He carried their drinks to the table and sat down. Antonia reached over to an adjacent table, borrowing a week-old Barbados newspaper. An article had caught her attention.

  “Darling, look at this,” she said, turning the paper and pushing it toward him, her index finger marking the column.

  TRANs-CommuNicATioNs WiNs LEGAL BATTLES OVER CONGLOMERATE RFoRGANizATioN

  Wash., D.C.- Combined Wire Services: After several years of ownership litigation in the federal courts, the way has been cleared for the executors of the Nicholas Guiderone estate to press ahead with reorganization plans which include significant mergers with European companies. It will be recalled that following the terrorist assault on the Guiderone mansion in Brookline, Massachusetts, when Guiderone and others holding large blocks of Trans-Comm stock were massacred, the conglomerate’s line of ownership was thrown into a legal maze. It has been no secret that the Justice Department has been supportive of the executors, as, indeed, has been the Department of State. The feeling has been that while the multinational corporation has continued functioning, its lack of expansion due to unclear leadership has caused American prestige to suffer in the international marketplace.

  The President, upon leaming of the final legal resolutions, sent the following wire to the executors: “It seems fitting to me that during the week that marks my first year in office, the obstructions have been removed and once again, a great American institution is in a position to export and expand American know-how and technology across the world, joining the other great companies to give us a better world. I congratulate you.”

  Bray shoved the paper aside. “The subtlety gets less and less, doesn’t it?”

  They tacked into the wind out of Bassaterre, the coast of St. Kitts receding behind them. Antonia pulled the jib taut, tied off the sheet, and climbed back to the wheel. She sat beside Scofield, running her fingers over his short, clipped beard that was more gray than dark.

  “Where are we going, darling?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Bray, meaning it. “With the wind for a while, if it’s all right with you.” “It’s all right with me.” She leaned back, looking at his face, so pensive, so lost in thought. “What’s going to happen?” “It’s happened. The mergers have taken over the earth,” he answered, smiling. “Guiderone was right; nobody can stop it. Maybe nobody should.

  Let them have their day in the sun. It doesn’t make any difference what I think.

  They’ll leave me alone-leave us alone. They’re still afraid.” “Of what?” “Of people. Just people. Trim the jib, will you, please? We’re spilling too much. We can make better time.” “To where?” “Damned if I know. Only that I want to be there.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ROBERT LUDLUM’S first novel, The Scarlatti Inheritance (1970) brought him immediate literary success. The book and its successors, including The Osterman Weekend, The Chancellor Manuscript and The Holcroft Covenant, have all been on bestseller lists here and in England as well as in the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Iran, Japan and Portugal. It was in the late sixties, at the age of forty, that Mr. Ludlum changed professions and became a writer. Listed in Who’s Who in the East as produceractor, Mr.

  Ludlum. appeared in many Broadway, regional, and television dramas in the fifties, receiving excellent reviews for his performances. He also appeared in over 00 network television shows including “Omnibus,”.Studio One,” and “Robert Montgomery.” Throughout the sixties Mr. Ludlum combined performing with producing and was responsible for over 300 productions employing major stars of the English and American stage. He was the moving force in building one of the most prestigious playhouses in the country in Paramus, N.J., and was instnimental in bringing to Broadway such hits as ‘The Front Page” and ‘The Owl and the Pussycat.” His work as a producer brought him artistic citations from the American National T’heatre and Academy, Actor’s Equity Association, and the William Whitney Foundation. Born in New York City, and a graduate of Wesleyan University (1951), Mr. Ludlum lives in Connecticut with his wife, Mary Ryde, a former stage and television actress, and his three children.

  LUDLUM ON LUDLUM

  Few writers have skyrocketed to popularity with the speed of Robert Ludlum with each succeeding thriller becoming a bigger bestseller. The key to his success may lie in John Leonard’s comment in The New York Times, “Mr. Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined.”

  Some people claim Ludlum. has secret sources for information found in his stories. In one, an early book, a key theme was CIA involvement in domestic surveillance. At that time the subject shocked many people. Later, of course, this fact proved to be correct. Other people suspect Ludlum was an agent himself during the years prior to his career as a novelist. Not true.

  For close to twenty years he was in show business as an actor, producer, and as the “voice” of dozens of tele.vision commercials for products ranging from tiparillos to Tuna Helper.

  During his “voice” period, Ludlum’s wife crowned him “King of the Toilet Bowls.” As he tells it, “there was this product called Plunge. All I had to do was read three words: Plunge works fast. In spite of my off-hand delivery, they used my three words in over one hundred different commercials. The money from this put one of my children through two years of college.”

  Although none of Ludlum’s novels draws on his show business background for subject matter, they all reflect techniques he learned in the theater.

  Ludlum. says, “the theater man knows that he must involve the audience.

  He understands structure more than anyone else the logical evolving of one event into another event without losing the audiences attention. Because if you lose their interest, you’re closing Saturday night.”

  Ludlum admits, “I write primarily as an entertainer. But I find that whether you’re writing comically or dramatically, you write from a point of view of something that disturbs or outrages you. And thats what I do.

  I admit to being outraged-mostly by the abuse of power by the fanatics.

  The extremes bother me, right or left.” Yet he adds, “I disapprove of violence, that’s why I show pain for what it is. When my characters get hit, they hurt. They don’t jump back into action like John Wayne.”

  The End

  Table of Contents

  Matarese Circle

  PART I

  PART II

  PART III

 

 

  Robert, Ludlum,, Matarese Circle

 

 

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