“Anything else?” Ian asked.
“Only if you read between the lines,” Mr. Browning answered patiently. “We know they’re aware of Francis, but they fail to mention him here. They know more than they are releasing to the press. How much more is the question.”
“Is this an attempt to rattle us?” Whisper asked. Faye loved how Whisper spoke English. It was like you took all the S sounds and held onto them just a little too long. It seemed rather mysterious. When she wasn’t so busy trying to save the world, Faye decided she would have to go and visit Paris sometime.
“I believe so,” Browning replied. “I recognize a few of these other names. All knights, and all with some measure of public success. Dan Garrett, for example, is remembered by many from his radio days. Dr. Rosenstein is a prestigious surgeon in Chicago. Or they have a distinguishing physical feature, such as young Faye. In short, these are knights that will be recognized by the public.”
The waitress brought their food. Faye immediately dug into her plate of hash browns and eggs. She was starving. Mr. Browning reached under the table and touched her knee gently. At first she’d thought that she’d had yet another breech of polite-folk manners-of which she was still trying to figure out all the many little details-but when she glanced up, Mr. Browning just looked her in the eye and tilted his head down slightly. Huh? Mr. Browning closed his eyes for just a moment too long, then nodded toward the door. A policeman had come into the cafe.
Her grey eyes… Of course. The newspaper had said she was a Traveler. Everybody knew Travelers had grey eyes, and since Travelers were so very rare anyways, a young female Traveler would stand out especially bad. Faye kept her head down, and went on eating in the most nonsuspicious way possible, which was more difficult than it sounded.
The policeman sat on a stool two seats over from Mr. Bryce and loudly ordered a coffee. Mr. Bryce, who struck Faye as a particularly dangerous man, subtly kept one eye on the policeman even while he appeared to be focused on eating his pancakes. The cafe was crowded enough that their table of four did not stand out, but Mr. Browning lowered his voice anyway. “Things are more complicated than we suspected.”
“Somebody from the Minotaur is bound to remember her as soon as they read this,” Ian suggested. “They’ll be watching the air stations now. We need to get out of here.”
Mr. Browning nodded. “You are correct, sir… Faye, there is really no need to inhale your food. Finish as you normally would.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled with a very full mouth.
“We will procure automobiles and split up. I shall continue on to Florida to research the identity of the assassin. Mr. Bryce will accompany me because he is a trained criminal investigator. The rest of you will rendezvous with Mr. Talon in Virginia.”
That made Faye uncomfortable. She didn’t know these new knights very well, and in particular really didn’t like Ian much at all. That was an awful long time to be stuck in a car with somebody that thought Harkeness and Rawls were heroes… Not murdering Ian for that long might be really hard. “Me too?”
“Yes, my dear. I would love the pleasure of your company, but I believe that taking one of the individuals on the persons of interest list to the scene of the crime would be unwise. Besides, with all of these dealings with Iron Guards, your rather direct abilities will certainly be of much greater value to Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Talon.”
That made her proud. Nobody was better at killing Imperium than Sally Faye Vierra.
“This should be pleasant.” Whisper rummaged through her enormous purse for a moment until she found a pair of sunglasses. She passed the cheaters to Faye under the table. “I for one enjoy a good road trip.”
Unknown Location
As always, his nightmares were of zombies.
The memories would haunt him forever. The death madness consumed even the best of men eventually, until they were nothing more than ravenous maniacs, driven only by pain that could not end and a hunger that could never be sated. His bad dreams were always of the chase, running through the crumbling alleys and broken buildings, hiding in sewers and crawl spaces, sleeping precariously on ledges where the undead could not cross without waking him, for if he was not careful in picking where to lay his head, then he would surely be awoken by teeth.
A boy had to be clever if he expected to survive for long in Dead City. He must be quick to decide and even quicker to act. Yet, his every move must be tempered with wisdom, because in the decaying hell that had been Berlin, one wrong choice would be your last. Always outnumbered, but never outwitted, he had grown to manhood in the festering pit. Only the smartest of the living lasted long inside the confines of the Berlin Wall, and the greatest compliment that could be given amongst them was survivor.
And Heinrich Koenig was a survivor.
He woke up chained to a wall but could not remember how he’d gotten there. Steel shackles encircled his wrists. Shackles meant nothing to a Fade, but when Heinrich tried to go grey, to drift the molecules of his body through his bindings, nothing happened. His Power was there, but it would not answer to him.
Curious.
Heinrich took stock of his surroundings. The room was windowless and constructed of crumbling brick. A single weak bulb hung from the low ceiling. It was very dark. There was a single door made of thick boards and the hinges were on the other side. There was no doorknob on his side. He tested the chains. They were substantial and went through holes that had been cut in the wall. When he tugged, there was no give. The chains were solidly anchored on the other side.
He was not afraid. It was not that he was fearless, but Heinrich was too methodical to spare the time necessary to dwell on fear.
Next, he took a physical inventory. His body ached, especially his head. The skin on his face and hands felt as if he had been sunburned. He was hungry, thirsty, and nauseous, as if he had been administered narcotics. His clothing smelled burned, and upon closer examination he could see where the grey fabric of his suit and trousers had been singed and blackened. His Grimnoir ring was missing. That ring meant a lot to him. Whoever had taken it would regret doing so.
Trying his Power again only succeeded in making his headache worse. He did not feel as if a ward of weakness had been drawn on him, so something else had to be going on. He tried to remember how he’d wound up shackled to a wall and drew a blank. The last thing he remembered was talking to Francis while waiting for the President to show up… Then there had been explosions. Yes. Now I remember. It had been a Boomer, stronger than any he had ever heard of, in the plaza killing many. Heinrich swore under his breath as it all came back. He had saved Francis by Fading through the shrapnel, then had run to save the President. He had reached the injured man, taken his hand, and dropped them both through the stairs. They had come out in the boiler room, but then there had been another flash of light… That was all he could recall.
There was a clank as the door was unlocked. A lone man. The door was closed behind him, and as he leaned in the shadows of the far wall, he removed a pack of cigarettes from his black suit coat. “You’re awake. Good. Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Koenig. You can call me Crow.”
Heinrich’s throat was so dry that it hurt to speak. “Unchain me and I will gladly shake your hand.”
“And wring my neck. Your reputation precedes you. You don’t need magic to be dangerous. You were some sort of Dead City street urchin. You’ve fought zombies, Soviets, Cossacks, and Imperium, but somehow you’re still around to talk about it. You got some mileage on you, kid. I seen it before. Old man’s eyes in a young man’s face. Being a Fade is like putting the cherry on top of a murder sundae. Those chains stay on.”
“Why is my magic not working?”
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to tell, since the sooner you realize you’re stuck, the sooner you’ll cooperate. This facility is protected by a device that nullifies magic. Strictly temporary of course. It only works while the machine is running. It makes it so that the Power can’t hook up with you.”