For years, he had gone simply by the codename of “Phoenix,” working mostly on his own, changing his entire physical appearance from one covert assignment to the next, assuming a different personality with each role he was required to play. Even within the agency, he had been known as a maverick. Finn and Andre first met him when one of his covert assignments coincided with one of their temporal adjustment missions. With the merging of the First Division and the T.I.A., Forrester chose Steiger as his executive officer and assigned him as a partner to Finn and Andre, to replace the late Lucas Priest as the third member of his top temporal adjustment team.
When Forrester’s investigations had uncovered the extent of the corruption within the T.I.A. organization he had inherited, he had called in Steiger and asked him point blank, “Did you know about any of this?”
“Yes, sir, I did,” Steiger had replied. “Some of it, anyway. And to anticipate your next question, no, I wasn’t involved. I had a job to do and I had to look the other way a lot. “
“I see,” Forrester had said. “Dammit, why didn’t you tell me?”
“With all due respect, sir, I didn’t see what in hell would be the point,” Steiger had said. “You couldn’t really do anything about it and with the temporal crisis that we’re facing with the other timeline, I figured you already had plenty on your mind. It was a question of priorities.”
“Indeed? Are you making command decisions for me now, Colonel?” Forrester had said, an edge to his voice. “What the hell made you think I couldn’t do anything about it?”
“No offence, sir, but I don’t think you have any idea what you’d be going up against if you took on the Network. You’d be taking on an entrenched clandestine bureaucracy that’s been in operation for years. For centuries. A bureaucracy that has its own hierarchy, its own funds, its own supply and communications network and its own agents, all of which means that it can function completely independent of the agency. And it often does. The agency, on the other hand, cannot function completely independent of the Network, because the Network is an integral part of the agency, infesting it like a cancer. You can never really know for sure who’s in and who’s out.”
“I could issue an order to scan all personnel,” said Forrester.
“Yes, sir, you could do that. It would tend to make things a little rough on your new command, but even so, you’d still never get them all. Not by a long shot. There are covert field agents out there, hell, there are entire sections out there that have been operating off the books for years. They’re so deep, nobody knows about ‘em anymore. But the single biggest problem is that you don’t know who they are or where they are, while they know who you are and how to get to you, believe me.”
“Is that supposed to scare me?” Forrester said, wryly.
“I don’t think you understand, sir. These people play hardball and if you went up against them, you’d have to throw the book right out the window and play twice as hard and three times as nasty. It would
be a war, sir. And frankly, I think you’d get your ass shot off. “
“Then you think that I should just look the other way and get on with business; is that it?” said Forrester, in a level tone.
“I guess it doesn’t matter what I think, sir, because you’re not going to do that, are you?” Steiger had said.
“No, Colonel, I’m not. I can’t. I’m just not built that way.”
“Then with your permission, sir, I’d like to take charge of the operation. I know at least a few people in the agency that I could count on and who might just be crazy enough to take on something like this.”
“No, Colonel,” said Forrester. “I appreciate the offer, but I want you to remain on standby status with Cross and Delaney. With the current crisis, I need my best temporal mission teams available on a moment’s notice. I intend to assemble a special strike force to deal with this so-called Network. It will be composed of former members of the First Division, people I know the Network hasn’t got its hooks into. And most of them have some experience with ‘throwing the book right out the window and playing hardball,’ as you put it. I intend to clean house, Colonel. Make no mistake about it, I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to get the job done. I’m the one running this outfit, not a bunch of underground profiteers and scam artists.”
“I think you’ll find that they’re a little more than just profiteers and scam artists, sir,” said Steiger. “At least let me help organize the strike force while I remain on standby. I have some idea of what they’ll be going up against. I can point them in the right direction, maybe keep them from making some mistakes. And it might create less friction in the agency if the former senior covert field agent was officially heading up the strike force, rather than having it all be a First Division show.”
“All right,” said Forrester. “I see your point. But I don’t want you going out on any field operations, is that understood? I need you available, on standby with your team.”
“Understood, sir. May I have your security detail take me into custody now for immediate scanning?”
Forrester frowned. “What for?”
“I want to have myself scanned so that you can be absolutely certain that I’m not involved with the Network. And I’d like to be taken into custody at once so that you’d be certain I’d have no time to warn them if I were,” said Steiger.
Forrester shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, Colonel. I’d be a damned sorry commanding officer if I couldn’t pick an exec that I knew I could trust. “
“I appreciate that, sir,” said Steiger, “but just the same, I’d like to insist. I want to be able to say that I did it, that I didn’t get any preferential treatment, that I got on the machines and passed. I can’t expect to ask anybody else to do it if I don’t.”
“I see,” said Forrester, nodding. He summoned his security detail. “Sergeant, place Col. Steiger under arrest.”
Finn and Andre hadn’t seen much of him since he’d taken command of the Internal Security Division, but they had sure heard a lot about him. In a matter of weeks, Steiger had organized the I.S.D., composed largely of handpicked commandos from the First Division, some headbusters borrowed from the M.P.‘s and a few trusted T.I.A. agents. He had whipped them into shape as a tight, well co-ordinated unit and brought down twenty-seven section chiefs who were functioning as cell commanders in the Network. Steiger had hit hard and fast and he had made his presence known. He, along with Forrester, was a marked man now.
“Creed, what’s going on?” said Finn.
“I don’t know,” said Steiger. “I only just got here. I got the call a few minutes ago and hurried right up.”
“The general will see you now,” the sergeant of the guard said, beckoning them to follow him. He conducted them down the hall to Forrester’s private quarters, then left them. Forrester was waiting for them, fully dressed in his black base fatigues. It was three o’clock in the morning and he looked wide awake.
“At ease,” said Forrester, tensely. “Bar’s open. Delaney, do the honors.”