“Well, yeah, but you don’t think I deal with the mandirectly. do you? he’s the Emperor. for Christ’s sake.”
“Who do you deal with?”
“Lately, it’s been mostly Antony.”
“Marc Antony?”
“That’s right.” said Marshall. “It’s not always him inperson, though. Most of the time. I work through intermediaries. He’s animportant man.”
“Can you get me an introduction’?”
Marshall sighed. “I guess I could try. Damn it. I thought Iwas through with all of that. Why the hell couldn’t you leave me alone? You’regoing to get me killed, you know that?”
“I’ll try to keep you out of it as much as possible.” saidSteiger. “All I need is a connection. And a base of operations.”
“
“Partly. but I’d also like to arrange a safe house. Whatwould you recommend?”
“I own some apartments in a tenement block in the Argiletum.a shopping district near the Subura district. Not exactly your luxuryaccommodations, but I could set you up in one of those.”
“Oh. so you’re a slumlord, too?”
“Give me a break. Steiger. I’m trying to cooperate because Iowe you.”
“What, not for old tunes’ sake?”
“Well. maybe that. too And I’ve also got a life-style toprotect here. I don’t want a temporal disruption any more than you do.”
“Okay. An apartment will do fine.”
“You’ll need money, I suppose.”
“I’ve got some, but a little more can’t hurt.”
Marshall nodded. “All right. Anything you need, just say theword But there’s one condition. This is strictly between you and me. I don’twant that adjustment team involved. I don’t want them knowing about me.Otherwise, all bets are off.”
“That goes without saying. John.”
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure we understand each other.What about your cover?”
“What would make me interesting to Antony?”
“He likes chariot racing.”
“A betting man?”
“Obsessive.”
“Good. Why not say I’m a breeder of racing horses? And I’vetrained charioteers. You’ve bought strings from me in the past. Where should Ibe from’?”
Marshall thought a moment. “Ilerda. in Nearer Spain. Thatwould make you a provincial and no one would be likely to ask you any detailedquestions about where you’re from. You could always say you’ve never venturedvery far from your farm out in the country, by the Ebro.”
“So what brings me to Rome? A business deal?”
“Let’s say I’m contemplating purchasing your entireoperation, leaving you run it. of course. and I’ve invited you here in order todiscuss it.”
“That would work.” Steiger grinned. “Almost like old times,isn’t it?”
“Too much like old times, if you ask me.” Marshall repliedsourly.
“When’s the next race coming up’?”
“As a matter of fact. I’ve got several teams entered in onetomorrow.-
“Will Antony be there?”
“He never misses a race if he can help it.”
“Good. What are the chances of putting in a fix?”
“You want me to fix a chariot race?” said Marshall with disbelief.You realize I could get the death penalty for that’?”
“Only if you got caught,” said Steiger.
Marshall sighed. “Hell. I suppose it could be arranged.”
Steiger smiled. “You haven’t changed much, either, have you?”
“A man does what he can. You’re planning to take Antony?”
“For a bundle.” Steiger said. “What better way to get toknow a man than to have him owe you money?”
4
“I hadn’t expected it to look so beautiful,” said Andre asthey approached the city. Andell drove the coach, while Castelli rode ahead ofthem, with Corwin and Drummond mounted on their horses, bringing up the rear.Travers had clocked back to his villa in the city, to await their arrival
“It looks better from a distance. First time in Rome. eh?” Andellsaid.
“I’ve served a hitch in Rome before,” said Lucas, ‘but forFinn and Andre. I think it’s the first time. Still. Rome was very differentthen.”
“Oh. yeah? When did you pull a tour here?”
“Second Punic War.” said Lucas. “I was with Scipio in thewar against Hannibal.”
“No shit. really? The old arbitration wars. I was there.too.”
“You’re kidding,” Lucas said. “Which cohort?”
“Wrong army,” Andell said with a grin. “I was with Hannibal.”
Lucas frowned. You were with
“I wasn’t with the U.S. Temporal Corps,” Andell said. “I wasfighting for the Nippon Conglomerate Empire back then. Freelance mercenary.”
“That explains it.” said Delaney. “I was wondering why someoneyour age was still a sergeant. “
“Yeah. Big black mark on my record.” Andell said. “Ex-mercenariesare scum of the earth, far as TAC-HQ is concerned.”
“But you’re American. aren’t you?” said Lucas. “So you hadto start out regular Corps before you went merc. What happened?”
“I caught a real bad tour that made me want out in a bigway,” said Andell. “I served a hitch in the War Between the States. I was withthe Union troops at Shiloh.”
Delaney whistled. “That must’ve been a rough one.”
“Tell me about it. It made the Punic Wars seem like a cakewalk.I got shot up pretty had and wound up just lying there on the damn battlefield,wondering if I was going to die or if the damn hogs were going to get to mefirst. There was a bunch of ’em rutting around the corpses. And some of themweren’t even corpses yet. Not too far off from me, this huge pig was chewing ona guy’s exposed intestines and he was still alive. I can still hear the poor bastardscreaming.
“My God.” said Andre.
“It gets worse,” Andell said. “Somehow, I. got the strengthup to crawl away and get into the woods. Packed my wounds with mud and thenstarted trying to limp back to our lines. Only a rebel patrol found me first. Iwound up in Andersonville.”
“Jesus.” said Delaney.
“Yeah Maybe the worst prison in American history. But therewas a Union doctor there and he managed to get me patched back up, sort of, andI eventually managed to escape with a small group of men. We made our way toSherman’s troops and then, boy. we sure got even. Eventually, S amp; R foundme and clocked me back. I spent some time in the hospital and then took mydischarge. I figured I’d had enough. Only a funny thing happened.”
You couldn’t hack civilian life,” said Lucas.
Andell nodded. “You know about it. huh?”
