The Six-Gun Solution (TimeWars 12)

Because they’re concerned about temporal continuity, they’ll think twice before taking out any of the locals in this time sector. Our boys won’t have any such compunctions.” He smiled. “God damn. This operation is turning out to be a lot more interesting than I thought.”

“You want me to call in the others?”

“Yes. We’ll tell Allan and Steve to cancel their plan for the next shipment. Then we’ll get some of the boys together and take a ride into town. It doesn’t sound as if Delaney’s had any cosmetic surgery. They usually don’t, unless they’re going to assume specific identities. I want to make sure. I want to find out where they’re staying and what their covers are. I don’t want any mistakes on this one Once we’ve got them spotted and the situation eased, then I’ll call the boys I’m putting a bounty on them.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” said Zaber. “Have Ike Clanton do it. That way, if anything goes wrong and anybody talks, they’ll go after Clanton first. And while they’re doing that, we can make our move.”

O’Fallon smiled broadly. “That’s very good. Paul. That’s what I call good thinking.”

“Yeah, well, if we’re going to take on the First Division’s number one team, we’re going to need a lot of that.” said Zaber. “I’ll go get the boys.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t know you?” Andre asked, staring at Lucas with astonishment

“Just what I said.” Lucas replied, taking off his coat and dropping down into a chair. He exhaled heavily. “He didn’t have the faintest idea who I was. Said he’d never seen me before in his life. Thought I had him mixed-up with someone else. I came up with some story about his having a double that I met in

England and he seemed to swallow that, but it gave me one hell of a turn. I can tell you.”

“I don’t understand,” Andre said, an expression of complete confusion on her face. “Why would he do that? You think he was under surveillance?”Lucas snorted. “He acted like he didn’t even know what the word meant. I asked him that and he thought I was asking him if he was a surveyor”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

“What the hell does he think he’s doing?” Lucas shook his head, helplessly. “I don’t think he’s playing games. Andre. You should have been there. You should have seen him. It was spooky, He really didn’t know me. Your name, Finn’s name. Steiger’s name, the Old Man, they didn’t mean a thing to him. There was no glimmer of recognition. None whatsoever.”

She stared at him with disbelief. “My God. You think he’s got amnesia?”

Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m at a loss to accoun

t for it. I asked him if something had happened to him recently, if he’d gotten hurt or something. and he just looked at me as if I were crazy. It’s as if the role has completely taken him over. He’s not Sergeant Scott Neilson, temporal agent. He’s Scott Neilson, the Montana Kid.”

“You think the opposition got to him and brainwashed him?”

“I suppose it’s possible, but why? Why go to all that trouble? Why not just interrogate him and then take him out? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Does Finn know about this yet?”

Lucas shook his head. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him. But we’re going to have to warn him. I don’t know what the hell’s happened to Neilson. Maybe he’s had a breakdown or something, but we can’t count on him anymore. He’s become a liability.”

“Maybe this is it,” said Andre. “Maybe this is what Dr. Darkness meant. Maybe something has happened to Scott and he forgot who he really was and somehow disrupted temporal continuity.”

Lucas sat very still, staring at her for a long moment.

“It’s possible, isn’t it’?” she asked.

Lucas nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s possible. The question is, what are we supposed to do about it?”

“No.” said Andre. “That’s not the question. The question is, what is it that we’re going to do-a not do-that we’re going to have to do differently to save the future?”

“Jesus.” Lucas said. “How the hell are we supposed to know?”

“Darkness said he’s going to tell us.”

“Yeah. At the last moment. Only why? Why wait till the last minute?”

“Maybe to make sure that we don’t have a chance to think about it.” she said. “Lucas, it’s possible that we may have to kill him.”

Lucas closed his eyes. “Oh, hell.”