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.”
The soldier’s manner was politely suspicious as he looked Dan over. Daniel Garret didn’t look like much of a threat. Then the soldier looked into the car and gave Sullivan the eye. Now he looked like a threat. The soldier turned back to Dan and asked, “Who are you, and what is your business here?”
Now came the dangerous part. They had talked it over. Dan’s Power was immense, but the more wary the subject, the more difficult it was to Influence him. The goal was to get in to see an Iron Guard, so they’d decided to do something completely crazy.
“We’re Grimnoir knights.” The first soldier bellowed something in Japanese. A dozen pistols were drawn and pointed their way. Orders were shouted. Runners left to summon reinforcements. The guard at Sullivan’s window tapped the glass with the square barrel of a 9mm Nambu. Sullivan took that as an invitation, so he slowly opened the door and climbed out with his hands raised. Dan waited for the commotion to die down before continuing. “We come in peace with a message for your Iron Guard.”
“Grimnoir only speak in lies!”
“That’s for your superiors to decide,” Dan answered. “not you.”
“Give me this message.”
“No.”
“I will convey it to them.”
“I’ll only speak with the ambassador or the Iron Guard.”
“You will do as I say or die!”
“We die and your superiors are going to wonder what brought Grimnoir into this nest of snakes, and you won’t be able to tell them. Besides, you’re not going to shoot us with all those businessmen in there. The ambassador would lose face.”
That obviously got under his skin. “I should cut your heads off and decorate the gates with them.”
Sullivan decided to be direct. “That bullshit may fly in Manchuria when you’re slicing up unarmed Chinamen, but you’re in America now.”
The first soldier snarled and jammed his pistol into Dan’s gut.
“Whoa, easy, pal!” Dan exclaimed. “Jake, would you kindly let me do the talking?”
“When you crossed that gate you stepped onto Imperium soil. Your pathetic ways mean nothing in these walls. Once the Chairman leads us to victory-”
“I thought you said the blue sash meant they were diplomatic?” Sullivan was losing his patience, and there wasn’t much to begin with. “Nothing diplomatic about a bunch of punks throwing their weight around.”
The soldier left Dan and walked toward Sullivan. “You dare to speak to an Imperium marine in such a way?”
“Yeah, you boys are mighty impressive. I only managed to kill twenty or so onboard the Tokugawa, right before I killed my brother, the man you called Madi.” There were gasps from the assembled guards. The muzzle of the soldier’s gun was pushed against his neck. Sullivan didn’t even flinch. “Get your boss. We didn’t come here to waste time yakking with the help.”
Some of the guards began to argue amongst themselves. Apparently there wasn’t protocol in place for dealing with despised Grimnoir knights just showing up and announcing themselves.
“What are you doing, Jake?” Dan slowly asked.
“Diplomacy.”
A larger figure appeared in the shadows of the ambassador’s house. A harsh command was barked in Japanese. Sullivan didn’t speak the language, but it had to be the equivalent to stand down, because the guns were immediately lowered. The first soldier stepped back and bowed his head, but kept his hate-filled eyes on Sullivan.
The new arrival stomped into the light. He was extremely tall for a Japanese, probably six foot, and every bit as muscular as Sullivan. Even his humorless face was square from the thick muscles of his jaw. Probably only in his late twenties, he was dressed like a westerner, in a black suit and tie, with the only Imperial affectation being the blue sash of the diplomatic corps. Too small for his face, his eyes were extremely dark and piercingly intelligent. Sullivan could sense the Power on this one. It seemed to hang in the air, dangerous.
The elite of the Imperium forces, each Iron Guard was an Active trained from their youth in brutal schools dedicated to war, then magically augmented with as many spells as their bodies could bear. Between magic, muscle, skill, and training, the Iron Guard were human tanks.
The Iron Guard stopped and gave Dan the once over, then moved on to Sullivan, whom he took the time to size up. “I trained with Madi once. It is obvious you are his blood.”
“Folks always said we looked alike, before he lost half his face anyway.”
“All of you Americans look the same to me, doughy and clumsy. No, I could tell because you share his
