tell
Scott how many people he’s got with him?’
“Scott said she saw at least four at that baseops he’s got in London, on the other side of the chronoplate in the opium den. He’s got Becky, over at the saloon, and some guy named Indian Charlie. Neither Scott nor I have seen him. That’s all we know about. There could be others. Plus he’s got an undetermined number of the Chinese residents of Hop Town that he can call upon. It seems he’s got them thinking he’s some kind of sorcerer. They’re all afraid of him, but whether or not they’ll actually fight for him is anybody’s guess.”
“Considering the risk involved, we’d better call for backup,” Andre said.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Lucas replied, and I’m not sure if we should. The more people from the future we introduce into this time sector, the greater the odds of increasing the instability that’s already present here. If we bring in reinforcements, it may force Stone’s hand and we would wind up fighting a pitched battle in the streets of Tombstone, with no one being certain which timeline they’re fighting in. For all we know, that’s exactly what Darkness doesn’t want to happen. Damn it, if only he’d told us more!”
“Only what happens if we go after Drakov by ourselves and we don’t make it?” asked Andre. “Who’s going to stop the S.O.G. and the Network? Who’ll be around to send up the balloon?”
“There’s still Neilson,” said Delaney.
“No good.” said Lucas. “I don’t want to count on him. For one thing, he’s gotten too mixed-up in the scenario. For another, he’s too vulnerable. We’ll need somebody else. We’ll have to bring in someone who can take charge immediately and call in the strike if anything goes wrong and we don’t make it.”
“Cooper?” Andre said.
Lucas nodded. “Yeah, Cooper. We need somebody who won’t get nervous and jump the gun, but who can hit and run with maximum effectiveness if need be. Cooper would be perfect. Under any other circumstances, he’d be the one we’d pick and we’re just going to have to go on our best instincts. We’ve got to treat this as if it were any other mission. We can’t afford to question our decisions and wonder if we shouldn’t be doing something different than what we ordinarily would have done, because of Darkness. He told us that whatever’s going to happen, we’ll be in a position to affect it, so I’ve got to assume were going to live at least that long.
“Well, that’s a cheery thought.” Delaney said.
“We’ve got to consider all the possibilities,” Lucas continued “The key point may come when we make our move against Drakov. Or it may come before that, in the next five or ten minutes, for all we know. Or it may come afterwards, involving either the Network or the S.O.G. or maybe even both. It may come when Cooper brings his troops in. There’s no way we can know, but we do know that we’re going be there when it happens. When it does. Darkness is going to clock in and give us the word and well have to act immediately. So I want to know right now if anybody has any problems with that.”
“I take it you don’t.” Delaney said.
“Yeah. I do.” Lucas replied, with a nod, “but I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to do whatever he says without asking any questions. It’s too great a risk not to. He’s never let us down before. We’re just going to have to trust him.”
“Speaking hypothetically.. I hope.” Delaney said, “what if what we’re going to have to do involves killing one of us?”
“Good Lord.” said Andre. “You don’t really think… no, that can’t be. Darkness said that whatever happened didn’t happen as a result of anything we did, directly. Just that we’re going to be in a position to change it.”
“Yeah but what if changing it means that one of us is going to die?” Delaney asked. “What if something that one of us is supposed to do indirectly triggers whatever disaster is going to occur? And the only chance the others have to stop him… or her… is to shoot?”
There was a long silence.
“We have to consider that possibility,” said Delaney, finally.”Suppose you had to kill me, Lucas. Or Andre. Could you do it?”
Lucas swallowed hard and stared at him for a long moment. Finally, he nodded. “Yeah. I could. I don’t know how I’d ever live with it afterward, but if I had to.. with everything that’s at stake… He shook his head. “I’d have no choice. What about you?”
Delaney nodded.
“What are you guys saying’?” Andre whispered her eyes wide.
“Andre?”
“This is crazy. It isn’t going to happen. It can’t-
“Maybe that’s why Darkness didn’t tell us any more than he did,” Delaney said.
“I can’t believe that.” she said. “I won’t believe it!”
“But what if it comes to that?” asked Lucas. “Could you kill me? or Finn?”
“How in God’s name can you ask me that?”
“Because I have to.”
She shook her head. How could I?”
“Because billions of lives in the future could depend upon it, that’s how,” Lucas replied. “There’s a chance, maybe a remote chance, but a chance that it could all come down to you. And if it does, Lieutenant. I’ll expect you to do your duty.”
She glanced from him to Delaney with a stricken look.
“ Lieutenant!”
“Yes, sir.” she said, softly, looking away from them.
“I didn’t hear you!”
She jerked around, looking at him as if he’d struck her. “I said, yes, sir!”
Lucas nodded, “Right. Let’s not waste any more time. Finn, I want you to clock back to Plus Time and get Colonel Cooper back here. He’s to bring no more than two men with him. Use your room over at the boarding house as the transition point. Tell him he’s to stay them and not budge from that room, no matter what, till we get back. If we’re not back by morning, or if he’s attacked, then he’s in charge. Brief him on the situation and get back here as quickly as you can.”
“I’m on my way.”
Delaney got up and popped the cover on his warp disc, then clocked out.
“Andre…” Lucas said gently
She got up, turned away from him, walked over to the window and stood there looking out, not saying a word.
10
“I count six,” said Ben Stone, standing in the vacant lot next to Fly’s Boarding House on Fremont Street.” How many do you make?”
“That’s what I’ve got, sir,” said Lieutenant Victor Capiletti, of the Special Operations Group. “Two across the street. two over on Third, around the corner, and the two that just ducked inside the alley. What do you think, Captain?”
“I’m not sure,” said Stone. using the corner of Harwood’s house, on the west side of the lot, as a cover from which to check the street. They were looking toward the Aztec Rooming House. “It looks like a loose security perimeter to me. They don’t want to attract attention, but they’ve got the place pretty well covered. They could be getting ready to clock in a strike force, using Delaney’s room upstairs as a transition point.”
“Can’t have that.” said Capiletti.
“No. we can’t, can we?” Stone replied. “Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We set out to take one T.I.A. agent and we may just wind up getting their entire strike force. All we have to do is secure the transition point and take them out as they clock in. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”
“We’ll have to take out-their external security first, without alerting whoever’s inside.” said Capiletti.
“I want your team to handle it without making any noise,” said Stone. “The last thing I want is interference from the locals.”
