practically the same words to him, thought Converse,
lighting a cigarette. I’m beginning to see where you’re
coming from…. The inherent question put to Joel’s
legal mind was simple: Where was he himself going?
He hoped to hell he knew. Was he an inept gladiator
marching into a Roman arena facing far stronger,
better-armed and superior talent? Or were the
demons from his own past turning him into his own
sacrifice, leading him into the arena’s hot sand where
angry, half-starved cats waited, ready to pounce and
tear him apart? So many questions, so many
variables he was incapable of addressing. He only
knew he could not turn back.
Fitzpatrick looked up. “What’s the matter?” he
asked, obviously aware that Converse was staring in
his direction. “You worried about the admiral?”
“Who?”
“Hickman, San Diego.”
“Among other things. In the clear light of day,
you’re sure he bought the extension?”
“No guarantees, but I told you he said he’ll call
me if any emergency heat came down. I’m damn
sure he won’t do anything before consulting me. If
he tries to reach me, Meagen knows what to do and
I’ll lean harder. If need be, I’ll claim point of
personal privilege and demand a meeting with those
unnamed people in the Fifth District, maybe go so
far as to imply they could be part of Geneva. That’d
be a full circle. We could end up with a
standoff the release of that flag only with a
full-scale investigation of the circumstances. Irony
and standoff.”
“You won’t have a standoff if he’s with them.
He’ll override you.”
“If he was with them, he wouldn’t have told
Remington he was going to call me. He wouldn’t
have said anything; he’d have waited the extra day
and let it go. I know him. He wasn’t just nonplussed,
he was mad. He stands by his people and he
266 ROBERT LUDIUM
doesn’t like outside pressures, especially Navy
pressures. We’re on hold, and as long as it’s hold,
the flag’s in place. I told you, he’s a lot angrier with
Norfolk than with me. They won’t even give him a
reason; they claim they can’t.”
Converse nodded. ‘ AII right,” he said. “Call it a
case of nerves on my part. I just finished the
Abrahms dossier. That maniac could blow up the
whole Middle East all by himself and drag the rest
of us in with him…. What did you think of Leifhelm
and Bertholdier?”
“As far as the information goes, they’re
everything you said and then some. They’re more
than just influential ex-generals with fistfuls of
money, they’re powerful rallying symbols for what a
lot of people think are justifiable extremes. That’s as
far as the information goes but the operative word
for me is the information itself. Where did it come
from?”
“That’s a step back. It’s there.”
“It sure is, but how? You say Beale gave it to
you, that Press used the phrase ‘we’ ‘the ones we’re
after,’ ‘the tools we can give you,’ ‘the connections
as we think they are.’ ”
“And we went over this,” insisted Joel. “The man
in San Francisco, the one he went to who provided
the five hundred thousand and told him to build
cases against these people legally, and together
they’d turn them into plain and simple profiteers.
It’s the ultimate ridicule for superpatriots. It’s sound
reasoning, counselor, and that’s the we.”
“Press and this unknown man in San Francisco?”
“Yes.”
“And they could pick up a phone and hire
someone to put together these?” Fitzpatrick gestured
at the two dossiers on his left.
“Why not? This is in the age of the computer.
Nobody today lives on an unmapped island or in an
undiscovered cave.”
“These,” said Connal, “are not computer
printouts. They’re well-researched, detailed, in-depth
dossiers that take in the importance of political
nuances and personal idiosyncrasies.”
“You have a way with words, sailor. Yes, they
are. A man who can forward half a million dollars
to the right bank on an Aegean island can hire just
about anyone he likes.”
“He can’t hire these.”
“What does that mean?”
“Let me take a real step back,” said the Navy lawyer,
get
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 267
tiny to his feet and reaching down for the single page
he had been reading. “I won’t reiterate the details of
my relationship with Press because right now it hurts
a little to think about it.” Fitzpatrick paused, seeing
the look in Converse’s eyes that rejected this kind of
sentimentality in their discussion. “Don’t mistake
me,” he continued. “It’s not his death, not the funer-
al; it s the other way around. It’s not the Press
Halliday I knew. You see, I don’t think he told us
the truth, either you or me.”
“Then you know something I don’t know,” said
Converse quietly.
“I know there’s no man in San Francisco that
even vaguely fits the description of the image he
gave you. I’ve lived there all my life, including
Berkeley and Stanford, just like Press. I knew
everyone he knew, especially the wealthiest and the
more exotic ones; we never held back on those with
each other. I was legal worlds away, and he always
filled me in if new ones came along. It was part of
the fun for him.”
‘`That’s tenuous, counselor. I’m sure he kept
certain associations to himself.”
‘ Not those kinds,” said Connal. “It wouldn’t be
like him. Not with me.”
“Well, I ”
‘ Now let me step forward,” interrupted
Fitzpatrick. “These dossiers I haven’t seen them
before, but I’ve seen hundreds like them, maybe a
couple of thousand on their way to becoming
full-fledged versions of them.”
Joel sat up. “Please explain that, Commander.”
“You just hit it, Lieutenant. The rank says it.”
“Says what?”
“Those dossiers are the reworked, finished
products of intelligence probes utilizing heavy shots
of military data. They’ve been bounced around the
community, each branch contributing its input from
straight biographical data to past surveillances to
psychiatric evaluation and put together by teams of
specialists. Those were taken from way down in the
government vaults and rewritten with current
additions and conclusions, then shaped to appear as
the work of an outside nongovernment authority. But
they’re not. They’ve got Classified, Top Secret, and
Eyes Only written all over them.”
Converse leaned forward. “That could be a
subjective judgment based on limited familiarity. I’ve
seen some very detailed, very in-depth reports put
together by high-priced firms specialising in that sort
of thing.”
268 ROBERT IUDLUM
“Describing precise military incidents during the
time of war? Pinpointing bombing raids and
specifying regiments and battalions and the current
strategies employed? Detailing through interviews
the internal conflicts of ranking enemy officers and
the tactical reasons for shifting military personnel
into civilian positions after the cessation of
hostilities? No firm would have access to those
materials.”
“They could be researched,” said Joel, suddenly
not convinced himself.
“Well, these couldn’t,” Connal broke in, holding
up the page of typewritten names, his thumb on the
lower two columns listing the “decision makers’ from
the Pentagon and the State Department. “Maybe
five or six three from each side at maximum but
not the rest. These are people above the ones I’ve
dealt with, men who do their jobs under a variety of
titles so they can’t be reached bribed, blackmailed
or threatened. When you said you had names, I
assumed I’d recognize most of them, or at least half
of them. I don’t. I only know the departmental
execs, upper-echelon personnel who have to go even
higher, who obviously report to these people. Press
couldn’t have gotten these names himself or through
others on the outside. He wouldn’t know where to
look and they wouldn’t know where to look I
wouldn’t know.’
Converse rose. “Are you sure you know what
you’re talking about?”
“Yes. Someone probably more than one- deep
in the Washington cellars provided these names just
as he or they provided the material for those
dossiers.”
“Do you know what you’re saying?”
Connal stood still and nodded. “It’s not easy for
me to say,” he began grimly. “Press lied to us. He
lied to you by what he said, and to me by what he
didn’t say. You’re tied to a string and it goes right
back to Washington. And I wasn’t to know anything
about it.’
“The puppet’s in place…. ” Joel spoke so softly
he could barely be heard as he walked aimlessly
across the room toward the bright sunlight
streaming through the balcony doors.
“What?’ asked Fitzpatrick.
“Nothing, just a phrase that kept running
through my head when I heard about Anstett.”
Converse turned. “But if there’s a string, why have
they hidden it? Why did Avery hide it? For what
purpose?”
THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION 269
The Navy lawyer remained motionless, his face
without expression. ‘ I don’t think I have to answer
that. You answered it yourself yesterday afternoon
when we were talking about me and don’t kid