Simon Hawke - The Timekeeper Conspiracy

The doves within the league held out the olive branch. It was repeatedly ignored. The Timekeepers fired the machine gun. To ignore it was to die.

At the core of his existence, Jimmy Darcy still believed in peace. It was what he fought for. He fought the war machine. When the war machine was beaten, he would be happy to let the machine gun fall from his hand into the dust, never to be fired again. He did not believe that Adrian would do the same. No, Adrian would find another battle, start his own war if need be. Even in the Timekeepers, Adrian was feared because Adrian was always at war, with the world and with himself. Yet they needed Adrian. He was effective. They have handed us our tools.

"It isn't a game, Adrian," said Jimmy. "It's a struggle for survival. Surely, you can see that, can't you?"

Adrian regarded him with amusement. "Of course I can see that, Jimmy. Can't you see that the struggle for survival is the most fascinating game of all? The stakes are high and it's winner take all. Life is a game, Jimmy. The idea is to play to win. And we're going to win, because for once, we control the board. We're on the offensive. Milady wrote a letter to an Englishman. Not just any Englishman, mind you. She wrote to George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham. It was a love letter. It wasn't from Milady, even though she wrote it. Buckingham will think it's from the Queen. He'll have received it by now and, doubtless, it will have inflamed his passion for the Queen anew. I do have a way with words, if I say so myself."

"I don't understand," said Jimmy.

"No, you wouldn't, but Richelieu will and that's what really counts. He was quite pleased about it. In fact, he told me that he wished he had thought of it himself. He'll take the credit, of course, but that's all right. It all fits into the plan."

"I still don't-"

"Be patient, Jimmy, I'll explain it to you. There's a very charming lady here in town by the name of Camille de Bois-Tracy. She just loves intrigue, especially if it has to do with love. She can't resist it. For quite some time now, she's been an intermediary for Buckingham and Anne of Austria, a sort of patron of the heart, a role she dearly loves. Richelieu's been made aware of this, of course. It's brought Milady further into his good graces. When he receives that letter, Buckingham will surely come to France. He might be on his way to Paris even as we speak. He will come to Camille de Bois-Tracy and a rendezvous will be arranged. Richelieu, of course, will try to take him, Buckingham being an enemy of France."

"I remember now," said Jimmy. "Buckingham gets away, according to history. Only we're going to change that, right? Yes, it's a brilliant plan. If the musketeers are prevented from helping Buckingham escape, then Richelieu has him. If not, then we can grab him and then we'll have a hostage. They'll have no choice but to listen to us! Either way, they'll have an adjustment on their hands, an adjustment made that much more complicated by our being here to interfere with it."

"No, no, Jimmy, you see, you don't understand the game at all. I intend to make certain that Buckingham gets away."

"But… why lure him to Paris in the first place, then?"

"To set up the next act in this scenario," Taylor said. "But you won't have to worry about any of that for now. You'll have another job to do. I want you and Tonio to find Jack Bennett and that agent. See if they'll lead you to any of the others. Find out what you can, then kill them."

Jimmy left, feeling confused. Letting Buckingham get away made no sense whatsoever. Obviously, it would take an adjustment in order to attain their goal. The simple act of threatening to create a timestream split would never result in their demands being met by the warmongers. No, the threat would have to be brought home to them. They'd have to face an adjustment situation, one in which the interference of the Timekeepers would be a factor added to all the other difficulties inherent in such a task. They had a chronoplate now. That gave them the edge. They could create an adjustment situation, interfere with its resolution, and then clock out to another period and repeat the entire process. They could repeat their demands and continue to create one adjustment situation after another, forcing the warmongers to bring more and more attention to the problem, draining their financial reserves, putting a strain upon the Referee Corps and the TIA and the adjustment teams, nipping at the heels of the war machine until it was no longer cost-effective, until they realized that they could never win. It was the logical course of action.

But Adrian Taylor wasn't being logical. Or Jimmy couldn't see the logic. What was he planning? His cover was surely blown, yet he seemed completely unconcerned. He had created an excellent opportunity for an adjustment situation and he was walking away from it, using it to set up… what?

Jimmy was beginning to have a lot of doubts about the operation. Terrorist tactics had to be hit-and-run in order for them to be successful. They had an opportunity to hit-and-run now, but Taylor wasn't taking it. He was building up to something else, to some more elaborate game. Somehow, the TIA had received intelligence about their operation and they had brought at least one team of agents in. That didn't bother Taylor. Taylor's cover had been blown. That didn't bother Taylor, either. One of the group had disappeared, killed most likely, possibly taken prisoner to be interrogated, to reveal all the members of their cell. That didn't bother Taylor. What would it take to bother Taylor? Why this pointless stalking of the traitor, Bennett, and the agents? Why take unnecessary risks when all it took was to create an adjustment situation quickly, cut and run, and repeat the process somewhere else, tying up the opposition's manpower until they realized that they only had one choice-capitulate or face a timestream split? A split was something no one wanted, not the warmongers, not the Timekeepers, and certainly not the league. The key to success was to walk that ragged edge between adjustment and disaster, to exhaust the Referee Corps with adjustments until they faced their folly and brought the time wars to a halt. But to Taylor, it was all a game, a senseless, crazy rivalry with the agent who had dogged his heels for years. It was putting the entire operation in jeopardy.

Jimmy was wondering if Taylor could be trusted with leading the operation. Based on recent evidence, the answer had to be a resounding no. But Taylor could not be relieved. It would not be a matter as simple as holding a meeting of the cell and voting him out of office. No, if it came to that, Taylor would have to be eliminated and that would not be easy. Taylor was dangerous. Taylor was suspicious to the point of being paranoid. Taylor had that musclebound German, Freytag, a homicidal brute who could snap him like a twig with just one hand. And Taylor had the chronoplate. Jimmy was alone. He could sound out Tonio, but he would have to be very careful, very subtle.

There was nothing to be done now except to follow Taylor's leadership. Bennett and the woman would be found, questioned, and killed. It would be risky, but there was nothing else to do. He would follow Taylor's orders, but the operation would come first. He would sound out Tonio, he would watch Taylor carefully, and he would bide his time. In the end, it always came down to time.

D'Artagnan was in love. More to the point, he was in lust, though he had not yet attained either the age or the experience that would enable him to tell the difference. He and the three musketeers, having become fast friends following their run-in with the cardinal's guards, had spent the better part of the evening discussing the mysterious woman who had intervened on their behalf. None of them had ever seen her before and each of them was fascinated by her. Each vowed to discover her identity, each maintained that it was he whom she had meant to save, and each had his own unspoken amorous designs upon the lady.