don’t know why I bother…
He disappeared.
Andre came to lying on a comfortable couch. She groaned and felt the back of her head. There was a lump there and blood was matted in her hair. She blinked, her vision focusing on a pretty young woman holding a laser pistol aimed directly at her.
“Please remain perfectly still. Miss Cross, otherwise Sally will be forced to shoot you and she is a very accurate shot. Show her how accurate you are. Sally.”
Sally fired the laser and the thin beam burned a smoking hole in the couch right next to Andre’s left ear. Andre didn’t move.
“Drakov,” she said.
“Ah, you remember.” Drakov said, coming around to where she could see him_ He was dressed in flamboyant colonial finery, in black, as usual. His coat, was of black velvet with jeweled buttons, his waistcoat was black brocade shot through with gold, his breeches were black satin, and his shirt and hose were of white silk. He had silver buckles on his shoes and he wore a powdered wig. but Andre would have recognized him anywhere. That scar marring his dark. Byronic features and those unsettling, emerald-green eyes were unmistakable, as was the voice, rich and deep and resonant, a voice that stage actors would have killed for.
“Which one arc you?” she said. “Do you each have your own run number or do you all think you’re the real thing?”
“That is a fascinating question, Miss Cross.” he said, smiling down at her. “In fact, I’ve wondered about it myself on occasion, not that it makes any real difference. You see, we are all Nikolai Drakov, sharing the same genetic template. the same memories and personality. After a certain point, that is. Childhood experiences must, of necessity, vary, but at a key point in development, each replicate’s subliminal programming is triggered and from that moment on, the memory engrains of the original are manifested. All previous individual experiences are totally forgotten. Each of us shares the same memories from that point on, the same personality and past. Asking which of us is the original is pointless. We are all the same. You might say I am legion.”
Sally’s face was registering growing confusion, but Drakov proceeded as if she wasn’t even there.
“Just think of it as an exponential increase in the opportunities for our paths to cross.” he said, smiling. “You see, there you are. It’s happened once again. Actually, I quite look forward to our encounters, although I confess that each time I think it will be the last. Perhaps this time we will finally conclude our business. I feel rather confident on this occasion.”
“You always do,” she said. “But we’ve beaten you each time. And we’ll beat you once again.”
“Oh. I think not.” said Drakov. “Not this time. Miss Cross. Not this time.”
“We have Moffat, you know.” she said.
The woman called Sally gave a little gasp and her eyes went to Drakov, but only for an instant.
“Yes. I had already surmised that,” he said. He shrugged. “Unfortunate, but it is of no real consequence. He is conditioned to withstand a considerable amount of questioning, and when your friends think they have broken him, he will tell them only what he has been programmed to tell them. Moffat has served his purpose.”
The stricken look on the woman’s face only served to underscore what Andre had already concluded. Sally and Moffat were in love.
“Master…” she said in a pleading voice, but she got no further.
“Silence,” Drakov said. He deigned to glance at her-Don’t be concerned, Sally. You’ve done your part well. My promise to you still stands. I will provide another mate for you as soon as we are finished here.”
Sally said nothing and the laser in her hand wavered only slightly, but the anguish on her face spoke volumes.
“It isn’t going to work. Drakov,” Andre said. “Your Hellfire Club is going to fail, just like they failed tonight with Macintosh.”
“Merely a minor setback.” Drakov said. “The mere existence of the Hellfire
Club has already placed a strain on temporal inertia in this time period. My final touch will deliver the coup de grace and bring about a timestream split. The plan is elegant in its simplicity. I have pinpointed the three most important men in this temporal scenario. The first of them will die tonight, right under the very eyes of your compatriots, who have been keeping such a very careful watch on him. And Macintosh will never reach his friends in time. My assassin is already on his way.”
He smiled. “I only regret that I will not be able to see the expressions on their faces when it happens. It would have been much more effective if his chief pawn, Ebenezer Macintosh, had died at the same time, but it will make no difference. Without Samuel Adams to lead the Sons of Liberty, the task will doubtless fall to Otis. Hancock is popular, but he has no real ability for leadership and he lacks the genius Adams has for influencing popular opinion. The others will fall to arguing among themselves, and though he has already proven himself to be erratic. Otis is the only one with fire enough to draw them all together. When his mind finally snaps, the blow to the patriotic cause will be irreparable. The Hellfire Club will serve to unify the Tories and the arrival of the British troops will put an end to the rebellious spirit in the. Massachusetts colony.
“The second man to die will be Lord William Howe,” continued Drakov. “I have already established myself socially in England and Howe knows me as a friend. It will be an easy matter for me to see to his demise. Without his foolish indecisiveness and obstinacy, the British troops would have captured the entire Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island and the war would have been over before it even started. With Howe dead, Clinton or Burgoyne will be appointed in his place and either of them will easily prevail over the undisciplined colonial troops, especially without Washington to lead them.”
He chuckled at the expression on Andre’s face.
“Yes. George Washington will be the third to fall. The crowning touch. The father of his country will be assassinated by a bastard. A fitting irony. I think. I trust my father will appreciate it. The deaths of any one of those three men should be sufficient to bring about a timestream split. The assassination of all three should cause a chain reaction that will spread throughout all history.”
He pulled back his sleeve and entered a set of coordinates into his warp disc. And now, Miss Cross, the time has come for us to say farewell. It has been a fascinating game, but I’m afraid it’s over now.” He turned to Sally. “Kill her.”
Looking stunned, Sally aimed the laser at Andre’s chest.
“Sally. wait!” said Andre. “Don’t listen to him! Moffat is all right! Help me! I can take you to him!”
She hesitated.
“I said, kill her!” Drakov shouted.
“No. Sally, don’t!”
“Jared!”
Drakov spun around to see Moffat standing in the doorway. holding a flintlock pistol in his bloody hand. Before Drakov could speak Moffat fired. The ball struck Drakov in the chest. Sally screamed. Drakov stared at Moffat with utter disbelief, then he toppled to the floor.
For a moment, no one moved and then the laser was suddenly plucked out of Sally’s hand. She cried out as Darkness materialized, holding the laser pistol. Andre ran to Drakov and turned him over. he was still alive, but only barely. He looked up at her and coughed up blood.
“I seem to… have… miscalculated,” he said, struggling to get the words out. He coughed again and brought up more blood. “No matter
… you’re… too late. I… still… win…” His eyes clouded over and his labored breathing stopped.
Andre glanced up at Moffat. “What did he mean, he still wins?” Moffat stood there with the empty pistol still held in his hand, staring at Drakov’s corpse.
“Moffat! What did he mean?” Moffat’s lips moved, but he made no sound. Sally ran to him sobbing and threw her arms around his neck, but he was in a daze, as if entranced.
“It’s no use,” said Darkness. You won’t get anything out of him now. He’s in a fugue state. He’s suffered a breakdown.’”
“Adams…” Andre said. “Drakov said he was going to die tonight, right under our very eyes. But if we were watching Adams, then how could… Doc, we’ve got to get out of here, right now!”
