"Put down the gun or else I'll kill her." Drakov said.
"If you kill her, Nikolai," Moreau said, "nothing will save you. I will shoot you where you stand."
"I have no doubt of that," said Drakov, "but she will be dead, too. If her life means anything to you, throw down the gun."
Moreau hesitated. His hand holding the gun started to shake. Drakov applied more pressure and Jasmine started to rattle in her throat.
"Damn you," said Moreau. He threw the gun down on the floor.
"And your warp disc, as well," said Drakov. "Take it off carefully and drop it on the floor."
Moreau complied.
Drakov dropped Jasmine and she fell to the floor in a heap, coughing and gasping for air. Drakov pulled out a laser pistol and trained it on Moreau.
"That is the difference between us, Phillipe," he said. "I would have fired."
Moreau got down on his knees beside Jasmine and held her in his arms. She started sobbing.
"That is a rather dangerous young woman you have there," Drakov said. "She was much quicker than the guards downstairs." He prodded Madame Tchu with his foot. "Get up, woman. Go tend to your whores. Tell them to keep quiet if they know what's good for them."
She got up slowly and looked to Moreau, shaking her head with tears in her eyes.
"Go on, Madame Tchu," Moreau said. -Please go. There is nothing you can do.”
She ran out of the room.
"Somehow I never imagined I would find you in a whorehouse." Drakov said. "Really, Moreau. You disappoint me. Did you think I would fail to notice your Chinese thugs snooping about? Whom did you think you were dealing with? What did you hope to accomplish?"
"You know perfectly well," Moreau said.
"Why?" Drakov said. "What are these people to you? You are on opposing sides. Your superiors in the Special Operations Group would consider that I was doing them a favor."
"Perhaps they would condone what you have done," Moreau said, "but I cannot."
"I have only carried on your own work," said Drakov. "You should be proud. The pupil has surpassed his teacher."
"Yes, indeed you have," Moreau said, "and I will never forgive myself for the part that I have played in this. You may as well kill me now and get it over with. I no longer have any great desire to go on living. But if there is even one spark of human decency left in you, let her go. She is no threat to you."
"True," said Drakov, "but she seems to mean something to you, and I would hate to kill you now and deprive you of the opportunity to see just how far I have advanced your work. We will bring her with us.”
"Nikolai, please…
Drakov fired the laser and Moreau cried out as the beam grazed his shoulder, scorching the skin. Drakov grabbed Jasmine by the hair with his free hand and hauled her to her feet.
"I said, we will bring her with us. Pick up your warp disc and enter the coordinates I give you. Try any tricks and I will kill her
With a sick feeling, Moreau reached for his warp disc. He had no thought for his own welfare anymore. He only prayed Lin Tao would reach the temporal agents in time.
"Where the devil are we?" Brant Stoker whispered. "What happened?"
"I am not certain. Stoker, — Conan Doyle said, looking around, "but logic would seem to indicate that we have been drugged."
"Drugged!" said Stoker. "But I remember nothing!" "Precisely," Conan
Doyle said. "What is the last thing you remember clearl
y?"