“Perhaps too strong. I’ll leave the terms to Mr. Loring.”
Kressel picked up his glass. “May I ask why weMatlock and I-have been
chosen?”
“That, again, will be covered in Mr. Loring’s discussion. However, since
I’m responsible for your being here, Sam, I’ll tell you my reasons. As
dean, yoere more closely attuned to campus affairs than anyone else…. You
will also be aware of it if Mr. Loring or
THE MATLOCK PAPM 23
his associates overstep their bounds…. I think thafs all I have to say.
I’m going over to the assembly. That filmmaker, Strauss, is speaking tonight
and Ive got to put in an appearance.” Seaffont walked back to the bar and
put his glass on the tray. The three other men rose.
“One thing before you go,” said Kressel, his brow wrinkled. “Suppose one or
both of us decide we want no part of Mr. Lorines … business?”
“Then refuse.” Adrian Sealfont crossed to the library door. “You are under
no obligation whatsoever; I want that perfectly -ulear. Mr. Loring
understands. Cood evening, gentlemen.” Sealfont walked out into the
hallway, closing the door behind him.
3
The three men remained silent, standing motionless. They could hear the
front entrance open and close. Kressel turned and looked at Loring.
“It seems to me you’ve been put on the spot.*
“I usually am in these situations. Let me clarify my position; it will
partly explain this meeting. The first thing you should know is that Fm
with the justice Department, Narcotics Bureau.”
Kressel sat down and sipped at his drink “You haveet traveled up here to
tell us forty percent of the student body is on pot and a few other items,
have you? Because if so, ifs nothing we don’t know.”
“No, I haven’t. I assume you do know about such things. Everyone does. I’m
not sure about the percentage, though. It could be a low estimate.”
Matlock finished his bourbon and decided to have another. He spoke as he
crossed to the copper bar table. “It may be low or high, but comparatively
speaking-in relation to other campuses-were not in a panic.*
“Mere’s no reason for you to be. Not about that.’
‘Mere’s something else?”
“Very much so.” Loring walked to Sealfones desk and bent down to pick up
his briefcase from the floor. It was apparent that the government man and
Car-
TBE MATLOCK PAPER 25
IyWs president had talked before Matlock and Kressel arrived. Loring put the
briefcase on the desk and opened it. Matlock walked back to his chair and
sat down.
“I’d like to show you something.” Loring reached into the briefcase and
withdrew a thick page of silvercolored stationery, cut diagonally as if
with pinking shears. The silver coating was now filthy with repeated
handling and blotches of grease or dirt. He approached Matlocks chair and
handed it to him Kressel got up and came over.
“It’s some kind of letter. Or announcement. With numbers,” said Matlock.
“It’s in French; no, Italian, I think. I can’t make it out.’
“Very good, professor,” said Loring. “A lot of both and not a predominance
of either. Actually, ies a Corsican dialect, written out. les called the
01tremontan strain, used in the southern hill country. Like Etruscan, ies
not entirely translatable. But what codes are used are simple to the point
of not being codes at all. I don~t think they were meant to be; there arenI
too many of these. So there’s enough here to tell us what we need to know.”
“Which is?” asked Kressel, taking the strange-lookIng paper from Matlock.
“First I’d like to explain how we got it Without that explanation, the
information is meaningless.”
“Go ahead.” Kressel handed the filthy silver paper back to the government
agent, who carried it to the desk and carefully returned it to his
briefcase.
“A narcotics courier-that is, a man who goes into a specific source
territory carrying instructions, money, messages-left the country six weeks
ago. He was more than a courier, actually; he was quite powerful in the
dwtribution hierarchy; you might say he was
26 Robert Ludlum
on a busman~s holiday, Mediterranean style. Or perhaps he was checking
investments…. At any rate, he was killed by some mountain people in the
Toros Daglari-that’s Turkey, a growing district. The story is, he canceled
operations there and the violence followed. We accept that; the
Mediterranean fields are closing down right and left, moving into South
America… The paper was found on his body, in a skin belt As you saw, ifs
been handed around a bit. It brought a succession of prices from Ankara to
Marrakesh. An Interpol undercover man finally made the purchase and it was
tamed over to us.”
‘From Toros Dag-whatever-it-is to Washington. That paper’s had quite a
journey,” said Matlock.
“And an expensive one,” added Loring. “Only it’s not in Washington now,
it’s here. From Toros Daglari to Carlyle, Connecticut.”
“I assume that means something.” Sam Kressel sat down, apprehensively
watching the government man.
“It means the information in that paper concerns Carlyle.” Loring leaned
back against the desk and spoke calmly, with no sense of urgency at all. He
could have been an instructor in front of a class explaining a dry but
necessary mathematics theorem. “The paper says there’ll be a conference on
the tenth of May, three weeks from tomorrow. The numbers are the map
coordinates of the Carlyle area-precision decimals of longitude and
latitude in Greenwich units. The paper itself identifies the holder to be
one of those summoned. Each paper has either a matching half or is cut from
a pattern that can be matched-simple additional security. Whaes missing is
the precise location.22
-Wait a mintrte~” Kressers voice was controlled but sharp; he was upseL
“AreZt you ahead of yourself,
TM MATWCK P”ER 27
Loring? You’re giving us inforination—obviously restricted-before you
state your request. This university administration isn1 interested in being
an investigative arm of the government. Before you go into facts, yoiYd
better say what you want.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Kressel. You said I was on the spot and I am. I’m handling
it badly.”
“Like bell. You’re an expert.”
“Hold it~ Sam.” Matlock raised his hand off the arm of the chair. Kressel’s
sudden antagonism seemed uncalled for. “Sealfont said we had the option to
refuse whatever he wants. If we exercise that optionand we probably
will-I’d like to think we did so out of judgment not blind reaction.”
“Don1 be naYve, Jim. You receive restricted or classified information and
instantly, post facto, you’re involved. You can~t deny receiving it; you
can’t say it didn’t happen.”
Matlock looked up at Loring. “Is that true?”
“To a degree, yes. I won’t lie about it.”
“Then why should we listen to you?’
“Because Carlyle University is involved; has been for years. And the
situation is critical. So critical that there are only three weeks left to
act on the information we have.”
Kxessel got out of his chair, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
“Create the crisis-without proofand force the involvement. The crisis fades
but the records show the university was a silent participant in a federal
investigation. That was the pattern at the University of Wisconsin.”
Kressel turned to Matlock. “Do you remember that one, Jim? Six days of
riots on campus. Half a semester lost on teach-ins.”
‘That was Pentagon oriented,” said Loring. “The circumstances were entirely
different.”
28 Robert Ludlum
‘You think the justice Department makes it more palatable? Read a few
campus newspapers.”
“For Chrisfs sake, Sam, let the man talk. If you doi* want to listen, go
home. I want to hear what he has to say.”
Kressel looked down at Matlock. “All right. I think I understand. Go ahead,
Loring. just remember, no obligations. And we’re not bound to respect any
conditions of confidenm”
“I’ll gamble on your common sense.’
‘That may be a mistake.” Kressel walked to the bar and replenished his
drink.
Loring sat on the edge of the desk. “III start by askthg both of you if
yoeve ever heard of the word nimrod.*
“Nimrod is a Hebrew name,” Matlock answered. “Old Testament. A descendant
of Noah, ruler of Babylon and Nineveh. Legendary prowess as a hunter, which
obscures the more important fact that he founded, or built, the great
cities in Assyria and Mesopotamia.”
Loring smiled. “Very good again, professor. A hunter and a builder. rm
speaking in more contemporary terms, however.’
‘Ilen, no, I haven’t. Have you, Sam?’
Kressel walked back to his chair, carrying his glass. ‘I didn1 even know
what you just said. I thought a nimrod was a casting fly. Very good for
trout.”
‘Then III fill in some background…. I don’t mean to bore you with
narcotics statistics; rm sure yoere bombarded with them constantly~-
“Constantly,” said Kressel.
“But there’s an isolated geographical statistic you may not be aware of.
The concentration of drug traffic in the New England states is growing at
a rate ex-
THE MATLOCK PAPER 29