“Sam Abbott? I mean, Brigadier General Samuel
Abbott?”
“That’s the one, Sergeant Potter.”
“Porter, ma’am.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“Well, I can’t see any security breach here,
miss ma’am. Everybody knows where General
Abbott is stationed. He’s a popular officer and in the
newspapers a lot.”
“Where is that, Sergeant? I’ll personally tell him
you’ve been most helpful to both of us.”
“Nellie Air Force Base in Nevada, ma’am, just
outside Las Vegas. He commands the advanced
tactical maneuver squadrons. All the squadron
commanders get their final training at Nellis. He’s
the man…. May I have your name, please?”
“Oh, good Lord! There’s the last boarding call for
my plane! Thank you, Sergeant.” Valerie hung up the
phone, her eyes still scanning the street, trying to
decide what to do whether to call Sam now or wait.
Suddenly she realized she could not call; it would
mean using a credit card, origin of call and
destination listed. She went back to the taxi.
“Lady, I’d just as soon get out of here, if you
don’t mind,” said the driver, a quiet urgency in his
voice.
“What’s the matter?”
“I keep a police scanner in my cab in case there’s
problems in my neighborhood, and I just heard the
word. An Army captain was clobbered on Fifty-fifth
and Madison by a black driver of a taxi heading
north. Lucky for me they didn’t get the license or the
company, but the description’s pretty good. ‘A big
black son of a bitch with a size-twelve fist’ was the
way those mothers put it.”
“Let’s go,” said Val. “I hate to say this, and I
mean that but I can’t get involved.” The cab sped
forward, the driver
534 R03ERT LUDLUM
turning east on Eightieth Street. “Is my husband
pressing charges?” she asked.
“No, I’m off the hook there,” replied the driver.
“He must have punched you real bad. He just fled
and had nuthin’ to say. Bless his white heart. Where
to?”
“Let me think.”
“It’s your meter.”
She had to get to Las Vegas, but the idea of
going back to Kennedy or LaGuardia airports
frightened her. They seemed too logical, too easily
anticipated. remembered. About five or six years
ago she and Joel were weekending with friends in
Short HiDs, New Jersey, when Joel got a call from
Nathan Simon, teeing him he had to fly to Los
Angeles on Sunday for a Monday-morning meeting.
All the legal papers would be sent to the Beverly
Hills Hotel by air express. Joel had taken the plane
from Newark Airport.
“Can you drive me to Newark?”
“I can drive you to Alaska, lady, but Newark?”
“The airport.”
“That’s better. It’s one of the best. I guess
Newark’s okay, too. I got a brother there and, hell,
he’s stiD alive. I’D swing through the park at
Sixty-fifth and head down to the Lincoln Tunnel. Do
you mind if I turn on the scanner again?”
“No, go right ahead.”
The voices went in and out, then the driver
pushed a button and they became steady: “Incident
at Fifty-fifth and Madison is a negative.. Precinct
Ten has called it off as the victim refused assistance
and did not identify himself. So patrols, onward and
upward. We helps them what helps themselves. On,
brothers.”
“Oh, he’s a brother!” shouted the driver in relief
as he turned off the radio. “You catch that ‘incident
is a negative’? They coulda used him in Nam, in
those big body-count press conferences…. Come to
think of it, he was probably there not with the
press, just one of the bodies. They never did get it
right.”
Valerie leaned forward on the seat. “I asked you
about Nam. About General Delavane. Would you
ted me about him?”
It was nearly a minute before the black replied,
and when he did so, his voice was soft, even
mellifluous. And somewhere at the base of it was
abject defeat. “My driver’s identification is lookin’ at
you, lady. I’m drivin’ you to Newark Air
THE AQUITAINE
PROGRESSION 535
port thaws what you’re payin’ for, and that’s what
you’ll
The rest of the ride was made in silence, an
oppressive sense of fear pervading the cab. After all
these years, thought Val. Oh, God
They hit heavy traffic at the tunnel and then on
the turnpike; it was the start of the weekend and
vacationers were heading for the Jersey shore. The
airport was worse; it was jammed, cars backed up for
a quarter of a mile in the departure lanes. Finally
they edged up into a parking space and Valerie got
out. She paid the driver a hundred dollars above the
fare and thanked him. “You’ve been much more than
helpful, you know that…. I’ll never really know why
but I’ll think about it.”
“Like I said, it’s my business. I got my reasons.”
“I wish I could say something, something that
could help.”
“Don’t try, lady. The green is enough.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Sure, it is until something better comes along,
and that ain’t gonna be in my lifetime…. You take
care, missus. I think you got bigger problems than
most of us. You said too much, which I don’t recall,
of course.”
Valerie turned and went into the terminal. The
lines in front of the counters were horrendous, and
before joining one she had to know which one.
Twenty minutes later she was in the proper line and
nearly an hour after that she had a ticket to Las
Vegas on American’s 12:30 flight, another hour
before boarding. It was time to see if it all made
sense. If Sam Abbott made sense, or whether she
was grasping desperately at a man she once
remembered who might not be that man any longer.
She had exchanged $20 in bills for two $10 rolls of
quarters. She hoped it would be enough. She took an
escalator up to the second floor and went to a
telephone at the far end of the wide corridor past
the shops. Nevada information gave her the number
of the main switchboard at Nellis Air Force Base.
She dialed and asked to be put through to Brigadier
General Samuel Abbott.
“I don’t know if he’s on the base yet,” said the
operator.
“Oh?” she had forgotten. There was a three-hour
time difference.
“Just a minute, he’s checked in. Early-morning
flight schedule.”
536 ROBERT LUDLUM
“General Abbott’s office.”
‘May I speak to the general, please. The name
is Parquette, Mrs. Virginia Parquette.”
“May I ask what this is in reference to?” asked
the secretary. “The general’s extremely busy and is
about to head down to the field.”
“I’m a cousin he hasn’t seen in a long time,
actually. There’s been a tragedy in the family.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.”
“Please tell him I’m on the line. He may not
recall my name; it’s been so many years. But you
might remind him that in the old days we had some
wonderful dinners in New York. It’s really most
urgent. I wish someone else were making this call,
but I’m afraid I was elected.”
“Yes yes, of course.”
The waiting put Valerie in the last circle of hell.
Finally there was a click, followed by the voice she
remembered.
“Virginia . . . Parquette?”
“Yes.”
“Ginny from New York? Dinner in New York?”
“Yes.”
“You’re the wife, not the sister.”
“Yes!”
“Give me a number. I’ll call you back in ten
minutes.”
“It’s a pay phone.”
“Stay there. The number.”
She gave it to him and hung up, frightened,
wondering what she had done, but knowing that she
could not have done anything else. She sat in the
plastic chair by the phone, watching the escalators,
looking at the people going in and out of the
various shops, the bar, the fast-food restaurant. She
tried not to look at her watch; twelve minutes
passed. The phone rang.
“Yes?”
“Valerie?”
“Yes!”
“I wanted to get out of the office too many
interruptions. Where are you? I know the area
code’s New Jersey.”
“Newark Airport. I’m on the twelve-thirty flight
to Las Vegas. I’ve got to see you!”
“I tried to call you. Talbot’s secretary gave me
your number ”
“When?”
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 537
‘~Starting two days ago. I was in the Mojave on
maneuvers and too bushed to turn on a radio we
didn’t have newspapers. A man answered, and when
he said you weren’t there I hung up.”
“That was Roger, Joel’s father. He’s dead.”
“I know. They say it was most likely suicide.”
“No!. . . I’ve seen him, Sam. I’ve seen Joel! It’s all
lies!”
“That’s what we have to talk about,” said the
general. “Call me when you get in. Same name. I
don’t want to pick you up at the airport; too many
people know me over there. I’ll figure out a place
where we can meet.”
“Thank you, Sam!” said Valerie. “You’re all we have
left.”
“We?”
“For the time being, yes. I’m all he has left.”