concerned — and the locator daren't get too close to Xanadu in case someone, or something, should locate him! But in any case and as per Trask's orders, they were looking at different mountains this time out. As for Trask himself:
He had a very satisfying day, and when the teams returned to the safe house he was waiting to speak to them. This time he brought the SAS in on it — at least for the first stage of his briefing. For while it wasn't his intention to explain his findings in their entirety (the way E-Branch had used its combined paranormal talents to discover their targets) still he did have to display those targets, and advise these men as best possible on what they would be up against.
This was done with the aid of the wall screen; Trask supplied the narrative:
'This island in the Capricorn Group — its grid reference is shown alongside — is our secondary target. Now, I've called it an island, but in fact it's little more than a rock or coral reef. It has a few trees, some other tough vegetation; nothing much to mention. It was a marine park conservation station some years ago but that moved to Heron Island, forty miles away. All that's there now is the reef, a shallow lagoon, a private villa on the island, and, we presume, our enemies. But I have to emphasize that they are probably lesser enemies, which is to say we don't think they're of the order of unpleasantness that we were obliged to deal with in the Gibson Desert. However, and having said that, you should remember that they will be vampires.
'How many of them? No more than five or six, which is six too many. But with a chopper, a hired vessel, and half a dozen or so of your men — along with Jake Cutter here and Lardis Lidesci from our side — that should be sufficient. You, which is to say the military, will have command; but you'll listen very carefully to Lardis, and you'll take his advice in the… the handling of whatever you find on that island. Take my word for it, Lardis is the foremost authority in these matters.
Very well, what can you expect to find in the villa? The master of the house for one, a man of some fifty- eight years of age. Easy? But he'll be a vampire, and as strong as any four or five of your men! Then there'll be his married daughter and her husband, also his son and possibly a woman friend. The worst of them will be a fourth man, not family, who we think will be acting in the role of their keeper. And he will be dangerous, much more so than the others.
'Now, the problem is this: some if not all of these people will look and act perfectly normal. A bit edgy, perhaps. But if you were to strand your boat on the beach there, they'd probably help out; they might even call the coastguard for assistance. That's because they want to appear normal, because they daren't be discovered for what they really are — not until their master decides they're no longer of any use to him, or her. So, assuming it's a 'him' for the time being, what use are they to him?
'Well, for one, the island is a bolthole: it's a place for the Vampire Lord to hide in the event he gets driven out of his aerie. So in fact it's much similar to the Old Mine Gas Station in the desert. You must plan to take it out accordingly and, if necessary, in exactly the same way. With an air strike, yes, if it comes down to that — though of course we'd vastly prefer the kind of hit at which you people so excel: seek and destroy, and as quickly and quietly as possible.
'And that's about it, all you need to know about this secondary target for the time being. But I would like to take this opportunity to remind you: you won't be taking any prisoners…
'Which leads me to your main target. Xanadu, the so-called 'health and pleasure resort' high in the Macphersons. And so it is a resort, but only as a front for the ugly Thing that's runing the show.
'And here's another problem: this time we don't know — we have no idea — how many men he's vampirized. The only thing we can say for sure is that when they know they're being hit, then they'll protect their master with all that's left of their miserable lives.
'Oh yes, and one other thing. When the Wamphyri came into our world, they brought thralls or 'lieutenants' with them. Now, an original lieutenant out of Starside is a very dangerous creature, much more so than our old friend Bruce Trennier, and you know what he was like. So I'm just reminding you, it's possible that one of these things is up there, too.'
The map on the big wall screen had changed. Trask pointed to it again, said, 'Here's Xanadu; you know where it is, for of course you've all flown over it and seen it for yourselves. And anyway the bloody place is signposted! A resort, as we've seen. The perfect cover, yes. Which also makes it difficult for us to deal with the creature or creatures that we'll find there. Why? Because this time the master vampire is hiding in a crowd!
'That's my next job: finding a way to get the people — I mean the ordinary people — out of there before Monday night.
'And so, gentlemen, that's it for now. Now you can go work out your harbour areas, decide where you'll locate your men and vehicles as they start to come in. The one good thing about it: they won't have much spare time on their hands, won't lose their edge or get bored. They'll no sooner be in situ than they'll be in a firefight. And I think I can promise you that where Xanadu is concerned, that last is guaranteed. Take it as a foregone — or at least a foreseen — conclusion.'
The SAS Commanders left the ops room, and Trask was alone with his own people.
'So, as you can see,' he said, 'the techs and I have had a busy day. But fruitful? Judge for yourselves.'
He gave Jimmy Harvey the nod, and the big wall screen displayed the group of islets again. And Trask continued:
'This island in the Capricorn Group — it's such a rock it doesn't even have a name — is the home of wealthy philanthropist Jethro Manchester. Like many another rich do-gooder before him, he's something of a recluse. Five years ago, in return for his patronage and a whole lot of money, the Barrier Reefs Marine Park Commission gave him the island to live on. He owns it, or as good as. But that's not all he owns.. '
Trask paused and glanced at Harvey, whose fingers tapped at his keyboard. And now the big wall screen was divided centrally between the islands and a map of the dog-leg fold in the Macpherson Range. Trask glanced at the screen, and nodded his curt nod. 'Hands up who knows what I'm talking about.'
And Liz said, 'He owns Xanadu, too?'
Trask looked at her. 'Used to,' he said. 'But now he has a partner. Nine months ago Manchester signed documents that transferred fifty per cent of Xanadu to one Aristotle Milan, an alleged 'shipping magnate' of mixed Greek and Italian descent. We might perhaps assume — or rather, I believe we're supposed to assume — that his surname derives from the city of his origins in the old Italian fashion. But I don't think so. The coincidence is just too great, not to mention the rest of the story.
'First: there is no record of any Aristotle Milan as being the owner of any ships! Ergo: the man isn't a tycoon — though I can easily understand how the idea of being one would appeal to such as him — and as for his name…'
'… Not Milan but Malin,' Jake came in. 'Instead of using 'ari' as a suffix, to denote 'son of,' he's using it as a prefix, denoting 'first of. Meaning that on this world, he's the first or highest of his kind. And so for Aristotle Milan, read Malinari. Malinari the Mind!'
'Exactly,' said Trask. 'What's in a name, eh? So, how did Malinari make his connection with Jethro Manchester? Ah, well, here's another name for you: Martin Trennier. Bruce Trennier's brother, a marine biologist employed by the Marine Park Commission until Manchester — our philanthropist, conservationist, recluse, and latter-day Jacques Cousteau — stole him away from them to be his very well-paid odd-jobs man, skin-diving companion, and general dogsbody. This happened about the same time that Manchester and his family got away from it all and retired to the island. Bruce Trennier would have known all of
this when Malinari vampirized him at the Romanian Refuge, the said knowledge going second-hand to The Mind himself. Which begs the same question we've all worried about before: what else did Malinari learn on that… on that terrible night?'
Trask's face was grey now, and all of his people knew why: that his concern wasn't just for Zek — who was gone now — but also for them. For Zek Foener had known as much as anyone about E-Branch and its workings.
And Malinari?
lan Goodly determined to change the subject, take Trask's mind away from it. 'What if we're wrong and it's all coincidental, circumstantial? This pseudonymous-names business, our various hunches and observations, and everything else we've come up with?'
'A hell of a lot of coincidences, I'd say!' Trask frowned at him.
'But what if)'
