The Pimpernel Plot (TimeWars 3)
6
At breakfast the following morning, one of the servants came in with a message from the head gardener, warning Sir Percy and Lady Marguerite against going walking in the maze that morning. It seemed that one of the guests had decided to play a prank the previous night and had moved a number of the urns. The gardener promised that he would have it all set straight by the afternoon.
“Wouldn’t surprise me if it was that Sheridan chap,” said Finn. “He seemed quite exuberant last night. Well, then, my dear,” he said in a casual manner, “what did you think of the cream of London society?”
“I am more concerned as to what they thought of me,” Marguerite replied, evasively. “I hope, for your sake, that I made a favorable impression last night.”
“To be sure, you simply bowled them over,” Finn said. “No doubt, you’ll be receiving a great many invitations now and I’ll be forced to follow you from ball to ball like an attendant.”
“As it happens, I’ve already been invited to a tea at Lady Bollingbrook’s,” said Marguerite. “It’s for ladies only, Percy, so you will be spared the agony of having to attend. That is, if you have no objection to my going?”
“Object? Begad, why should 1? You must go, of course. Otherwise, Lady What’s-her-name might take offense. When is this tea to take place?”
“This afternoon.”
“Ah, well, you see? It works out perfectly. I have certain business matters that require my attention today and I was afraid that you would be left with nothing at all to do other than staying at Richmond and wallowing in boredom. Far better for you to go to this Lady Something-or-other’s and cultivate some friendships.”
“Then I shall go,” said Marguerite, quietly. “I wouldn’t want to interfere with any of your plans.”
“Well now, if you’re having tea in London, you can’t possibly be in my way then, can you?” Finn said jauntily. “For that matter, my being absent will enable you to enjoy yourself without having to suffer my sad attempts at witty conversation. It works out well for all concerned.”
“Yes, I suppose it does,” said Marguerite, without looking at him.
The arrival of Lucas forestalled any further conversation, much to Finn’s relief. Lucas said that he had brought an urgent message from Percy’s solicitors in London and they withdrew, leaving Lady Blakeney to finish eating breakfast alone. Andre was summoned and the three friends went into one of the smaller parlors. They closed and locked the doors after themselves.
“I’m really beginning to feel terrible about the way I’m forced to treat that lady,” Finn said.
Lucas glanced at him sharply. “You start caring about her, Finn, and it’s going to get very rough on you,” he said. “Remember, she sent a whole family to the guillotine. You’re not getting involved with her, are you?”
Andre watched Finn closely, but said nothing.
“No, of course not,” Finn said. “Only…well, forget it What happened with Fitzroy?”
Lucas picked up a glass from a silver tray upon the table and poured himself some port from the decanter. He looked tired.
“I didn’t get much rest,” he said. “I signaled Fitzroy as soon as I got to Calais and he came out to meet me. He wanted to know why I didn’t go through channels and use our contact over here.” He smiled, wryly. “I told him. Fitzroy had never heard of Mongoose. Our contact in England is supposed to be an Observer named Captain Jack Carnehan. Carnehan’s description matches that of the groom who gave me that note from Mongoose, the same groom whom no one else around here seems to have seen,” he added.
“How did Major Fitzroy react?” said Andre.
“He didn’t take it very well,” said Lucas. “He had to check it out, of course. He clocked out ahead and made a routine inquiry and, not surprisingly, discovered that there is no officer in the Observer Corps named Jack Carnehan. At that point, he immediately contacted the TIA, thinking that they were involved in this mission and that he hadn’t been informed. The new director, Allendale, assured him that such was not the case and insisted that we had made a mistake. When Fitzroy told him about the ersatz Capt. Carnehan, Allendale ran a check on Mongoose. The records had him listed as inactive, on medical leave. Fitzroy insisted that Allendale check in with Darrow, as well as agent Cobra. Cobra was unavailable for some reason, but Allendale set up a secure-line conference with Darrow, just to mollify Fitzroy. Darrow told him that Mongoose had been given medical leave following his last mission in the field, but that he had returned to active duty shortly thereafter, which so far coincides with what we already know. If Mongoose had been given medical leave again, said Darrow, it happened after his resignation and he wasn’t aware of the circumstances.
“Allendale wanted to know why Mongoose had been removed from the field duty roster. Darrow was a bit stiff about that, but he did say that it was all a matter of record and he was surprised that Allendale had to ask. The reason he had to ask, as it turned out, is that Mongoose had the records altered. He managed to transfer himself out of evaluations and then place himself on medical leave, so that he would not be missed. Then-get this-he forged departure tags for himself under the name of Lieutenant Vasily Rurik. The real Lt. Rurik is on medical leave from the Observers, recovering from wounds sustained on duty during an arbitration action in the 20th century. Mongoose had access to his records when he was in evaluations. He assumed Rurik’s identity, requisitioned a chronoplate for the purpose of Observer duty in the War of the First Coalition, clocked out, and promptly disappeared.”
Finn nodded. “He bypassed the tracer functions on the plate, showed up here, and reported to Fitzroy as Carnehan. Fitzroy gave him a full briefing on the mission status, naturally. The guy’s got nerve, I’ll hand him that. He showed up last night.”
“You saw him?” Lucas said.
“Not exactly. I had a note delivered to me, telling me to meet him in the maze at one o’clock.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Andre interrupted.
“Because you went up to attend Marguerite and that was where I wanted you. For all I knew, the note was just a ruse to get me out of the house. I wish I had told you, but it’s too late to cry about that now. I never saw Mongoose. We spoke, but he kept out of sight. I managed to get close enough to stick him through the hedge with a sword cane, but I think I only grazed him. He ran and I tried to follow, but he’d switched all the urns around and by the time I found my way out of that blasted maze, he was long gone. I should have remembered the sequence of the turns,” he said to Lucas.
“You should have told me,” Andre said, angrily. “I could have waited for him outside the maze. You let him escape, just because you didn’t trust me enough to-”
“I’m sure that isn’t true,” said Lucas. “Still, that wasn’t very smart, Finn. Suppose we were wrong about him and he was on the level?”
Finn shook his head. “He told me that he wasn’t. Besides, if he was on the level, why didn’t he show himself? No, when he saw that I wasn’t buying his story, he made it clear that he was acting on his own. He knew I sent you to Fitzroy. He said he saw you with him in Paris.”