowling was
the initial contact between Peregrine and Con-
verse which didn’t work out because Fitzpatrick
stepped in.’,
“So?”
“When Peregrine was killed, Dowling called the
embassy a number of times trying to get an
appointment with the acting ambassador, but he was
put on hold. Finally he sent a note to Peregrine’s
secretary saying he had to see her, that it was
important. The secretary met with him, and this
Dowling dropped a bomb on her lap. Apparently he
and Peregrine had an agreement that if Converse
called the embassy and contact was to be made,
Dowling would go along. He didn’t think Peregrine
would go back on his word. Secondly, Peregrine told
Dowling that something was rotten in the embassy
ranks some very odd behavior. One incident
Dowling witnessed himself. He said there were too
many things that didn’t make sense from
Converse’s sane and lucid conversations to the fact
that he, Dowling, hadn’t been officially questioned,
as if people were avoiding one of the last people to
see Converse. The bottom line was that he didn’t
think Converse had anything to do with Peregrine’s
murder. The secretary damn near fainted but told
him he would be contacted. She knew the Agency’s
station chief in Bonn and called him. So did I, two
days ago, telling him I was brought in deep down by
“He confirmed all of this?”
“Yes. He called Dowling in, listened to him, and
has begun digging himself. He’s coming up with
names, one of which we know, but there’ll be
others. I was on the phone with him when you got
here. Dowling flew in yesterday, he’s at the Pierre
and will be here by eleven-thirty.”
“That’s movement,” said the captain, nodding.
“Any
“Two other things. You know how stymied we
were when Judge Anstett caught it and how strong