“Is it Japanese?” Dan asked.
“Their kanji system is different. Sort of pretty. It’s got style. This is… I don’t know. Where’d you get it?”
“Somebody Browning knows. Turns out we’ve got a knight on the government payroll. He arranged a drop. I just picked this up from under a mailbox off Pennsylvania Avenue. This is what the assassin had etched on him.”
“Bullshit.” Sullivan couldn’t imagine binding this to a human being without killing them. Even the few little spells he’d etched on himself had taken him to death’s door, and he’d done that in secret to keep the others from worrying. His older brother had been one of the strongest men alive, able to wear thirteen Imperium kanji, but none of them had been this big. It would take a monster to survive this binding. “Was the killer Jack Johnson?”
“Radio called him a sickly little man.”
“A Grimnoir ring and this thing.” Lance whistled as he took the paper. He was one of the more talented knights when it came to spellbinding. “Something’s fishy. If that’s Imperium, and I can’t think of anybody else good enough to pull this off, they’ve got some new toys to play with.”
“Russian maybe?”
“Naw. Stalin’s wizards are crude. Whoever designed this was an artist.”
“Closest thing I’ve seen to this style was Indian writing. The British brought a few units of them over to fight in the war with us,” Sullivan said. “Lance, would you hijack a bird and make sure Dan wasn’t tailed.”
“Good idea.” There wasn’t any flash or big show of Power when Lance did his thing. It was only as if he was distracted, like his mind was on something else, which in this case it was. “Got a pigeon. Gimme a minute… Looks clear to me.”
“So I got a message to deliver. You got any ideas?” Sullivan said.
“Send them a polite letter? Jane’s got nice calligraphy.” replied Dan.
“I have to do this in person. I’ve got to convince them.” Sullivan replied.
“The ambassador has a compound out in Virginia a ways. There are some mighty big guns in my truck,” Lance said.
“I’ve been doing some poking around, trying to learn about their security and I’ve got an idea.” Dan Garrett shoved his glasses back up his nose. “This may sound a little, well… Hear me out first. I think we should walk right in the front door.”
Fairfax County, Virginia
Dan Garrett’s plan was brazen. They’d gone over it in detail and it still struck Sullivan as a fool’s move. Yet, it also made a certain kind of sense. Stealth was out of the question. Maybe if they’d had a Traveler or a Fade, they could have snuck in, but Faye wasn’t available for a few days and Heinrich was dead. He didn’t know how much time they had, but waiting around for help seemed like a bad idea.
The timing worked. Their informants had said that the ambassador was having a meeting with a group of businessmen, lobbyists, and other various Imperium teat-suckers and hangers on. The folks raking in that fat Imperium money probably wanted to make sure the assassination attempt wasn’t their benefactor’s doing, and if it was, that it wouldn’t hurt the bottom line. Security would be tight because of this, but it would also put a lot of westerners and potential witnesses on the property. That might keep things from turning ugly.
At least the Imperium wouldn’t be expecting their most hated enemies to show up on the doorstep.
The compound was relatively isolated, and even though the county was crowded with over twenty thousand residents, the Japanese had bought up quite a bit of land to keep it that way. The ambassador’s residence was an impressive new construction. Three stories tall, with no expense spared, and designed by some famous architect, it looked like a proper residence for the representative of a rich and growing empire. Surrounded by a twelve-foot brick wall, the property took up several acres, complete with its own small orchard, a fish pond, and a sandbox that it was said the ambassador liked to draw circles in for some odd reason.
Sullivan was riding shotgun while Dan drove the stolen Ford Hyperion. It had been the only vehicle they had access to that was swanky enough to fit in. They pulled onto the lane and rolled toward the gate. Lance was parked a quarter mile back in his truck. Lance was Plan B. Jane was waiting in another car on a different street. An extra getaway vehicle never hurt, plus she could put them back together, provided they lived that long.
Sullivan eyed the men at the gatehouse. They were Americans, which surely made the neighbors more comfortable. Probably hired guns to keep out anti-Imperium protestors. The real protection would be inside. “You got this?”
“Easy as pie.” Dan rolled down his window and applied the brakes. The gateman was dressed in a blue uniform with gold piping. “Good evening,” Dan proclaimed. “We’re here for the meeting with the ambassador. Please let us through.”
Sullivan could feel the slight vibration in his head. The Mouth was pushing hard. Dan’s Power wasn’t even aimed at him, but the words made Sullivan feel like they were supposed to be here.
The gateman blinked a few times, confused. The smarter somebody was, the more difficult they were to Influence. “And you are?”
Dan turned it up, hard. “You’ve seen us a bunch of times. We’re here constantly, real regular visitors. You like us because we tip generously. In fact, I’m tipping you now. You just stuck twenty whole dollars in your pocket. Aren’t we swell? Now open the gate.”
“Thank you, sir!” the gateman snapped to and hurried for the controls.
Dan rolled the window back up. Sullivan chuckled. “He’ll be feeling dumb when he can’t find that twenty-dollar bill later.”
“He wants a tip? Don’t work for the Imperium.” The gate rolled open and Dan drove them through. “We think the ambassador was an Iron Guard once, and there should be at least one other one posted here.”
“This reliable?”
“General Pershing seemed to think so before he passed away. We were told he was off limits, though. Diplomatic courtesy.”
“Odd to be holding a war and still have things like courtesy.”
“The general wasn’t fond of the notion, but we couldn’t start openly assassinating their diplomats or they’d start doing it to Americans overseas.”
They pulled up in front of the mansion. Ten other cars were parked there already. Many of the nicer automobiles had curtains over the back windows to protect their valuable clients’ privacy. Some folks loved taking Imperium money, but they sure didn’t want the rest of the world to know about it.
There was something that had been nagging at Sullivan’s mind. “Dan, I know you really want to get even for Heinrich, but-”
“I know, I know. Finding out about the Enemy is more important. These are Iron Guard we’re talking about, though. What’re the odds of us getting out of here without a fight?”
“We’re about to find out.” Two men approached Dan’s window. These were Japanese, wearing black uniforms with the blue sash of the diplomatic corps. Young and fit, well-trained soldiers by the look of them. “Ready?”
“No, but too late now,” Dan said. “Lance?”
There was a tiny squeak from inside Dan’s shirt that sounded like an affirmative.
One of the guards opened Dan’s door and he stepped out. The first guard bowed respectfully toward the Mouth. However there were other figures standing further back in the shadows with their hands inside their uniforms, and they sure as hell weren’t bowing.
Dan cleared his throat. “We are here to speak to the ambassador.”