“You don’t really expect him to see it that way, do you?” Finn asked. “Not our boy Mongoose. His ego couldn’t handle that. You been in touch with Fitzroy about this?”
Lucas shook his head. “I didn’t want to do anything until I talked to you first. According to the note I got from Mongoose, Fitzroy’s set up a safehouse in Paris so he can be close to where the action is. Mongoose is our contact in England, which means that if I push the panic button, he’s going to respond and not Fitzroy. At least, that’s the way it should work in practice. You think he’ll answer if we signal?”
“I’m not sure what to think,” said Finn. “It doesn’t look good.”
“The first year of RCS includes some heavy courses in advanced computer science, doesn’t it?” said Lucas. “You take that and add it to the fact that Mongoose had to have top clearance to work in the evaluations section and you’ve got all the necessary ingredients for his figuring out a way to program an unauthorized transfer. Still, I don’t see how he could possibly hope to get away with it. He might be smart enough to have figured out a way to beat the safeguards in the TIA data banks and to have interfaced with the Temporal Corps personnel files, but the records could still be cross-checked against the Referee Corps’ databanks.”
“But there would be no reason for anyone to run a crosscheck on him unless someone specifically brought the matter up,” said Finn. “The refs have too much to do to bother running routine checks on personnel records. Hell, maybe we’re way off base and someone just screwed up and approved his transfer.”
“You think maybe Darrow might’ve covered for him?” Lucas said. “Mongoose was his top agent, after all. He had a good record until he got in over his head. The fact that Darrow didn’t bust him out of the agency proves that he was protective of his people.”
“But Darrow resigned as director after that whole Timekeeper flap,” said Finn.
“So?” said Lucas. “He resigned because his position gave him the luxury to do so. Mongoose would’ve been stuck in an administrative job. Forrester might have considered it a slap on the wrist, but Mongoose loved field work. We both know he got high off taking chances. For him, a desk job would’ve been slow death and with a new director coming in, a black mark like endangering an adjustment mission might have cost him even that job in a periodic review. Darrow might have done him one last favor before he left.”
“It’s possible,” said Finn. “In any case, there’s no way I’m going to work with him again. I’m going to have to lay the law down to Fitzroy. Either Mongoose gets pulled off this mission or the Scarlet Pimpernel goes on strike for the duration.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Lucas. “You know you can’t do that.”
“Yeah, you’re right. That’s wishful thinking. Still, we can do our damnedest to convince Fitzroy that Mongoose represents a threat to this operation. We’re not exactly his favorite people. He’s got it in for us, I’m sure of it. This is all just a bit too serendipitous.”
“You don’t suppose he’d purposely jeopardize an adjustment just for his own personal…” Lucas’s voice trailed off.
“Yeah, funny thing about that,” Finn said. “That’s exactly what he did the last time. He almost blew the mission just so he could fight his own private war against the Timekeepers. It wouldn’t be out of character for him. I’ve got this feeling of deja vu and I don’t care for it one bit.”
“Well, all this guesswork isn’t going to get us anywhere,” said Lucas. “We’re going to have to find out for sure what the situation is. I think I’d better send Andre back to Paris to see Fitzroy.”
Finn shook his head. “No, you go. Besides, I need her here to keep an eye on Marguerite. You could do a better job of convincing Fitzroy to check him out than Andre could. The fact that Mongoose is here and apparently acting like nothing ever happened has me extremely nervous. If we’re wrong about him and everything is on the level, you’re going to have to make Fitzroy understand that Mongoose is a bad risk. If we’re not wrong, then we’ve got trouble and we’re going to need some help.”
“I’ll leave right away,” said Lucas. “I’ll get back as quickly as I can, but meanwhile, watch yourself, okay?”
“Count on it,” said Finn.
The social pecking order had to be observed, which meant that the invitation of the Prince of Wales had to be accepted first. However, when the prince’s invitation was replied to, he responded by saying that he would be most pleased to welcome Sir Percy Blakeney back to his native England officially and that he could think of no finer way to mark the occasion than a shoot at Richmond with a group of boon companions, followed by a housewarming dinner. In this manner, the future King George IV of England invited himself and most of London society to Richmond, which made it incumbent upon Finn to crack the whip in Lucas’s absence and personally see to it that the Blakeney estate would be prepared for the invasion.
In a way, it was advantageous for him in that it took up a great deal of his time and Marguerite, as hostess, also had a great many preparations to make. As a result, she and Finn did not see very much of each other during the next several days. Finn did not complain. She made him feel very ill at ease. They hardly spoke to each other beyond the necessary polite exchanges and the strain of it, as well as her obviously growing disenchantment and resentment, was wearing on him. Entertaining the Prince of Wales would naturally mean that anyone who mattered in the proper social circles would be in attendance, which would give Finn an excellent opportunity to establish the character of Sir Percy Blakeney in precisely the manner he intended. It would also provide an excellent opportunity to introduce the Scarlet Pimpernel to England.
Sir Andrew Ffoulkes had returned from France, along with the old Duc de Chalis and his sons. On a trip to London to see Blakeney’s solicitors, Finn had a chance to look up Ffoulkes, who had already been briefed by Dewhurst concerning their forthcoming plans. Delaney found Andrew Ffoulkes to be an amiable, easygoing young man in his late twenties, tall and slim with dark hair, a clever look about his angular features, and a charming, deferential manner. Ffoulkes, like Dewhurst, was a wealthy young man, although his personal fortune paled into insignificance when compared to Blakeney’s. Ffoulkes kept an elegantly understated suite of apartments in London and it was there that they all met to begin planning out the activities of their creation, the crusader who would shortly become known throughout all of England as the Scarlet Pimpernel.
They began to form their league. Ffoulkes and Dewhurst would, naturally, be the first and senior members, taking their direction from Blakeney. Lucas and Andre would act as their links to Blakeney when he could not contact them himself. Together, the three of them discussed the possibility of recruiting fellow adventurers to their cause.
Dewhurst proposed five members, whose personal qualities and qualifications were discussed at length; Ffoulkes brought up four names. They talked about it late into the night and it was decided that all would make good candidates, providing that they could take direction without question and never be informed of the Pimpernel’s true identity.
“All right, then,” Finn said, when they had finished for the night, “I suggest that the two of you begin approaching those whom we’ve agreed upon discreetly and sound them out as to their feelings on this matter. Be very circumspect initially and if you have any doubt as to the degree of their commitment, let the matter go no further. Are we agreed?”
“Agreed, “ said Ffoulkes.
“Agreed,” said Dewhurst.
“Good,” said Finn. “In that case, we shall meet again at Richmond. Confer with de Chalis once again and make certain that he knows what to do. We’ve made a good beginning, gentlemen. Now let’s start gathering momentum.”
Andre felt sorry for Marguerite Blakeney. She couldn’t help it. Since Lady Blakeney had arrived at Richmond, Andre had been spending a great deal of time with her, both to help keep a distance between her and Finn and to keep track of her so that she would not inadvertently cause any element of the adjustment to go awry.