specific convictions as to who and what has value
and who and what doesn’t, and those who don’t can
go to hell, no appeals on the agenda…. I’m going to
meet them Pace-to-face! I’m going to talk with
them, hear their words! I admit I’m the most
amateurish fox you’ve ever heard of in a chicken
coop only, in this case it’s a vultures’ nest, and I
mean the type that swoops down and tears the flesh
off your back with one pass. But I’ve got something
going for me: I’m one hell of a good lawyer, and I’ll
learn things they won’t know I’ve learned. Maybe
enough to piece together a couple of cases that will
blow it all apart blow them apart. I told you before
that I rejected your deadline. I still reject it, but
now it doesn’t seem so out of the question.
Certainly not two days, but perhaps not ten! You
see, I thought I was going to have to fly to Tel Aviv,
then Johannesburg. Prime everyone, frighten them.
Now I don’t have to! We’ve already done it! They’re
coming to me because they’re the ones who are
frightened now! They don’t know what to think, and
that means they’ve panicked.” Converse paused,
sweat forming on his hairline; then he added, “I
don’t have to tell you what a good lawyer can do
with panicked hostile witnesses. The materials he
can collect for evidence.”
“Your plea’s accepted, counselor,” said
Fitzpatrick, not without awe. “You’re convincing.
Now, tell me why my intercession can help? What
does it accomplish?”
“I want those men to think I’m one of them! I
can live with everything they can put together about
me I’m not proud of it all; I’ve made my
compromises but I can’t live with that transcript of
my discharge! Don’t you see? It’s what
Avery Press understood! I understand now. He
knew me
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 221
nearly twenty-five years ago, and when I think back
we were actually pretty damned good friends. And
no matter what happened to us individually, he was
banking on the fact that I hadn’t really changed that
much, not in the deeper things. By the time we reach
the voting age we’re pretty well set, all of us. The
real changes come later, much later, dictated by such
things as acceptance or rejection and the state of our
wallets the prices we pay for our convictions, or to
support our talents, defending success or explaining
failure. That transcript confirmed what Halliday
believed, at least enough to make him want to meet
me, talk with me, and finally to recruit me. Only, he
did it finally by dying as I held his head. I
couldn’t walk away after that.”
Connal Fitzpatrick was silent as he walked out on
the balcony. He leaned over and gripped the railing
as Converse watched him. Then he stood up, raised
both his hands, and pulled back the sleeve of his left
wrist. “It’s twelve-fifteen in San Diego. No one in
legal goes to lunch before one o’clock; the
Coronado’s bar doesn’t begin to jump until then.”
“Can you do it?”
“I can try,” said the naval officer, crossing through
the French doors toward the telephone. “No, damn
it, if you’ve got your times straight, I can do better
than try, I can issue an order. That’s what rank’s all
about.”
The first five minutes were excruciating for Joel.
There were delays on all overseas calls, but somehow
the hi-, trim, or quadri-lingual Fitzpatrick, speaking
urgently, unctuously, in German, managed to get
through, the word dringend repeated frequently.
“Lieutenant Senior Grade Remington, David.
Legal Division, SAND PAC. This is an emergency,
sailor, Commander Fitzpatrick calling. Break in if
the lines are occupied.” Connal covered the
mouthpiece and turned to Converse. “If you’ll open
my suitcase, there’s a bottle of bourbon in the
middle.”
“I’ll open your suitcase, Commander.”
“Remington?… Hello, David, it’s Connal…. Yes,
thanks very much, I’ll tell Meagen…. No, I’m not in
San Francisco, don’t call me there. But something’s
come up I want you to handle, something on my
calendar that I didn’t get to. For openers, it’s a Four
Zero emergency. I’ll fill you in when I get back, but
until I do you have to take care of it. Got a pencil?
. . . There’s a POW service record under the name
of Converse, Joel, Lieutenant, one and a half stripes,
Air Arm,
222 ROBERT LUDLUM
pilot carrier-based, Vietnam duty. He was
discharged in the sixhes’ Fitzpatrick looked down
at Converse, who held up his right hand and three
fingers of his left “nineteen sixty-eight, to be
exact.”Joel stepped forward, his spread right hand
still raised, his left now showing only the index
finger. “June of ’68,” added the Navy lawyer,
nodding. “Point of separation our old hometown,
San Diego. Have you got all that? Read it back to
me, please, David.”
Connal nodded sporadically, as he listened.
“C-O-NV-E-R-S-E, that’s right…. June, ’68, Air
Arm, pilot, Vietnam POW section, San Diego
separation, that’s it, you’ve got it. Now here’s the
wicket, David. This Converse’s SR is flag status; the
flag pertains to his discharge hearing, no weapons
or high tech involved…. Listen carefully, David. It’s
my understanding that there may be a request
pending accompanied by a legal-release code for the
discharge transcript. Under no circumstances is that
transcript to be released. The flag stays fixed and
can’t be removed by anyone without my authoriza-
tion. And if the release has been processed it’ll still
be within the forty-eight-hour vet-delay. Kill it.
Understood?”
Again Fitzpatrick listened, but instead of
nodding, he shook his head. “No, not under any
circumstances. I don’t care if the secretaries of
State, Defense, and the Navy all sign a joint petition
on White House stationery, the answer is no. If
anyone questions the decision, tell him I’m
exercising my authority as Chief Legal Oflficer of
SAND PAC. There’s some goddamned article in the
‘shoals’ that says a station CLO can impound
materials on the basis of conceivably privileged in-
formation relative to the security of the sector, et
cetera, et cetera. I don’t recall the time
element seventy-two hours or five days or
something like that but find that statute. You may
need it.’
Connal listened further, his brows creasing, his
eyes straying to Joel. He spoke slowly as Converse
felt the sickening ache again in his chest. “Where
can you reach me . . . ?” said the naval officer,
perplexed. Then suddenly he was no longer
bewildered. “I take back what I said before, call
Meagen in San Francisco. If I’m not with her and
the kids, she’ll know where to reach me…. Thanks
again, David. Sweep your decks and get right on
this, okay? Thanks . . . I’ll tell Meg. ‘ Fitzpatrick
hung up the phone and exhaled audibly. “There,” he
said, slouched in relief, pushing his hand through
his loose light-brown hair. “I’ll phone Meagen and
give her this num
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 223
her, tell her to say I’ve gone up to the Sonoma hills,
if Reming ton calls Press had some property there.”
“Give her the telephone number,” said Joel, “but
don’t tell her anything else.”
“Don’t worry, she’s got enough on her mind. ‘
The naval officer looked at Converse, frowning. “If
your hourly count is right, you’ve got your bme now.”
“My count’s all right. Is Lieutenant Remington?
I mean that only in the sense that he wouldn’t let
anyone override your order, would he?’
“Don’t mistake my officiousness where he’s
concerned,” replied Connal. “David isn’t easily
pushed around. The reason I chose him and not one
of the four other senior lawyers in the department is
that he’s got a reputation for being a sUckler prick.
He’ll find that statute and nail it to the forehead of
any four-striper who tries to countermand that order.
I like Remington; he’s very useful. He scares the hell
out of people.”
“We all have case partners like that. It’s called
the good guy-bad guy routine.”
“David fits. He’s got an eye that keeps straying
to the right.” Fitzpatrick suddenly stood erect, his
bearing military. “I thought you were going to get the
bourbon, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, sir, CommanderI” shot back Joel, heading
for fitzpatrick’s suitcase.
“And if I remember correctly, after you pour us
a drink you’re going to tell me a story I want very
much to hear.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” said Converse, lifting the suitcase
off the floor and putting it on the couch. “And if I
may suggest, sir,” conUnuedJoel, “a room-service
dinner might be in order. I’m sure the Commander
needs nourishment after his trying day at the wheel.”
“Good thinking, Lieutenant. I’ll phone down to
the Em pfang. ”
“Before calling your bookie, may I also suggest
that you first call your sister?”
“Oh, Christ, I forgot!”
Chaim Abrahms walked down the dark street in
Tel Aviv his stocky frame draped in his usual safari