The Timekeeper Conspiracy

by Simon Hawke

"Why?"

  "He's got saddle sores."

  The agent stared at him silently for a moment. "You're not in any position to play games, Captain. Mongoose has disap­peared and now I find out that Delaney stayed behind in Paris. The last time anyone saw her," he said, glancing at Andre, "one of our agents got burned. Now I'm giving you the chance to explain. I'm trying to be reasonable. I don't much like what I'm thinking, so you'd better set my mind at ease and do it fast."

  Lucas sat silently for a moment, debating. He took a deep breath.

  "Suppose you don't believe my explanation?"

  "Make me believe it. I'm willing to listen."

  "All right," said Lucas, "but you're not going to like it."

  "Try me."

  "There's good reason to believe that this ride is nothing but a smokescreen. The terrorists never intended to interfere with the musketeers. We're all being decoyed away from where the real disruption is going to occur.''

  "Who's decoying us away?"

  "Mongoose," Lucas said. "He's either been a double agent all along or he's gone over to the Timekeepers."

  "You're right," said Cobra, "I don't like it. You can't seri­ously expect me to believe that?"

  "I didn't think you would," said Lucas. "That's why Finn stayed behind in Paris, to keep an eye on him. Mongoose was followed to a secret meeting with Bruno Freytag and—"

  "Followed by whom?"

  Lucas sighed. "Andre followed him."

  The agent snorted. "That's your proof? You've just made one whale of an accusation, Mister. You're going to have to come up with better evidence than that."

  "I can't," said Lucas. "At least, not now. I told you, I didn't expect you to believe me. But suppose, just for one mo­ment, that Mongoose went over. Where would that leave you? What would be my motive for lying to you?"

  "Well, let's suppose that you went over," Cobra said. "We know that Delaney, at least, has some sympathy for the league. And you were out of the service for a period of time. Who knows what you were doing? Not to mention the fact that you're here with someone who burned one of our agents."

  "She did that in self-defense and you know it," Lucas said, angrily. "Besides, you know our records. They speak for themselves."

  "So does Mongoose's."

  "All right, then, pull us off the mission," Lucas said. "But ask yourself why, if I'm not on the level, I haven't taken ad­vantage of all the opportunities I've had to sabotage this mis­sion. Finn and I could easily have taken Mongoose out. We could easily have killed any one of the musketeers or even all of them. Besides, you picked us for this mission. Can you af­ford to take the chance that I'm not telling you the truth? Can you afford not to check it out?"

  "You're putting me in a very bad position, Priest." The agent thought a moment. Lucas found that his palms were sweating. Finally, Cobra nodded. "You're right," he said. "I can't afford to take the chance. All right. I'll take some men and return to Paris. It means pulling some people off this operation and I don't like that. You'd damn well better be right."

  "Fine," said Lucas. "Let's go."

  "You're not going anywhere," said Cobra. "You two are going to finish out this ride. You'll be covered every inch of the way. You make one wrong move and you've both had it, understand? And I'll take those lasers."

  He held his hand out, palm up.

  "No way," said Lucas.

  "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you," the agent said. "You want me to stick my neck way out for you. You're asking me to consider your position; well, I'm asking you to consider mine. You'll still have your daggers and your rapiers, but after this, I'd have to be insane to let you keep your lasers. Now let's have them."

  Lucas licked his lips nervously and glanced at Andre.

  "He is only asking for a gesture of good faith," she said.

  "He's asking a lot more than that," said Lucas, "but I'm afraid I see his point."

  He reversed his laser and handed it over. Andre did the same.

  "Okay," said Cobra. "I'll take some men and leave right away. Where can I find Delaney?"

  "I don't know," said Lucas. "He's probably trailing Mon­goose, wherever he is."

  "He still wearing his comset?"

  "I doubt it," Lucas said. "With Mongoose in charge, he would be wide open if he was transmitting. Which reminds me, just how far do these things go?" he said, pointing at his throat.

  "Not to Paris, if that's what you're thinking. They're short-range. Assuming what you're saying is true, and Mongoose is a renegade, Delaney will have every reason to expect hostility from us. Can you think of anything that I can do to convince him that I'm giving you a chance to prove your allegations?"

  Lucas thought a moment. "Yeah. Tell him that I wish he had called 'Tails.' He'll know what it means."

  * * * *

  Finn followed Mongoose to the same alley in the Rue Ferou where Andre had seen him confer with Freytag. Mongoose was being sloppy. He didn't expect anyone to be on his trail, so he didn't even bother to check to see if he was being fol­lowed. Just the same, Finn gave him plenty of room. It was late and the darkness made it easier. As the agent stepped into the alley, Finn quickly ran across the street. He would be in good position to fire at them in the alley, but then he'd have no idea where Taylor was. He debated the question of whether or not to go for the sure thing and kill the two of them now, hoping to catch Taylor on his own, or follow them to Taylor and try taking them out all at once.

  It was tempting. All he had to do was step into the mouth of the alley and sweep it quickly with the laser and it would be all over for Mongoose and Freytag. But then it would mean cutting it very close with Taylor. Finn's cover did not gain him admission to the palace, whereas Taylor's did. He'd either have to sneak into the palace somehow and catch "Milady" inside, which would be next to impossible considering the odds, or get Taylor before he went into the palace, and there was no way of knowing for certain which entrance he would use. Finn could not cover all of them at once.

  Staying low and keeping to the shadows, Finn glanced into the alley. He could just barely make out two shapes in there. The big one had to be Freytag. On the floor directly above him, a man and a woman were screaming at each other and there was the occasional crash of crockery. The noise made it impossible for him to overhear anything that went on inside the alley. He cursed the quarreling couple, but didn't want to risk getting any closer. He felt the laser in his right hand and wished that he could get it over with right now, but he fought down the impulse to fire. Two of them would not be good enough. He'd have to get all three. He steeled himself and waited. They would lead him to Taylor. They had to.

  * * * *

  "All right, let's do it," Mongoose said.

  Freytag smiled. "Sure. Anything you say. Adrian would just love to see you."

  Mongoose looked down at the slim laser in Freytag's hand. It was aimed directly at his midsection.

  "What the hell is this?"

  "Just don't move a muscle, friend, or I'll fry your guts right here," said Freytag, reaching out with his other hand and pat­ting him down. He relieved Mongoose of his weapon.

  "I thought we had a deal," said Mongoose,

  "Immunity from prosecution and a blanket pardon in return for handing Taylor over to you personally?" Freytag chuckled. "That's not what I call a very attractive deal. It won't put any money in my pocket."

  "How much do you want?"

  "You must really take me for a fool," said Freytag. "Once you had Taylor, you'd hang me, as well. You should've tried your pitch on Darcy. He might've been stupid enough to go for it; but then, he's dead."

  "Don't be a fool, Bruno. You'll never get away with this."

  "Who's to stop me?" Freytag said. "You wanted Taylor to yourself so badly that you sent all your people off on a wild goose chase. Your own colossal ego did you in, Mongoose. If not for that, you might've stopped us, but you blew it. You did just what Taylor said you would. You know, I didn't believe him. I told him that nobody could be th
at stupid. But here you are."

  Casually, Mongoose reached up as if to scratch himself. Freytag slapped his hand down.

  "You go for that panic button one more time and you've had it," he said.

  "Taylor wouldn't like that," Mongoose said. "I'm sure he'd be real disappointed if you didn't bring me in alive."

  "I'm sure he would be, but nothing says I gotta bring you in with both your hands still attached to your wrists."

  "I'm afraid you've got a point," said Mongoose.

  "All right. Now we're going to take a little walk. You walk in front of me, nice and easy. I'll tell you where to go. And don't get any ideas. You try anything and I'll burn your legs off at the knees and carry you the rest of the way. Now let's go."

  * * * *

  Finn could hardly see inside the alley. Occasionally, he would catch some motion in there, but it was hard to make out what was happening. There was a fresh burst of screaming from the couple fighting upstairs and a crash as a thrown footstool hurtled through the window and out into the alley. Finn ducked down, quickly. When he looked up, both men had moved out into the center of the alley and were silhouetted as they walked out the other end. He followed, keeping at a distance.

  They went several blocks, walking casually down the street until they came to a familiar neighborhood. With a shock, Finn realized that they were heading straight toward Moreau's Tavern. They passed the entrance to the tavern and went into the house right beside it.

  "Jesus Christ," said Finn. "They were that close all the time!"

  There was a light burning on the second floor, on the right side of the building. Finn looked up at the second floor of Moreau's Tavern, where the rooms were rented out. It was possible that he might get a shot—

  “Don't move, Delaney."

  A hand of ice clutched at his intestines and he froze, damn­ing himself for not being more careful. If I turn around fast and fire, he thought—

  "Priest said that you should've called 'Tails.' "

  Slowly, Finn turned around, holding his laser pointed at the ground.

  "I saw the muscles in your neck and shoulders tense," the man said. "It's a bad habit. You should learn to control it. You telegraph that way. The name's Cobra, TIA."

  There were two men standing with him, all three were wear­ing black cloaks. Cloak-and-dagger, thought Finn, stifling a chuckle.

  "I should have been more careful," he said. "How long have you been tailing me?"

  "We picked you up about two blocks back," said Cobra. "It's a lucky thing you kept your comset. We don't like to lose our equipment, so we set it up with tracing signals."

  Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out the comset, wrapped in a handkerchief.

  "I should've thrown the damn thing away," he said. "Seems like I have lots of bad habits. I don't like to lose equipment, either."

  "Fortunately for you," said Cobra, "that's one habit that worked for you. We caught onto your little switch and I had a chat with Captain Priest. He told me Mongoose was working both sides of the street. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself." He nodded toward the building they were in.

  "What made you believe it enough to check it out?" said Finn.

  "Well, it was pointed out to me by Captain Priest that I could not afford to take the chance that he was not telling me the truth," said Cobra. "Also, I've been at this for a while. After a few years, it gets so that you don't trust anybody. You don't take things for granted; that way you live longer."

  "I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be thankful for spook paranoia," Finn said.

  "I'll take that as a compliment, though I'm sure you didn't mean it as one," said Cobra, with a mirthless, tight-lipped smile. "And now I really think we ought to do something about those three in there."

  "At least the odds are on our side," said Finn. "Four against three."

  "Six against three, actually," said Cobra. "I've already got two men in that tavern there. They should be in position in that room opposite the window on the second floor there. If there's anybody in that room, they'll be temporarily inconve­nienced, I'm afraid."

  Even as he spoke, an agent came running out of the tavern, approaching them.

  "All set," he said. "It was one of the whores' rooms. Jaguar's got a prosty in there, but she's unconscious. Used a nerve pinch. When she wakes up, she won't even know what happened."

  "Good work. How's it look up there?"

  "We're in luck. There's a window directly across the way. It's shuttered, but that shouldn't present much of a problem. We'll be able to swing right across and break through."

  "Sounds almost too easy," Finn said.

  "Nothing ever is," said Cobra. "Fortunately, they won't be expecting anything. They'll be thinking that we're all miles away."

  "It will still have to be pretty tight, though," Finn said. "Remember, they've still got at least one chronoplate. Which reminds me, where's yours?"

  "Back at the safehouse," Cobra said. "I've got a man sta­tioned there. We lucked out there, too. Mongoose didn't take his plate with him. He must've figured on returning. This must be some last-minute conference. I get the shakes when I think about the fact that we'd all be clocking in back there one at a time when we'd finished covering the musketeers. He would've been able to take us all out with no sweat." Cobra took a deep breath. "It was a close call for me. Soon as the floater said one of the commandos was an imposter, I clocked right back to check with Mongoose. He must've just left. If he'd still been there when I arrived and if I had told him ..." He let it hang.

  "We've all had close calls," said Finn. "I'm thinking that breaking in on them might not be a good idea. Why not just get them as they come out?"

  Cobra shook his head. "That might work, but I don't want to take the chance that any of them might be using that plate to get into position for whatever it is that they've got planned. You think it's a hit?"

  "I think it's a hit."

  "Give me that comset," Cobra said. He took it from him and handed it to the agent who had just come from Moreau's. "Take this and give it to Jaguar. I've got one on me." He pulled a tiny box out of his pocket. "Tell him to put it on, but to keep his mouth shut, just in case. You never know. Don't even breathe hard. Have him get ready to swing over. We're going in the front way. We'll burn through the lock and get as close to them as we can. When I say now, we hit 'em from both sides. You stay in that room and cover Jaguar as he goes across. Delaney, you stay right here, in case any of them get by us. Cover the street."

  "I'd much rather be going in with you," said Finn.

  "I know," said Cobra. "But odds are someone's going to get burned breaking in there. It was our man that went bad. I figure we owe you one."

  "What are you going to do with Mongoose?"

  "If I can, I'll try to take him alive," said Cobra. "But I'm not going to try too hard."

  13

  Neither Lucas nor Andre even bothered trying to get any sleep. The situation was extremely volatile. At four o'clock in the morning, someone knocked softly at their door.

  There had been no warning over the comset telling them to expect visitors. Both of them drew their rapiers and slowly approached the door, ready for anything. In French, Lucas asked who was there, affecting a sleepy sounding voice. The reply was scarcely above a whisper, but they recognized that it was Athos. Lucas opened the door.

  "Good, I see you are both still dressed," said the mus­keteer, quietly. "I could not get to sleep in this pestilential hole, either. Planchet has seen strangers about. We'd best quit this place and be on our way. Ah, here comes D'Artagnan and Planchet. Softly, now, let us be off. Planchet, did you tell Grimaud to saddle the horses?"

  "Yes, Monsieur Athos. I told him to move with stealth, just as you said."

  "Excellent," said Athos. "I do not much care for running away like a thief in the night, but it would be the prudent thing to do. I did not like the look of our innkeeper. He was a shade too friendly for having been wakened in t
he middle of the night."

  Moving on tiptoe, they crept down the stairs and out the door, heading for the stables. Their horses were all saddled and awaiting them, but there was no sign of Grimaud. Athos glanced about him, searching for his servant.

  "Grimaud!" he called, softly.

  There was no reply.

  "Grimaud, damn you for a laggard, where the devil are you?"

  An answering moan came from within a pile of straw, from which a boot could be seen sticking out. Athos rushed over to the straw pile and, pulling by the foot, dragged out Grimaud, who appeared to have been bashed over the head. He was semiconscious and bleeding profusely from the scalp. At that very moment, they were attacked.

  A group of men dressed as peasants, yet betrayed by the fine rapiers which they brandished, leapt out at them from all corners of the stable. One appeared over the stall behind D'Artagnan, stabbing down viciously with a dagger. The quick-witted Gascon ducked aside and caught the man's arm, dragging him over the stall and flipping him down onto the ground. He twisted the dagger out of the would-be assassin's hand and stabbed him with his own weapon, plunging the blade into the man's chest. He sidestepped a lunge from another and dropped him with a right across the jaw, then swung into the saddle and yanked free his rapier.

  Lucas and Andre both drew their swords and daggers and met the men who charged them. Lucas turned a sword away from his attacker and booted its wielder in the groin. He quickly slashed his dagger across the man's face, then turned to meet his next opponent. D'Artagnan came riding up at that moment, rearing his horse and interposing it between Lucas and two swordsmen, giving him time to swing up into the saddle. The stables became filled with the sounds of ringing steel.

  Andre parried one sword-thrust with her dagger and engaged another with her blade. She executed a quick beat and disengage, then quickly thrust the point of her rapier into her opponent's eye. The second swordsman lunged again and she twisted her body, feeling the blade ripping through her cloak and passing perilously close to her ribs. She moved into the thrust, trapping the man's blade and stabbing her dagger deep into his abdomen. The man fell, clutching at her and dragging her off balance, taking her down with him. She fought free and started to get up, turning in time to see another man bearing down on her. D'Artagnan ran him down with his horse and she took four running steps and leaped over the hind­quarters of her horse and into the saddle.