had done a thousand times. “In the interests of my
client of course.”
“Of course,” said the German. “Tomorrow say,
four o’clock in the afternoon. I’ll send a car for you.
I assure you I set an excellent table.”
“A table?”
“Dinner, naturally. After we have our talk.”
Leifhelm rose from the chair. ’61 wouldn’t think of
your coming to Bonn and forgoing the experience.
I’m known for my dinner parties, Mr. Converse.
And if it concerns you, make whatever security
arrangements you like. A platoon of personal
guards, if you wish. You’ll be perfectly safe. Mein
Haus ist dein Haus. ”
“I don’t speak German.”
“Actually, it’s an old Spanish saying. Mi casa, su
casa. ‘My house is your house.’ Your comfort and
well-being are my most urgent concerns.”
“Mine, too,” said Joel, rising. “I wouldn’t think of
having anyone accompany me, or follow me. It’d be
counterproductive. Of course, I’ll inform my client
as to my whereabouts telling him approximately
when he can expect my subsequent call. He’ll be
anxious to hear from me.”
“I should think so.” Leifhelm and Converse
walked to the door; the German turned and once
more offered his hand. “Until tomorrow, then. And
may I again suggest while you’re here that you be
careful, at least for several days.”
“I understand.”
The puppets in New York. The killing that had to
tee deals with the first of two obstacles, two sharp,
sickening aches … his chat.
“By the way,” said Joel, releasing the field
marshal’s hand. “There was a news item on the BBC
this morning that interested me EO much that I
phoned an associate. A man was killed in New
York, a judge. They say it was a revenge killing,
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 217
a contract put out by organised. Did you happen to
hear anything about it?”
“Id” asked Leithelm, his blond-white eyebrows
raised, his warlike lips parted. “It seems people are
killed by the dozens every day in New York, judges
included, I presume. Why should I know anything
about it? The answer, obviously, is no.”
“I just wondered. Thank you.”
“But . . . but you. You must have a . . .”
“Yes, General?”
“Why does this judge interest you? Why did you
think I would know him?”
Converse smiled, but without a trace of humor.
“I won’t be telling you anything when I tell you he
was our mutual adversary enemy, if you like.”
“Our? You really must explain yourselfl”
“As you and as I said, I am what I want
people to think I am. This man knew the truth. I’m
on leave of absence from my firm, working
confidentially for a personal client. He tried to stop
me, tried to get the senior partner to cancel my leave
and call me back.”
“By giving him reasons?”
“No, just veiled threats of corruption and
impropriety. He wouldn’t go any further; he’s on the
bench and couldn’t back it up; his own conduct
would be suspect. My employer is completely
ignorant angry as hell and confused but I’ve
calmed him down. It’s a closed issue; the less it’s
explored, the better for us all.” Joel opened the door
for Leifhelm. “Till tomorrow ” He paused for a
brief moment, loathing the man standing in front of
him but showing only respect in his eyes. “Field
Marshal,” he added.
“Gate Nacht,” said Erich Leifhelm, nodding his
head sharply once in military acknowledgment.
Converse persuaded the switchboard operator to
send someone into the dining room for the
American, Commander Fitzpatrick. The task of
finding the naval officer was not easy, for he was not
in the dining room or the bar but outside on the
Spanrsche Terrasse having a drink with friends,
watching the Rhine at twilight.
“What goddamned friends?” demanded Joel over
the phone.
218 ROBERT LUDLUM
‘just a couple I met out there. He’s a nice
guy an executive type, pretty much into his
seventies, I think.”
“And she?” asked Converse, his lawyer’s antenna
struck by a signal.
“Maybe thirty, forty years younger,” replied
Connal with less elaboration.
“Get up here, sailor!”
Fitzpatrick leaned forward on the couch, his
elbows on his knees, his expression a mixture of
concern and astonishment as he looked over at Joel,
who was smoking a cigarette in front of the open
balcony doors. “Let me run this again,” he said
warily. “You want me to stop someone from getting
your service record?”
“Not all of it, just part of it.”
“Who the hell do you think I am?”
“You did it for Avery for Press. You can do it
for me. You have tol”
“That’s backwards. I opened those files for him,
I didn’t keep them closed.”
‘Either way it’s control. You’ve got access; you’ve
got a
“I’m here, not there. I can’t scissor something
out you don’t like ten thousand miles away. Be
reasonable!”
“Somebody can, somebody has tol It’s only a
short segment, and it’s got to be at the end. The
final interview.”
“An interview?” said Connal, startled, getting to
his feet. “In a service record? You mean some kind
of operational report? Because if you do, it
wouldn’t be ”
“Not a report,” interrupted Converse, shaking his
head. “The discharge my discharge interview. That
stuff Press Halliday quoted to me.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Fitzpatrick held
up his hands. “Are you referring to the remarks
made at your discharge hearing?”
“Yes, that’s it. The hearing!”
“Well, relax. They’re not part of your service
record, or anyone else’s.”
“Halliday had them Avery had theml I just told
you, he quoted my words verbatim!” Joel walked to
a table where there was an ashtray; he crushed out
his cigarette. “If they’re not part of the record, how
did he get them? How did you get them for him?”
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 219
“That’s different,” said Connal, obviously
remembering as he spoke. “You were a POW, and a
lot of those hearings were put under a debriefing
classification, and I do mean classified. Even after all
these years, many of those sessions are still touchy.
A lot of things were talked about that no one to this
day wants made public for everyone’s good, not just
the military’s.”
“But you got them! I heard my own words, goddamn
ill”
“Yes, I got them,” admitted the Navy lawyer
without enthusiasm. “I got the transcript, and I’d be
busted to seaman third class if anyone knew about it.
You see, I believed Press. He swore to me he needed
it, needed everything. He couldn’t make any
mistakes.”
“How did you do it? You weren’t even in San
Diego at the time, that’s what you saidl”
“By calling the vaults and using my legal-release
number to have a photostat made. I said it was a
Four Zero emergency and I’d take responsibility. The
next morning when the authorization came in by
pouch for countersignature, I had the chief legal
officer at the base sign it with a lot of other things It
simply got buried in the paper work.”
“But how did you know about it in the first place?”
“Selected POW records have flags on their
discharge sheets.”
“Clarification, please?”
“Just what I said, flags. Small blue seals that
denote additional information stilt held under tight
security. No flags, everything’s clean; but if there is
one, that means there’s something else. I told Press,
and he said he had to have whatever it was, so I
went after it.”
“Then anyone else could, too.”
“No, not anyone. You need an officer with a
legal-release number, and there aren’t that many of
us. Also there’s a minimum forty-eight-hour delay so
the material can be vetted. That’s almost always in
the area of weapons and technology data that still
might be classified.”
“Forty~i’