John Hawks: The Traveler

“Do the Tabula know about these brothers?”

“Yes. They’re watching them twenty-four hours a day.”

“Why don’t the Tabula just kill them? That’s what they usually do.”

“All I know is that the Corrigans are in danger and we have to help them as soon as possible. Shepherd comes from a Harlequin family. His grandfather saved hundreds of lives. But an unborn Traveler wouldn’t trust him. Shepherd isn’t very organized or intelligent. He’s a-”

“A fool.”

“Exactly. You could handle everything, Maya. All you have to do is find the Corrigans and take them to a safe place.”

“Maybe they’re just ordinary citizens.”

“We don’t know that until we question them. You’re right about one thing, there aren’t any more Travelers. This might be our last chance.”

“You don’t need me. Just hire some mercs.”

“The Tabula have more money and power. Mercenaries always betray us.”

“Then do it yourself.”

“I’m crippled, Maya. Stuck here, in this apartment, in this wheelchair. You’re the only one who can lead.”

For a few seconds she actually wanted to draw the sword and charge into battle, and then she remembered the fight in the London Underground station. A father should protect his daughter. Instead, Thorn had destroyed her childhood.

She stood up and walked to the door. “I’m going back to London.”

“Don’t you remember what I taught you? Verdammt durch das Fleisch. Gerettet durch das Blut …”

Damned by the flesh. Saved by the blood. Maya had heard the Harlequin phrase-and hated it-since she was a little girl.

“Tell your slogans to your new Russian friend. They don’t work with me.”

“If there are no more Travelers, then the Tabula have finally conquered history. In one or two generations, the Fourth Realm will become a cold, sterile place where everyone is watched and controlled.”

“It’s that way already.”

“This is our obligation, Maya. It’s who we are.” Thorn’s voice was full of pain and regret. “I’ve often wished for a different life, wished that I was born ignorant and blind. But I could never turn away and deny the past, deny all those Harlequins who sacrificed themselves for such an important cause.”

“You gave me weapons and taught me how to kill. Now you’re sending me out to be destroyed.”

Thorn looked small and frail in the wheelchair. His voice was a harsh whisper. “I would die for you.”

“But I’m not dying for a cause that doesn’t exist anymore.”

Maya reached for Thorn’s shoulder. It was a farewell gesture, a chance to connect with him one last time-but his angry expression made her pull her hand away.

“Goodbye, Father.” She turned to the door and opened the latch. “I have one small chance to be happy. I can’t let you take it away from me.”

Nathan Boone sat in a second-floor room of the warehouse across the street from the lingerie shop. Peering through a nightscope, he watched Maya leave Thorn’s building and head down the sidewalk. Boone had already photographed Thorn’s daughter arriving at the airport terminal, but he enjoyed seeing her again. So much of his work these days involved staring at a computer monitor, checking phone calls and credit card bills, reading medical reports and police bulletins from a dozen different countries. To see an actual Harlequin helped him reconnect with the reality of what he was doing. The enemy still existed-at least a few of them did-and it was his responsibility to eliminate them.

Two years ago, after the shoot-out in Pakistan, he found Maya living in London. Her public behavior indicated that she had rejected the violence of the Harlequins and had decided to have a normal life. The Brethren had considered executing Maya, but Boone sent them a lengthy e-mail recommending against it. He knew that she might lead him to Thorn, Linden, or Mother Blessing. All three Harlequins were still dangerous. They needed to be tracked down and destroyed.

Maya would have noticed anyone following her around London, so Boone sent a squad of technicians to her apartment and had them insert tracer beads in every piece of her luggage. After she obtained a job and started to live a public life, the Brethren’s computers constantly monitored her phone calls, e-mails, and credit card transactions. The first alert came after Maya sent an e-mail to her supervisor asking for time off to visit “a sick relative.” When she purchased a Friday plane ticket to Prague, Boone decided that the city was a logical place for Thorn to hide. He had three days to fly to Europe and come up with a plan.

That morning one of Boone’s employees had read the note left in Maya’s hotel room by the young Russian who worked for Thorn. Now Boone knew the location of Thorn’s apartment, and it would be just a matter of minutes until he would be face-to-face with the Harlequin.

Boone heard Loutka’s voice come from his radio headset. “Now what?” Loutka asked. “Do we follow her?”

“That’s Halver’s job. He can handle it. Thorn is the primary target. We’ll deal with Maya later tonight.”

Loutka and the three technicians sat in the back of a delivery van parked near the corner. Loutka was a Czech police lieutenant and was supposed to handle the local authorities. The technicians were there to do their special jobs and go home.

With Loutka’s help, Boone had also hired two professional killers in Prague. The mercenaries sat on the floor behind him, waiting for orders. The Magyar was a big man who couldn’t speak English. His Serb friend, an ex-soldier, knew four languages and seemed intelligent, but Boone didn’t trust him. He was the kind of person who might run away if there was resistance.

It was cold in the room and Boone was wearing an all-weather parka and a knit cap. His military haircut and steel eyeglasses made him look disciplined and fit, like a chemical engineer who ran marathons on the weekend.

“Let’s go,” Loutka said.

“No.”

“Maya is walking back to her hotel. I don’t think that Thorn will get any more visitors tonight.”

“You don’t understand these people. I do. They deliberately do things that are unpredictable. Thorn may decide to leave the house. Maya may decide to return. Let’s give it five minutes and see what happens.”

Boone lowered the nightscope and continued to watch the street. For the last six years he had worked for the Brethren, a small group of men from different countries united by a particular vision of the future. The Brethren-who were called “the Tabula” by their enemies-were committed to the destruction of both the Harlequins and the Travelers.

Boone was a liaison between the Brethren and their mercenaries. He found it easy to deal with people like the Serb and Lieutenant Loutka. A mercenary always wanted money or some kind of favor. First you negotiated a price, then you decided if you were going to pay it.

Although Boone received a generous salary from the Brethren, he never felt that he was a mercenary. Two years ago, he was allowed to read a collection of books called The Knowledge that gave him a larger vision of the Brethren’s goals and philosophy. The Knowledge showed Boone that he was part of a historical battle against the forces of disorder. The Brethren and their allies were on the verge of establishing a perfectly controlled society, but this new system would not survive if Travelers were allowed to leave the system, then return to challenge the accepted view. Peace and prosperity were possible only if people stopped asking new questions and accepted the available answers.

The Travelers brought chaos into the world, but Boone didn’t hate them. A Traveler was born with the power to cross over; there was nothing they could do about their strange inheritance. The Harlequins were different. Although there were Harlequin families, each man or woman made a choice to protect the Travelers. Their deliberate randomness contradicted the rules that governed Boone’s life.