“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 in 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
“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.”
“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
“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
“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
