TW12 The Six-Gun Solution NEW (24 page)

"We're all worried, Jen. It's a dangerous situation. I just want you to stay out of it, that's all. I don't want to see you hurt. And I don't want you going back to Drakov."

"If he sends for me, I'll have to," she said.

"No. It's too risky."

"It would be too risky if I didn't go." she said. "It would warn him that something was wrong. I have to go on pretending. Scott. For your sake as well as mine."

"What if he finds out you've betrayed him?"

“He won't find out," she said. "Nobody knows but you and your three friends. And he would never suspect that I could even think of turning against him. After all," she added, with a grimace, "he's the Master."

"He isn't
your
master, Jen. Not anymore."

"I could kill him myself," she said, vehemently. "Not only because of what he wants to do to you, but because of what he's done to me. All those years, all my life, I've believed that I was something less than human. I've believed that ever since I was a little girl, because that's what I was taught. I'd stand before the mirror and stare at my reflection, trying to see
how
I was different, how I was inferior. . .”

"You weren't born the same way other people are born," said Scott, "but that's the only difference. That and the fact that Drakov had poisoned your mind. I know you're in the grip of powerful, confusing feelings right now, Jen, but you've got to try not to dwell on them. When this is over, I'll take you back with me and you'll get some help from doctors who can help you sort out those feelings. They'll help you to overcome all the damage Drakov has done to you. It will take some time. Jen but you'll be all right. I promise.”

"And you'll be with me? We can be together?"

Scott felt a tightening in his stomach. "Yes, we can be together.”

"I feel afraid. Take me out of here. Scoot. I want to be with you now. I need you to hold me. Just you and me, alone, together, the way it's going to be."

Across the room, O’Fallon watched over his cards as Scott and Jenny headed for the door.

"There goes the Kid," he said. "Another minute or two and we'll have one less temporal agent to worry about.”

"So there you have it," said Delaney. "We seem to be stuck right smack in the middle of a giant confluence point and it looks like there's no telling which damn universe were in. You seem to have been primarily in this one, which is theirs. . . . I think, or maybe we're back in ours again. Anyway, it looks like I've been crossing over from one to the other. Don't ask me how. I don't know if there are specific areas in town where you can cross over if you happen to be in the right place at the right time or if one timeline sort of winks out while the other one blinks in. Theoretically, since none of us happen to belong in either time sector, we're getting tossed around like corks on the ocean."

“Jesus. That should explain a lot of things," said Lucas. "Unfortunately. it raises more questions than it answers. How do we happen to know which universe we're in at any given time? And how do we know which timeline it is we're supposed to act in? Are the Network and the S.O.G. caught up in this, the same way as we are, or are we the only ones subject to this peculiar phenomenon for some reason? And if we're in the wrong timeline when whatever is supposed to happen happens, how do we know we can get back?"

“There are two more questions we have to consider,” Andre added. "One, how did Drakov manage to learn about everything that's going on and, two, how do we know that we can trust Jenny Reilly? She's still one of his hominoids, after all.”

“She seems on the level," said Delaney. "At least, Scott believes her. And I believe Scott."

"Scott is also infatuated with her,” Andre pointed out.

"I think it's much more than just infatuation,” Finn replied. "He made me promise that we'd take Jenny back with us and get her therapy for the damage Drakov has done to her. He said it was his last request, in case he didn't make it out of this. He said he . . . he had a feeling that he wouldn't. And he wanted me to tell you that he understood.”

Lucas exhaled heavily. “God, what a mess "

“Yeah,” Delaney agreed. "But even if we're not going to trust Jenny - and I'm entirely convinced we should—why would Drakov want to warn us about everything that's going on back here? Why warn us of his presence? I can see no reason for it. Except that Jenny has actually betrayed him for Scott's sake.”

"Well, either way, it makes no difference,” Lucas replied. "We got us a whole new ballgame. The only advantage we have, assuming Jenny's on the level, is that Drakov doesn't know she's come over to our side. But there's no way of knowing how long we'll have that advantage, so we're going to have to move fast."

"Take Drakov first,” said Andre.

“We'll have to. And we're going to have to do it right now."

“What about Scott?" asked Finn.

Lucas shook his head and sighed. "I don't know. I just don't know. All we can do at this point is play it by ear and hope for the best. But we'll have to hit Drakov fast and hit him hard. Take him alive, if possible. Did Jenny 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 we’re 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 there 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.

"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."

"Leave it to me." Capiletti spoke into his radio. "Okay, people, we're gonna take ‘em. No noise. Repeat,
no noise
. And I want the bodies disposed of. Robbins, Mattick, Howard, Stein, you take the two in the alley. Andrushack, Washburn, Kent and Sagretti, you take the two on Third. Donninger and Miller, you stand by. On my signal, repeat, on my signal, use stingers to drop the two out front. Lethal dose. Okay, everybody got it? Move out!"

It was just a short walk down Allen Street to the hotel, but they hadn't gone more than a few steps past the corner of Allen and Fifth, where the Oriental Saloon was located, when Scott heard the ominous clicking of a hammer being cocked.

"Don't move, Kid," said Curly Bill Brocius. "Keep your hands out at your sides and turn around, real slow."

Scott stood perfectly still. Beside him, Jenny stiffened with a gasp and looked over her shoulder.

"Curly Bill! What are you doing? Have you gone crazy?"

"You step away from him now, Jenny. This is between the Kid and me."

"Do as he says, Jen," Scott said.

"But—"

"
Do as he says
!"

She moved away from his side,

"Why didn't you just shoot me in the back, Brocius?" said Scott, tensing.

"I don't think I want to do that," Curly Bill replied. "You're gonna get it from the front, so everyone will know I can beat you to the draw when it counts."

"I see," said Scott, not turning around. "Only you've already got your pistol out. That's not exactly beating me, is it?"

"Bill, don't—"