The Aquaintaine Progession Read online

  “But your colleagues who couldn’t understand,”said Joel, mesmerized by Beale’s words, words thatbrought back so much of his own past. “They thoughtit was something else?”

  “Of course they did. I’d been praised inevaluation reports by the holy MacArthur himself. Ieven had a label: the Red Fox of Inchon my hairwas red then. My commands were marked bydecisive moves and countermoves, all reasonably wellthought out and swiftly executed. And then one day,south of Chunchon, I was given an order to takethree adjacent hills that comprised dead highground vantage points that served no strategicpurpose and I radioed back that it was useless realestate, that whatever casualties we sustained werenot worth it. I asked for clarification, a field officer’sway of saying "You’re crazy, why should I?’ The replycame in something less than fifteen minutes. Becauseit’s there, General.’ That was all. Because it’s there.’A symbolic point was to be made for someone’sbenefit or someone else’s macho news briefing inSeoul…. l took the hills, and I also

  wasted the lives of over three hundred men andfor my efforts I was awarded another cluster of theDistinguished Service Cross.”

  “Is that when you quit?”

  “Oh, Lord no, I was too confused, but inside, myhead was boiling. The end came, and I watchedPanmunjom, and was finally sent home, all mannerof extraordinary expectations to be considered myjust rewards…. However, a minor advancement wasdenied me for a very good reason: I didn’t speak thelanguage in a sensitive European post. By then myhead had exploded; I used the rebuke and I tookmy cue. I resigned quietly and went my way.”

  It was Joel’s turn to pause and study the oldman in the night light. “I’ve never heard of you,” hesaid finally. “Why haven’t I ever heard of you?”

  “You didn’t recognize the names on the twolower lists either, did you? “Who are theAmericans?’ you said. ”The names don’t meananything to me.’ Those were your words, Mr.Converse.”

  “They weren’t young decoratedgenerals heroes in a war.”

  “Oh, but several were,’) interrupted Beale swiftly,“in several wars. They had their fleeting moments inthe sun, and then they were forgotten, the momentsonly remembered by them, relived by them.Constantly.”

  “That sounds like an apology for them.”

  “Of course it is! You think I have no feelings forthem? For men like Chaim Abrahms, Bertholdier,even Leifhelm? We call upon these men when thebarricades are down, we extol them for acts beyondour abilities….”

  “You were capable. You performed those acts.”

  “You’re right and that’s why I understand them.When the barricades are rebuilt, we consign them tooblivion. Worse, we force them to watch ineptcivilians strip the gears of reason and, throughoblique vocabularies, plant the explosives that willblow those barricades apart again. Then whenthey’re down once more, we summon ourcommanders.”

  “Jesus, whose side are you on?”

  Beale closed his eyes tightly, reminding Joel ofthe way he used to shut his own when certainmemories came back to him. “Yours, you idiot,” saidthe scholar quietly. “Because I know what they cando when we ask them to do it. I meant what I saidbefore. There’s never been a time in history like

  this one. Far better that inept, frightened civilians,still talking, still searching, than one of us forgiveme, one of them “

  A gust of wind blew off the sea; the sand spiraledabout their feet. “That man,” said Converse, “the onewho told you the network would take care of you.Why did he say it?”

  “He thought they could use me. He was one ofthe field commanders I knew in Korea, a kindredspirit then. He came to my island for what reasonI don’t know, perhaps a vacabon, perhaps to find me,who knows and found me on the waterfront. I wastaking my boat out of the Plati Harbor whensuddenly he appeared, tall, erect and very military inthe morning sun. "We have to talk,’ he said, with thatsame insistence we always used in the field. I askedhim aboard and we slowly made our way out of thebay. Several miles out of the Plati he presented hiscase, their case. Delavane’s case.,’

  “What happened then?”

  The scholar paused for precisely two seconds,then answered simply, “I killed him. With a scalingknife. Then I dropped his body over a cluster ofsharks beyond the shoals of the Stephanos.”

  Stunned, Joel stared at the old man theiridescent light of the moon heightened the force ofthe macabre revelation. “Just like that?” he said in amonotone.

  “It’s what I was trained to do, Mr. Converse. Iwas the Red Fox of Inchon. I never hesitated whenthe ground could be gained, or an adversarialadvantage eliminated.” -

  “You killed him?”

  “It was a necessary decision, not a wanton takingof life. He was a recruiter and my response was inmy eyes, in my silent outrage. He saw it, and Iunderstood. He could not permit me to live withwhat he’d told me. One of us had to die and I simplyreacted more swiftly than he did.”

  “That’s pretty cold reasoning.”

  “”You’re a lawyer, you deal every day withoptions. Where was the alternative?”

  Joel shook his head, not in reply but inastonishment. “How did Halliday find you?”

  “We found each other. We’ve never met, nevertalked, but we have a mutual friend.”

  fin San Francisco?”

  She’s frequently there.”

  “Who is he?”

  “It’s a subject we won’t discuss. I’m sorry.”

  “Why not? Why the secrecy?”

  “It’s the way he prefers it. Under thecircumstances, I believe it’s a logical request.”

  “Logic? Find me logic in any of this! Hallidayreaches a man in San Francisco who just happens toknow you, a former general thousands of miles awayon a Greek island who just happens to have beenapproached by one of Delavane’s people. Now,that’s coincidence, but damned little logicl”

  “Don’t dwell on it. Accept it.”

  “Would you?”

  “Under the circumstances, yes, I would. You see,there’s no alternative.”

  “Sure there is. I could walk away five hundredthousand dollars richer, paid by an anonymousstranger who could only come after me by revealinghimself.”

  “You could but you won’t. You were chosen verycarefully.”

  “Because I could be motivated? That’s whatHalliday said.”

  “Frankly, yes.”

  “You’re off the wall, all of you!”

  “One of us is dead. You were the last person hespoke with.”

  Joel felt the rush of anger again, the sight of adying man’s eyes burned into his memory.“Aquitaine,” he said softly. “Delavane…. All right, Iwas chosen carefully. Where do I begin?”

  “Where do you think you should begin? You’rethe attorney; everything must be done legally.”

  “That’s just it. I’m an attorney, not the police,not a detective.”

  “No police in any of the countries where thosefour men live could do what you can do, even ifthey agreed to try, which, frankly, I doubt. More tothe point, they would alert the Delavane network.”

  “All right, I’ll try,” said Converse, folding thesheet with the list of names and putting it in hisinside jacket pocket. “I’ll start at the top. In Paris.With this Bertholdier.”

  “Jacques-Louis Bertholdier,” added the old man,reaching down into his canvas bag and taking out athick manila envelope. “This is the last thing we cangive you. It’s everything we could learn about thosefour men; perhaps it can

  help you. Their addresses, the cars they drive,business associates, cafes and restaurants theyfrequent, sexual preferences where they constitutevulnerability . . . anything that could give you anedge. Use it, use everything you can. Just bring usback briefs against men who have compromisedthemselves, broken laws above all, evidence thatshows they are not the solid, respectable citizenstheir life-styles would indicate. Embarrassment, Mr.Converse, embarrassment. It leads to ridicule, andPreston Halliday was profoundly right about that.Ridicule is the first step.”

  Joel started
to reply, to agree, then stopped, hiseyes riveted on Beale. "I never told you Hallidaysaid anything about ridicule.”

  “Oh?” The scholar blinked several times in thedim light, momentarily unsure of himself, caught bysurprise. “But, naturally, we discussed “

  “You never met, you never talked l” Converse brokein.

  ” through our mutual friend the strategies wemight employ,” said the old man, his eyes nowsteady. "The aspect of ridicule is a keystone. Ofcourse we discussed it.”

  “You just hesitated.”

  “You startled me with a meaningless statement.My reactions are not what they once were.”

  “They were pretty good in a boat beyond theStephanos, " corrected Joel.

  “An entirely different situation, Mr. Converse.Only one of us could leave that boat. Both of us willleave this beach tonight.”

  “All right, I may be reaching. You would be, too,if you were me.” Converse withdrew a pack ofcigarettes from his shirt pocket, shook one upnervously to his lips and took out his lighter. “A manI knew as a kid under one name approaches meyears later calling himself something else.” Joelsnapped his lighter and held the flame under thecigarette, inhaling. “ He tells a wild story that’s justcredible enough so I can’t dismiss it. The believableaspect is a maniac named Delavane. He says I canhelp stop him stop them and there’s a great dealof money for nodding my head provided by a manin San Francisco who won’t say who he is, expeditedby a former general on a fashionably remote islandin the Aegean. And for his efforts, this man I knewunder two names is murdered in daylight, shot adozen times in an elevator, dying in my armswhispering the name ”Aquitaine.’. And then this

  other man, this ex-soldier, this doctor, this scholar,tells me another story that ends with a "recruiter’from Delavane killed with a scaling knife, his bodythrown overboard into a school of sharks beyondthe Stephanos whatever that is.”

  “The Aghios Stephanos,” said the old man. “Alovely beach, far more popular than this one.”

  “Goddamn it, I am reaching, Mr. Beale, orProfessor Beale, or General Beale! It’s too much toabsorb in two lousy daysl Suddenly I don’t havemuch confidence. I feel way beyond my depth let’sface it, overwhelmed and underqualified . . . anddamned frightened.”

  “Then don’t overcomplicate things,” said Beale.“I used to say that to students of mine more oftenthan I can remember. I would suggest they not lookat the totality that faced them, but rather at eachthread of progression, following each until it metand entwined with another thread, and then an-other, and if a pattern did not become clear, it wasnot their failure but mine. One step at a time, Mr.Converse.”

  “You’re one hell of a Mr. Chips. I would havedropped the course.”

  “I’m not saying it well. I used to say it better.When you teach history, threads are terriblyimportant.”

  “When you practice law, they’re everything.”

  “Go after the threads, then, one at a time. I’mcertainly no lawyer, but can’t you approach this asan attorney whose client is under attack by forcesthat would violate his rights cripple his manner ofliving, deny his pursuit of peaceful existence inessence, destroy him?”

  “Not likely,” repliedJoel. “I’ve got a client whowon’t talk to me, won’t see me, won’t even tell mewho he is.”

  “That’s not the client I had in mind.”

  “Who else? It’s his money.”

  “He’s only a link to your real client. "

  “Who’s that?”

  “What’s left of the civilized world, perhaps.”

  Joel studied the old scholar in the shimmeringlight. “Did you just say something about not lookingat totalities but at threads? You scare the hell outof me.”

  Beale smiled. “I could accuse you of misplacedconcretion, but I won’t.”

  “That’s an antiquated phrase. If you meanout-of-context say it, and I’ll deny it. You’resecurely in well-placed contradiction, Professor.”

  “Good heavens, you were chosen carefully. Youwon’t even let an old man get away with an academicbromide.”

  Converse smiled back. “You’re a likable fellow,General or Doctor. I d hate to have met you acrossa table if you’d taken up law.”

  “That could truly be misplaced confidence,” saidEdward Beale, his smile gone. “You’re only about tobegin.”

  “But now I know what to look for. One thread ata time until the threads meet and entwine, and thepattern’s there for everyone to see. I’ll concentrateon export licenses, and whoever’s shuffling thecontrols, then connect three or four names with eachother and trace them back to Delavane in Palo Alto.At which point we blow it apart legally. No martyrs,no causes, no military men of destiny crucified bytraitors, just plain bloated, ugly profiteers who’veprofessed to be super patriots, when all the whilethey were lining their unpatriotic pockets. Why elsewould they have done it? Is there another reason ?That’s ridicule, Dr. Beale. Because they can "tanswer. “

  The old man shook his head, looking bewildered.“The professor becomes a student,” he saidhesitantly. “How can you do this?”

  “The way I’ve done it dozens of times incorporate negotiaffons. Only, I’ll take it a stepfurther. In those sessions I’m like any other lawyer.I try to figure out what the fellow across the table isgoing to ask for and then why he wants it. Not justwhat my side wants, but what he wants. What’s goingthrough his mind? You see, Doctor, I’m trying tothink like him; I’m putting myself in his place, neverfor a second letting him forget that I’m doing justthat. It’s very unnerving, like making notes onmargins whenever your opponent says anything,whether he’s saying anything or not. But this time it’sgoing to be different. I’m not looking for opponents.I’m looking for allies. In a cause, their cause. I’ll startin Paris, then on to Bonn, or Tel Aviv, then probablyJohannesburg. Only, when I reach these men I won’ttry to think like them, I’m going to be one of them.”

  “That’s a very bold strategy. I compliment you.”

  "talking of options, it’s the only one open. Also,I’ve got a lot of money I can spread around, notlavishly but effectively, as befits my unnamed client.Very unnamed, very much in the background, butalways there.” Joel stopped, a thought striking him.“You know, Dr. Beale, I take it back. I don’t want

  to know who my client is the one in SanFrancisco, I mean. I’m going to create my own, andIcnowing him might distort the portrait I’ve got inmind. Incidentally, tell him he’ll get a fullaccounting of my expenses: the rest will be returnedto him the same way I got it. Through your friendLaskaris at the bank here on Mykonos.”

  “But you’ve accepted the money,” objectedBeale. “There’s no reason “

  “I wanted to know if it was real. If he was real.He is, and he knows exactly what he’s doing. I’llneed a great deal of money because I’m going tohave to become someone I’m not and money is themost convincing way to do it. No, Doctor I don’twant your friend’s money, I want Delavane. I wantthe warlord of Saigon. But I’ll use his money, just asI’m using him the way I want him to be. To getinside that network.”

  “If Paris is your first stop and Bertholdier isgoing to be your initial contact, there’s a specificmunitions transfer we think is directly related tohim. It might be worth a try. If we’re right, it’s amicrocosm of what they intend doing everywhere.”

  “”Is it in here?” asked Converse, tapping themanila envelope containing the dossiers.

  “No, it came to light only this morning earlythis morning. I don’t imagine you listened to thenews broadcasts.”

  “I don’t speak any language but English. If Iheard a news program I wouldn’t know it. Whathappened?”

  “All Northern Ireland is on fire, the worst riotsthe most savage killing in fifteen years. In Belfastand Ballyciare, Dromore and in the MourneMountains, outraged vigilantes on both sides areroaming the streets and the hills, firing indis-criminately, slaughtering in their anger everythingthat moves. It’s utter chaos. The Ulster governmentis in panic, the parliament tied down, emot
ionallydisrupted, everyone trying to find a solution. Thatsolution will be a massive infusion of troops andtheir commanders.”

  “What’s it got to do with Bertholdier?”

  “Listen to me carefully,” said the scholar, takinga step forward. “Eight days ago a munitionsshipment containing three hundred cases of clusterbombs and two thousand cartons of explosives wasair-freighted out of Beloit, Wisconsin. Itsdestination was Tel Aviv by way of Montreal, Paris,and Marseilles. It never arrived, and an Israeli traceemploying the Mossad showed that only thecargo’s paperwork reached

  Marseilles, nothing else. The shipment disappearedin either Montreal or Paris, and we’re convinced itwas diverted to provisional extremists again onboth sides in Northern Ireland.”

  “Why do you think so?”

  The first casualties over three hundred men,women, and children were killed or severelywounded, ripped to shreds by cluster bombs. It’s nota pleasant way to die, but perhaps worse to behurt the bombs tear away whole sections of thebody. The reactions have been fierce and thehysteria’s spreading. Ulster’s out of control, thegovernment paralysed. All in the space of one day,one single day, Mr. Converse!”

  " They’re proving to themselves they can do it,”said Joel quietly, the fear in his throat.

  Precisely,’ agreed Beale. it’s a test case, amicrocosm of the full-scale horror they can bringabout.”

  Converse frowned. “Outside of the fact thatBertholdier lives in Paris, what ties him to theshipment?”

  “Once the plane crossed into France, the Frenchinsurers were a firm in which Bertholdier is adirector. Who would be less suspect than a companythat had to pay for the loss a company,incidentally, that has access to the merchandise itcovers? The loss was upward of four million francs,not so immense as to create headlines, but entirelysufficient to throw off suspicion. And one morelethal delivery is made mutilation, death, andchaos to follow.”