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
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 against 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.”
He disappeared.
“If you ask me. that man’s a few cards short of a full deck.”Andell said.
“Maybe,” Lucas replied. “but what cards he does have are allmarked. You ready’?”
“Ready,” said Andell.
“Okay, check your time. I want them both clocked back hereexactly one minute from now. Ready?”
“Mark!” Andell said.
“Go!”
Andell activated the warp disc on Calpurnia’s wrist while Lucassimultaneously clocked out Caesar. They both vanished.
“All right. I’m on my way,” Andell said. “Good luck, Lucas.”
“You, too.”
Andell clocked out.
Now came the tough part. Lucas held his laser pistol in onehand and his stunner in the other. he stood back against the wall, out ofimmediate sight of anyone who might be coming through the doorway. but in aposition where he could clearly see them. Now all he had to do was keep theroom secure and wait for the longest minute in the world.
Cooper’s strike force troops started moving the second theyclocked in. Three of them took down the legionaries posted at the front gates.aiming carefully and firing their stun darts into the exposed flesh at theupper arms and thighs of the soldiers, where their breastplates could notdeflect them. Then they immediately started moving onto the grounds. Three moremen clocked in on the roof and that was where they sustained their firstcasualty.
One of the S.O.G. guards on the rooftop just happened tomove to the same spot where one of Cooper’s men was clocking in. Two objectscould not occupy the same time and space simultaneously. There was a brief,agonized scream, and then a hideous, misshapen mass of bloody, writhing fleshthat was barely recognizable as being human fell to the rooftop. For aninstant, the other rooftop guards were too shocked to move and in that instant.Cooper’s men fired their disruptors. The S.O.G. men were briefly wreathed in ablue aura, then they disappeared.
“Oh. God,” one of Cooper’s men said, staring at the horror lyingat his feet.
The other one fired his disruptor at it, disintegrating thesickening remains of two fused human bodies. come on, snap out of it! The wholehouse must’ve heard that scream!”
Indeed, the whole house had. In that moment, the element ofsurprise so necessary to the speedy conclusion of the raid was lost. Hollisterheard the scream and came awake instantly. rolling out of bed and lunging forhis weapon. He was already shouting out a warning at the top of his lungs ashis fingers closed around it and he went running out into the hall barefoot,dressed only in his tunic The guards outside Cleopatra’s bedroom immediatelyran inside to seize their hostage and were dismayed to see the bed empty. Theywasted valuable seconds looking for her around the room. By the time they heardthe sounds behind them, it was already too late. The stun darts struck them asthey turned and collapsed to the floor.
Outside on the grounds, laser beams crisscrossed in the darknessas the firelight erupted between the S.O.G. men on security duty and the men ofCooper’s unit. As Delaney. Steiger, and Andre clocked into the
“God damn it!” said Delaney. “Come on. let’s
They ran across the open space of the courtyard, heading towardthe servants’ quarters.
“Watch it!” Andre shouted.
She dove to the ground and rolled as a laser beam stabbedthrough the air above her and fired as she came up. One of the S.O.G. men fell.Delaney dropped another one and they kept going, moving as quickly as theycould, the adrenaline pounding through their systems.
Hollister spotted three men moving down the corridor andfired without hesitation. Two of Cooper’s men fell dead, one of them the manarmed with the disruptor. The third man brought up his stunner and fired, butHollister quickly ducked behind a column and fired. The third man went down.
Laser beams made a webwork of light in the atrium as the twoopposing forces met in the central hall. Cooper’s team had taken casualties,but the S.O.G. men in the grounds had all been dealt with and the fight nowmoved entirely indoors. Several of the household slaves ran screaming in terrordown the corridors and were dropped by stun darts, though a few ran directlyinto the path of laser and disruptor beams and ceased to exist. Others coweredfearfully in their quarters, convinced the world was coming to an end, while afew simply dropped down to their knees in supplication before the invadingdemons and were quickly tranked.
Outside. Simmons moved carefully across the grounds. crouchinglow and taking advantage of the darkness, holding his laser pistol ready. Hiswarp disc was already preprogrammed with his escape coordinates. Screw the
