his part and force 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 computer 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
nothing to trace. It was like a series of blips
disappearing from a radar screen….
* * *.
622 ROBERT LUDIUM
[Stone]
My years in the CIA ‘sClandestine Operations
taught me that the larger the pattern, the greater the
numbers, and that those areas with the heaviest
concentration of activity invariably held the tightest and
most ruthless security. Nothing terribly original here but
the reverse application is frequently overlooked. Since
Washington was the clearinghouse for illegal ex ports
totaling millions u pon millions in A merican mer-
chandise and materiel, it stood to reason that there
would be a range of safeguards, scores of Delavane’s
informants both knowing and unknowing, that is,
ideologically involved or sim ply hired or
threatened in the government agencies and
departments related to the activities of Palo Alto
International. Without going into specifics, Captain
Packard confirmed this judgment by telling me that an
incident had recently taken place that cost the lives of
three men who tried to follow up on a number of com