“Great.” said Cooper, dryly. “You got any other good news for me?”
“Just this. If you don’t hear from us by sunup, it means we blew it and you’re in charge;
“Yeah. but what’s my mission?” Cooper asked. “I’m no adjustment specialist, Delaney. I’m a strike force commander. I need a target.”
“Drakov„the Network, the S. 0.6., anyone who doesn’t belong in this time sector.” said Delaney. “I know that’s not very specific, but it’s about the best I can do.”
Cooper snorted with disgust. “So how the hell am I supposed to find these people? You gave me a description of Ben Stone and that O’Fallon guy who’s calling himself Johnny Ringo, and I can spot Drakov if I see him, but how the fuck am I supposed to identify the others?”
“You’ll have to fly this one by the seat of your pants,” said Delaney. “With any luck, you won’t have to. If we survive the raid on Drakov’s base of operations, whether we’re able to capture him or not we’ll coordinate the rest of the operation with you. If we don’t make it, well, whatever you do, it probably won’t make much difference. But give it your best shot. Maybe you can do something to minimize the effects of the disruption.
“It’s really that bad, huh? Look, maybe we should just start bringing in the troops right now. That way, at least I can give you some cover when you go up against Drakov.”
“No way,” Delaney said. “Lucas doesn’t want to take that chance. This time sector’s too unstable. The least little thing is liable to trigger off a timewave or maybe even a timestream split. The only one who knows for sure what’s liable to happen is Darkness and he flat out refused to tell us. All we know is that something that’s supposed to happen here is going to bring about a terrible temporal disaster in the future unless we can change history and we’ve only got one shot to make it work. But we don’t know when that opportunity is going to come or what it’s going to be.”
“Shit. I don’t envy you.” said Cooper. “I don’t envy me, either. What you’re telling me is that if you don’t make it, no matter what I do. I’ll be pissing in the wind.”
“Probably.” Delaney replied. “But look on the bright side. If we don’t make it, at least you won’t be caught up in whatever’s going to happen in the future.”
“No, just he caught in whatever’s going to happen here and now. I’m not sure which would be worse. Fuck it. It isn’t over till it’s over. Till then, we just dove on. Good luck, Finn.”
“You too. Brian.”
Delaney headed for the door. but just then. Tilley called Cooper on his communicator.
“Tilley here. We’ve got trouble. Colonel.” he said.
Delaney paused with his hand on the doorknob.
“What is it?” Cooper asked.
“I’ve got two men on the root across the street,” said Tilley.”Armed and wearing black commando gear.”
“Damn it.” said Delaney. “It’s gotta be the S.O.G.”
“They spot you. Tilley?”
“I don’t think so,” came the reply. “I picked them up on my starlight scope They’re watching the street below and covering the front entrance.”
“Geordy, you get that?” Cooper asked.
“I got it,” Georgeson said. “I’m downstairs, by the back stairway, covering the back entrance. You want me to check outside?”
“Negative.” said Cooper. “Stay put. Tilley-”
“Hold it.” Tilley said, “I’ve got activity. Two men heading this way from the southeast. One of them answers Stone’s description, the other one’s dressed like a cowboy. Hold on. I’ll see if I can… there’s movement in the alley, heading toward the back! Heads up, Geordy!”
“Shit!” Delaney swore, throwing open the door and drawing his revolver.
“Cover the front!” Cooper shouted to him. Then he spoke quickly into his communicator. “Tilley. watch your back, they may clock up to the roof!”
Cooper drew his disruptor and moved to the window as Delaney ran out into the hall and down the stairs.
“Finn should have been back by now,” said Lucas, tensely.
“You think maybe something happened?” Andre asked.
Lucas exhaled heavily. “We’re not going to find out waiting around here.” He got up, tossed down the whiskey he’d been drinking, picked up his laser rig and strapped it on underneath his coat.
“Be interesting if Wyatt Earp catches you wearing that in town.” said Andre.
Lucas grimaced. “I’ll tell him it’s a fancy Buntline Special,” he said. “And then I’ll hit him over the head with it.”
Andre got up and started heading toward the door. “You’re right, we’d better go check on him.”
“Aren’t you bringing anything?” asked Lucas.
“Hey, you know me. I always pack.” she said, lifting her long skirt. Beneath it, she wore high-button shoes and black lycra tights There was a laser pistol in a holster strapped to her right thigh and a commando bowie in a sheath strapped around her left leg.
“Interesting outfit,” Lucas said, with a grin. “What else you got hidden under there?”
“You’ll find out on our wedding night.” she replied.
“Cute.”
“Come on, greenhorn. Let’s go find that crazy Irishman.”
They went down the stairs and out the front door.
“Here they come.” said one of the snipers on the roof of Hafford’s Saloon, across the street. He rested his rifle and chambered a round.
“About damn time.” one of the others replied. “Let’s finish this.”
“The girl, too?”
“Yeah, the girl, too. That’s what Ringo said, ain’t it?”
“I don’t like shootin’ a woman.”
“You want to take it up with Ringo?”
“Hell, no.”
“Then let ’em have it!”
As they stepped down off the sidewalk, Andre stumbled.
“Damn heels!” she swore. A shot cracked out and a bullet struck the wood post behind her. More shots followed in rapid succession.
“ Shit!” cried Lucas. “It’s an ambush! Come on!”
They started running.
Up on the roof, the riflemen suddenly stopped shooting.
“What in the hell.” one of them said. staring down at the street.
“Where’d they go?”
“Shoot, God damn it!”
“At what?”
“Son of a bitch! Where in hell did they go?”
“I don’t know! One minute there they were, and then they were Just
… gone!”
“Check the street, for God’s sake! They gotta be down there somewhere!”
“Where? We can see the whole blamed street from here! They plumb vanished!”
“I’m gettin’ outta here.”
“Wait…
“You wait! I ain’t stickin’ around for the Earps to come and see what all the shootin’ was about.”
“Heck, me neither!”
“I just can’t understand it. We had ’em right in our sights! Where the hell did they go?”
Lucas and Andre suddenly stopped short.
“Holy shit,” said Lucas.
One moment, they’d been running down a dark street in the middle of the night, with bullets whistling past them. Suddenly, the shooting had stopped and it was broad daylight, around two or three in the afternoon.
“We’ve crossed over!’ Andre said, looking all around her. They were about half a block away from the Grand Hotel. Nothing looked different, except that in a matter of a few steps, they had moved from night into day, from one timeline into another.
“We’ve got to go back.” said Andre.
“And get our asses shot off?” Lucas said. “Besides, how do we know if we can go back?”
“You’re hit!” Andre exclaimed, seeing the blood on his shoulder.
Lucas shook his head. “It’s just a flesh wound. I’m all right.”
“Damn,” said Andre. “What happens now?”
“Shit,” said Lucas, looking down the street. “I’m afraid I know.”
She followed his gaze. Wyatt. Virgil and Morgan Earp, together with Doc Holliday, had just stepped off the sidewalk on Hafford’s Corner. Virgil Earp was carrying a cane in his right hand. Doc Holliday held a shotgun in one hand and his nickel-plated Colt in the other. Morgan Earp held a six-gun at his side. They started walking north on Fourth Street, heading across it diagonally toward Fremont Street. And with them was the Montana Kid.