The German slowly, reluctantly, slid off his
waist-length coat, twice darting his eyes to the left of
Joel, toward the wheelhouse door. “I look only for
drugs.”
“I’m not carrying any, and if I were, I suspect
whoever sold them to me would have a better way to
get across the river than with you. Turn it upside
down! Shake it!”
The captain held his coat by the bottom edge and
let it fall away. A short, ugly revolver plummeted to
the floor, clacking on the wood, followed by the
lighter sound of a long knife encased in a flat bone
handle, flared at the end. As it struck the deck the
blade shot out.
“This is the river,” said the German without
elaboration.
“And I just want to cross it without any
trouble and trouble to someone as nervous as I am
is anyone walking through that door.” Converse
angled his head, gesturing at
440 ROBERT LUDLUM
the wheelhouse entrance on his left. ‘ In my state of
mind, I’d fire this gun. I’d probably kill you and
whoever else came in here. I’m not as strong as you,
Captain, but I’m afraid, and that makes me much
more dangerous. Can you understand that?”
“Ja. I not hurt you. I look only for drugs.”
“You hurt me plenty,” corrected Joel. “And that
frightens me.”
“Nein. Bitte . . . please.”
“When do you take the boat out?”
“When I say.”
“How many crew?”
“One man, that is all.”
“Liar/” whispered Converse sharply, the gun
thrust forward.
“Zwei. Two men . . . today. We pick up heavy
crates in Elten. On my word, is normal only one
man. I can t pay more.”
“Start the engine,” ordered Joel. “Or engines. I
only know Chris-Crafts and Bertrams, which is a
silly fucking thing to say.”
“What?”
“Do it!”
“Die Mannschaft. The . . . crew. I must give orders.”
“WaitI” Converse crawled sideways past the
wheelhouse door, glancing above to his left at the
thick wooden paneling of the pilot’s window, his gun
never once wavering from its line of fire into the
German’s chest. Again, he used the bulkhead and
his braced legs to shinny himself up the wall; he was
in shadows, with a clear view of the bow and,
through both wheelhouse windows behind him, the
stern of the boat. In sight were the fore and aft
pilings on both sides, the lines looped around the
thick protrusions of weather-beaten logs. The two
crewmen were sitting on a storage hatchway, smok-
ing cigarettes, one drinking from a can of beer. “All
right,” said Joel, clicking the hammer back on the
automatic a weapon he was not sure he could use
accurately within ten feet. “Open that door and give
your orders. And if either of those men down there
does anything but free those ropes, I’ll kill you. Can
you understand that?”
“I understand . . . everything you say, but you do
not understand me. I search you for drugs not a
grosse Mann the Polizei do not go after such
people, they leave them alone.
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 441
They go after the small people who use the
riverboats. It makes them look good, you see. I
would not hurt you. I only protect myself. I want to
believe what my Neffe nephew told me, but I must
be sure.”
“Your nephew?”
“The seaman from Bremerhaven. How you think
he got his job? Ach, main Bruder sells flowers! It is
his Frau’s shop! He once sailed the oceans as I did.
Now, he is a Blumenhandler!
“I swear to Christ I don’t understand anything,”
said Joel, partially lowering his gun.
“Maybe you understand if I tell you he offered to
pay me one half of the fifteen hundred dollars you
pay him.”
“A consortium of thieves.”
“Rein, I not take. I tell him buy a new Gitarre.”
Converse sighed. “I have no drugs. Do you believe
me?”
“Ja, you are only a fool, he told me. Rich fools
pay more. They cannot tell people how foolish they
are. The poor do not care.”
“Do those little bromides run in the family?”
“What?”
“Forget it. Give the orders. Let’s get out of here.”
“Ja. Watch through the windows, please. I do not
want you to be more afraid. You are right. A man
afraid is much more dangerous.”
Joel leaned back against the bulkhead as the
captain shouted his orders. The engines started and
the lines were released from their pilings. It was so
contrary, he thought. Hostile, belligerent men who
struck out in anger were not always his enemies,
while pleasant, seemingly friendly people wanted to
kill him. It was a world he knew nothing about, a
long stretch from a courtroom or a boardroom where
courtesy and “killing” could mean a variety of things.
There were no such grey areas a hundred years ago
in the camps and the jungles. One knew who the
enemy was; the definition was clear on all sides. But
during the past four days he had learned that there
were no defined lines for him now. Converse stared
out the window, at the pockets of mist rising out of
the water, a few spiraling up to catch the early light
in their clouds of vapor. His mind went blank. He
did not care to think for a while….
“Five, perhaps six minutes,” said the captain,
swinging the wheel to his left.
442 ROBERT LUDLUM
Joel blinked; he had been in a peaceful,
rest-filled void, for how long he was not sure. “What
are the procedures?” he asked, conscious of the
rising orange sun firing what was left of the river
mists. “I mean, what do I do?”
“As little as you can, answered the German. “Just
walk like you walk the pier every morning and go
through the repair yard to the street. You will be in
the south part of the town of Lobith. You will be in
die Niederlande and we never saw each other.
“I understand that, but how?”
“You see that Bootshafen?’ said the captain,
pointing to a complex of docks with heavy winch
machinery and hoisting devices across the water.
“It s a marina. ‘
Ja, marina. My second petrol tank is empty I
say I test. I stall the engines three hundred meters
offshore and go in. I yell at the Dutchman’s price
but I pay, because I do not buy from the deutsche
thief this far downriver. You get off with one of my
crew, have a cigarette and laugh at your stupid cap-
tain then you walk away.
“Just like that?’
”la. ,,
“It’s so easy.
“la. No one said it was difficult. You only have
to keep your eyes clear.
“For the police?”
“Nein,” said the captain, shrugging. “If there is
Polizei they come to boat, you stay on board.”
“Then who am I looking for?”
“Men who may watch you, may see you walk away.
‘
“What men?”
“Gesindel, Gauner what you call scum. They
come each morning to the piers and look for work,
most still drunk. Watch for such men. They will
think you have drugs or money. They will break
your head and steal.”
“Your nephew told me to watch the men on
your own boat.”
“Only the new man, he is a Gauner. He chokes
on his beer hoping it will clear his head. He thinks
he fools me but he does not. I keep him on board,
tell him to scrape the rail something. The other is
no problem for you. He is loyal to me an Idiot with
a strong back and no head. The riverboats do not
hire him. I do. Verstehen?”
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 443
‘1 think so. By the way, I have to get to
Amsterdam. Is there a train here?”
“No train in Lobith. You take the omnibus to
Arnhem. The train to Amsterdam is in Arnhem. I
use it many times when my ships dock in die
Niederlande. The omnibus stops at the railroad
station. Not long ride.”
“Ships? Large ships?” asked Joel, struck by the
captain’s words.
“I once sailed the oceans, not a stinking river.
Fifteen years of age I ship out with main Bruder. By
twenty-three I am Obermaat ‘petit’ officer good
money, good life…. Very happy.” The German
lowered his voice as he throttled back the engines
and spun the wheel starboard; the boat skidded on
the water. “Why talk? It is over,” he added angrily.
“What happened?”
“It is not for you, Amerikaner. ” The captain
pushed the throttle forward; the engines coughed.
“I’m interested.”
“Warum? Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it takes my mind off my
own problems,” said Converse honestly.
The German looked briefly at him. “You ask?
Okay. We never see each other…. I stole money,
much money. It took the company purser nine
months to find me. Aber, ach, he find me! It was
many years ago. No more oceans, only the