Simon Hawke - The Cleopatra Crisis

“You are speaking like a fool. Fabius!” said Lucas.

“I am only speaking as one who is concerned.” Delaney replied.“Concerned about so much power invested in one man. Concerned that autocracy isnot compatible with freedom. There is a danger here, Marcus. I sometimes fearfor Rome.”

“I think perhaps that what you fear is greatness,” Antonysaid. “Most men are not capable of greatness. They are little men and they donot understand it. What little men do not understand, they fear. I do not feargreatness, Quintullus. And I have no use for fearful little men. Good night to

“Spoken like a true lackey,” Cassius said wryly as Antony departed.“But it grows late and I am weary of the evening’s entertainment. I would beinterested to hear more of your views, Quintullus. We should continue this discussion.Will you be at the baths tomorrow?”

“Yes. I had planned to go sometime in the morning,” said Delaney.

“Good. Then perhaps we shall see each other there. Goodnight to you, Quintullus.”

“And to you.” Delaney said. Most of the guests had alreadyleft. He waited till Cassius had left with Brutus and then turned to Lucas andTravers. “I think the fish just bit.”

“Just be careful,” Travers said. “Don’t seem too eager.Cassius is nobody’s fool.”

“Neither am I,” Delaney said.

“What did you think of Marcian and Sabinus?” asked Andre.

“I didn’t get much chance to talk to them,” Delaney said.

“Marcian didn’t seem very interested in conversation,” Lucassaid. He disappeared somewhere with a couple of the women. And Sabinus spentmost of his time talking with the charioteers. Of course, him being a horsebreeder, that’s not really surprising?

“He was the big winner at the races the other day,” saidAndre. “He took Antony and his friends for over one hundred thousand sesterces.”She turned to Travers. “You said that Marcian was probably the only one whocould have fixed the race and Sabinus was with him.”

Travers nodded. “It’s possible that they were in collusion.Marcian said that he was trying to purchase Sabinus’ farm and estate. Maybe heset up the win to help his business deal. I can’t see where such a risk wouldhave been justified, but some men will do almost anything to win when it comesto business dealings. However, if that’s the case. I don’t see any connectionto our mission.”

“No. neither do I.” said Lucas. “They don’t seem like menwho are interested in politics. But I think we made good progress tonight withthe conspirators. Delaney can follow up on that and tomorrow, when you take meto meet Caesar. I’ll see what I can do to get into his confidence. That stillleaves Cleopatra.”

“I’ll figure something out.” said Andre. She frowned. “Still,there’s something about that Sabinus that bothers me. I can’t quite put myfinger on it, but I’d swear there’s something familiar about him.”

At night, the streets of Rome were often noisy. Produce andsupplies were brought into the city on heavy carts, fights broke out, thievesand cutthroats plied their trade. But some areas of the city were quiet.Marshall moved softly down the graveled paths of the gardens on the banks ofthe Tiber. It was about three o’clock in the morning and a cool breeze wasblowing. He came to a sitting area where a large sundial had been set up andstopped, waiting. A moment later, someone said his name.

“Simmons?”

Marshall turned to see a figure emerging from the shadows.As the man came closer, he could make him out more clearly. He was dressedincongruously for the time and any Roman seeing him would have puzzled over hisstrange clothing. The man was wearing a 20th-century three-piece charcoal-graybusiness suit, with a button-down white shirt and ‘a red silk foulard tie. Hishair was short, dark, and neatly styled. He had a closely trimmed beard thatran along his jawline and there was the faint bulge of a shoulder holsterbeneath his jacket on the right side.

“I hope this is important. Marshall.” he said.

“Steiger’s here,” Marshall replied.

“Creed Steiger? He’s in Rome ? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. You think I’d have sent word to you ifI wasn’t certain?”

“Is he alone’?”

“Yes and no. There’s an adjustment team that’s been clockedback here and he’s technically working with them, but they don’t know about it.He’s undercover.”

“Undercover?” Simmons frowned. “You mean working on his own,independent of the team? That’s impossible. Forrester disbanded the old covertfield section.”

“Yes, that’s true. but Steiger’s trying to convince him toreinstate it. He’s running this one on his own, to prove his point that there’sa need for the covert field section. And that it can operate withoutcorruption,” he added wryly. “He even wanted me to come back in.”

“He still doesn’t know you’re in the Network?”

“No, he thinks I’ve simply skipped out to join theUnderground and get away from it all. He used some of our old contacts in theUnderground to track me down. He wanted me to help him on his mission.”

“That’s interesting. It could be very useful. What is the mission?”

“A temporal anomaly involving Caesar. There’s a chance hemay not be assassinated on schedule. They think the S.O.G. might be involved.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it’s very possible.”

“That could make things difficult We can’t afford any disruptions.”

“Tell me about it. But I also can’t afford being busted.”

“Is that what he intends to do?”

“He says no. but I don’t trust him. He’s still playingcowboy. like he always did. Him and his psychotic mentor, Carnehan. He’s notconvinced the adjustment team can insure that Caesar will get killed onschedule, SO he’s managed to buddy up to Caesar and get offered a tribuneshipwith the legions Caesar’s planning to take on a campaign to Parthia. That way,if Caesar doesn’t die when he’s supposed to. Steiger’s going to take him outhimself during the campaign, just to prove to Forrester that it couldn’t havebeen done without a covert wet work specialist on the scene. If he decided tobring me in. as well, it would be an added bonus for him. They’d interrogate meabout my contacts in the Underground and my involvement with the Network wouldbe exposed.”

“We can’t have that, can we? Where is he?”

“Not so fast. About the contract. It’s still on. isn’t it?”

“You think we’d cancel it after all that son of a bitch costus with his damned Internal Security Division? Not bloody likely. You take himout for us and you’ll get the money, any way you want it.”

“Not me,” said Marshall. “No way I’m going up againstSteiger by myself. Why do you think I called you?”

“You want to set him up for the hit, that’s fine. too.”

“I’ll still get the money?”

“You’ll still get the money. Provided Steiger’s dead.”

“That adjustment team might complicate things,” Marshallsaid.

“Who are they?”

“Priest. Delaney, and Cross,” said Marshall.

“That can’t be. Col. Priest is dead.”

“Well, he’s a pretty lively looking corpse, if you ask me.”

“You actually saw him?”

“Only several hours ago.”

“You’re certain it was Priest?”

“Well, that’s who Steiger said it was. I don’t know the man,myself, so I suppose it could be someone else. But why would he tell me it wasPriest?”

“I don’t know. Unless he suspects you and he’s planning something.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t suspect me,” Marshall said. “If he knewI was tied up with the Network, you think I’d be here talking to you?”