Simon Hawke - Lilliput Legion

Forrester had used some of his crack commando units to infiltrate his own agency and so far he had managed to establish T.I.A. involvement in AI Capone's Chicago crime syndicate, as well as certain clandestine branches of American, Soviet and Israeli intelligence services in the 20th century, a time before advanced mind scanning techniques became available. Over the years, Network agents had been skimming profits from such diverse sources as the British East India Co., United Fruit, 19th century Moroccan slave trade operations, IBM, Bell Telephone, various South African diamond mines, Roman tax. collectors-some section chief had even managed to become appointed the Roman governor of Antioch — casinos in both

Las Vegas and Monte Carlo, and a host of other businesses in a wide variety of time periods into which they had infiltrated.

The money itself was virtually impossible to trace. It was difficult enough to conduct a modern paper chase in an attempt to untangle the complicated finances of corporate bandits, how was it possible to trace money laundering operations that transcended the boundaries of time? Swiss bank accounts? Perhaps, only in which time period? Liquid assets? Maybe, only in what form? Gold dust taken out of

Colorado mine shipment in the 19th century? Jewels pirated from a Spanish treasure fleet in the 1700's? 20th century bearer bonds hijacked from a messenger on Wall Street, which were then converted into cash, transferred to a Panamanian account, wired to Brussels and used to purchase weapons at a discount from an arms dealer who was a Network front operation to begin with, which meant simply taking money from one pocket and putting it right back into another, increasing it along the way? It was absolutely mindboggling and it had been going on for years.

Corrupt T.I.A. section chiefs affiliated with the Network often lived better than heads of state. They had become so involved in their own transtemporal private enterprises that they looked upon the T.I.A. as a sort of part-time job, their official duties merely the cost of doing business.

Forrester had taken it upon himself to put them out of business, every last one of them, but it was a mighty tall order. In the first sweep operation conducted by the newly organised Internal Security Division, no less than twenty-seven section chiefs were clocked back from their posts, ostensibly for “orientation conferences," and placed under arrest. The first attempt on Moses Forrester's life was made the very next day.

There had been several more attempts since then, despite the dramatically increased security. Forrester did not like to be crowded and refused to accept having any more guards around him in his private quarters, so elaborate measures had been taken to protect him without his being aware of the increased protection.

Security throughout the entire Headquarters Complex had been beefed up.

Scanning devices and automated defence mechanisms had been installed in all the corridors and lift tubes leading to Forrester's offices and private quarters. Enough security and antipersonnel devices had been installed to hold off an entire battalion, but Forrester had found out about them and ordered them removed., saying that he didn't much care for the idea of computer-controlled autopulsers tracking everybody's movements through the hallways. What would happen if there was a glitch? The antipersonnel devices were removed, but Security had clandestinely re-installed the scanners.

The whole thing had led to a great deal of friction within the agency. Not only had two rival commands been united into one, with all the attendant complications that imposed, but commandos were being used to round up renegade field agents, which only served to exacerbate the problems. What it all came down to was the fact that there was another T.I.A. within the T.I.A., and as if it wasn't bad enough that they were faced with opposition from a parallel timeline, the agency now had to do battle with itself. The urgent summons to Forrester's quarters could have meant anything from another attempt on his life to a new temporal crisis, so Andre wasted no time in getting up there.

Finn Delaney met Andre in the corridor leading to the lift tubes. A bullish, muscular man with dark red hair and wide, good looking, typically Irish features, Delaney was, after Forrester, the most decorated soldier in the Temporal Corps. He might have been command staff rank himself by now if he hadn’t been reduced in' grade so many times for various infractions, ranging from direct disobedience to specific orders to striking superior officers. He had. little patience for such trivialities as hand salutes and uniform regulations and expecting a veteran with his record to adhere to such things was an invitation to have one's teeth loosened.

Delaney took no orders from anybody except his commanding officer, for whom he had boundless respect and admiration. Aside from which, for all his years,

Forrester was the one man Delaney was not sure be could take. As a major,

Forrester had been their training officer on their first temporal adjustment mission and Finn remembered all too well what the old man was capable of dishing out.

Currently, Delaney held the rank of captain, but there was a pool going to see how long he'd keep his bars. Delaney didn't care. The only thing rank meant to him was a slight boost in pay grade, but the only thing he ever spent his money on was Irish whiskey, so it didn't make much difference to him one way or another. A private could get drunk just as cheaply as an officer in the First Division Lounge. And

Delaney was a simple man; the service provided all his other needs. He wasn't a parade ground soldier. He was an adventurer at heart. He was a man who had been born too late and so he lived chiefly in the past. Quite literally. The present was just something he barely tolerated. He and Andre both got into the tube and punched for the top floor.

“He say anything to you?" said Finn.

Andre shook her head. "No, just said to get up there on the double."

They were both tense, not knowing what it could be, but knowing that Forrester would never have summoned them like that unless it were something serious.

Col. Creed Steiger was already there when they arrived, having responded to a similar summons. Large framed and well-muscled, though smaller in stature than

Delaney, Steiger was very blond, with pale grey eyes and a sharp, hooked nose, like the beak of an eagle. It gave him a cruel look. He moved with the casual, relaxed-yet-controlled bearing of the seasoned soldier. He was Forrester's exec, formerly the senior covert field agent of the T.I.A. Given recent developments, his position was somewhat uncomfortable, if not acutely precarious.

For years, he had gone simply by the codename of "Phoenix," working mostly on his own, changing his entire physical appearance from one covert assignment to the next, assuming a different personality with each role he was required to play. Even within the agency, he had been known as a maverick. Finn and Andre first met him when one of his covert assignments coincided with one of their temporal adjustment missions. With the merging of the First Division and the T.I.A.,

Forrester chose Steiger as his executive officer and assigned him as a partner to Finn and Andre, to replace the late Lucas Priest as the third member of his top temporal adjustment team.

When Forrester's investigations had uncovered the extent of the corruption within the T.I.A. organisation he had inherited, he had called in Steiger and asked him point blank, "'Did you know about any of this?"

"Yes, sir, I did," Steiger had replied. "Some of it, anyway. And to anticipate your next question, no, I wasn't involved. I had a job to do and I had to look the other way a lot. "

"I see," Forrester had said. " Dammit, why didn't you tell me?"