FOUR

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Cole nearly shrieked.

"I can assure you," said Tempus, smiling at him, "I am quite lucid."

"That's debatable," said Cole. "Anyone who suggests trying to assassinate a sitting president has to be delusional. You have any idea how impossible that would be."

"It has been done before."

"Yeah, maybe a hundred years ago. But not today. Not with all the modern security devices they have in place. The President of the United States is arguably the most well protected man in the world. Getting close enough to assassinate him would be practically impossible. Not to mention getting away with it. As soon as I assassinated him the Secret Service would be all over me. I'd either be captured or I'd have to shimmer away. In which case we'd be right back where we are now."

"Nothing is impossible. You've proven that. A lowly half human demon that has risen to be what some might call the pinnacle of a mercenary. You've done jobs for some of the highest members of the Underworld, including the Source himself. And you are a member of the Brotherhood of the Thorn. Compared to all that this should be child's play."

"The logistics of it alone would be a nightmare," protested Cole. "And this isn't something you just suddenly decide to do on a whim. It would take some very carefully planning. Weeks, maybe months of preparation. And if you wanted any chance at all of getting away with it you'd need help. A lot of it. A conspiracy of that magnitude could never be kept a secret for long. Eventually it would fall apart and then everyone would know who was involved."

"But you have one very important point in your favor."

"And just what would that be?"

"You have the advantage of knowing everything you need to know in advance. Where the president will be and when. What routes he will take to get there. The security measures in place. Even the security measures that weren't known in 1963. And you will know exactly how the security forces will react once the assassination occurs. Everything you need to know to plan the perfect assassination."

Tempus was right about that. They had the benefit of hindsight. They knew what the Secret Service and local police would do even before they did.

"Assuming I had access to all of that information," said Cole.

"Come with me."

Tempus turned and walked into an adjoining chamber. Cole followed and what greeted him in the chamber defied belief. The chamber was filled with books and newspapers and even reels of film. In one corner was a film projector.

"What is all this?" Cole asked.

"Everything that was written in the mortal world about the assassination that day," replied Tempus. "There have been many books on the subject. There are also newspapers from over a dozen major news organizations with the reports of the assassination. I've even managed to gather a rather substantial collection of papers written on the subject. Including exactly what the authorities did when Kennedy was killed. It's all here. Everything you could ever want to know about that particular day."

"Well, you've certainly done your homework, I'll grant you that. But my specialty is witches, not political figures. And certainly now one as high profile and as visible as the president."

"You are a mercenary. It's your job to study your prey and find their weaknesses. Obviously the mercenary the Source sent the first time was inadequate to the task. I believe you will have much better luck than he did."

"But to kill a sitting president. What you're asking is incredible."

"Don't think of it as killing him. As I've already told you, he will die that day no matter what. It is his destiny. But you have an opportunity that few rarely have. You'll be giving us a second chance. You have the knowledge of what will happen if events transpire as they did in my past. This is greater knowledge than even one of the Seer's visions. Her visions only show one possible future. Even if she doesn't act on them, it is possible the future will unfold differently from the vision. You know exactly what will happen. And only you have the opportunity to change it.

"Kennedy is going to die. Nothing can change that. Nothing can alter that. But you do have the opportunity to decide on the type of death. And to use his death to further the ends of the Underworld. You can prevent all that has happened in the past 9 years. Think of it this way. If you do nothing, you know what the outcome will be. But if you can devise a plan to assassinate him, and prevent the demon from being exposed, you will have save a great many of your fellow demons. Including most of those of your Brotherhood."

"I don't know," said Cole. "This could take a long time to plan. Even with all this information, it might take weeks before I come up with something that could work. What about Malevant? Why don't you get him to plan this for you? I'm sure he'd love to do it."

"Malevant is gone."

"You mean he was vanquished?"

"No. When news of our existence was exposed to the mortal world, Malevant left the Underworld. No one knows where he went. He's not been heard from since. But you specialize in covert plans. Malevant does not. Or rather didn't. It is often necessary for you to devise a plan to kill a witch and make it appear to be something else. In order to protect the Underworld from exposure. That's what's needed here. Someone who can devise the assassination and make it appear to be the work of someone other than demons."

"These witches. The ones that vanquished the first mercenary. Who are they? What were they doing at that speech Kennedy was giving?"

"One was a personal assistant of Kennedy's. It was she that recognized the mercenary. The others were simply in the audience listening to the speech."

"That's going to make it difficult," said Cole. "If the witch is a personal assistant to Kennedy, she's probably going to be around him a great deal of the time. That's going to complicate any attempt on him. And like I said, it could take a long time to come up with a workable plan."

"You have all the time in the world," said Tempus, smiling again. "Remember. Mine is the ability to manipulate time. You can devise your plan here, taking as long as you need. Once you are ready, I can return you to the past at precisely the moment I brought you here. There will be no noticeable passage of time once you have returned."

"I'm not sure I can give you what you want. I've never attempted anything on this scale before. Most of my targets aren't well known, for obvious reasons. Getting close enough to assassinate Kennedy will be difficult. There are always people nearby, even when he's asleep."

"We have nothing to lose by trying. And if you eventually decide it can't be done, I will return you to your own time."

"Well," said Cole thoughtfully, "I don't suppose it would hurt to take a look at the stuff you have. If nothing else it will let me know what to expect when – and if – the Underworld is exposed to the mortal world. I might be able to minimize some of the damage at least."

"Excellent," said Tempus. "These chambers are at your disposal for as long as you need them. I have already instructed several lower level demons to be at your beck and call constantly. Whatever you need, simply tell one of your attendants. It will be brought to you immediately."

"Right now I need peace and quiet. I need to start going over all this stuff and see if there's anything in it I can use. And don't keep bothering me asking me if I've come up with anything yet. When I have something, I'll let you know."

"Certainly," said Tempus. "I will also be available in case you need anything."

Cole turned to the mountain of books and papers without having the vaguest idea where to start first.

Cole had spent three weeks pouring over the material Tempus had collected on the Kennedy assassination. Before he was finished he knew more about Kennedy and the assassination than he ever wanted to know. But he knew if he was going to formulate a plan he would have to know as much as possible.

Tempus was as good as his word. He left Cole alone to work on his plan. Cole dealt mostly with a small misshapen demon called Grimlor. Grimlor had once been an underling of Malevant. After Malevant had left the Underworld his underlings had to find new masters to serve. Tempus had taken in Grimlor since no "real" demon was interested in the little misshapen creature.

Cole felt a special affinity to the small creature. Both had been born with detriments that caused them to be outcasts in the Underworld. Grimlor had been lucky enough to find masters that protected him. Cole had been able to work his way up the hierarchy of the Underworld. But they still found a kinship in each other that none found in any other denizen of the Underworld.

Cole had already formulated several plans for Kennedy's assassination. But each time he discarded them. Knowing in advance of all the security measures on Kennedy that day helped him to identify flaws in the plans that he might not otherwise be able to see. He had been right about one thing. This was not like going after a witch.

He discarded his latest plan and sat looking at the piles of books and papers gathered around him. It was beginning to look like a hopeless task. Usually it came down to one point. The witch who was one of Kennedy's assistants. She was proving to be the main thorn in Cole's plan.

He had considered taking out the witch first. With her out of the way she wouldn't be there to identify any demon that might be sent to perform the assassination. But he quickly discarded that idea. If someone close to the president should suddenly die it might raise an alarm. Cole knew the best chance of getting to the president was with total surprise.

Or at least as total as possible. As the President of the United States, the Secret Service was always on the lookout for anyone who might want to harm him. Even leads that appeared to be baseless were checked out. The Secret Service was very serious about protecting the president.

"How are you doing?" Tempus came in to the chamber.

"Not good," replied Cole. "I'm not sure I can come up with a plan to assassinate the president and get away with it. And as long as the witch is around there's always the chance she'll recognize the assassin as a demon."

"What about taking out the witch? Without her in the picture a demon would have a greater chance of success."

"And if someone that close to the president suddenly dies, even accidentally, it could cost us the element of surprise. If we're going to have any chance of success we have to have the element of surprise. I can tell you from personal experience it's much more difficult to kill someone if they know you're coming for them."

"I see. Have you considered something like a bomb? I would think that would be more effective than a surgical attack."

"Maybe," said Cole. "But there's no guarantee Kennedy would be killed with a bomb. Several attempts were made against Hitler during the war and they all failed. He was injured but he always seemed to escape death."

"And as I have already pointed out, Kennedy will die that day. It would seem to me that a bomb would simply help to facilitate that. Even if the bomb doesn't kill him, he will still die. I imagine the humans would simply attribute his death to that."

"That's always a possibility. But then again, there are no guarantees. Let's say he survives the bomb. Later, a Soviet infiltrator or Soviet sympathizer assassinates Kennedy separate from the bomb. Or it could be someone who wasn't happy with Kennedy. Believing him to be 'soft' on communism."

"Then it would seem our problem is solved."

"Not exactly. Remember, the U.S. and the Soviet Union are in the middle of a cold war right now. If word should get out that Kennedy was assassinated by Soviet spies it could escalate to an actual war. It's not out of the realm of possibility that a nuclear war could be the result. And I think we both agree that's something we want to avoid."

"Of course," said Tempus. "I assume you're trying to plan for a demon to get close enough to assassinate with an athame or something along those lines."

"Something like that. We can't very well have a demon using a fireball or energy ball on Kennedy. It has to look like a 'normal' murder. No magic involved. Otherwise we risk exposing us to the mortal world. The problem is getting someone close enough to Kennedy to assassinate him and then allowing that person to get away."

"Why do they need to escape? Once Kennedy is assassinated, the operative would be expendable."

"Which means they will either shimmer away to avoid capture, or they will be killed by the Secret Service resisting arrest. Once the president is assassinated every law enforcement in the area is going to have their weapons drawn. It's quite possible they may shoot the operative to stop him. I don't think the operative is going to come quietly. And we both know what happens to demons when they've been vanquished. There would be no way to explain the body suddenly vanishing."

"I see. Yes, it is quite a dilemma. Perhaps you may be right. There may be no way to solve this dilemma. Perhaps this has been a fools' errand. Even considering my creative way around it, there may be no way to prevent what has already transpired."

"Not necessarily," said Cole thoughtfully, picking up a photograph from a pile on the table. "There is one thing I hadn't taken into consideration. Excuse me, Tempus. It's possible I may have just come up with something that might work. But I'll need to work out some details on it."

"Certainly," said Tempus, turning and leaving the chamber. Cole barely noticed him leave as he began to pour over the material on the table.