The Pimpernel Plot tw-3

by Simon Hawke

  “I see no conflict there,” said Cobra.

  “Well then, I’ll make a deal with you,” said Finn, “and we can stop all this nonsense. Lucas and I will agree to back off and leave Mongoose to you provided that you stop wasting your time shadowing us, get onto Mongoose, and either arrest him or make certain that he doesn’t sabotage this mission. Tell us who your suspect is. We won’t move against him without any proof, but at least we can watch him and work around him.”

  “Or else?” said Cobra.

  “Or else we grab him ourselves the moment we have an opportunity and turn him over to Fitzroy, who’ll clock him out before your people have a chance to do much more than widen their eyes in surprise. And that’s my proposition.”

  Cobra smiled. “That makes a good deal of sense,” he said. “There’s really only one slight problem with that idea.”

  “I somehow had a feeling that there might be,” Finn said.

  “I doubt that you know what it is, though,” Cobra said, grinning. “All right, Finn, I’ll play my ace. I’ll play it because I think you’ll have no choice but to fold. I’ll even accept your proposition, conditionally.”

  “What’s the condition?” Lucas said

  “That you follow my direction from this point on, regardless of what Fitzroy says.”

  “Brother, it had better be one hell of an ace you’re going to play,” said Finn. “If you think you can undermine Fitzroy-”

  “My suspect is Fitzroy,” said Cobra.

  Andrew Ffoulkes and Tony Dewhurst didn’t recognize the young man who had arrived in Dover with Lucas and Percy Blakeney. Dewhurst thought that the young man looked somehow familiar, but he could not place where he had seen him. What puzzled both of them was the fact that this dark-haired, bearded young man whom neither of them knew was suddenly a member of their league, the only one besides themselves, Lucas, and Andre who was allowed to know that Percy Blakeney was the Pimpernel.

  “Curious chap, that,” Ffoulkes said to Blakeney as they sat together in The Fisherman’s Rest. “Keeps to himself, all right. He hasn’t said two words to us.”

  Finn nodded. “Rico is not the friendly sort, I’ll warrant. Gets along with damn few people.”

  “He’s an Italian, then?” said Dewhurst.

  “Neapolitano,” Finn said. “Doesn’t speak English very well, but he’s fluent in French.”

  “Damn it, Percy,” Ffoulkes said, “who in God’s name is he? I thought we had agreed that we would pass on all members of the league together!”

  “Steady, Andrew,” Dewhurst said. “Percy knows what he’s about.”

  “No, no, it’s all right,” Finn said, placatingly. “It’s true, we did agree upon that and I apologize for not consulting with you. However, Rico is a rather special case. He is an old friend of mine. I wrote to him some time ago, asking him to come and join us.”

  “Didn’t I meet him once in Naples, aboard the Day Dream?” Dewhurst said, frowning.

  Finn raised his eyebrows. “Why, I think you might have, Tony. Yes, I do seem to recall your meeting briefly.”

  Dewhurst nodded. “I was certain that he looked familiar. That must be it, then. Why all the mystery?”

  Finn smiled. “No mystery, really. I simply wasn’t sure if he could come. I meant to discuss it with you, I suppose, but what with one thing and another, it must have slipped my mind.”

  Dewhurst and Ffoulkes both looked at Rico, who was sitting at a corner table by himself, smoking a pipe.

  “What’s so special about him, then?” said Ffoulkes.

  “He’s to be our main agent in Paris,” said Finn. “Knows the city well, spent a good part of his childhood there. I wanted to have someone who was not known to be associated with us to keep in close contact with St. Just. In fact, the less we’re seen together with him, the better. That’s why I’ve arranged for separate passage for him to Calais.”

  “None of the others knows him, then?” said Dewhurst.

  “No, that’s how I wanted it,” said Finn. “The French government is furious with us, you know. They’ve set their spies to watching everyone. I expect they’ll be nosing about in London soon, if they’re not there already. We must take all steps possible to protect ourselves and St. Just, in particular, especially since Marguerite wants me to bring him over for a visit. He’ll be seen with all of us at Richmond and I can’t chance his being seen with any of our group when he returns to Paris.”

  “You really believe that the Frenchies will set their dogs on us in London?” Ffoulkes said.

  “I have no doubt of it,” said Finn. “Pitt says that they’ll be sending an accredited representative to England. You can be sure that he will be a spy.”

  “Well, we’ll be sure to tweak his nose for him,” said Ffoulkes, grinning widely.

  “You will do no such thing,” Finn said. “When this representative arrives, I expect you to treat him with all due respect, regardless of your feelings. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll be safe in England. Don’t underestimate the French. A good card player never gives away his hand, Andrew. The French won’t send a fool.” He got up from the table. “I’ll be upstairs. Let me know when Briggs arrives.”

  He went up the stairs and, a moment later, Rico followed after him.

  “Grim-looking fellow,” Dewhurst said.

  “When was it that you met him?” Ffoulkes said, watching Rico ascend the stairs.

  “I can’t recall, exactly. We must not have spoken long, otherwise I’m sure I would remember.”

  “I hear all those Italians carry knives,” said Ffoulkes. “He looks the type.”

  “If he is, then he’s our man,” said Dewhurst. “St. Just is a bit too delicate for our sort of work. That chap looks like he might be handy in a pinch. I don’t envy him having to stay in Paris, though.”

  “Well, better him than either one of us,” said Ffoulkes. “Paris is a nice place to visit, but I’d hate to have to live there.” He sniffed. “Too many of those French girls never wash.”

  Andre entered the room and softly closed the door behind her. She worked her jaw around in an irritated fashion. “I hate this damn beard,” she said. “I don’t see how you men can eat with them. The hairs trap all the food.”

  “That’s so you won’t grow hungry later on,” Finn said with a chuckle. “Relax, you’ll be able to take it off as soon as we’re away from Ffoulkes and Dewhurst. We’d better leave your hair dark, though. Fitzroy hasn’t seen you more than once or twice, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “I’ll make certain that he won’t see me at all,” said Andre. “I still can’t believe that he might actually be Mongoose.”

  “Well, we don’t know for sure,” said Finn, “but if you knew Mongoose, the whole thing would actually make a crazy kind of sense. Fitzroy’s the last person we would have suspected, so of course that makes him the logical candidate.”

  “But Fitzroy was the one who clocked back to Plus Time and reported Mongoose. We know he did that because Cobra is here with his team of investigators.”

  “And an assassin or two,” added Finn. He nodded. “You’re absolutely right. If Mongoose has assumed Fitzroy’s identity, he could have done so afterward. Even if he didn’t, it would appeal to his sense of sportsmanship to clock back to Plus Time and report himself to the one man who would want to get his hands on him more than anybody else.”

  “But the new director of the TIA didn’t even know about the altered records until Fitzroy brought the whole thing to his attention by telling him about the fake Observer, what was his name?”

  “Jack Carnehan.”

  “That’s it. If Carnehan was Mongoose, then how could Fitzroy-”

  “We only have Fitzroy’s word that there was ever such a person as Captain Jack Carnehan. Remember, we never saw him.”

  “But that doesn’t mean that there was no Carnehan,” said Andre.

  “No, it doesn’t. Which is why you’re going to Paris, to find out for sure
. The really funny thing is that Jack Carnehan really does exist. There’s no open file on him as a member of the Observers or the Temporal Corps, which is why the new director drew a blank, but there is a classified dossier on a Lt. Col. Carnehan. Jack Carnehan is Mongoose’s real name.”

  Andre looked at him with astonishment. “But that’s impossible! The new agency director would have known that. He had access to Mongoose’s records-”

  “Which Mongoose had altered, “ Finn said, pointedly.

  Andre frowned. “Yes, all right, it could have worked that way, but then the old director, the one who resigned-”

  “Darrow.”

  “He would have known because he knew the old dossier. He would have recognized Carnehan’s name!”

  Finn nodded. “I’m sure he did.”

  “Then, why…?”

  “Because Darrow’s title as Director of the TIA was a cover. He really was the administrative director of the agency before he resigned, but he was also the head of covert operations, the agency within the agency.”

  Andre sat down, shaking her head. “I yield,” she said. “It’s all too much for me.”

  “Lucas and I felt the same way when Cobra laid it out for us,” said Finn. “Consider the fact that Darrow resigned his post as agency director. The official reason for his resignation was that the covert agency’s attempt to take over adjustment jurisdiction from the Temporal Corps failed. He took the fall for it and he also resigned in protest over the Referee Corps assigning control of the TIA to the Observer Corps because the agency had gotten out of hand. However, the fact that he resigned served to protect him from the investigation being conducted by the new administration. The director’s post is primarily an administrative job. When the new administration took over, they found out that the director had been little more than a figurehead for years. If it’s a known fact within the agency that the director doesn’t really run things, where’s the best place to hide the person who really gives the orders?”

  Finn spread his hands out. “In the director’s office, naturally.”

  Andre blinked several times and gave her head several quick, jerky shakes. “So the director who doesn’t really run things is actually the man-”

  “Who really does run things, “ said Finn.

  “What worries me is that I think I’m beginning to understand all this,” Andre said.

  “Cobra realized that Darrow had to be the head man in covert operations, or one of the head men, when he found out that Darrow didn’t say anything when he found out about Jack Carnehan. Carnehan was a code-named agent and the head of field operations to boot. Darrow had to have access to his dossier when he was in the director’s office and he had to know his real name.”

  “But then he would know that Cobra would also know-”

  “No, he wouldn’t,” Finn said. “Spooks are ultraparanoid. Agents are supposed to know each other only by their designated code-names. Mongoose and Cobra worked very closely together and developed a special relationship. As a gesture of trust, they broke regulations and privately told each other their real names.”

  “It seems to have backfired on Carnehan,” said Andre.

  Finn shook his head. “No, it didn’t. How do we know about Carnehan? That was the name he gave Fitzroy, assuming that Fitzroy is genuine. Otherwise, it was the name Fitzroy gave us when he made up this fictitious pseudo-Observer. Either way, Mongoose or Carnehan was virtually certain that Cobra would be the one sent to bring him in. By using his real name, which he knew would be passed on to Cobra, he was doing two things. He was issuing an open challenge to Cobra, his old partner, and at the same time, he was warning him to watch out for Darrow.”

  “But by doing that, he also gave himself away,” said Andre. “If he’s Fitzroy, he’d have to know that Fitzroy would be the first person Cobra would suspect.”

  “That’s assuming he’s Fitzroy,” said Finn. “Even if he is, making himself the logical suspect is something that would amuse him. We’re really in no position to do anything without proof and he knows that.”

  “If Mongoose really is Fitzroy,” said Andre, “what happened to the real one?”

  “Maybe Carnehan has him stashed away somewhere,” said Finn. “Or maybe he’s killed him. Or maybe there never was a real Fitzroy. The problem is that he’s got that chronoplate. With all his years in the agency, he has to have his own contacts. Cobra might know some of them, but he wouldn’t know them all. If we start to get too close and Mongoose gets wind of it, all he needs to do is to clock out, visit some cosmetic surgeon he’s had an old arrangement with, get a new face, come back, and start again. You were complaining that you didn’t have enough responsibility on this mission. Well, you now have the most responsible job of all. You’re going to have to be the one to tell us the truth about Fitzroy.”

  “That boy will be the key,” she said. “If he contacts Fitzroy, we’ll know. What do you want me to do about the boy?”

  “Don’t do anything. Follow him, if you have a chance. He has a brother somewhere that he’s very protective of. You find me that brother.”

  10

  “St. Just can’t help us much this time,” said Fitzroy.

  Finn and Lucas sat at the small table in his tiny apartment making a short meal of wine, bread, and cheese. Somewhere in that very apartment, most likely, Fitzroy kept his chronoplate. It was a tremendous temptation to overpower him then and there, ransack the apartment, find the plate, and take him prisoner. The only thing that prevented them from doing just that was the fact that Fitzroy could well be exactly what he represented himself to be. If that was the case, given the way he already felt about them, their court-martial would be a foregone conclusion. The chronoplate could also be hidden elsewhere.

  “Le Comte de Tournay de Basserive has been condemned to death, along with his entire family,” said Fitzroy. “The comtesse and her two children are still relatively safe. They’re in Valmy, where they’re being hidden by trusted friends. De Tournay, however, is still somewhere in Paris. St. Just has no idea where he is. He was sentenced in absentia and St. Just did what he could to defend him, but he’s already in disfavor with the rest of the tribunal.”

  “How did he know where the family was?” said Lucas.

  “The Tournays and the St. Justs knew each other before the Revolution,” said Fitzroy. “They were hardly in the same social class, but the St. Justs were not exactly paupers. Armand St. Just sent word that the Tournays had close friends in Valmy, a merchant and his wife whose children used to go to school together with Suzanne de Tournay and the young vicomte.” Fitzroy smiled. “Citizen St. Just has been a great help to us, keeping me informed as a member of the league. However, now that de Tournay has been sentenced, it’s only a matter of time before the soldiers of the Republic trace his family. You must get them out first. We’ll get the old man out as soon as we locate him.”

  “Well, at least getting them out of Valmy should be easier than getting someone out of Paris,” Lucas said. “They’ll still have checkpoints manned by soldiers of the Republic, but their security won’t be as tight, especially since the Pimpernel hasn’t been active in that area.”

  “That’s true,” Fitzroy said, “but don’t allow that to make you overconfident. I don’t want any mistakes this time. I’ve devised a plan for you to follow. I want you to pass it on to the members of the league exactly as I give it to you. If Mongoose attempts to interfere again, I’ll make certain that agent Cobra will be ready for him.”

  “That would make a nice change of pace,” said Finn.

  “Your sarcasm is not appreciated, Delaney,” said Fitzroy. “I’ll remind you that it wasn’t agent Cobra who allowed Mongoose to outfox you every time. I’ve made matters nice and simple for you. All you have to do is follow instructions. Leave Mongoose to those more qualified to deal with him.”

  “What do you think?” said Andre.

  “I think it’s very possible,” Lucas said. “Mongoose always was a slippery
customer and Fitzroy has been in the ideal position to know everything that’s going on. His voice didn’t tell me anything, even though I was paying very close attention to its sound, but then if Mongoose couldn’t learn to disguise his voice, he never would’ve made head of field operations.”

  “It felt a little tense in there,” said Finn. “I hope we didn’t give anything away.”

  Lucas shook his head. “I think it’s all right, for now. If Fitzroy and Mongoose are the same, we should have proof of that very soon.”

  “I was thinking that he might give me the slip by using the chronoplate to clock directly out of that apartment,” Andre said.

  “It’s possible, but unlikely,” Lucas said. “If he really was an Observer, he’d do that to go from here to, say, Calais. On the other hand, we know that Mongoose isn’t working alone. He’s found himself a very unusual field man and he’s going to have to get in touch with him.”

  “Suppose he doesn’t?” Andre said. “What if he decides to act alone this time?”

  “He very well might,” said Finn, “but that kid gives Mongoose an advantage and I think he’ll use it. His plan gives him plenty of time to allow us to get in touch with Ffoulkes and then set out for Valmy. Once we’ve done that, he’ll probably start putting his own little plan into motion. He can use the kid to get to the comtesse and her children ahead of us while he sets things up in Cap Gris Nez. In order to do that, he’ll have to give instructions to the kid. I don’t think he’ll risk clocking around inside Paris. It’s too congested. Besides, there’s no need for him to do that. He has plenty of time. He’ll either go to the kid or the kid will come to him.”

  “Unless he has already given Jean his instructions,” Andre said.

  “That’s one thing he wouldn’t have done,” said Lucas. “He’d wait to make certain we didn’t demand any changes in his plan before he told Jean what to do. That’s why he allowed us enough time to get back to Cap Gris Nez and get in touch with Ffoulkes. Only we’re not going to do that. We’re going straight to Valmy. We’re also going to Cap Gris Nez by a different route than the one we agreed upon.”