by Simon Hawke
“Yes, sir.”
“Any questions?”
“No, sir. “
“Right. Dismissed.”
They all snapped to attention. Morton and Maselli bothclocked out and the others went back to take their posts. Hollister took hiscigar out of his mouth, spat out a soggy piece of tobacco, and crushed the buttout in a small dish he was using as an ashtray.
Merely a minor setback, Hollister told himself. So they’dlost a few people. They had expected that. They had all volunteered for thisassignment. this mission from which there would be no return, and they had allexpected to die, if not in this temporal scenario, then in some other one they’dclock to after they were finished in Rome. The plan was simple. Cross over andresearch one temporal scenario early in their history as thoroughly aspossible. create a disruption that would have maximum impact, then immediatelyclock ahead to another time period and try to pull off another one. Keep doingthat, building on the domino effect of temporal disruptions in their timelineuntil they were either all killed or until there was no possible chance of theT.I.A. being able to reverse their actions. Then, thought Hollister, their oneremaining chance for survival would be to find some time period that was stillrelatively safe. While the damage escalated of its own momentum elsewhere inthe timestream.
Until tonight, everything had gone off like clockwork. Theone part he hadn’t liked was killing their own Observers, but there was noavoiding it. It had to be done. The poor bastards hadn’t known what was coming,of course. They had thought that they were just sent through to scout atemporal location for a baseops that would serve as a jumping-off point fortemporal assault missions further down the enemy timestream. But at least theywere able to make it quick and painless.
The rest of it was easy. Killing the real Apollodorus andtaking his place had proved no problem. Hollister had been carefully selectedfor the mission so that his body type would correspond with that of Apollodorusand the rest had been accomplished by cosmetic surgery. Cleopatra had neversuspected a thing. The rest of it, getting the others into place, had all beeneasy once he had assumed the identity of Apollodorus. Cleopatra trusted him.Even now. she was sleeping soundly in her bedroom, having had her bones jumpedby the Emperor of Rome, never suspecting that anything was amiss in her household.So long as she was there, she was the perfect hostage. There were guards outsideher door and all around the building and the grounds. Even on the roof. Theystill had a firm lock on the situation.
Hollister poured himself some wine and walked over to thewindow. The shutters were open to let in the cool night breeze. He looked outat the dark surface of the Tiber, and along its banks, toward the house whereTravers lived.
“Come ahead, you bastards.” he said softly. “Take your bestshot.”
The scene inside the library of the handsome Roman villa ofLucius Septimus was highly incongruous, to say the least. It was three o’clockin the morning. The library door was bolted, just in case any of the householdslaves felt restless in the middle of the night, heard voices in the libraryand decided to investigate. Travers had given strict orders to his householdslaves and they knew that certain rooms in the house were off limits to them,especially the library, but had they glanced inside, what they would have seenwould have astonished them.
Reinforcements had arrived. Finn Delaney, Creed Steiger. AndreCross. and Lucas Priest had all doffed their Roman tunics and were now dressedin black combat fatigues, with lasers holstered at their sides. They had sparecharge packs attached to their belts and combat bowies strapped to theircalves, above their boots. They wore extremely lightweight, black nylon.Balaclava-type hoods over their heads, leaving only the area from the mouth tothe eyebrows exposed, and those parts of their faces had been blackened withcamo stick. There were two dozen other people in the room, all similarlydressed for night fighting. Some of them, in addition to their laser pistols.were armed with night-scoped laser rifles, others with the ugly, mean-lookingdisruptors designed by Dr. Darkness, which looked incredibly innocuous for whatthey were. They resembled a cross between a small riot gun and an antiqueblunderbuss. but they were considerably more sophisticated than either, capableof firing a pulsed neutron beam on either tight focus beam or wide spray. Theirinventor sat comfortably in a carved ivory chair, observing the proceedings.
Lucas and Finn stood over a couple of hastily drawn interiormaps of both Cleopatra’s house and the imperial palace. Seeing Lucas had been ashock for those who had arrived, because they had all believed him dead. But itwas a mark of their professionalism that, stunned as they were, they simplyaccepted his remark that there would be time for explanations later. They wereall bursting with questions. but those questions would have to wait. They had amission to perform.
“All right, let’s go over it again,” said Lucas. “Bryant,you’ll take your team into the palace. Where are the guards’ quarters’?”
“Right here,” said Major Bryant. He pointed to the drawingwith his bowie knife. “There will probably be at least a couple of them postedin the corridor. We’re going to have to get in fast, clocking directly to the transitionpoints that Capt. Travers has supplied, which will put us here, here, here, andhere.”
“Good,” said Lucas. “Now remember, we don’t want any accidents,so be sure that everyone clocks in no closer than three feet away from eachother, Check your final coordinates now.”
He waited while they did so.
“All right. Caesar’s chambers are right here.” He pointed tothe diagram. “He sleeps there with his wife. Be sure to take out the guards athis door right away. And you’ve got to do it without making any noise. Now,these areas marked off here, with stars, are where Roman legionaries areusually stationed. Stay the hell away from them, whatever you do.”
“What if something goes wrong and we accidentally alert anyof the Roman guards?” asked Bryant.
“Make sure you don’t,” Delaney said, staring at him hard. “Ifyou have to, knock them out, but under no circumstances are any of them to befired upon. We can’t afford to raise an alarm in the palace. You’ve got onething going for you. None of the S.O.G. people will be wearing Roman uniforms.As part of their cover, they’ll be dressed as Egyptian soldiers. Either that,or they’ll be in their quarters, asleep. I doubt they’d expect us to tryanything this desperate. So with any luck, you’ll get most of them in bed. Ihope.”
“Yeah, so do I,” said Bryant.
“Use disruptors on all the bodies,” Lucas said. “I want themall to disappear without a trace.”
“How are you going to explain that?” asked Sgt. Neilson, who’dworked with them before on a mission in 19th-century London.
“It’s not your job to worry about that, Scott,” Lucas said. “Leavethat part to me. I’ve got it covered.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry. sir.”
“No need to apologize. You just do your part, well take careof ours. You’ll have more than enough to worry about. You guys are going tohave to move fast and there won’t be any room for mistakes.”
“That’s what I’ve always liked about you. Lucas,” saidBryant with a smile. “You always give me the easy jobs.”
“You’ll have the Doc here for backup,” said Lucas. “in caseanything goes wrong. But don’t count on him for everything. He can’t beeverywhere at once, even though it sometimes seems that way.”
“Glad to have you along, Doctor.” Bryant said.
“Just try not to trip over one another and wake up the wholepalace.” Darkness said.
“We’ll take our shoes off and walk on tippy-toe,” Bryant replied,deadpan.
“Okay, Cooper. let’s go over your end of it,” Lucas said.
Col. Cooper was the commander of the Temporal Counter insurgencystrike force headquartered in Galveston. The T.C.I. troops were elite combatcommandos, specially formed by General Forrester to deal with S.O.G. infiltrations.They were on constant standby. in combat readiness, and for this operation,Cooper had clocked in with a dozen picked men.
“We’ll be going i
n with Delaney. Cross. and Steiger to hitCleopatra’s house.” Cooper said. “There are some Roman soldiers stationedoutside, here at the front gates.” He pointed to the second diagram. “We trankthem with stun darts. I have three men clock in here, here, and here. Thatshould give them a good shot at the guards. What about traffic in the street?”
“There isn’t any traffic on that street this time of night,so the the risk should be minimal.” said Lucas. “But if any pedestrians happen toget in the way, trank them, too.”
“Got it,” Cooper replied with a curt nod. “The rest of mypeople clock in here. here, and here. Three on the roof, three in the backgarden, three in the atrium.”
“Right.” Lucas said. “Now here’s where it gets unpleasant.Some of the people in there could be Egyptian slaves, or they could all beS.O.G. Unfortunately, we haven’t got any way of telling that for sure. Thatputs your people in a pretty tricky situation. Except for the legionaries atthe front gate, anyone stationed on guard duly will be S.O.G. for sure, so don’ttake any chances with them. Take them out right away. But the moment you getinside the house, you run the risk of killing innocent civilians, so use yourstunners. Unless you see someone carrying any weapon other than a dagger or asword. In that case, take ’em out. But we need to get at least one or two ofthem alive for interrogation, just to make sure we’ve got them all. Now there’sgoing to be a risk factor involved in doing it that way. Anyone you trank, yougot maybe a second or two before they go down, and if they’ve got a concealedweapon on them. they just might have enough time to get off a shot before thedrug takes effect, so watch yourselves. Stay in your teams of three. Two mencarrying stunners, the third ready with a laser or disruptor. Again, speed’sgoing to be critical, but remember that these people are all pros. All right,Finn. let’s go over your part.”
“Creed. Andre, and I are clocking in directly to the peristylum,right here.” Delaney said, pointing to the drawing. “Our objective is totry to take Apollodorus alive, if possible. As soon as the house has beensecured, we conduct a thorough search, remove anything that doesn’t belongthere, then get right back here.”
“Right,” Lucas said. lie looked around at them. “Any questions?”
Cooper shook his head. “No. My people are ready.”
“None here,” said Bryant.
“I guess we’re set,” Delaney said.
Lucas took a deep breath. “All right, then. Everyone standby. Doc, you want to go get our guest of honor?”
“I’d be delighted,” Darkness said. He disappeared.
Simmons listened on the headphones as he aimed the dish mikeat Travers’ house.
“What’s going on?” asked one of the Network men beside him.They were concealed behind a clump of bushes near the riverbank.
“They’ve clocked in reinforcements.” Simmons said. “From thesound of it. some of them are old First Division commandos and some are T.C.I.troops.”
“T.C.I.?” one of the others said. “Jesus. theybrought in the fucking strike force?”
“Yeah. Cooper’s in there. I can’t tell exactly how many ofhis people he’s brought with him, but I’d say at least a dozen, plus the T.I.A.assault team. Bryant’s in command, so it sounds like they brought in some ofthe old First Division people.”
“Shit. This just became a brand-new ballgame.”
“It’s still the same game, Rick. There’s just a few moreplayers, that’s all,” Simmons replied.
“The hell you say! Taking on First Division commandos is hadenough, but Cooper’s a stone-cold killer. Some of his strike force recruits don’teven survive the training. What the hell are they planning in there, a goddamnwar?”
“That’s about the size of it,” said Simmons. “They’re aboutto launch a simultaneous two-pronged assault against the S.O.G.. in the palaceand at Cleopatra’s house.”
“Fuck. They are crazy. No way do I want any part ofthis!”
“We came here to do a job, Warren.” said Simmons.
“Yeah, against Steiger and maybe the adjustment team. butnot a whole assault force. There’s only eight of us, for Christ’s sake!”
“We don’t have to take on the whole assault force,” Simmonssaid. “All we have to do is pick the right moment, take out Steiger in all theconfusion and we’re gone.”
“Forget it! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m notabout to take my chances against those kind of odds. You want that bounty onSteiger so bad. Simmons, you’re welcome to it. I’m outta here.”
“Warren …” Simmons began. but Warren had already clockedout. “Warren? Son of a bitch!”
“Warren’s right,” one of the others said. “This whole thingjust became too hot to handle. Let’s get the hell out of here. It’s not worthit.”
“It’s worth it to me.” insisted Simmons. “That bastardbusted up some of our hest operations and he cost me my career. And he did thesame thing to every one of you.”
“So there’ll be other opportunities to square accounts,” theman named Rick said. “This one just went sour. It’s just too risky. I’m out.”
“So am I,” one of the others said.
“Me, too. I didn’t bargain for this.”
“Fine,” said Simmons coldly. “If you gutless wonders want totuck your tails between your legs and run, then go. I don’t need you. I’ll doit myself “
“Don’t be a fool. Why take the chance? There’ll be anothertime.”
“No,” said Simmons firmly. “It’s gonna be this time. Righthere. Right now.”
“Suit yourself.” said Rick. shaking his head. “It’s yourfuneral.”
“Oh, there’ll be a funeral, all right.” said Simmons. “Onlyit ain’t gonna be mine.”
There were two guards standing on either side of the doorwayto Cleopatra’s bedroom. Neither of them heard a thing as Darkness suddenlymaterialized beside the Queen of Egypt’s bed. He reached out and flung thebedclothes off her and as she jerked awake with a gasp. he pulled her into histachyon field and translocated. Before Cleopatra could even react to what washappening. she had reappeared with Darkness a nanosecond later in the libraryof Travers’ home. Corwin held her while Castelli fired a stun dart into herupper arm.
“Sorry about that, Your Highness,” said Castelli. “But it’llbe okay. you won’t remember a damn thing.”
She collapsed in Corwin’s arms with a small moan.
Lucas gave the order. “Okay, people. Move out!” Bryant’steam clocked out to the palace. Simultaneously. Cooper’s strike force unitclocked to Cleopatra’s house. “Okay.” Lucas said to Castelli and Corwin. “Youknow what to do. Move.”
Castelli and Corwin snapped a preprogrammed warp disc aroundCleopatra’s wrist and clocked out to the future.
“Andell. you ready?” Lucas said.
“Ready,” said Sgt. Andell.
“Okay, Finn, get going,” Lucas said.
“Good luck. Lucas.” said Delaney.
“You. too.”
“Travers. if we’re not back in ten minutes. get the hell outof here,” Delaney said.
“You’ll be back,” said Travers.
“Okay.” said Lucas. ‘Let’s go for broke.” They all clockedout together,!caving Travers alone in the library. He crossed his fingers.
There were two S.O.G. men standing guard outside the door ofCaesar’s chambers. Two more were stationed in front of the sleeping quarters ofthe guards. There was a sudden whoosh. followed by a loud thwaack! One of the guards at Caesar’s door crumpled unconscious to the ground. Theother guard jerked around, startled, but he didn’t see a thing except theunconscious form of his companion. Suddenly a disembodied hand appearedfloating in midair, about a foot and a half in front of him. It was holding ablackthorn walking stick. The guard’s jaw dropped as he stared at it with astonishment.Whoosh. thwaack! Two down.
Major Bryant materialized in front of the two fallen guards.holding his disruptor. He glanced down quickly at their unconscious forms, thenlooked up to see Dr. Darkness leaning back a
gainst the wall, blowing animaginary speck of dust from the head of his walking stick. Bryant tossed him acasual salute. Darkness touched his walking stick to the brim of his hat.
At the same time, the other commandos of Bryant’s teamclocked in to their transition points. They fired their disruptors and theguards were briefly wreathed in the blue glow of Cherenkov radiation as theneutron beams struck them, then they disintegrated. They never even had achance to scream. Bryant aimed his disruptor down at the unconscious guards andquickly disposed of them, then moved quickly and silently toward the sleepingquarters of the other S.O.G. men. Moving softly, the commandos fanned outthroughout the room, covering the sleeping guards. One of them, either feelingthe call of nature or reacting subconsciously to their presence. woke up. hehad only an instant in which to register the black-clad men spread out through-outthe room. he opened his mouth to shout out a warning. but at that preciseinstant, they all fired. The room became bathed in the bright blue glow of Cherenkovradiation as the S.O.G. men, their bedclothes, and their beds alldisintegrated. It was over in a matter of seconds.
As Bryant and his team coped with the guards. Lucas and Andellclocked directly into Caesar’s bedroom. Calpurnia was sound asleep, but Caesar,a light sleeper with instincts honed by year of battle, awoke as they startedto move toward his bed. He sat up suddenly as Lucas quickly raised his stunnerand fired a dart into his chest. Caesar jerked and fell back onto the bed. Atthe same time. Andell fired a dart into Calpurnia. She jerked slightly andmoaned, then lay perfectly motionless.
“A trifle late, there.” Darkness said as he appearedstanding against the wall, toying with his walking stick. “How are the othersdoing?” Lucas said as he and Andell quickly started strapping preprogrammedwarp discs around the wrists of Caesar and his wife.
“Surprisingly, they seem to have the situation well in hand,”said Darkness. “I’d better go check on that great clod, Delaney, and see if he’smanaged to do his part without shooting himself in the foot.”
