“Then give it to me.”
“Use the phone first.”
“Don’t be an idiot and don’t take me for one!
You would not insist so unless you were sure of
yourself, which means you are telling the truth. And
if those Schweine conspire against me, I will not
inform them that I’m aware of it! What did they
“You’re to be killed. They can’t risk the
accusation that an old-line member of the Nazi
party has assumed vital controls in West Germany.
Even under Aquitaine there’d be too many cries
of’Foul!’ too much fuel for the inevitable dissent-
ers. A younger man or someone who thinks like
they do, but with no party affiliations in his past,
will take your place. But no one you recommend.”
Leifhelm was braced rigidly in the brocaded
chair, his aged but still taut body immobile, his
pallid face with the piercing light-blue eyes like an
alabaster mask. “They have made this most holy
decision?” he said icily through lips that barely
moved. “The vulgar Jew and the depraved French
prince of maggots dare to attempt such a move
against me?”
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 665
“Not that it matters, but Delavane agrees.”
“Delavane! A raging, infantile clump of fantasies!
The man we knew two years ago has disintegrated to
a point beyond senility! He doesn’t know it, but we
give him orders, couched naturally as suggestions
and beneficial possibilities. He has no more powers
of reason than Adolf Hitler had in his last years of
madness.”
“I don t know about that,” said Converse.
‘Abrahmsand Bertholdier didn’t go into it other than
to say he was finished. They talked about you.”
“Really? Well, let me talk about me! Who do you
think it was that made Aquituine feasible throughout
all Europe and the Mediterranean? Who fed the
terrorists with weapons and millions of pounds of
explosives from the Baader-Meinhof to the Brigate
Rosse to the Palestinians priming them for their
final, let’s say their {nest, hours? Who? It was l! Why
are our conferences always in Bonn? Why are all
directives funneled, ultimately issued, through me?
Let me explain. I have the organisation! I have the
manpower dedicated men ready to do my bidding
with a single order. I have the money! I created an
advanced, highly sophisticated communications
canter out of rubble, no one else in Europe could
have done that this I’ve known all along.
Bertholdier has nothing to speak of in Paris other
than influence and the aura that hovers about
him in true battle, meaningless. The Jew and the
South African are a continent away. When the chaos
comes, it is I who will be the voice of Aquitaine in
Europe. I never thought otherwise! My men will cut
down Bertholdier and Abrahms at their toilets!”
“Scharhorn’s the communications center, isn’t it?”
asked Joel with no emphasis whatsoever.
“They told you that?”
“The name was dropped. The master list of
Aquitaine’s in a computer there, isn’t it?”
“That, also?”
“It’s not important. I don’t care anymore. I was
abandoned, remember? You must have figured out
the computer, too no one else could. ‘
“A considerable accomplishment,” admitted
Leifhelm, his humility shining brightly on his waxen
face. “I even prepared for the catastrophe of death.
There are sixteen letters we each carry different sets
of four, the remaining twelve are with the legless
maniac. He thinks no one can activate the
666 ROBERT LUDLUM
codes without his primary set, but in truth a
pre-coded combination of two sequences doubled
will do it.”
‘That’s ingenious,’ said Converse. Do the others
know?”
‘Only my trusted French comrade,” answered
the German coldly. “The prince of traitors,
Bertholdier. But, naturally, I never gave him the
accurate combination, and an inaccurate insertion
would erase everything.”
“That was a winner thinking.” Joel nodded
approvingly, then frowned with concern. “What
would happen, though, if your center was
assaulted?”
“Like Hitler’s plans for the bunker, it would go
up in flames. There are explosives everywhere.”
“I see.”
“But since you speak of winners, and in my
judgment such men are prophets,” continued
Leifhelm, leaning forward in the chair, his eyes
widening with enthusiasm, “let me tell you about the
isle of Scharhorn. Years ago, in 1945, out of the
ashes of defeat, it was to be the site of the most
incredible creation designed by true believers the
world has ever known, only to be aborted by
cowards and traitors. It was called Operation
Sonnenkinder the children of the sun infants
biologically selected and sent out all over the world
to people waiting for them, prepared to guide them
through their lives to positions of power and wealth.
As adults, the Sonnenkinder were to have but one
mission across the globe. The rising of the Fourth
Reich! You see now the symbolic choice of
Scharhorn? From this inner complex of Aquitaine
will come forth the new order! We will have done it!”
‘ Stow it,” said Converse, getting out of the chair
and walking away from Erich Leifhelm. The
examination s finished.”
‘What?”
‘You heard me, get out of here. You make me
sick. ‘The door opened, and the young doctor from
Bonn came in, his eyes on the once celebrated field
marshal. Strip him,’ ordered Converse. “Search him.
Joel entered the dimly lit room where Valerie
and the Surete s Prudhomme flanked a man behind
a video camera mounted on a tripod. The thick lens
of the camera was inserted in the wall and ten feet
away was a television monitor,
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 667
which showed only the deserted study, with the
brocaded wing chair in the center of the screen.
“Everything go all right?” he asked.
“Beautifully,” said Valerie. “The operator didn’t
understand a word, but he claimed the lighting was
exquisite. Au bel nature!, he called it. He can make
as many copies as you like; they’ll take about
thirty-five minutes each.”
“Ten and the original print will be enough,” said
Converse, looking at his watch, then at Prudhomme
as Val spoke quietly in French to the cameraman.
“You can take the first copy and skill make the five
o’clock flight to Washington.”
“With the greatest of enthusiasm, my friend. I
assume one of these prints will be for Paris.”
“And every other head of government along with
our affidavits. You’ll bring back copies of the
depositions Simon took in New York?”
“I’ll go make arrangements,” said Prudhomme. “It
is best my name does not appear on the passenger
manifest.” He turned and left the room, followed by
the cameraman, who headed for his duplicating
equipment down the hall.
Valerie went to Joel, and taking his face in both
her hands, she kissed him lightly on the lips. “For a
few minutes in their you had me in knots. I didn’t
think you were going to make it.”
“Neither did 1.”
“But you did. That was some display, mister. I’m
so very proud of you, my darling.”
‘ A lot of lawyerstll cringe. It was the worst sort
of entrapment. As an old, bewildering, but very
bright law professor of mine would have put it, they
were admissions elicited on the basis of false
statements, those same admissions forming the basis
of further entrapment.”
“Stow it, Converse. Let’s go for a walk. We used
to walk a lot, and I’d like to get back in the habit.
It’s not much fun alone.”
Joel took her in his arms. They kissed, gently at
first, feeling the warmth and the comfort that had
come back to them. He pulled his head away, his
hands sliding to her shoulders, and looked into her
wide, vibrant eyes. “Will you marry me, Mrs.
Converse?” he said.
“Good Lord, again? Well, why not? As you said
once before, I wouldn’t even have to change the
initials on my lingerie.
668 ROBERT LUDLUM
“You never had initials on it.”
“You found that out long before you made the
remark.”
“I didn’t want you to think I stared.”
“Yes, my darling, I’ll marry you. But first we
have things to do. Even before our walk.”
“I know. Peter Stone by way of the Tabana family
in Charlotte, North Carolina. He did terrible things
to me, but strange as it seems, I think I like him.”
“I don’t,” said Valerie firmly. “I want to kill him.”
40
It was the end of the second day in the
countdown of three. The worldwide demonstrations
against nuclear war were only ten hours away, to
start at the first light halfway across the world. The
killings would begin, setting the chaos in mobon.
The group of eighteen men and five women sat
scattered about in the dark projection room in the
underground strategy complex of the White House.
Each had a small writing tray attached to his seat
with a yellow pad lighted by a Tensor lamp. On the
screen was flashed in thirty-second intervals one face
after another, each with a number in the upper
right-hand corner. The instructions had been terse, in