"She would have done the same to me, Doc, or to you or any one of us. This was one very nasty lady. Besides, if you want to salve your conscience, think of all the lives that will be saved when we bring the time wars to a halt."
"I agree that the time wars should be stopped," said Doc, "but I can't believe that your end justifies your means."
"You went into this with your eyes wide open, Doc," said Taylor. "It's a bit late for second thoughts now, don't you think?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it is." He took a deep breath, refusing to look at the headless body on the floor. "Well, I've done all that you asked. You don't need me anymore. Am I free to go, or am I going to end up like her?"
"Why, Doc," said Taylor, gently placing his hand alongside the man's cheek, "what makes you say a thing like that?" His voice was a perfect mimicry of de Winter's voice. Doc jerked away.
"Let him go," said Taylor.
The man was led away.
"You think he's going to be a problem?" said one of the others.
"I doubt it," Taylor said. "We've got his chronoplate. What harm can he do? Still, I don't suppose that it would hurt to keep an eye on him." He walked up to the mirror in the room and examined his reflection. He smiled de Winter's smile. "He did a hell of a good job, wouldn't you say? Amazing what just a little cosmetic surgery can do. Damn, look at me. I'm beautiful."
The other man cleared his throat uneasily.
Taylor grinned. "Sort of gets to you, doesn't it? What do you think, Jimmy? You think Richelieu will know the difference?"
Taylor threw back his head and gave a startlingly feminine laugh. Jimmy left the room.
Their instructions were to proceed to the tavern in Meung, and from there to make their way to Paris. Somewhere along the way, they would be contacted by an agent code-named "Mongoose."
"Are they all named after animals?" Finn had asked Darrow.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if there was an agent Jackass or an agent Baboon, you know. Just curious."
Darrow had not appreciated Finn's sense of humor.
"What is it you've got against these people, anyway?" Lucas asked him as they rode their horses at a walk on the road to Meung.
"They're sly," said Finn. "I don't like people who are sly. They're always sneaking around like weasels-wonder if there's an agent Weasel? — and they're totally untrustworthy. I prefer to work with people I can depend on. I wouldn't turn my back on a TIA agent for one second."
"You don't really think we have anything to worry about, do you?" Lucas said.
"Who knows, kid? Who knows what this mission really is? They say it's the Timekeepers, but it could be the Daughters of the American Revolution for all I know. They don't even tell each other everything."
They conversed in French, a language they spoke as easily as English, thanks to their implant programming. Anyone seeing them upon the road would have taken them for nothing more than what they appeared to be, cavaliers, soldiers of fortune, comrades in arms. Finn's normally red hair was now an auburn shade, Lucas's was a chestnut brown. Both men wore their hair down to their shoulders, in the style of gallants of the time. Lucas wore a waxed moustache, Finn wore a moustache and a goatee, a style that would one day be known as a Van Dyke. Both men wore high boots and leather baldricks, both carried daggers and rapiers. Their apparel did not lend an air of wealth or fashion to them. Both their cloaks were brown and well worn. Finn's doublet was yellow, cut from inexpensive cloth; Lucas's was brown. Neither man wore lace anywhere about his person; both wore simple sashes of green silk and white shirts that were in need of laundering. Their hats were plumed, but the feathers had seen better days.
"I hate this cloak-and-dagger stuff," said Finn, then chuckled at the thought that both of them actually had real cloaks and daggers. "I don't like the idea of not even knowing what our contact is supposed to look like. I'm not even sure what we're supposed to do."
"My impression was that we were to act as a sort of back-up team to the TIA boys," Lucas said. "Look, it might not be so bad. They might not even need us. This mission could turn into a Minus Time vacation."
"You wouldn't want to place a little bet on that, would you?" said Finn.
"Actually, no. Not really."
"I didn't think so."
"What do you think about this idea of someone in the underground going in with these Timekeepers?" Lucas said.
"I don't know. Why, you thinking about Hunter?"