Heliograph communications under such conditions were difficult, as was the local khan, who was" loyalto the British only while Blood remained encamped upon his doorstep. If he went to reinforce the 2nd Brigade, the khan of Nawagai would turn against him and the Hadda Mullah’s Ghazis would pour down out of the Bedmanai Pass to harass his rear. The entire region would be out of control. Blood’s brigade was the only thing between the Hadda Mullah’s Ghazis and the tribesmen in the Mamund. If they were to unite, his situation, and that of the British in the northern sector of the frontier, would almost certainly be hopeless.
"He’sdown there somewhere," Finn said,"ayoung cavalry officer on leave from his regiment and having a high old time. Can you beat that" Most soldiers go on leave so they can see their loved ones or have a party somewhere. This one goes so he can see a war. It’s not enough he’s faced with thousands of berserkers with knives and swords and rifles, now he’s got a hit squad from a parallel future on his tail. ‘How was your leave, soldier"’ ‘Oh, not so bad, sir. Bit of a dustup with several thousand savages; some difficulty crossing rugged terrain while being harassed by snipers night and day; a few assassins from an alternate universe gave us a rough time for a while, but otherwise, routine, sir. Just routine.’ What was that line about mad dogs and Englishmen""
"You’re tense," said Andre. -You always babble in-coherently when you get tense."
Delaney snorted. -You’re feeling relaxed and mel-low, I suppose""
"Sure. I’m fine now. When this is over, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown. I hope to hell you’ve read the situation right."
"1 hope to hell I have too, " said Finn. " I f I was going to do what they’re planning, this would be the perfect opportunity. This was a turning point in Blood’s campaign. If he failed here, the whole northern frontier would have gone up, and the Tirah Expeditionary Force would have been nowhere near enough to pacify the region. With Blood putting down the uprisings in the north, all Lockhart had to worry about were the tribes in the southern sector. This scenario would give them the perfect chance to kill two birds with one stone. Assassinate Churchill and sabotage, Blood’s drive against the Bedmanai Pass. Add that to the strike against the Tirah force in the Khyber and you’ve got a massive temporal disruption on several counts, with at least one timestream split, guaranteed."
"Howdo you think they’ll go about it"" Andre said.
"If I was them, I’d wait for the battle," Finn said.
"It would be easier for them to kill Churchill in all the confusion."
"You don’t think they’re down there already, do you"""
"Idoubt it. It would be difficult to infiltrate a brigade that’s been together as long as this one has. Most of the men would know each other, and strangers would be spotted pretty quickly. And infiltrating the tribesmen would make it that much harder for them to get close to Churchill. Easier when you’re on the same side. No, they’ll wait for all hell to break loose when the brigade goes up against the Ghazis. My guess is they’re out here somewhere in the dark, just like we are. Waiting. "
"Orlooking for us," said Andre. "If they can scan for warp discs, then they know we’re here."
"I’m betting against it," Finn said. "They have no reason to carry scanning equipment with them on this trip. They want to travel light. And as far as they know, we’re still back in that cell inside the temple, being interrogated by Bryant and the others in the party."
"Unless one of them’s gone back to check in,"" she said. ""Any way you look at it, we’re taking a big gamble. ""
"True," said Finn, grinning at her,"butyou’re tak-ing it with an Irishman. That’s as near to a sure thing as you can get."
"I’d still feel better if we had the entire First Division with us," Andre said. "I’m also worried about Mulvaney, Ortheris, and Learoyd."
"Iknow," said Finn. "I hope they weren’t foolish enough to go back when they saw we didn’t come out."
— They’re just the type who would," said Andre.
Finn nodded. "Much as I hate to say it, we can’t af-ford to worry about them now. Their lives aren’t as important as Churchill’s. We have to take care of the hit squad first. Then we can go back for thern."
"Assuming we’re still alive."
"We will be. I’m not quite ready to retire yet. We need to get close to Churchill in a hurry when things start happening," said Finn. "I don’t like trying to clock into the middle of a battle and looking for him while everybody’s shooting at each other."
"You’re right. I think we should go down there," Andre said.
"How do we explain our presence" We were sent back to Peshawar from Malakand, remember""
"True, but what if we never got there""
"Okay, what are you thinking""
"Listen to this and tell me if it sounds plausible. We started out towards Peshawar, but ran into enemy tribesmen on the way. We ran, but we couldn’t get through. We became separated from the others when my horse was shot out from under me. You turned back to help me, and we were cut off. We managed to escape and wefollowed the regiment, keeping to concealment as much as possible. Your horse went lame several miles away from here and we had to chance going the rest of the way on foot. We arrive at the brigade camp looking very tired, and relieved as all hell to get through with our skins intact. What do you think""
"Not bad," said Finn. "I don’t think they’ll have any reason to question the story. We already look pretty bedraggled, but it’ll help if we mess our clothes up a bit more. It’ll get us back into the camp, and we’ll be able to keep close to Churchill. I like it. You’d better carry the disruptor. We can tear up these robes a bit and rig up a way to tie it to your thigh. It might be difficult to conceal on me, and I don’t think anyone will go looking up your dress. These are Englishmen, after all."
"Toobad," she said, smiling."1 was going to suggest one way to keep close to Churchill tonight."
Delaney stared at her.
"Just kidding."
"With you, sometimes it’s hard to tell."
They made their preparations and then started down toward the camp. "Be careful," said Finn. "We don’t want to get shot by the pickets."
When they were a short distance from the camp, Finn spotted the picket line. At almost the same time an alert soldier spotted him. A shot sent them both sprawling face down in the dirt.
"Holdyour fire!" Finn shouted.
The astonished soldier challenged them, and when Finn replied, told them to come forward.
"All right, here goes," said Finn."Crossyour fingers. We may be able to pull this off yet."
"You won’t find your friends,"" said Drakov.
"What ‘ave you done with ‘em"" Mulvaney said, tightening his grip.
"Finn Delaney and Andre Cross have made good their escape," said Drakov.
"Howdid you know their names"" Learoyd said.
"Thereis more involved here than you could imagine," Drakov said. "Far more than I can allow you to interfere with. They understood how much was at stake, and they could not afford to concern themselves with you. Neither can 1. "
He broke Mulvaney’s grip easily and threw him into Ortheris. Learoyd lunged at him with the knife, but Drakov was quicker. He blocked the thrust, turned Learoyd’s wrist, jerked him off balance, and chopped him to the ground. The Ghazis quickly closed in and the soldiers were taken.
"Nowthat I’m satisfied you’re no more than what you appeared to be, I can safely dismiss you from my mind," said Drakov. "Unfortunately for you, I can’t let you go. You’d warn the Tirah force and upset my plans. "
"Don’t you worry, mate," Mulvaney said. "We’ll upset more than yer plans yet."