TW12 The Six-Gun Solution NEW (21 page)

"I don't understand," Andre said, an expression of complete confusion on her face. "Why would he do that? You think he was under surveillance?"

Lucas snorted. "He acted like he didn't even know what the word meant. I asked him that and he thought I was asking him if he was a surveyor.”

“You're kidding."

“I wish I was."

"What the hell does he think he's doing?"

Lucas shook his head, helplessly. "I don't think he's playing games. Andre. You should have been there. You should have seen him. It was spooky. He really didn't know me. Your name, Finn's name. Steiger's name, the Old Man, they didn't mean a thing to him. There was no glimmer of recognition. None whatsoever."

She stared at him with disbelief. "My God. You think he's got amnesia?"

Lucas shrugged. "I don't know. I'm at a loss to account for it. I asked him if something had happened to him recently, if he'd gotten hurt or something. and he just looked at me as if I were crazy. It's as if the role has completely taken him over. He's not Sergeant Scott Neilson, temporal agent. He's Scott Neilson, the Montana Kid."

"You think the opposition got to him and brainwashed him?"

"I suppose it's possible, but why? Why go to all that trouble? Why not just interrogate him and then take him out? It doesn't make any sense."

"Does Finn know about this yet?"

Lucas shook his head. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him. But we're going to have to warn him. I don't know what the hell's happened to Neilson. Maybe he's had a breakdown or something, but we can't count on him anymore. He's become a liability."

"Maybe this is it," said Andre. "Maybe this is what Dr. Darkness meant. Maybe something has happened to Scott and he forgot who he really was and somehow disrupted temporal continuity."

Lucas sat very still, staring at her for a long moment.

"It's possible, isn't it'?" she asked.

Lucas nodded slowly. "Yes. It's possible. The question is, what are we supposed to do about it?"

"No." said Andre. "That's not the question. The question is, what is it that we're going to do—or not do—that we're going to have to do differently to save the future?"

"Jesus." Lucas said. "How the hell are we supposed to know?"

"Darkness said he's going to tell us."

"Yeah. At the last moment. Only why? Why wait till the last minute?"

“Maybe to make sure that we don't have a chance to think about it." she said. "Lucas, it's possible that we may have to kill him."

Lucas closed his eyes. "Oh, hell."

"Maybe . . . maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there's another way . . ."

"No," said Lucas, shaking his head "No. I don't think so. I think you're right. Under ordinary circumstances, if you can possibly call this situation ordinary . . . that's what we'd do. We'd look for some other way. We'd take him and clock him out and get him to a hospital . . . and somehow, that's what would interfere with temporal continuity. That's got to be it. Neilson has to be the key. That's why Darkness didn't tell us any more than he did. It's the only possible explanation that makes any sense. Whatever it is we have to do regarding Neilson, we're going to have to do it at a specific time. And there's no way we could know what that time is unless Darkness tells us. Only if he told us in advance we’d have to kill him, we'd do everything in our power to find some other way around it. He's trying to make sure that we won't have a chance to do that, Damn. Damn, damn, damn!"

"We've got to find Finn," she said. "If he runs into Scott before we warn him about this. he's liable to take it on his own to do something."

"You're right. He took a room over at the Aztec Rooming House. You head on over there, and if he's not in. check the Capitol Saloon over on Fremont, then the Can Can Restaurant over on Allen. I'll start at Hafford's across the street and work my way down through the Occidental, the Alhambra and the Oriental. If he's not in his room, he's got to be in one of those places, following up on Ben Stone. We'll meet back here."

"Got it."

"God, whatever it is. I hope it doesn't happen tonight, before we get a chance to find Delaney." He got up and put on his coat.

"Then let's not waste any time," she said, heading for the door.

Ben Stone was in the last saloon Finn checked, the Oriental. Going by his own statements. Stone was breaking his pattern. He said he liked playing in different saloons after he lost. "to keep his luck fresh." Only here he was, in the Oriental once again. Why? Because this was where they met the last time?

"You're waiting for me, aren't you, you son of a bitch?" Finn mumbled under his breath as he spotted Stone sitting at a table in the back. He glanced around at the room. There were some cowboys sitting in a group at a couple of tables, a few card games going on. None of the Tombstone lawmen were in evidence. Holliday sitting in on a card game with Stone and a couple of the townspeople. And Scott Neilson at the bar, talking to Jenny. The moment Jenny spotted him, she waved him over.

"Finn, I'd like you to meet Scott, the Montana Kid. Scott, this is the kind gentleman who helped me the other day."

“We already know each other, Jenny," Neilson said, keeping his voice low and checking to see that they weren't overheard. "Finn's one of the people I was telling you about.”

Delaney glanced at him, startled. He couldn't possibly have . . . no. he must have devised some sort of cover story for the girl. Which could pose a problem. since he hadn't admitted knowing Scott before, when he'd met her. But there was nothing else to do but play along with it.

"How're you doing, Kid? It's been a while?”

"Where have you been?" Neilson said, in a low voice. "Did you just clock in? Are Lucas and Andre with you?"

Delaney stared at him with disbelief, then glanced at Jenny with alarm.

"What the hell are you doing?" he whispered.

"It's okay." Scott replied. "She knows all about it."

Delaney couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You told her? Are you crazy?"

"Finn, we have to talk," said Scott, quietly. He glanced at Jenny. "She's not who you think she is. She's one of Drakov's hominoids."

Delaney caught his breath. "Holy shit! What the hell—"

"You're the fella that busted up some of my boys the other night, ain't'cha?" said a voice behind him, before he could finish.

Scott's hands flashed to his coat and the two pearl-handled Colts leaped from their holsters. There were several audible clicks as he cocked them.

"Say, take it easy there. Kid." the man said, slowly opening his coat. "I'm not heeled." There were two other men standing beside him. "My friends ain't, neither.”

"What do you want, Clanton?" Scott asked.

"We don't want any trouble." said Ike Clanton, as Delaney turned to face him. He was a large man, with light, curly hair, a moustache and a thin goatee. One look and Delaney didn't like him. "And I wanted to be sure you understood that, seein' as how you seem friendly with this here gentleman and your girl, Jenny, was involved."

“Say your piece, Ike.” Scott lowered the hammers and put away his guns.

"You met my friends, here?" Clanton said, indicating the two men with him.

"This here's Johnny Ringo. And this gent is Curly Bill Brocius.”

"Any friends of yours, Ike, ain't no friends of mine," said Neilson.

"Say, now, I was just bein' polite," said Clanton. "I don't believe I know this gentleman."

“The name's Delaney," Finn said, watching the men carefully. “Finn Delaney.”

“Irishman, eh?"

"What can I do for you, Mr. Clanton?"

"Well, I just wanted to come over and apologize on behalf of my boys." said Ike. "They had a mite too much whiskey yesterday and got out of line a bit."

“More than a bit, I’d say,” Delaney replied. "And any apologies should be addressed to this young lady."

"I reckon so," said Clanton. "Jenny, I'm right sorry about what happened. There wasn't no call for it. I sure hope you won't go bearin' us a grudge."

"I accept your apology, Ike," she said.

"I ain't gonna be so easy," Scott said.

"Well, now, I figured that,” said Clanton, "which is why I'm keepin' those boys out of town for a while. Fact is, they're feelin' poorly anyway, after what Mr. Delaney here did to ‘em."

"They got off lucky," said Scott, “if I'd been here. I would've killed them.”

“Well, now, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." said Ike. "I don't want any bad blood between you and my boys if I can help it. They're right sorry about what they done. I talked to ‘em and made sure they wouldn't be bearin' your friend here any grudges. I don't want any trouble. Now they promised to behave themselves and they didn't really understand about you and Jenny. They do now. Seein' as no harm was really done, except a little to my boys, I'm hopin’ we can just patch things up and forget about the whole thing. That is, if you're agreeable.”

Scott stared hard at Clanton. “If you really mean that, Ike, then I'm agreeable. But you keep your rustlin' lowlifes away from Jenny or I'll have something to say about it, understand? And I'll be sayin' it to
you
."

"Hey," said Ike, raising his hands up to his chest. "I got no problem with that. Looks like we understand each other. I'm happy we could work it out. Will you have a drink on it? I'll buy. That goes for you too, mister," he added, looking at Delaney. "Frank, whiskey for my friends here.” Delaney was paying less attention to Ike Clanton than to the two men with him. Brocius and Ringo. Both hard-looking men, with eyes that met his gaze dead on. Gunfighters. Men who looked as if they knew their business.

Brocius shifted his gaze to Neilson. "You're pretty quick with those fancy guns of yours." he said.

"I hear tell you're pretty quick, yourself," Scott replied.

“I wonder which one of us is quicker," Curly Bill said, with a smile.

"You want to find out'?" asked Neilson.

"Scott!" said Jenny.

"Hey. now, wait . . ." started Clanton.

Delaney took Scott by the arm. "Don't push it." he said. firmly.

"Anytime, Kid." Brocius said.

"Now hold on just a minute." said Delaney.

"Relax, Finn." said Scott. "We can find out right here and now, without anybody getting hurt. You game, Curly Bill?"

Brocius narrowed his eyes. "What you got in mind?"

“I see you're wearing a two-gun rig, too," said Scott. "You take one gun and give it to Ike. I'll take one of mine and give it to Finn. Then we each take the gun we got left and give them both to Frank, here, to unload. We put the empty guns back in our holsters and Frank will say the word. Then we draw and dry fire.” By now, the other people in the saloon were aware of what was going on and they had started to gather around.

"What do you say, Brocius?"

Curly Bill was aware of the attention on them. "I'm game."

He took out one of his gun, and handed it to Clanton while Scott took out one of his and handed it to Finn. Then they each took their remaining gun and passed it across the bar to Frank Leslie, who opened the Warding gates, held them up one at a time, barrels up, rotated the cylinders and let the bullets drop out.

"Five each." he said, after making sure both guns were empty. He put the bullets down on the bar and handed the guns back to them. They replaced them in their holsters.

"Anytime you're ready, Frank," said Scott.

Curly Bill nodded. They stood about three feet away from each other.

"I'll count to three," said Leslie. “On three, go for your guns. You ready?"

Everyone in the saloon gathered around. There was utter silence.

"I'm ready " Scott said.

"Ready,” said Curly Bill.

"Okay, here goes." said Leslie. “One . . .

Curly Bill flexed his fingers.

“Two . . .

Scott stood perfectly relaxed.

“Three!"

Curly Bill's right hand darted toward his holster, but his gun hadn't even cleared it when he suddenly found himself looking down the barrel of Scott’s Colt .45. He froze.

Scott squeezed the trigger and the hammer fell with a loud snap.

"Damn!" said someone in the crowd.

Someone else whistled and the whole crowd started talking excitedly. Brocius simply stood there, staring at Scott, his eyes like anthracite. Clanton cleared his throat.

"How about that drink, boys?"

Curly Bill snatched his bullets off the bar, took his other gun from Clanton and stalked away without a word, going out through the double doors into the street.

“Some other time, Ike," Scott said. "I feel like a walk, Jenny . . . “

She took his arm.

"I'll walk with you." Finn said.

They went outside. There was no sign of Curly Bill.

“Was that smart?" asked Jenny. "He knows you're faster now. He'll look to shoot you in the back."

“He probably would have done that anyway," said Scott.

“Scott, what the hell is going on here?" Delaney asked, as they walked down the street. "Drakov's here?" He glanced at Jenny. "And where does she fit into this?"

“I'm in love with her, Finn. And she's in love with me."

"Oh, Jesus Christ!"

"She's the one who warned you about Drakov. He knows about me. He knows about you, too. That girl, Becky, is one of his."

“Shit. Where is he?"

"I'm not sure. Neither is Jenny. Part of the time, he's basing himself in Hop Town, in a room above an opium den. He's also got a chronoplate stashed there, which leads to London in some future time period. Jenny's not sure which. She isn't told any more than she needs to know. He
is
protected there. As far as any other bases of operations he might have back here, she doesn't know. We're in it up to our necks, Finn. It's not only Drakov back here. It's the Network and the S.O.G."

"Good God! Stone?”

"He's S.O.G. But he's the only one that Jenny knows about. The Network and the S.O.G. apparently don't know about each other. And there's a hell of a good reason for that. Are Lucas and Andre here with you?"

"Yeah. They're over in the Grand Hotel. But wait a minute. You saw Lucas!"

"I did?"