TW02 The Timekeeper Conspiracy NEW by Simon Hawke Page B

crooked nose, and a thin, cruel mouth. He knew that Taylor was considerably older than he was, though by how much, he could not say. Taylor had appeared to be, judging by the standards used before the advent of antiagathic drugs, eighteen to twenty years of age. He was, Jimmy knew, at the very least three times that age. Now, however, Taylor was transformed.
    The skills of Jack Bennett had reshaped his face, shortening and straightening out his nose and giving it a slight, delicate upward turn. His jawline had been restructured, more gently curved, the sharp planes of his face smoothed out, the cheeks rounded, the soft flesh around the eyes surgically altered to eliminate the beginning signs of age. His mouth was full and soft now, the lips were those of a voluptuary. The ears were small and shapely, without the pronounced lobes they had earlier possessed. A small beauty mark now graced Taylor's right cheek. His adam's apple had been removed and the skin of the throat smoothed out. Taylor's hairline had been depilated to give him a higher forehead. He had round, full breasts now and decidedly and unsettlingly feminine hips. The exten-sive operation had been a masterwork, complete right down to the very last detail. Taylor even had Milady's brand, the harlot's fleur-de-lis, burned into his shoulder.
    Transsexual operations had been reversible for many years. The purpose of the procedure had simply been to enable Taylor to become a "woman" for the purpose of the mission. When it was over, Adrian Taylor would be able to have his male organs back, either exactly as they were or redesigned to his own specifications. But it had become much more than an elaborate disguise. Taylor took a perverse pleasure in being as he was now. With each succeeding day, he fell more and more in love with his new aspect.
    Of all the Timekeepers, Taylor was the best known. The TIA had an extensive dossier on his activities. He was re-garded as an expert in his field, ruthless, cold, and extremely dangerous. The one thing that no one outside the organization knew was what Taylor really looked like. Few people within the Timekeepers had ever glimpsed Taylor's real face. He changed his appearance almost as frequently as most people changed their style of clothing. Taylor was a true chameleon, but to Jimmy's knowledge, he had never gone so far before. It wasn't Taylor's sexual preferences that bothered Jimmy Darcy. There was nothing unusual in that. What frightened Jimmy Darcy was that Adrian Taylor appeared to have two personalities now. He was both Adrian Taylor
and
Milady. Sometimes he spoke as Adrian Taylor and acted like a man surgically disguised as a woman. Sometimes he spoke as Milady de Winter, living out the role. And sometimes, he spoke as Milady, referring to Adrian Taylor in the second per-son, as though Taylor existed elsewhere, as a separate and distinct being. He did so now.
    "No sign of Silvera," he said once again, fingering his throat absently. "Adrian won't like that. I think we can safely assume that Silvera is no longer with us. Pity. He must have underestimated the opposition.
    You checked? You're certain? There was only Bennett and the woman?"
    "They were seen getting into a carriage and driving away," said Jimmy.
    "There can be no doubt that she's an agent," Taylor said. "Bennett has betrayed us."
    "But he seemed totally committed to the cause," said Jimmy. "God, do you realize what this means?
    It's a complete disaster! They know who you are now! We're stopped before we've even started!"
    "Not necessarily," said Taylor. He smiled. "That won't stop Adrian at all. Why should it?"
    "I don't understand," said Jimmy. "How can we continue now?"
    "You're not thinking, Jimmy." He was Adrian again, sud-denly on his feet and pacing nervously.
    "Didn't I always tell you to have faith? All right, so they know that I've become Milady. So what? You forget that time is on our side."
    "The chronoplate!" said Jimmy. "We can go back in time and