Simon Hawke - The Timekeeper Conspiracy

"Not to Paris, if that's what you're thinking. They're short-range. Assuming what you're saying is true, and Mongoose is a renegade, Delaney will have every reason to expect hostility from us. Can you think of anything that I can do to convince him that I'm giving you a chance to prove your allegations?"

Lucas thought a moment. "Yeah. Tell him that I wish he had called 'Tails.' He'll know what it means."

Finn followed Mongoose to the same alley in the Rue Ferou where Andre had seen him confer with Freytag. Mongoose was being sloppy. He didn't expect anyone to be on his trail, so he didn't even bother to check to see if he was being followed. Just the same, Finn gave him plenty of room. It was late and the darkness made it easier. As the agent stepped into the alley, Finn quickly ran across the street. He would be in good position to fire at them in the alley, but then he'd have no idea where Taylor was. He debated the question of whether or not to go for the sure thing and kill the two of them now, hoping to catch Taylor on his own, or follow them to Taylor and try taking them out all at once.

It was tempting. All he had to do was step into the mouth of the alley and sweep it quickly with the laser and it would be all over for Mongoose and Freytag. But then it would mean cutting it very close with Taylor. Finn's cover did not gain him admission to the palace, whereas Taylor's did. He'd either have to sneak into the palace somehow and catch "Milady" inside, which would be next to impossible considering the odds, or get Taylor before he went into the palace, and there was no way of knowing for certain which entrance he would use. Finn could not cover all of them at once.

Staying low and keeping to the shadows, Finn glanced into the alley. He could just barely make out two shapes in there. The big one had to be Freytag. On the floor directly above him, a man and a woman were screaming at each other and there was the occasional crash of crockery. The noise made it impossible for him to overhear anything that went on inside the alley. He cursed the quarreling couple, but didn't want to risk getting any closer. He felt the laser in his right hand and wished that he could get it over with right now, but he fought down the impulse to fire. Two of them would not be good enough. He'd have to get all three. He steeled himself and waited. They would lead him to Taylor. They had to.

"All right, let's do it," Mongoose said.

Freytag smiled. "Sure. Anything you say. Adrian would just love to see you."

Mongoose looked down at the slim laser in Freytag's hand. It was aimed directly at his midsection.

"What the hell is this?"

"Just don't move a muscle, friend, or I'll fry your guts right here," said Freytag, reaching out with his other hand and patting him down. He relieved Mongoose of his weapon.

"I thought we had a deal," said Mongoose,

"Immunity from prosecution and a blanket pardon in return for handing Taylor over to you personally?" Freytag chuckled. "That's not what I call a very attractive deal. It won't put any money in my pocket."

"How much do you want?"

"You must really take me for a fool," said Freytag. "Once you had Taylor, you'd hang me, as well. You should've tried your pitch on Darcy. He might've been stupid enough to go for it; but then, he's dead."

"Don't be a fool, Bruno. You'll never get away with this."

"Who's to stop me?" Freytag said. "You wanted Taylor to yourself so badly that you sent all your people off on a wild goose chase. Your own colossal ego did you in, Mongoose. If not for that, you might've stopped us, but you blew it. You did just what Taylor said you would. You know, I didn't believe him. I told him that nobody could be that stupid. But here you are."

Casually, Mongoose reached up as if to scratch himself. Freytag slapped his hand down.

"You go for that panic button one more time and you've had it," he said.

"Taylor wouldn't like that," Mongoose said. "I'm sure he'd be real disappointed if you didn't bring me in alive."

"I'm sure he would be, but nothing says I gotta bring you in with both your hands still attached to your wrists."

"I'm afraid you've got a point," said Mongoose.

"All right. Now we're going to take a little walk. You walk in front of me, nice and easy. I'll tell you where to go. And don't get any ideas. You try anything and I'll burn your legs off at the knees and carry you the rest of the way. Now let's go."

Finn could hardly see inside the alley. Occasionally, he would catch some motion in there, but it was hard to make out what was happening. There was a fresh burst of screaming from the couple fighting upstairs and a crash as a thrown footstool hurtled through the window and out into the alley. Finn ducked down, quickly. When he looked up, both men had moved out into the center of the alley and were silhouetted as they walked out the other end. He followed, keeping at a distance.

They went several blocks, walking casually down the street until they came to a familiar neighborhood. With a shock, Finn realized that they were heading straight toward Moreau's Tavern. They passed the entrance to the tavern and went into the house right beside it.

"Jesus Christ," said Finn. "They were that close all the time!"

There was a light burning on the second floor, on the right side of the building. Finn looked up at the second floor of Moreau's Tavern, where the rooms were rented out. It was possible that he might get a shot-

“Don't move, Delaney. "

A hand of ice clutched at his intestines and he froze, damning himself for not being more careful. If I turn around fast and fire, he thought-

"Priest said that you should've called 'Tails.' "

Slowly, Finn turned around, holding his laser pointed at the ground.

"I saw the muscles in your neck and shoulders tense," the man said. "It's a bad habit. You should learn to control it. You telegraph that way. The name's Cobra, TIA."

There were two men standing with him, all three were wearing black cloaks. Cloak-and-dagger, thought Finn, stifling a chuckle.

"I should have been more careful," he said. "How long have you been tailing me?"

"We picked you up about two blocks back," said Cobra. "It's a lucky thing you kept your comset. We don't like to lose our equipment, so we set it up with tracing signals."

Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out the comset, wrapped in a handkerchief.

"I should've thrown the damn thing away," he said. "Seems like I have lots of bad habits. I don't like to lose equipment, either."

"Fortunately for you," said Cobra, "that's one habit that worked for you. We caught onto your little switch and I had a chat with Captain Priest. He told me Mongoose was working both sides of the street. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself." He nodded toward the building they were in.

"What made you believe it enough to check it out?" said Finn.

"Well, it was pointed out to me by Captain Priest that I could not afford to take the chance that he was not telling me the truth," said Cobra. "Also, I've been at this for a while. After a few years, it gets so that you don't trust anybody. You don't take things for granted; that way you live longer."

"I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be thankful for spook paranoia," Finn said.

"I'll take that as a compliment, though I'm sure you didn't mean it as one," said Cobra, with a mirthless, tight-lipped smile. "And now I really think we ought to do something about those three in there."

"At least the odds are on our side," said Finn. "Four against three."

"Six against three, actually," said Cobra. "I've already got two men in that tavern there. They should be in position in that room opposite the window on the second floor there. If there's anybody in that room, they'll be temporarily inconvenienced, I'm afraid."