Just thinking about those traitors made her slip up on one of the designs. Ian stepped forward. He was going to offer to do the spell for her, and he was going to play like he was being chivalrous for doing it, when in reality he was just being a big mean jerk, but because she was thinking about jerks instead of drawing her markings correctly, the spell fizzled again. She wanted to swear at the Power like it was an obstinate milk cow that wouldn’t put its head through the stall, but that would just make her look dumber.
“Let me do it,” Ian said as he nosed in. “It may be an emergency.”
“We’re in a blimp. If it’s an emergency, what are we supposed to do about it?” she snapped.
“Well, I suppose you could just pop on down to wherever it is and easily take care of everything for us.”
“Faye, he may be right,” Mr. Browning said. “Let him do it.”
Cheeks burning, Faye grudgingly got out of the way. Ian wet his fingers in a cup of water and drew a complicated design in the salt. He frowned at it, said the proper words, and the room seemed to shudder. The salt instantly flash-fused into a solid disk. The circle floated into the air until it was a bit higher than she was tall. It had only taken Ian thirty seconds and the view of the other side was clear as could be. Damn it. He was way better at spellbinding than she was.
“Whoever started this has alerted every Grimnoir within reach. There are a lot of people getting on. This will be very draining for him.”
The circle floated and seemed to spin like a top as others made the connection. She recognized Lance Talon by the bottom of his bushy beard before his circle had even gotten into position to show his face. Others followed, some Grimnoir she didn’t know, then Dan and Jane Garrett, who had curlers in her hair and was still throwing on a robe, more strangers, and then Mr. Sullivan, who from the background had built his circle using the rearview mirror of a moving automobile. Though he would never brag, Mr. Sullivan was remarkably good at spellbinding, which was especially surprising that somebody with a bruiser’s hands could have such a delicate touch.
“So who called this conference?” Mr. Browning asked.
The circle spun. She recognized the disorderly stateroom of the new Cyclone. “Francis!” Faye exclaimed. “What happened to your face?” He looked like the losing fighter at the end of a long boxing match. One eye was swollen shut and purple and his lips were all puffy and cracked. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Heinrich was killed in the assassination attempt.” There were collective gasps. Jane cried out and Dan swore. Faye was too surprised to react. “I don’t have much time. This link hurts to keep open and I’m not in good shape. You all know about Roosevelt? I think the assassin was an Iron Guard.”
“No-good rotten bastards,” Lance snapped.
Francis hurried and told them about the attack, and then his interrogation and beating at the hands of the mysterious Mr. Crow. The assembled Grimnoir shared an uneasy look when he told them about the assassin’s ring, and Faye thought a few of them might have a fit when they heard about how Francis’ magic had been blocked. She was still stunned about Heinrich, and by the time Francis finished, her knees had gone all wobbly and soft.
A deep voice cut in. “This is Sullivan.” The mirror spun over to him. He was still driving, and from the lights zipping past, going really fast. He held a small orange box up to the mirror. “This is how they blocked your magic. I don’t know how it works. There’s one word stamped on the bottom, looks like Dymaxion. There’s a stone inside, and while it’s spinning it disrupts your connection to the Power.”
“However did you get that?” Mr. Browning asked.
“Four men tried to kill me tonight. Didn’t recognize them, but probably from the same outfit as the one that beat up Francis. One of them had this.”
Faye realized that the bad men weren’t that smart, since they had only sent four men to kill Mr. Sullivan. Obviously they hadn’t known who they were dealing with.
“There’s more, though. Francis, how long can you hold the line?”
“I’ll do my best,” Francis answered, through gritted teeth.
“I’ll make it quick.” Sullivan rattled off events like a military man giving a briefing, which in a way, was exactly what he was. “The Chairman’s ghost called. EGE has a working spirit phone. And yes. It really was him. He said the Enemy’s sent a scout. It’ll be here sometime soon. We have to stop it before it sends a message home saying this is the place for dinner.”
That cinched it. It was Faye’s turn to smirk at Ian. “Told you so.”
“Enemy? Wait-you mean the big thing?” Lance asked. “Hell, I was hoping you had imagined that.”
“Me too. I’ve got an idea on how to find it, but we’ll need to work fast.”
Mr. Browning was the senior knight. “We have two problems then. It appears we are meant to take the fall for this assassin and this being has finally found us. Could the two be related?”
“Don’t know… Maybe,” Sullivan responded. “We don’t know enough about it to guess. The Chairman said his Iron Guard had been trained to deal with it, but he can’t reach them. I was led to understand this has happened before.”
“I think I know where we can find an Iron Guard fast,” Dan said. “Can you meet me in D.C.?” The view spun back to show Sullivan nodding. “Good, I can meet you there tomorrow afternoon… I’ll help you talk to him on one condition.” And when it came to a skilled Mouth like Mr. Garrett, talking took on a more sinister meaning.
“Yeah?”
“That when we’re done, we kill the son of a bitch… for Heinrich.”
The Grimnoir were quiet. Everyone knew that Heinrich had been Dan’s best friend. Sullivan grunted in agreement. “Sounds swell.”
“Count me in on that, too,” Lance said. “This OCI will be watching so we’ll need to keep a low profile. We don’t know who else of us they know about.”
“They sure know about me,” Sullivan stated. “Won’t be the first time I’ve been on a wanted poster.”
“There are other resources to find out more about this new office. I will place some calls.” Mr. Browning checked his pocket watch. “I have Faye and some volunteers. We will go directly to Florida to investigate. Francis, we must assume that you have been compromised and that they will be watching. Go about your business and stay out of contact.”
“But, John, I can-”
“Lead a band of killers to our door? Yes. Indeed you could.”
Francis obviously did not like Mr. Browning’s directions. “Fine.. I can’t hold this link much longer.”
Francis really didn’t look very good. Faye wished that she could be there with him, but even a Traveler had limits. The last time she’d gone that far in one hop she’d spent a few weeks unconscious, though in her defense she had drug an entire dirigible along for the ride.
“Then good luck and Godspeed,” Mr. Browning said. The magic circle fell and broke into hardened bits. Browning wasted no time giving the order to the assembled knights. “Contact everyone. We must warn them what is coming.”
That meant more communication spells. Faye groaned. “Can I go borrow the radio?”
Menlo Park, New Jersey
It had been a real pain to get here so quickly.
Per Crow’s instructions, the scene had not been disturbed after the bodies of his men had been removed. It had been roped off and chalk outlines applied, which had been difficult since the floor was a metal grate, but there was enough chalk and dried blood that he got the picture. Crow had seen so much violence in his life that reconstructing the event was easy. The Heavy had taken one by surprise, then the robot had gunned down the others. His men had been stupid. He should have dealt with it himself, but even he had his limitations.
Reconstructing this particular scene was easy. Dealing with the rest of these Grimnoir was going to be hard. His new office had money, but it was short on talent, which was why he’d made the trip from headquarters all the way to the EGE facility personally.
The building was a mess. They were still cleaning up the wreck of the spirit phone. They had been lucky that the entire building hadn’t just fallen down. It was too bad about the phone. It would have been really nice to have the recordings of Sullivan’s conversation, but the cameras had been destroyed when the phone had flashed out of existence. There were transcripts from the witnesses, but they had not been close enough to hear every word.
What he did have of the conversation was confusing, something about an enemy coming, but that was over Crow’s pay grade. His job was to break the Grimnoir. His boss and the intelligence types could worry about the other stuff.
