The Dracula Caper (TimeWars 8)

"Yes, sir."

Steiger turned back to Linda. "Grayson has both warp discs, yours and Larson's?"

"Yes, but he tripped the failsafes and fused them." she said. "He also has the dart gun that was used on me."

"Where did you see them?"

"In his office, where he questioned me."

Neilson returned. "I found them." he said. "I destroyed both bodies."

"Good ' said Steiger. "Now-shhh!"

Nobody spoke or moved as someone walked past the lab in the corridor outside. They waited until the footsteps faded away.

"All right," said Steiger. "Neilson. I don't suppose you happened to compute the transition coordinates of Grayson's office when you went through his files before?"

"Yes, sir, I did," said Neilson. "I thought you might want me to break in there again, so I figured it would be a whole lot easier if I could just clock in there."

Steiger grinned. "I'm putting you in for a promotion," he said. "Let's hope Grayson's not burning the midnight oil in his office. See if you can find those two warp discs and the dart gun Drakov's creature used. Destroy them and get right back here."

"Yes, sir." He clocked out.

They waited tensely until Neilson returned.

"I took care of it," he said.

Steiger took a deep breath. "Okay, that leaves us with the question of what to do for our next move. Andre's still out there, tailing Conan Doyle. He may still be with Stoker, in which case she's got them both covered. I want to get back and see if she's touched base. If not. Darkness can home in on her symbiotracer and we can give her some back-up. Assuming her tracer's not gone out like mine has."

He sighed and shook his head. "Damn it! We still have no leads on Hesketh and we have no idea how many other people Drakov's creatures may have infected. Judging by what he did to Ransome and Rizzo, we can assume he's not only able to create more of them, but to control them, as well, undoubtedly through implant programming. We're down on manpower and we still have no idea where Drakov's new base is in this time period. And there's still Moreau."

"Moreau may be our best chance," said Neilson. "If what Wells told me is true, Moreau can provide us with additional manpower through Lin Tao."

“I'll believe it when I see it,” Steiger said. "I'm not taking anything on faith. Who is this Lin Tao?"

"The head of a secret organization known as the Green Dragon tong," said Neilson. "According to Wells, they're practically in control of Limehouse."

"I'm glad someone's in control of something," said Steiger wryly. "I think we'd better clock back and have a long talk with our friend Wells."

12

Andre came to with a jerk. her body spasming as she regained consciousness. Whatever it was the Chinese man had done to her, he had reversed the effects with a sharp stab of his forefinger on a pressure point in her neck and she reacted as if electrically shocked. He stared expressionlessly into her eyes for a moment, then nodded once and moved back from her to sit on the opposite side of the coach.

Andre took quick stock of her surroundings. The windows of the coach were curtained off, so she could not tell where she was. The coach was not moving. She was not restrained in any way, but two young Chinese men sat on either side of her, both dressed all in black and wearing green headbands. The man who had rendered her unconscious and then revived her sat opposite her in the coach, dressed the same way as, the two on either side of her. Next to him sat a withered old man, also Chinese, with long white hair and a long, wispy white beard. He, too, was dressed in black pajamas, but unlike the others, he was not wearing a green headband. Instead, he wore a small black skullcap.

"You are the temporal agent. Andre Cross?" he said, in excellent English, albeit with a Chinese accent.

Startled. Andre stared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about. Who are-imhhhh!"

The man sitting on her right touched her on the side, just below her kidney, and she felt white fire lance up her spine like an electric current.

"Please." said the old man. He held up her warp disc, holding the bracelet gracefully and gently

between his thumb and middle finger. "You will he so kind as to reply, so that I may be certain whom I am addressing."

"Yes," she said, seeing no point in denying it. "I am Andre Cross.

The old man nodded once. "You need have no concern over your warp disc.