”Johann. My hands are on the table. They’ve
been on the table since we sat down.”
“What . . . ?” The young Cerman blinked and
looked at Converse’s forearms, both of which were
in front of him, his hands clasped on the white
metal surface. “You have no gun?”
“Oh, yes, I have a gun. I took it from a man who
would have killed me if he’d had the chance.” Joel
reached into his pocket as Johann stiffened.
“Cigarettes,” said Converse, taking out a pack and a
book of matches. “It’s a terrible habit. Don’t start if
you don’t smoke.”
“It’s very expensive.”
“Among other things. ” Joel struck a match,
lighting a cigarette, his eyes remaining on the
student. “We’ve talked off and on since last night.
Except for a few moments back there in the crowd
when you could have had me Iynched, do I look or
sound like the man described in that newspaper
story?”
“I am no more a doctor than a lawyer.”
“Two points for the opposition. The burden of
sanity’s on me. Besides, it said I appeared perfectly
normal.”
“It said you suffered a great deal.”
“Several hundred years ago, but no more than
thousands of others and far, far less than some
fifty-eight thousand who never came back. I don’t
think an insane man is capable of making a rational
remark like that under these circumstances do you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
‘~I’m trying to tell you that everything you just read
to
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 363
me is an example of a man being tried by negative
journalism. Truths mixed with half-truths, distortions,
and implausible judgments were slanted to support
the lies that are meant to convict me. There’s not a
court in any civilised country that would admit that
kind of testimony or permit a jury to hear t.
“Men have been killed,” said Johann, again his
words whispered. “The ambassador was killed.”
“Not by me. I wasn’t anywhere near the
Adenauer Bridge at eight o’clock last night. I don’t
even know where it is.”
“Where were you?’
“Not where anyone saw me, if that’s what you
mean. And those who know I couldn’t have been at
the bridge would be the last people on earth to say
so.”
“There has to be some evidence of where you
were.” The young German nodded at the cigarette in
Converse’s hand. “Perhaps one of those. Perhaps you
finished a cigarette.”
“Or finger or foot prints? Pieces of clothing?
There’s all of that, but they don’t tell the time.”
“There are methods,” corrected Johann. “The
advances in the technology of. . . Forschung. . . the
investigation techniques have been rapid.”
“Let me finish that for you. I’m not a criminal
lawyer but I know what you’re saying. Theoretically,
for example, the ground depression of a footprint
matched with the scrapings off my shoes could put
me where I was within the hour.”
‘7a!”
“No. I’d be dead before a scrap of evidence
reached a laboratory.”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you. I wish to God I could but I can’t.”
“Again, I must ask why?” The fear in the young
man’s eyes was joined by disappointment, the last
glimpse of believability, perhaps, gone with Joel’s
refusal to explain.
“Because I can’t, I won’t. You said a few minutes
ago that I’d done enough to you, and without
meaning to, I have. But I won’t do this. You’re not
in a position to do anything but get yourself killed.
That’s as frankly as I can put it, Johann.”
“I see.”
“No you don’t, but I wish there was a way to
convince you that I have to reach others. People who
can do something.
364 ROBERT LUDLUM
They’re not here; they renot in Bonn, but I’ll reach
them if I can get away.”
“There’s something else? You would have me do
something else?” The young German stiffened again,
and again his hands trembled.
“No. I don’t want you to do anything. I’m asking
you not to do anything at least for a while.
Nothing. Give me a chance to get out of here and
somehow get in touch with people who can help
me help all of us.”
“All of us?”
“I mean that, and it’s all I’ll say.”
“These people are not to be found in your own
embassy A merikaner?”
Converse looked hard at Johann, his eyes as
steady as he could manage. “Ambassador Walter
Peregrine was killed by one or more men at that
embassy. They came to kill me last night at the
hotel.”
Johann breathed deeply, taking his eyes offJoel
and staring down at the table. “Back at the kiosk, in
the crowd, when you threatened me . . . you said
three men had been killed already three decent
men.”
“I’m sorry. I was desperate.”
“It wasn’t simply that, it was what you said right
afterward. You said why should I be the exception.
Because I was young? That was no reason, you
claimed, and then you shouted very strange
words I remember them precisely. You said,
‘When you come right down to it, who the hell are
we dying for?’ It was more than a question, I think.”
“I won’t discuss the implications of that remark,
counselor. And I can’t tell you what to do. I can
only tell you what I’ve told dozens of clients over
the years. When a decision is reduced to several
strong opposing arguments mine included and
you’ve listened to them all, put them behind you
and follow your own gut instinct. Depending upon
who and what you are, it’ll be the right one for you.”
Converse paused, pushing back his chair. “Now I’m
going to get up and walk out of here. If you start
screaming, I’ll run and try to hide somewhere where
I’ll be safe before anyone recognises me. Then I’ll
do whatever I can do. If you don’t set off an alarm,
I’ll have a better chance, and that in my view would
be best for all of us. You could go to the
university library and come out in an hour or so,
buy a paper, and go to the police. I’d expect
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 365
you to do that, if you felt you had to. That’s my view.
I don’t know what yours is. Good-bye, Johann.”
Joel rose from the table, bringing his hand
instantly to his face, his fingers spread, touching his
eyebrows. He turned and walked through the tables
to the pavement, veering right, heading for the first
intersection. He barely took a breath; his lungs were
bursting for air but he dared not let even a breath
impair his hearing. He waited as he walked, his pulse
accelerating, his ears so keenly tuned that the
slightest dissonance would have burned them.
There were only the sounds of the excited street
conversations in counterpoint with the blaring horns
of taxis not the screams of a young male voice
raising an alarm. He walked faster, entering the flow
of pedestrians crossing the
square faster,faster passing strollers who saw no
need to rush. He reached the curb of the opposite
pavement and slowed down a rapidly walking man
called attention to himself. Yet the impulse to break
into a run was almost uncontrollable the farther he
distanced himself from the tables of the sidewalk
bakery-cafe. His ear had picked up no alarm and
every split second of that absence told him to race
into whatever secluded side streets he could find.
Nothing. Nothing broke the discordant sounds of
the square, but there was a change, a discernible
change, and it had nothing to do with strident alarms
provoked by a single screaming voice. The discordant
sounds themselves had become subdued, replaced by
shrugs and relaxed gestures indicating inability to
comprehend. The word Amerikaner was repeated
everywhere. The panic initially ignited by the news
had passed. An American had killed an American; it
was not a German assassin, or a Communist, or even
a terrorist who had eluded the Federal Republic’s
security arrangements. Life could go on; Deutschland
could not be held responsible for the death and the
citizens of Bonn breathed a sigh of relief.
Converse spun around the corner of a brick
building and stared across the square at the tables of
the bakery-cafe. The student, Johann, remained in
his chair, his head bowed, supported by both hands,
reading the newspaper. Then he got up and walked
into the bakery itself. Was there a telephone insider
Would he talk to someone?
How long, can I waits thought Converse, prepared
to run, as instinct held him back.
366 ROBERT LUDLUM
Johann came out of the bakery carrying a tray of
coffee and rolls. He sat down and meticulously
separated the plates from the tray and once again
stared at the newspaper in front of him. Then he
looked up at nothing in particular as if he knew he
was being watched by unseen eyes and nodded