Drakov raised his arms and silenced them. Slowly, theatrically, he lowered them.
'Leave this man with me,' he said. 'As for the other two …' He turned and nodded to his guard. Moving with lightning speed, two of the guards plunged their long knives into Fox and Sable. The agents never even had a chance to cry out.
They appeared like wraiths from the shadows all around them, gliding like ghosts out of the darkness. Ortheris lay upon the ground, clutching at his left shoulder. A voice called out to them in English, 'Throw down your weapons and you will not be harmed! Resist, and you will all be shot dead where you stand!'
'Bloody hell, 'Mulvaney said, 'that sounds like a bloomin’ Yank!'
Finn and Andre stood rooted to the spot, stunned.
'There are twenty rifles trained on you,' the voice from the darkness said. 'You’re more valuable to me alive than dead, but if you force my hand, I’ll take the loss.'
Finn dropped his rifle. The others followed suit. Andre lowered her revolver. As it fell from her fingers, she stared at Finn and said,'It can’t be!'
The man walked forward into the firelight. He was dressed in Temporal Army base fatigues, but they were field gray instead of black, and the insignia were different, unlike any they had ever seen before. He wore a patch over one eye, and in his right hand, held a laser at his side.
'Lucas'' Andre said with disbelief.
'See to the wounded soldier,' the man in the gray uniform said. Another man similarly dressed came into the light and crouched down over Ortheris. He removed a first-aid kit from his pack. Others now moved into the light, and they could see that there was only one other man dressed in gray fatigues. The others were all Pathan tribesmen.
'Lucas, it can’t be you!' said Andre. 'We buried you! ‘,
'Did you' What a shame. I guess I’m late to my own funeral.'
'Blimey! ' said Mulvaney. ' ‘E looks enough like the Father to be ‘is ruddy twin!'
'Finn'' said Andre, looking at him wildly.
'It isn’t Lucas,' Finn said slowly. 'At least not our Lucas. '
'Congratulations, Lieutenant. Or is it lieutenant' What is your actual rank''
'It’s lieutenant. Second Lieutenant Finn Delaney.'
'And you'' he said to Andre.
'Sergeant Andre Cross,' she said numbly.
'Sergeant'' said Mulvaney. 'Would someone mind tellin’ me what in bloody ‘Ell is goin’ on ‘ere''
'It would only confuse you, soldier,' said the twin. 'I apologise about your friend. It was meant to be a warning shot, but these tribesmen tend to get a bit overzealous. Keeping them in cheek can be difficult. I strongly advise you to cooperate so as not to provide them with any excuse to give in to temptation. I believe you’re carrying dispatches. May I see them, please'',
'What dispatches'' said Mulvaney. 'We were only escortin’- '
'Please, Private, don’t waste my time. The dispatches. '
'Do as he says, Mulvaney,' Finn said.
'What manner of uniform is that'' Learoyd said as Mulvaney removed the dispatches from the saddlebags. 'You’re not British, surely.'
The twin Priest smiled. 'It’s the uniform of a captain in the Special Operations Group of the United States Temporal Army.'
'The United States'' Learoyd said. 'I don’t understand. What’s your interest here''
'That,' said the twin Priest, 'would take a bit of explaining. And frankly, I don’t have the time. Let’s have those dispatches.'
Mulvaney handed them over.
The twin Priest glanced through them quickly. 'Yes, well, I’m afraid we can’t allow these to get through.' He handed them to one of the other men. He glanced at Finn. ' Interesting, ' he said, 'but not completely unex-pected. Paradox piled upon paradox. Zen physics run riot in the presence of a confluence. I assume from your reaction on seeing me that my counterpart was with your unit. Pity. I would have liked to have met him.'
'What is he talking about'' said Learoyd.
'Not now, Chris,' said Andre, the initial shock having passed.'What are you going to do with us''
'Take you prisoner,' said the twin Priest. 'After all, I have as many questions to ask you as I’m sure you have to ask me.'
'What about them'' Finn said, jerking his head toward the others.
'We’ll bring them along, just to ensure your cooperation. I wouldn’t expect commandos to be very cooperative by themselves, but with hostages, it might be different.'
'Look 'ere,' said Mulvaney, striding forward belligerently. 'I demand to know just what in bloomin’ blazes'-
The twin Priest signalled to one of his men. There were three sharp, hissing sounds and Mulvaney and Learoyd dropped to the ground. Din slowly backed away, eyes wide.
'You there!' the twin Priest said, pointing at Din. 'Come here! '
Din froze, petrified with fear.
'They’re not dead,' the twin Priest said. 'They’ve just been put to sleep for a while. You have nothing to fear if you obey instructions.'
Swallowing hard, Din came forward. The twin Priest looked at him hard. He spoke to Delaney. 'This one’s not a soldier. He with you''
'He’s just a Hindu attendant we hired,' said Andre. 'He’s no danger to you.'
The twin Priest looked at Din uncertainly for a moment. 'Perhaps. I think we’ll bring him along, just the same.'
He turned and spoke briefly in Pushtu to the Pathans, telling them that he was leaving one of his men in charge and that the British soldiers were to be brought to the temple unharmed or else there would be dire consequences. He then addressed the two commandos. 'Your warp discs, if you don’t mind. Carefully. Don’t try anything or the others die.'
Reluctantly Finn and Andre surrendered their warp discs. The twin Priest glanced at Din, who stood quaking.
'He doesn’t have one,' said Andre. 'I told you, he’s only a-'
'Search him,' said the twin Priest.
After a thorough search yielded no warp disc, he was satisfied. 'Right. Follow me.'
They went off a short distance into the rocks, to a spot where three Afridis stood guard with one gray- uniformed soldier over a warp disc about the size of a dinner plate. It was large enough to generate a field that could transport a platoon of men at one time. They took up position around it, within its field radius, and the uniformed man activated it. The Afridis dropped to all fours, pressing their foreheads to the ground as the disc began to glow. A moment later they disappeared.
A thorough search had divested Phoenix of his weapons and his warp disc. He sat cross-legged on a small cushion in a room on the upper floor of the small palace. Two muscular, armed guards stood by the door behind him, tulwars held across their chests. Four guards flanked Drakov, two on either side. Under other circumstances Phoenix might have found the scene amusing, reminiscent of The Arabian Nights. Drakov reclined before him on an elevated, cushion-covered platform. They were surrounded by rich silks and tapestries. Incense made the air fragrant. Drakov smoked a water pipe, adding the pungent odor of latakia to the smell of burning incense.
Beautiful young girls with diamond nose studs, emerald and ruby ornaments in the centres of their foreheads, and bracelets of hammered gold and silver on their wrists and ankles, waited on them, gliding in and out of the room in their flowing, silky costumes, bringing them platefuls of fruit and sweetmeats. One dark-eyed young beauty lounged on a cushion by Drakov’s side, staring at Phoenix as Drakov absently fondled her breast. It was a fantastic scene, surreal except for the horrifying image of the guards plunging their knives into Fox and Sable.
'You’re not eating, Martingale,' said Drakov in English, so that they could converse in privacy.
'Didyou expect me to have an appetite'' said Phoenix.
