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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
The Pimpernel Plot
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.
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.
176 Time Wars #3
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
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