Simon Hawke - The Pimpernel Plot

As she prepared to go to bed, alone as usual, Marguerite contemplated all her recent disappointments. The fact that Armand was only able to spend so brief a period of time with her was only one more disappointment added to the list. She understood why he had to go back to Paris and why it would be unseemly for him to mingle in the Blakeneys’ social circle. Still, she felt that she had not really been able to tell him half the things she meant to say to him. Some things, she thought one cannot speak of, even with a brother. She had only been able to hint at what was really bothering her. She missed her confidant.

As Chauvelin quietly entered the small firelight room, he saw Ffoulkes and Dewhurst lying unconscious on the floor, his two agents going through their pockets. He closed the door behind him softly.

“Did either of them see you?” he whispered.

One of the men shook his head. “No, Citizen. We took them from behind.”

Chauvelin nodded. “Excellent. Quickly now, let me see what you have found.”

They passed over the two men’s purses and several papers they had found on Andrew Ffoulkes. Chauvelin quickly glanced over them.

“Anything?” said one of the men.

Chauvelin made a wry face. “Several drafts of what appears to be a love poem,” he said. “It seems that we have wasted our…one moment.” He unfolded a letter and read silently to himself, then looked up at his accomplices with a broad smile. “Correction, we have not wasted our efforts. Quite the contrary.”

“Have you discovered a clue to the Pimpernel’s identity?” one of the men said, anxiously.

“No, but something just as interesting. A letter to the Pimpernel, from a member of the Committee of Public Safety, no less, clearly implicating himself.”

Chauvelin carefully folded the letter and put it in his pocket. “Tear the rest of these papers up and throw them in the fire, but take care to leave some scraps lying on the floor, as if they missed the hearth. Let them think the robbers went through all their pockets, destroying anything of no value to them and making off with what they wanted. Remove their watches and their rings and take these two purses. The fools will never be the wiser.” He smiled. “I think, my friends, that we may now count on Citoyenne St. Just’s complete cooperation.”

The two men stood upon the bluffs overlooking the Channel, the strong wind plucking at their cloaks. In the moonlight, Finn could see that Cobra was furious.

“Better not get too close, Delaney,” said the agent. “I just might take it in my head to toss you off the goddamn cliff!”

“Go ahead and try, if it’ll make you feel better,” Finn said lightly. “Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“I can almost understand why Mongoose had it in for you,” said Cobra. “I’m real tempted to take you on myself. Whose idea was it to blow the plate?”

“Mine, actually,” said Finn, “although to tell the truth, I had my doubts that Andre would get the chance. Did a damn good job for a rookie, didn’t she?”

“Why, Finn? I broke regulations to be straight with you. Why turn around and stab me in the back?”

“For one thing, don’t take it so damn personally,” said Finn. “It wasn’t personal, you know. We both have our orders and I told you before that my mission comes first. I’ve never liked the TIA and you know why. For some reason, I find that I actually like you. Maybe because you understand the craziness of it all and try to work around it. I respect that. I’m also grateful to you for working with me on this thing. I know you didn’t have to.”

“Then why in the name of-”

“Because, to use your own words, it was a calculated risk. In fact, there were several risk factors involved, but Lucas and I both felt we had to go ahead in spite of them. For Andre to attempt breaking into the safehouse was a risk. We could have lost her. Blowing the plate was another risk. It might have added yet another element of disruption to the scenario. Fortunately, it didn’t. No one was killed.”

“What about Mongoose?” said the agent.

“I was just getting to that. In a way, that was the biggest risk of all. If he clocked in before Andre had time to blow the plate, I might have lost a valuable member of our team. If he tried clocking in while the plate was being blown, we might have lost him. I didn’t want to do that, partly for your sake and partly because I want him brought in alive.”

“The trouble is, we don’t know-”

“That’s right, we don’t,” said Finn. “We might’ve lost him, but then, I’m not entirely unfamiliar with the way he thinks. I don’t believe we have lost him. You know Mongoose. Put yourself in his place. Your remote unit has just given you the alarm, telling you that someone’s broken in. It’s either some local burglar or it’s one of us. What are you going to do?”

Cobra remained silent for a moment, then nodded. “I see,” he said. “If it’s a local, then chances are the defensive system’s taken him out. If it’s a member of the adjustment team, then they might’ve gotten by the system and if I try clocking back immediately, I may get caught in the failsafe detonation or wind up in the dead zone if the plate blows while I’m in transit. I’d wait about five minutes, then try the remote unit. If it didn’t work, I’d know the plate was gone.”

“There, you see?” said Finn. “You can reason these things out if you really try.”

Cobra took a deep breath. “All right. Don’t rub my nose in it. I should have thought of that, but I was just so furious with you that I couldn’t think straight. While I was waiting for you, I actually considered eliminating you, you know.”

Finn nodded. “I figured you would. Consider it, I mean. The reason I was certain that you wouldn’t do it is that you’re a pro.”

“Well, thanks for that, at least,” said Cobra. He stuck his hands in his pockets and hunched over slightly from the chill. “I’ll accept that the odds are very much in favor of Mongoose’s still being alive. Your having blown the plate eliminates a large degree of the threat to this adjustment and it’ll make Mongoose easier to track down. However, that still leaves me with a major problem. My people know about the plate having been blown. I can’t account for the whereabouts of two of them.”

“Darrow’s soldiers?”

Cobra nodded.

“Well, at least now you know who they are,” said Finn.

“I know who two of them are, anyway,” said Cobra. “Something might’ve gone down in Plus Time and Darrow sent one or more of his people back to contact them and tell them that the hit was on. Otherwise, they might have had standing orders to move the moment they knew where Mongoose was. They know who he is now.”

“I want him apprehended just as much as you do,” Finn said. “If he can’t be taken alive, so be it, but I’d rather have him that way. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to take that plate out, so we owe you. How can we help?”

“At this point, I honestly don’t know,” said Cobra. “With his chronoplate destroyed, it’s just a matter of who gets to him first. I’ve still got three people I know I can depend on: one in Paris, two in Calais. If Mongoose goes underground, we may never find him. If he’s smart, that’s what he’ll do.” He grimaced. “However, I don’t think he’s that smart. He’s just wild enough to take it as a challenge to his abilities.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” said Finn. “I’ve got a problem, too. Now that his cover as Fitzroy’s been blown, I don’t have an Observer to pass on intelligence. He might’ve been a phony, but at least he played straight with me so far as that went.”