The Cleopatra Crisis tw-11 Read online

  “o you have anything solid to base your suspicions on or isthis just a hunch?” asked Delaney.

  Travers shook his head. “I tell you. I don’t know, but somethingis very definitely wrong. Those Egyptians simply don’t belong here. And theirpresence has not been taken well. Caesar even brings them into the Senate withhim. It’s increased the animosity toward him, which on one hand is all to thegood, I suppose, but on the other hand, he’s become more cautious, more aloof,and more determined than ever to do things his way, come hell or high water. “

  “You’re concerned about him, aren’t you?” Andre said.

  Travers glanced at her and grimaced. “Yes. I suppose I am.Funny, isn’t it?”

  “You got too close,” said Delaney. “You allowed yourself toget involved.”

  “Listen, you study a man for half your life and then livewith him, go through several wars with him. especially a charismatic man likeCaesar. and you try not to get involved,” said Travers. “The man’s become myfriend. You understand that? I’ve made him the subject of my life’s work and I’vegotten to know him as well as anybody knows him. It’s hard not to like a manlike Caesar Yes, he’s ambitious and he’s arrogant. but great men always are. He’salso capable of kindness, and loyalty, and devotion. It’s not for nothing thathis legions idolize him. He’s larger than life. Intelligent. incrediblycourageous, inspirational. One of the greatest men who ever lived-And I have tomake sure that he gets murdered.”

  Travers took out his Roman dagger and stared at thefoot-long, lethal blade. “Can you imagine what it’s like to be stabbed withsomething like this? Twenty-three times. Twenty-three times, they’re going toplunge daggers like this into his body. And not only am I helpless to doanything about it. I’ve got to make certain it gets done.”

  “No. Travers.” Lucas said. “We’ve got to make certainit gets done.”

  “Evening. John.”

  John Marshall froze as he entered the dark bedroom of hishouse near the east bank of the Tiber. The voice had spoken in English and itsounded vaguely familiar. He lifted the oil lamp he carried in his hand. He wasable to make out a dark figure sitting on his bed.

  “Who are you?” he asked tensely, coming closer. Hedid not recognize the man.

  “Someone who once saved your ass from the Spanish Inquisition.”

  “My God. Steiger?”

  “Long time no see, John. Sorry if I ruined your evening. Isent the girl away. Told her I was an old friend of yours and wanted tosurprise you. Little young for you, wasn’t she?”

  “Jesus. What the hell are you doing here? I never would’verecognized you. You changed your face.”

  Steiger’s hair was dark now and cosmetic surgery had dramaticallyaltered his appearance. Not even his own mother would have recognized him. “Yes.I got tired of the old one. Actually, the situation called for a differentlook.

  “You’re on the lam? I don’t believe it. You tied up with theNetwork?”

  “You know about the Network?”

  “Of course I know about the Network. But I never thought you’dget yourself involved with them.”

  “I didn’t. I’m still with the agency.”

  “You’re on assignment? But I thought the covert fieldsection was disbanded.”

  “For someone who’s several thousand years out-of-date, youmanage to keep up pretty well.”

  “Come on. We’ve got our channels, you know that.”

  “Yes. I know. That’s how I found you. You’ve done prettywell for yourself since I last saw you. Nice place you’ve got here.”

  “What do you want. Steiger’? You here to bust me, is thatIt?”

  “Now is that any way to talk after all the years we’ve knowneach other?”

  “Yeah. but like you said, it’s been a long time and thingschange. Stop rattling my chain, Creed. What do you want?”

  “I need your help, John. Just like old times. remember?”

  “I’m out of it now, Creed. I turned my back on all that.

  “You can never turn your back on it. John. You know that.

  “Damn you. I’m just trying to live a quiet. peaceful life.”

  “Peaceful? Staging gladiator fights, beast baiting, andchariot races in the arena? But I guess that doesn’t count. huh? What the hell,it’s only show business, right? I gather it pays well. Lets the noble Marcianbuy young teenage girls like the one I just sent out of here.”

  “Where the hell do you get oil, judging me? Especially aftersome of the shit you’ve pulled.”

  Steiger held up his hands. “Okay. Forget it. So my handsaren’t exactly clean, either. I guess I’m still sore about you going over tothe Underground. You were a damn good agent, John. We can’t afford to losepeople like you.”

  “Yeah, and I can’t afford to die. either,” Marshall said,setting down the lamp on a small table and sitting down in a chair next to it. “Iwas getting pressure from the Network. Either you’re with us or against us. Andyou know what happened to people who tried to buck the Network.”

  “I bucked ’em and I’m still around.”

  “Yeah, well, you always were a cowboy. You and Carnehan. Thesuper spooks. Me. I got old and tired. I got slow. So I took early retirement.”

  He pressed something on the table and a hidden drawer poppedout. Steiger instantly had a laser pistol in his hand.

  “Hold it, John.”

  “Take it easy, for God’s sake!”

  “Whatever’s in there, take it out slowly.”

  Marshall produced a pack of cigarettes. “Satisfied’?”

  Steiger grinned and lowered the pistol.

  “You want one?”

  “Don’t mind if I do. What happens if one of your slavescomes in and catches us smoking?”

  Marshall lit one up and tossed the pack to Creed. “My slavesknow what’s expected of them. They don’t come up here unless they’re told to. I’mstill a careful man. Creed.”

  “Yeah, but you’re slipping. I got in here with no sweat.”

  “How the hell did you get in’?”

  “Came down from the roof.”

  “You see? I told you I’m getting slow.”

  He held out the lamp for Creed to light his cigarette.

  “So. You going to tell me what you’re doing here?”

  “I’m on a covert mission. We may have a potential temporaldisruption on our hands.”

  “You part of an adjustment team?”

  “No, but there’s been one clocked back here. Delaney.Priest, and Cross. You know them?”

  “I’ve heard of them. I also heard that Priest bought it inAfghanistan.”

  Not exactly,” Steiger said. “But that’s a long story.”

  “So they sent in the first string, huh? Must be pretty big.Where do you fit in?”

  “Sort of unofficial backup. Undercover.”

  “Meaning they don’t know you’re here.” Marshall grinned. “Youhaven’t changed. Still the same old cowboy. What’s going down?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. but it has to do with Caesar.”

  Marshall exhaled heavily. That is big. What’ve you got?”

  Steiger briefly told him what he knew. Marshall listenedsilently. not saying anything till he was finished.

  “And this L.T.0.. Travis?”

  “Travers.”

  “Right. He thinks it’s going to center around Caesar’sassassination?”

  “That’s my guess.”

  “What do you mean, it’s your guess?”

  “I mean I haven’t spoken to the man. All I’ve got is thefirst report he made of a possible anomaly involving Caesar.”

  “You mean the oracle.

  “That’s right. Travers sent up the balloon and the team wentout. but I’ve had no contact with him, so I don’t really know what the latestintelligence is. Caesar’s supposed to die in about two weeks. That’s got to bethe focus of the disruption.”

  “You think the S.O.G. is going to try to prevent theassassination.”

&nb
sp; “It would make for a hell of a disruption.” Steiger said. “Itwould probably bring about a timestream split. I think this is going to be arough one. The old man didn’t approve of contacts between the agency and theUnderground, but I’ve been trying to convince him he was wrong about that. We’regoing to need all the help we can get from now on.”

  “What made Forrester change his mind?”

  “He hasn’t. At least, not yet “

  “So what are you telling me? Ile doesn’t know about what you’redoing here’?”

  “Not officially. I’m supposed to be on R amp; R. He knows whatI’m doing, but no one else does.”

  “I get it. You fall down on this one, your ass is wide openand his is covered.”

  “Something like that.

  “And you wonder why I decided to get out.”

  What can you tell me about Caesar?”

  “That you don’t already know? Probably nothing.”

  “What do you mean, probably nothing?”

  “Just what I said. What do you think. I’m on his dinnerinvitation list?”

  “But you’re the local impresario around here,” Steiger said.“Hasn’t he been staging chariot races and fights?”

  “Well, yeah, but you don’t think I deal with the mandirectly. do you? he’s the Emperor. for Christ’s sake.”

  “Who do you deal with?”

  “Lately, it’s been mostly Antony.”

  “Marc Antony?”

  “That’s right.” said Marshall. “It’s not always him inperson, though. Most of the time. I work through intermediaries. He’s animportant man.”

  “Can you get me an introduction’?”

  Marshall sighed. “I guess I could try. Damn it. I thought Iwas through with all of that. Why the hell couldn’t you leave me alone? You’regoing to get me killed, you know that?”

  “I’ll try to keep you out of it as much as possible.” saidSteiger. “All I need is a connection. And a base of operations.”

  “Here?”

  “Partly. but I’d also like to arrange a safe house. Whatwould you recommend?”

  “I own some apartments in a tenement block in the Argiletum.a shopping district near the Subura district. Not exactly your luxuryaccommodations, but I could set you up in one of those.”

  “Oh. so you’re a slumlord, too?”

  “Give me a break. Steiger. I’m trying to cooperate because Iowe you.”

  “What, not for old tunes’ sake?”

  “Well. maybe that. too And I’ve also got a life-style toprotect here. I don’t want a temporal disruption any more than you do.”

  “Okay. An apartment will do fine.”

  “You’ll need money, I suppose.”

  “I’ve got some, but a little more can’t hurt.”

  Marshall nodded. “All right. Anything you need, just say theword But there’s one condition. This is strictly between you and me. I don’twant that adjustment team involved. I don’t want them knowing about me.Otherwise, all bets are off.”

  “That goes without saying. John.”

  “Okay. I just wanted to make sure we understand each other.What about your cover?”

  “What would make me interesting to Antony?”

  “He likes chariot racing.”

  “A betting man?”

  “Obsessive.”

  “Good. Why not say I’m a breeder of racing horses? And I’vetrained charioteers. You’ve bought strings from me in the past. Where should Ibe from’?”

  Marshall thought a moment. “Ilerda. in Nearer Spain. Thatwould make you a provincial and no one would be likely to ask you any detailedquestions about where you’re from. You could always say you’ve never venturedvery far from your farm out in the country, by the Ebro.”

  “So what brings me to Rome? A business deal?”

  “Let’s say I’m contemplating purchasing your entireoperation, leaving you run it. of course. and I’ve invited you here in order todiscuss it.”

  “That would work.” Steiger grinned. “Almost like old times,isn’t it?”

  “Too much like old times, if you ask me.” Marshall repliedsourly.

  “When’s the next race coming up’?”

  “As a matter of fact. I’ve got several teams entered in onetomorrow.-

  “Will Antony be there?”

  “He never misses a race if he can help it.”

  “Good. What are the chances of putting in a fix?”

  “You want me to fix a chariot race?” said Marshall with disbelief.You realize I could get the death penalty for that’?”

  “Only if you got caught,” said Steiger.

  Marshall sighed. “Hell. I suppose it could be arranged.”

  Steiger smiled. “You haven’t changed much, either, have you?”

  “A man does what he can. You’re planning to take Antony?”

  “For a bundle.” Steiger said. “What better way to get toknow a man than to have him owe you money?”

  4

  “I hadn’t expected it to look so beautiful,” said Andre asthey approached the city. Andell drove the coach, while Castelli rode ahead ofthem, with Corwin and Drummond mounted on their horses, bringing up the rear.Travers had clocked back to his villa in the city, to await their arrival

  “It looks better from a distance. First time in Rome. eh?” Andellsaid.

  “I’ve served a hitch in Rome before,” said Lucas, ‘but forFinn and Andre. I think it’s the first time. Still. Rome was very differentthen.”

  “Oh. yeah? When did you pull a tour here?”

  “Second Punic War.” said Lucas. “I was with Scipio in thewar against Hannibal.”

  “No shit. really? The old arbitration wars. I was there.too.”

  “You’re kidding,” Lucas said. “Which cohort?”

  “Wrong army,” Andell said with a grin. “I was with Hannibal.”

  Lucas frowned. You were with Hannibal? How can thatbe? The U.S. Temporal Corps contingent was infiltrated into Roman forces duringthat Time War.”

  “I wasn’t with the U.S. Temporal Corps,” Andell said. “I wasfighting for the Nippon Conglomerate Empire back then. Freelance mercenary.”

  “That explains it.” said Delaney. “I was wondering why someoneyour age was still a sergeant. “

  “Yeah. Big black mark on my record.” Andell said. “Ex-mercenariesare scum of the earth, far as TAC-HQ is concerned.”

  “But you’re American. aren’t you?” said Lucas. “So you hadto start out regular Corps before you went merc. What happened?”

  “I caught a real bad tour that made me want out in a bigway,” said Andell. “I served a hitch in the War Between the States. I was withthe Union troops at Shiloh.”

  Delaney whistled. “That must’ve been a rough one.”

  “Tell me about it. It made the Punic Wars seem like a cakewalk.I got shot up pretty had and wound up just lying there on the damn battlefield,wondering if I was going to die or if the damn hogs were going to get to mefirst. There was a bunch of ’em rutting around the corpses. And some of themweren’t even corpses yet. Not too far off from me, this huge pig was chewing ona guy’s exposed intestines and he was still alive. I can still hear the poor bastardscreaming.

  “My God.” said Andre.

  “It gets worse,” Andell said. “Somehow, I. got the strengthup to crawl away and get into the woods. Packed my wounds with mud and thenstarted trying to limp back to our lines. Only a rebel patrol found me first. Iwound up in Andersonville.”

  “Jesus.” said Delaney.

  “Yeah Maybe the worst prison in American history. But therewas a Union doctor there and he managed to get me patched back up, sort of, andI eventually managed to escape with a small group of men. We made our way toSherman’s troops and then, boy. we sure got even. Eventually, S amp; R foundme and clocked me back. I spent some time in the hospital and then took mydischarge. I figured I’d had enough. Only a funny thing happened.”

  You couldn’t hack civilian life,” said Lucas.


  Andell nodded. “You know about it. huh?”

  “Yeah. I quit once, too. But there was just no going back.It was either reenlist or go crazy.”

  “Then you understand,” Andell said. “War does funny thingsto some people. I don’t know, maybe it’s that after you’ve danced on the edgeof the sword blade, you can just never go back to ordinary life. Lot of peopledo. but me. he shook his head. “I never would’ve figured it. I thought I’dnever want to go back in the military again, but civilian life just drove mearound the bend. I started drinking. Got into drugs. Got busted a few times.”

  “That’s why you couldn’t reenlist,” said Delaney.

  “Yeah, they don’t take convicted felons in the service. So Iwound up going merc. Ran into a corporate recruiter in Miami. Next thing Iknew, I was on a shuttle to Tokyo. They processed me, put me through detox,then clocked me out to Spain with a merc: unit they were using and we joined upwith Hannibal there.”

  “So you were in on the crossing of the Alps?” said Lucas.

  “That’s right. Not exactly your average day hike. But I’lltell you something … you’ll probably think I’m crazy, but I loved everyminute of it.”

  “How’d you wind up with the Observers?” Andre asked.

  “I re-upped after I completed my hitch for Nippon and got assignedto the T.O. Corps.”

  “But what about your record?” Andre said, puzzled.

  “They didn’t know I had a record.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Andre, frowning.

  “The Nippon Conglomerate gave him a new identity.” Delaneyexplained. “Some countries do that for mercs. It’s sort of a recruitinginducement. Do a good job for them. complete your tour without getting yourselfkilled, and they’ll give you a brand-new identity, fully documented. You get tostart off with a clean slate.”

  “So Andell’s not your real name?” asked Andre.