Manelli smiled. “There, you see? I knew we could discuss things in a reasonable manner. And how about your rank, Mr. Hunter?”
“Captain.”
Manelli looked impressed. “A captain, no less. And your unit?”
Hunter hesitated, his mind racing. Should he risk a bluff? They could easily find out, but how much time would it buy him? Fortunately, Manelli misinterpreted his hesitation.
“Ah, I think I understand,” he said. “You’re a deserter, aren’t you?”
Hunter chose not to reply, implying assent by his silence.
“Yes, I do believe you are,” Manelli said, with a smile. “That would explain your rather interesting and somewhat reckless behavior. Actually, you’ve proven to be quite resourceful, Capt. Hunter. Your one mistake was that you moved too quickly. You got greedy.”
“Am I under arrest?” said Hunter.
Manelli raised his eyebrows. “Why, Capt. Hunter, do I look like a policeman?”
Hunter frowned. “I don’t understand. You’re not…” And then it came to him. “You’re the Underground?”
Manelli smiled. “No. Not exactly.” He reached out and removed the cigarette butt from between Hunter’s lips before he burned himself. “We’ll be back soon, Capt. Hunter,” he said, “Regrettably, we’re going to have to leave you tied up for the moment. I’ll instruct Krista and Vincent to see to your comfort as much as possible under the circumstances. If you’ve been completely honest with us, you have nothing to be concerned about. In fact, we might even have a proposition for you. But if you have not been completely honest with us, then it won’t be your comfort that Vincent will be seeing to.”
“He was a gentleman. A very large man, built like a bull,” said Gulliver, “with black hair and the most disquieting eyes I’d ever seen. A bright, emerald green, they were. At times, they almost seemed to glow. He was quite a handsome figure of a man, except for the disfiguring scar upon his face, from here to here.” Gulliver ran his forefinger along his cheek, from beneath his left eye to the corner of his mouth. “A wound made with a sabre, I should think, or perhaps a knife.”
“That’s a perfect description of Drakov, all right,” said Lucas.
They sat at the table in the house on Threadneedle Street, sharing a light meal of bread, smoked sausage and cheese along with a bottle of red wine. Finn poured himself another glass and shook his head.
“I can’t understand it,” he said. “Forrester shot Drakov. I was there. I saw it.”
“I saw Lucas get shot, too,” said Andre.
“What are you saying?” said Steiger, sarcastically. “That Drakov had a twin in the parallel universe too, and that Dr. Darkness switched the two of them, as well?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Lucas said, “but maybe what we’re facing here is a result of what Darkness did with me. If there was some sort of temporal disruption that came about from his changing my past, maybe it resulted in Drakov’s past being changed, as well.”
“I can’t see how,” said Finn. “As you said, Lucas, nothing was changed by Darkness altering your past. Nothing, that is, except that you survived. I don’t mean to downplay that, obviously, but the circumstances were unique. Your being alive instead of dead hasn’t altered any of the events that took place since your death.”
“Excuse me…” said Gulliver. “Uh, Finn, would you mind—”
“Don’t ask me to repeat it, Lem,” said Delaney, wryly. “I’m not even sure I understand what I just said. The point is, either Darkness was right and the uniqueness of this situation hasn’t resulted in any disruption at all or you’re the disruption yourself, Lucas. Or all of us are.”
“I’m very confused,” said Gulliver.
“Brother, you’re not alone,” said Lucas.
“Either way, we’re not going to solve anything by sitting around here,” Steiger said.
“Lucas, you sure you don’t want to—”
“No, I don’t think so,” Lucas said. “It would only cause one hell of a commotion if I went back with you now and I’d never get away from them. They’d want to debrief me, put me in for observation. .” He shook his head. “No, I could do more good here. “
“Right,” said Delaney. They got up from the table. “We’ll clock back and pick up a couple of floater paks. And while we’re at it, “ he said to Luc as, “we’ll report your miraculous survival. Or rather, your non death. Or rebirth or whatever. Hell, we’ll just report you as being alive and let them work it out.”
“Uh … on second thought, Finn, maybe you shouldn’t mention me just yet, “said Lucas.
Delaney frowned. “Why not?”
“Partly because it would cause one hell of a commotion,” Lucas said, “and I still don’t fully understand what’s happened to me. Nor can I predict how Dr. Darkness will react when he finds out that the one working prototype of his greatest invention has walked out on him. And I can think of one more reason. With this Network situation that you’ve described to me, it couldn’t hurt to have an ace up your sleeve that no One knows about. “