Simon Hawke - The Pimpernel Plot

“He could be Moore or Barrett or Wilberforce said Finn. “For that matter, it’s possible that he could be one of the others who stayed behind in London. There’s nothing that could have prevented him from picking the group up in Calais and following Ffoulkes or one of the others to the hut. Then he could have tailed Wilberforce and Barrett. There’s any number of ways in which he could have managed it.”

“At least we know to scratch the Byrne brothers,” Lucas said. “They were together all the time.”

“It’s really starting to get to me,” said Finn. “I feel like a fraud.”

“You are a fraud,” said Lucas, grinning.

“That isn’t what I mean. The thing is, I am-that is, Blakeney is supposed to be the Pimpernel, but I haven’t-that is, he hasn’t rescued anybody!”

“So?”

“So Blakeney’s only saving grace was that he only appeared to be an idiot, while being the Pimpernel in reality. I only appear to be the Pimpernel, while being an idiot in reality.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” said Lucas.

Finn sighed. “I don’t know. This whole thing is ridiculous. Look at us, sitting here like a couple of old men on a park bench. All we need are some bread crumbs and a flock of pigeons. We were talking about killing Mongoose because he’s wreaking havoc with this mission, but what has he really done that’s so damn terrible? He’s been doing all our work for us and taking most of the risks. I’ve got a feeling that we should be thanking him!”

“That’s exactly what he wants,” said Cobra.

They both started and turned to see the agent standing right behind them, leaning against a tree. They hadn’t even heard him approach. He was still dressed the way he had been at the party, in his dandy’s suit, cut in the incroyable style which Percy Blakeney had made so popular in London.

“Jesus!” Finn said. “Don’t do that!”

“You boys are really slipping,” Cobra said. “Mongoose must be getting to you.”

“How long have you been standing there? “ said Lucas.

“Long enough.” He held out an elegant silver case. “Cigarettes?”

“I could use one,” Finn said. “Thanks.”

He lit their cigarettes for them and took one himself. “Can’t stand those damn clay pipes, myself,” he said. “It’s like smoking chalk. Anyway, killing Mongoose would be a big mistake. For one thing, if you were lucky enough to beat me to him, I’d be right there to stop you. The only way that you could eliminate him would be to eliminate me, first. Not impossible, I’ll grant you, but it would just buy you a great deal of trouble and it seems you’ve already got more than you can handle.”

“You don’t say,” said Finn, wryly.

“I’ve been watching you two rather closely,” said the agent. “Who do you think drove the coach that took you to Paris?”

“That was you?” said Finn.

“None other. Mongoose isn’t the only expert at disguise, you know. I should add that I appreciated the generous tip. That was a tiring journey.”

“If you’re so on top of things,” said Lucas, “where were you when the marquis was taken?”

“Following you,” said Cobra. “At this point, I’m a little more concerned about what you two might do than I am about Mongoose. His death might solve your problem, but it would not solve mine. I asked you to cooperate with me on this. I need you working with me, not against me. You’ve got nothing to lose by following my instructions.”

“I wish it were that simple,” Lucas said. “It might appear that all that Mongoose has done so far has been to make us look like fools, which might very well be his sole intent, but you’re forgetting that he’s breaking all the rules, even going so far as to involve someone from this time period in this disruption.”

“You mean the boy.”

“Yes, damn it, I mean the boy! Due to his interference, that boy has already killed several people. Mongoose has to realize that he’s already altered the course of that boy’s entire life, yet he continues to use him to further his own ends. That’s a disruption in itself and there’s no telling what effect it will have. The point is that Mongoose obviously doesn’t care.”

“You’re quite right about that,” Cobra said. “Involving the boy was dangerous. The boy can’t be overlooked and I intend to take care of it.”

“Have you found him yet?” said Finn.

“No, but then I’ve been extremely careful not to look for him.”

Finn rubbed his forehead wearily. “This is beginning to give me migraines. You mind telling me why not?”

“Not at all. If my people find the boy, they might very well find Mongoose. I’m not yet ready for Mongoose to be found.”

“Has it occurred to you that by procrastinating on this case because of the agency’s internecine power struggle, you have become a threat to this adjustment?” Lucas said.

“Yes, that has occurred to me. I’m taking a calculated risk.”

“I’ve got news for you, friend,” said Finn. “That decision isn’t yours to make.”

“No one else is in a position to make it,” Cobra said. “Try to see my side of it. With Mongoose dead, admittedly, most of your problems would be solved. However, he’s no good to anybody dead. Leaving aside the fact that he used to be a damn good operative and could be again, he’s exposed a massive flaw in the databank security system by cracking it. Alive, he can tell us how he did that. It doesn’t really matter who winds up being in control of the agency, that would benefit everyone. With Mongoose dead, we might never find out how he keyed into the system, which means that there’s a chance that somebody else might figure out how to do exactly the same thing. We might not be so lucky next time. Mongoose purposely left us a lot of clues. Someone else may not be so considerate. You really want to try going out on a mission when the records used to brief you have been tampered with?”

Neither Finn nor Lucas spoke.

“You see? You really have no choice. Mongoose must be taken alive. Fitzroy understands that.”

“He just doesn’t understand that you’re stalling, waiting for the proper time to act,” said Finn.

“That’s for his own protection,” said the agent. “And I remind you that I didn’t have to tell you that. I’m going out of my way to play it straight with you two.”

“So long as we’re all being so frank and open with each other in this new era of intra-agency cooperation,” Lucas said sarcastically, “I’d like to ask you what you think will happen if the old guard in the agency lose out in their bid for control.”

“Well, that all depends,” said Cobra. “Under the new administration, the autonomy of the agency has been severely curtailed. I’m not particularly qualified to assess the situation, but I can offer some educated guesses. Essentially, what the new director and his people have to do in order to bring matters fully under their control is to find a highly elite group of, well, moles within the agency. That’s not an easy task. When the new director assumed his office, one of his first acts was to order a compilation of a complete roster of all TIA personnel and their field people.”

“Field people?” Lucas said.

“Indigenous personnel in the employ of field office section heads.”

“Hold it,” Finn said. “Do I understand you correctly? Are you telling us that TIA agents in the field employ people within those time periods?”

“Certainly.”

Finn was aghast. “Are you people out of your fucking minds? That’s in direct violation of-”

“I know, I know,” said Cobra, patiently. “However, consider the job the section heads have to do. Their problems are almost insurmountable. Can you imagine the amount of personnel that would be required in order to allow them to gather all the necessary intelligence to profile the historical scenarios to which they are assigned? It would be a highly unstable situation if we brought that many people in. Besides, all anybody’s really interested in are the results. Without them, you people would not be able to function. So, there’s always been a sort of unofficial policy of looking the other way when indigenous personnel have been brought in. The section heads have always been very careful about using them. But now that the new administration has requested a complete personnel roster, it’s all become official. Of course, any such roster would be impossible to compile. No section head would be willing to reveal who his field people are and how many of them he uses. It would compromise the whole setup. That’s what really brought this whole thing out into the open.”