“Uh, yeah.” One of the other Keepers, Coatl, raised his hand. “So if I need to be excused to take a shit, should I be going to Slate, or do I ask Haken? You know, if it’s an emergency.”
“Hey,” Lizbeth said. “If you’re taking a shit, it’s always an emergency.”
“Love you too, Liz.”
“Are you hearing this?” Slate demanded to Rain. “Why’s this clown on the detail?”
“Kiss my arse,” Coatl told Slate. “If the Council really gave a fuck, we’d have an indictment already.”
“How about you—” Haken began, then stopped as Rain raised a hand. Rain looked at Coatl. “You have something to say?” Rain asked. “Say it.”
“Council can’t make up their mind what they want,” Coatl said. “Everyone’s got their own piece.” He shrugged. “I’m just saying.”
“Yeah, well, maybe they do,” Rain said. “But we’ve got a missing apprentice and a missing witness, and that’s not going away. So if we’re going to do this thing, we’re going to do it right.” He looked around. “Does anyone have a problem with that? Because if you do, there’s the door.”
Coatl and Cerulean looked away. Lizbeth and Slate looked back at Rain with neutral expressions. Abeyance stayed quiet.
“All right,” Rain said at last. “I take it from your silence you’re ready to do some work.” He fitted something into the projector, then glanced over at the light switch. It moved with a click and the room was plunged into darkness for a moment before the projection focus activated and a life-sized figure materialised in front of us, shedding a glow over the group.
Like most projection images, the figure outlined before us was brighter and clearer than an ordinary image would be, more real than real. The shape was that of a woman, outlined in blue light, perfectly detailed but frozen and still. She was tall and slim, with a long neck, a willowy build, skin so dark it was nearly black, and short wavy hair that curved outwards to frame her face. She wore a black-and-beige dress, cut long.
“Take a good look,” Rain said. Standing behind the image, the reflected light cast him in deep blue. “This is your target, Mage Vihaela. Age thirty-five, apprenticed under Ylath. Became his apprentice at age sixteen, made Chosen one year later. After Ylath’s death, she moved out on her own. Drifted between various cabals, picked up a few records but nothing serious. Even then she was building a reputation for herself. Joined White Rose four years ago, recruited personally by Marannis. Within a year she was in charge of their internal affairs, and after two she was the second-in-command of the entire organisation. Our sources say that she’s now director in all but name.”
“Type?” Trask said.
“Death-life hybrid, heavier on the death side. Specialises in incapacitation and inflicting pain. One bit of good news is that we’ve got no indication that she can bypass shields. Bad news is that she definitely has ranged capability. How she can handle herself in a fight is not well known. She’s never been brought in and there are no reliable accounts from people who’ve gone up against her. For that reason and for several others, I do not want you to engage her in combat if there is any possible alternative.”
“Anything on associates?” Haken said.
“No apprentices, no cabal mates. It’s believed she does most of her work personally.”
I studied Vihaela’s image. The recorder had caught her with her arms folded, large dark eyes looking out into space. Her expression made it seem as though she were studying someone. She didn’t look obviously intimidating, but there was something in her face that triggered warning bells. I had the feeling I didn’t want to get into a fight with her.
“Everyone familiar with her face?” Rain said. “Good. Because I want her brought in by tonight.”
I felt Haken start a little at that. “Tonight?” For the first time, Slate looked taken aback. “Seriously?”
“That’s not enough time,” Lizbeth said.
“That’s the time you have.”
“Captain,” Haken said, “we need to set more groundwork in place before doing something like this. We should be putting in surveillance, figuring out associates . . .”
“That’s why you’ve been assigned a time mage and a diviner. They should be able to give you all the information you need.”
“You know how White Rose are going to take this. We march in there without preparation—”
“You’re not arresting her.”
“They’re not going to care!”
“Believe me, I am aware,” Rain said. “But these orders come straight from the top. The Council wants immediate action.” Rain paused. “For what it’s worth, I told the representative almost exactly what you just told me. It did not sway his opinions on the matter. As far as the Council is concerned, the subject is closed.” Rain looked around. “Any other questions?”
“What if she just does a cut and run?” Slate said.
“Yeah,” Lizbeth said. “There’s no way we can get an interdictor up.”
“If she runs, she runs,” Rain said. “You search the premises and bring back what you can get. But White Rose is pretty entrenched. If I were you, I’d be ready for something else.”
Lizbeth muttered something under her breath. “We at least have somewhere to look?” Slate said.
Rain touched the focus: the image of Vihaela disappeared, to be replaced by a map of London, projected on the whiteboard. Three red dots shone from points on the map: two in the inner city, one a little farther out to the west. “White Rose runs houses at these three locations,” Rain said. “Best guess is that none of them are going to have anything too illegal on the premises. However, from what we’ve been able to gather, all three houses have a transport focus, probably a freestanding gate. The gates all link back to White Rose’s primary base of operations.”
“So where’s that?” Slate said.
“They move it,” Rain said. “Last known location was a warehouse in Manchester, but it’s been abandoned. Rumour is they went out to some new location in the country. Wherever it is, that’s where their holding and training facilities are. Vihaela will be there.”
The Keepers started talking and the subject of the briefing switched to personnel and resources. Slate wanted more; Rain was telling him no. I listened with half an ear, studying the other mages in the room out of the corner of my eye. Slate, Trask, and Lizbeth seemed to have forgotten about me, at least for now. They were the most involved, and despite their complaints, the most committed. Abeyance was staying out of it, her stance indicating that this was Keeper business. Coatl was sprawled back on his chair, cleaning his ear with his little finger. Cerulean hadn’t said a word. Haken was the one I was most curious about: he was silent, occasionally chipping in to the argument but mostly listening. He didn’t look happy, and I had the feeling that it was because of the time limit.
“All right,” Rain said at last. “You’ve got your tasks; let’s get to it. Haken, I want to be kept in the loop on this. Hourly reports and you don’t deviate from the brief without clearing it with me.”
Haken nodded. Rain took the rod from the projector and walked outside.
“Can you believe this?” Lizbeth said as soon as the door shut. “This is such bullshit . . .”
Haken was staring at the door. “Everything okay?” I asked quietly.
Haken got to his feet. “I’m going to have to make some calls. I’ll meet you downstairs.” He headed out. Glancing over, I saw that the other Keepers were still arguing. I got up and made an unobtrusive exit.
I left the room to see Haken turning the corner. Scanning the futures, I saw him slip through a door and . . . damn. It had locked behind him. I could have easily picked the lock, but not in a building full of Keepers. What was Haken up to?