by Simon Hawke
Finn had been encouraged upon learning that the marquis had been taken to the cottage, for the hut had not existed as a hiding place for them until Andrew Ffoulkes had arranged for it shortly after their arrival in France. Obviously, it meant that Mongoose knew their plans and therefore had to have assumed the guise of one of the members of the league. Yet, he had thwarted their efforts to expose him by decoying some of the men away from where they should have been. Just before they were to leave Paris, Wilberforce and Barrett had received a note signed with the red flower, instructing them to leave the city separately for the sake of greater security and telling them to rendezvous at Blanchard’s cottage off the St. Martin’s road. Finn recalled that they had gone out to purchase wine while they waited for the arrival of the marquis, which meant that one of them could easily have arranged for Jean to pick up the aristocrat and then deliver him to Pere Blanchard’s hut, since the other would be traveling alone. Rodney Moore and the Byrne brothers had been separated, as well. Ffoulkes had received a note similar to the one Barrett and Wilberforce were sent. He had found it up in his room shortly after Finn and Lucas left for Paris. It had instructed him of a change in plans, the reason being that the French had “spies everywhere” and it was best to keep altering the plans at the last minute in order to avoid exposing themselves. Ffoulkes had accepted the note without question and had followed the instructions to the letter. He had directed the Byrne brothers to remain at the cottage and he had sent Rodney Moore to watch the St. Martin’s road, where he was to wait for an old woman driving a farm wagon to pass by and then watch to see if anyone followed. The “old woman” would obviously be the Pimpernel in disguise.
“He could be Moore or Barrett or Wilberforce said Finn. “For that matter, it’s possible that he could be one of the others who stayed behind in London. There’s nothing that could have prevented him from picking the group up in Calais and following Ffoulkes or one of the others to the hut. Then he could have tailed Wilberforce and Barrett. There’s any number of ways in which he could have managed it.”
“At least we know to scratch the Byrne brothers,” Lucas said. “They were together all the time.”
“It’s really starting to get to me,” said Finn. “I feel like a fraud.”
“You are a fraud,” said Lucas, grinning.
“That isn’t what I mean. The thing is, I am-that is, Blakeney is supposed to be the Pimpernel, but I haven’t-that is, he hasn’t rescued anybody!”
“So?”
“So Blakeney’s only saving grace was that he only appeared to be an idiot, while being the Pimpernel in reality. I only appear to be the Pimpernel, while being an idiot in reality.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” said Lucas.
Finn sighed. “I don’t know. This whole thing is ridiculous. Look at us, sitting here like a couple of old men on a park bench. All we need are some bread crumbs and a flock of pigeons. We were talking about killing Mongoose because he’s wreaking havoc with this mission, but what has he really done that’s so damn terrible? He’s been doing all our work for us and taking most of the risks. I’ve got a feeling that we should be thanking him!”
“That’s exactly what he wants,” said Cobra.
They both started and turned to see the agent standing right behind them, leaning against a tree. They hadn’t even heard him approach. He was still dressed the way he had been at the party, in his dandy’s suit, cut in the incroyable style which Percy Blakeney had made so popular in London.
“Jesus!” Finn said. “Don’t do that!”
“You boys are really slipping,” Cobra said. “Mongoose must be getting to you.”
“How long have you been standing there? “ said Lucas.
“Long enough.” He held out an elegant silver case. “Cigarettes?”
“I could use one,” Finn said. “Thanks.”
He lit their cigarettes for them and took one himself. “Can’t stand those damn clay pipes, myself,” he said. “It’s like smoking chalk. Anyway, killing Mongoose would be a big mistake. For one thing, if you were lucky enough to beat me to him, I’d be right there to stop you. The only way that you could eliminate him would be to eliminate me, first. Not impossible, I’ll grant you, but it would just buy you a great deal of trouble and it seems you’ve already got more than you can handle.”
“You don’t say,” said Finn, wryly.
“I’ve been watching you two rather closely,” said the agent. “Who do you think drove the coach that took you to Paris?”
“That was you?” said Finn.
“None other. Mongoose isn’t the only expert at disguise, you know. I should add that I appreciated the generous tip. That was a tiring journey.”
“If you’re so on top of things,” said Lucas, “where were you when the marquis was taken?”
“Following you,” said Cobra. “At this point, I’m a little more concerned about what you two might do than I am about Mongoose. His death might solve your problem, but it would not solve mine. I asked you to cooperate with me on this. I need you working with me, not against me. You’ve got nothing to lose by following my instructions.”
“I wish it were that simple,” Lucas said. “It might appear that all that Mongoose has done so far has been to make us look like fools, which might very well be his sole intent, but you’re forgetting that he’s breaking all the rules, even going so far as to involve someone from this time period in this disruption.”
“You mean the boy.”
“Yes, damn it, I mean the boy! Due to his interference, that boy has already killed several people. Mongoose has to realize that he’s already altered the course of that boy’s entire life, yet he continues to use him to further his own ends. That’s a disruption in itself and there’s no telling what effect it will have. The point is that Mongoose obviously doesn’t care.”
“You’re quite right about that,” Cobra said. “Involving the boy was dangerous. The boy can’t be overlooked and I intend to take care of it.”
“Have you found him yet?” said Finn.
“No, but then I’ve been extremely careful not to look for him.”
Finn rubbed his forehead wearily. “This is beginning to give me migraines. You mind telling me why not?”
“Not at all. If my people find the boy, they might very well find Mongoose. I’m not yet ready for Mongoose to be found.”
“Has it occurred to you that by procrastinating on this case because of the agency’s internecine power struggle, you have become a threat to this adjustment?” Lucas said.
“Yes, that has occurred to me. I’m taking a calculated risk.”
“I’ve got news for you, friend,” said Finn. “That decision isn’t yours to make.”
“No one else is in a position to make it,” Cobra said. “Try to see my side of it. With Mongoose dead, admittedly, most of your problems would be solved. However, he’s no good to anybody dead. Leaving aside the fact that he used to be a damn good operative and could be again, he’s exposed a massive flaw in the databank security system by cracking it. Alive, he can tell us how he did that. It doesn’t really matter who winds up being in control of the agency, that would benefit everyone. With Mongoose dead, we might never find out how he keyed into the system, which means that there’s a chance that somebody else might figure out how to do exactly the same thing. We might not be so lucky next time. Mongoose purposely left us a lot of clues. Someone else may not be so considerate. You really want to try going out on a mission when the records used to brief you have been tampered with?”
Neither Finn nor Lucas spoke.
“You see? You really have no choice. Mongoose must be taken alive. Fitzroy understands that.”
“He just doesn’t understand that you’re stalling, waiting for the proper time to act,” said Finn.
“That’s for his own protection,” said the agent. “And I remind you that I didn’t have to tell you that. I’m going out of my way to play it straight with you two.”
“So long as we’re all being so frank and open with each other in this new era of intra-agency cooperation,” Lucas said sarcastically, “I’d like to ask you what you think will happen if the old guard in the agency lose out in their bid for control.”
“Well, that all depends,” said Cobra. “Under the new administration, the autonomy of the agency has been severely curtailed. I’m not particularly qualified to assess the situation, but I can offer some educated guesses. Essentially, what the new director and his people have to do in order to bring matters fully under their control is to find a highly elite group of, well, moles within the agency. That’s not an easy task. When the new director assumed his office, one of his first acts was to order a compilation of a complete roster of all TIA personnel and their field people.”
“Field people?” Lucas said.
“Indigenous personnel in the employ of field office section heads.”
“Hold it,” Finn said. “Do I understand you correctly? Are you telling us that TIA agents in the field employ people within those time periods?”
“Certainly.”
Finn was aghast. “Are you people out of your fucking minds? That’s in direct violation of-”
“I know, I know,” said Cobra, patiently. “However, consider the job the section heads have to do. Their problems are almost insurmountable. Can you imagine the amount of personnel that would be required in order to allow them to gather all the necessary intelligence to profile the historical scenarios to which they are assigned? It would be a highly unstable situation if we brought that many people in. Besides, all anybody’s really interested in are the results. Without them, you people would not be able to function. So, there’s always been a sort of unofficial policy of looking the other way when indigenous personnel have been brought in. The section heads have always been very careful about using them. But now that the new administration has requested a complete personnel roster, it’s all become official. Of course, any such roster would be impossible to compile. No section head would be willing to reveal who his field people are and how many of them he uses. It would compromise the whole setup. That’s what really brought this whole thing out into the open.”
“So you’ve got the new administration and regular agency personnel on the one side,” Lucas said, “and the section heads, field agents such as yourself, and covert operations on the other. Who has final authority, practically speaking?”
“Practically speaking, both sides have final authority,” Cobra said. “That’s why we have our little problem. So long as the new administration doesn’t know who directs covert operations, the handful of people who do know continue to take their orders from the ‘old guard,’ as you put it. Mongoose is only one of several people whom I imagine have access to that information, which is why the director wants him so badly. The point is, he might not need him. Right now, he’s ordered a scanning procedure for all agency personnel. Sooner or later, he’s bound to interrogate somebody who has the right answers. Whoever directs covert operations is probably pulling all the strings available in order to block the scanning operation.”
“How would they do that?” said Lucas.
“I imagine they’d have to coerce an influential member of the Referee Corps.”
“Could they do that?” Lucas said.
“It’s been done before.”
“That’s wonderful,” said Finn. “Next time someone tells me that my paranoia is unjustified, I’ll laugh in their face.”
“I don’t understand how they can justify their actions considering what’s at stake,” said Lucas. “The only thing that has prevented a temporal split so far is the inertia of the timestream and a hell of a lot of luck. The whole mechanism for insuring temporal continuity is held together with nothing more than spit and they’re playing these kind of games.”
“Only because they have to,” Cobra said. “I’m not saying that egos and the desire for power don’t enter into it, but both sides feel that the other is acting to the detriment of temporal continuity. The ‘old guard’ feels that their system of intelligence-gathering and directing operations is the only thing maintaining temporal continuity. My guess is that that’s why the agency tried to take over control of temporal adjustments from the First Division. On the other hand, a valid argument can be made for the position that the TIA has become like an octopus with more tentacles than it can control or knows it has.”
“And where do you stand?” Lucas said.
“I’m a fatalist, Priest,” said Cobra. “I was out on a mission when the breakdown in the chain of command occurred, otherwise Mongoose’s job as head of field operations would have gone to me. If that had happened, I probably would have been the first one interrogated and none of this would have happened. On the other hand, my being out on a mission at precisely that time may not have been circumstantial, if you get my meaning.”
“So you’re saying you’re going with whichever way the wind blows,” Finn said.
“I’m following the orders of my superiors,” said Cobra. “I’m not asking you to do anything other than what you’ve been ordered to do. I realize that you have a lot of leeway in interpreting those orders. I’m only asking you to exercise that option.” He paused to field-strip his cigarette. “Frankly, I think that all any of us can do is go through the motions. I’m convinced that a temporal split is inevitable. There’s simply been too much temporal pollution. We can’t control it any more. It’s like riding a runaway horse. You can’t stop it, all you can do is try to stay in the saddle.”
“There’s just one problem with that kind of thinking,” Lucas said. “It presupposes that there’s already been so much interference with historical events that a breakdown in the timestream is unavoidable. If that’s the case, we might as well give up and go home. The point, to follow your analogy, is not to concentrate on staying in the saddle, but to keep the horse from taking the bit between its teeth and running away with you in the first place. How the hell do you expect to function if you believe that the outcome has already been decided?”
“You continue to function because there’s nothing else to do,” said Cobra. “You think about it too much and you won’t be able to function at all. For instance, have you considered the possibility that there might already have been a timestream split at some point in the past and that we’re part of it?”
“Then why aren’t there two of each of us around?” said Finn.
Cobra smiled. “You never know,” he said. “When you get back, maybe there will be.”
“Maybe,” said Lucas. “That might very well depend on what we do about Mongoose.”
“I’ll make a deal with you,” Cobra said. “You open to a proposition?”
“We’ll listen,” Finn said.
“I can’t trust my own people,” Cobra said, “but I can trust the two of you. If the new director is made to back off and covert operations continues being autonomous, the investigation will be called off and my problem will be solved. If it goes the other way, I’m still duty-bound to deliver Mongoose, but there might be people in my team with orders to eliminate him if that happens. In that event, I’ll need help.”
“What’s your proposal?” Finn said.
“I think that I can see a way out of our present predicament,” said Cobra. “You want Mongoose stopped, neutralized before he does something to screw up your mission. I want him alive and I don’t want to interfere with you doing your job as you see it. I think that I may have a line on Mongoose, but my hands are tied right now. As a result, I can’t help you. However, I can misdirect my own people. I’ll be taking a chance, but I think I can pull it off. I also think that I can apprehend Mongoose within a matter of days. I propose to do just that, as soon as possible, and then hand him over to you.”
“There’s only one problem with that idea,” Lucas said. “We can’t protect him for you and continue with this adjustment at the same time. The Scarlet Pimpernel still has work to do. We won’t be able to guarantee
his safety.”
“You can if I give you a chronoplate,” said Cobra. “I’ll stay here with Finn and help him to continue doing the Pimpernel’s work. You and Andre can take the chronoplate and, with Mongoose in your custody, you can get lost.”
“You’re asking us to desert,” said Lucas.
“No, just to go A.W.O.L. for a while.”
“Really?” Finn said. “Who gets to explain their sudden disappearance to Fitzroy?”
“Leave that to me,” said Cobra.
“Forget it, we’re leaving nothing to you,” said Finn. “We came here to do a job and all you’ve done since you arrived is complicate things. This would have been a simple adjustment mission, inasmuch as any mission can be simple, if it wasn’t for the TIA. All you guys were ever meant to do was gather historical intelligence to compensate for inaccuracies and omissions in the books and that’s it, period. Somewhere along the line, you decided to become historical policemen. I find the idea that your people might have a Referee or two in their pocket frankly frightening. Next thing you know, the agency is going to start getting involved in arbitration conflicts. Maybe you people should change your initials to CIA or KGB. They did much the same sort of thing before one became a multinational corporation and the other became a monarchy.”
“I can well understand your frustration, Finn, but I don’t set agency policy, you know.”
“You just got through telling us that you’re the only one in a position to do just that on this adjustment,” Finn said. “Do you know what you’re doing or are you just making all this up as you go along?”
“I take it you’re refusing to cooperate, then?” said Cobra.
“You take it wrong, Agent Cobra,” said Delaney. “ You’re the one who’s refusing to cooperate. If I wasn’t convinced that there might actually be a real threat to Fitzroy’s life, I’d tell him exactly what you’re doing. I’ll give you one thing, you’ve demonstrated that Mongoose must be taken alive, if for no other reason than that the new Observer-backed administration of your agency needs to learn who’s really been calling the shots all this time.”