"You followed us to the Rue St. Honore?" Bennett said.
"That's right," said Finn. "When we saw you flashing that laser around-"
"You assumed I was a Timekeeper and that you had found the house where the chronoplate was being kept," Bennett finished for him. "You were almost right. However, I don't have my plate anymore. They took it from me. They have Hunter's plate, as well, but they don't know its fail-safe code. That's why they're after Andre. They don't realize that she's a displaced person and doesn't know how to operate it."
"And they want you dead because they think that you betrayed them to the agency," said Lucas.
"Kind of puts you in a tough spot, doesn't it?" said Finn. "As far as the agency team is concerned, you're with the Timekeepers. The Timekeepers think you've sold out to the agents. The question is, where do you stand?"
"Until a short while ago," said Bennett, "I stood with them. I'm against the time wars. That was why I joined the underground and it was why I became involved with the Temporal Preservation League."
"Then there is a connection between the league and the terrorists?" said Finn.
"Oh, yes. It's the most tenuous of connections, but it exists. I became convinced that the Timekeepers had a workable plan to bring pressure upon the Referee Corps to end the temporal conflicts."
"A timestream split is what you call a workable plan?" said Finn.
"That was only the announced intention," Bennett said. "The Timekeepers themselves never intended to bring about a split. The idea was to create adjustment situations throughout all of history, alerting the Referee Corps to each situation as it was created, so that they would be able to restore historical continuity, but at the price of extended manpower commitments, financial losses, and temporary historical instability."
"Interesting idea," Lucas said. "But surely you must have realized the chance that you were taking? Suppose one of those adjustment situations proved to be irreversible?"
"There was always that chance," said Bennett. "However, our aim was to conduct only the most controlled types of interference actions."
"What changed your mind?" said Finn.
"Adrian Taylor," Bennett said. "He's-"
"We know who Taylor is," said Lucas.
"Do you know that he's totally insane? That he is totally committed to creating a timestream split?"
"The agency is proceeding on that assumption," Lucas said.
"Then the TIA knows more than Taylor's own people do," said Bennett.
"Are you saying that the Timekeepers actually don't-"
"I told you what the plan was!" Bennett shouted. "But Taylor is uncontrollable! I became convinced of that when he killed the Countess de la Fere."
"But that's-"
"Milady de Winter," Bennett said. "Possibly the most important figure in this scenario. That was where my talents as a surgeon came in. I performed a transsexual operation upon Adrian Taylor. He is now Milady de Winter."
Finn put away his newly acquired laser. "Holy Christ," he said. "And Mongoose thought that one of the musketeers was an impostor."
"Ah, I see," said Bennett. "You followed Andre here and saw us in this house and you naturally assumed that D'Artagnan was a ringer. No, he's quite genuine, I assure you, as are the other musketeers. Moreau is an old friend of mine and he arranged this hiding place for me. Bonacieux owes him a favor. Bonacieux's name rang a bell with me, but what with everything that's been happening, I didn't put it all together until I arrived here and found out who his other tenant was. I was even toying with the idea of trying to get D'Artagnan to help me, until I realized how crazy it would be."
"Help you do what?" said Finn.
"I thought I had made that eminently clear," said Bennett. "Taylor must be killed."
"Where is he?"
"I can tell you where he was," said Bennett, "but it's a sure bet that he won't be there now. He's not a fool."
"I think you'd better have a talk with Mongoose," Lucas said.
"The agent in charge?" said Bennett. "I can't do that."