and that had been years ago. Their work had come a long way since. He'd seen the camps in Manchuria, the experiments they were doing to the people they'd enslaved, and the things they were turning Actives into.
The Chairman must despise weakness as much as Madi did.
'Our spies should be giving us the position of the final piece shortly. You will return to California immediately. Await further instructions.' Madi didn't know who was feeding them information from the Grimnoir, but he didn't need to know. Madi was a weapon that just needed to be pointed in the right direction.
Sullivan stepped gingerly from the train platform. He was running his Power just a bit, easing gravity's pull, and that made walking much more comfortable. His injuries weren't life threatening at this point, but the last thing he needed to do was push it, rip something open, and start bleeding all over the place.
Heinrich was procuring them transport to the little town that Sven Christiansen lived in. Garrett was helping to make sure Sullivan didn't tumble down the ramp. He paused to catch his breath and to admire the scenery. The mountains were huge and brown.
He felt a strange sensation a moment later, something odd, but familiar. Sullivan paused, scanning the crowd, but couldn't see anything out of place. The whistle blew and the North American Pullman began to chug away.
'Sullivan? You all right?' Garrett asked.
It was like… he wasn't sure, just instincts kicking in, as if he were walking the deep woods, and everything had gotten too quiet, like there was a dangerous predator hidden somewhere in the trees. The sensation faded.
He shook his head. 'Naw… I'm fine. Let's go.'
Madi watched the station out the private train car window, scowling. The hair on his arms had just stood up.
'What is it?' Yutaka asked, suspicious.
'I don't know…' Then he saw the broad-shouldered fella standing at the end of the ramp next to a short, dumpy man in glasses. 'It can't be…' he muttered, placing one hand on the warm glass. 'Well, I'll be damned.'
Jake.
Yutaka stood up and moved to the window, trying to figure out what was going on. 'Trouble?'
'You have no idea…' Madi muttered. There was no way it was a coincidence, damn Lenny Torrio for ever talking to him to begin with. If he hadn't already killed Torrio, he'd kill him again, and make it hurt more this time. Madi despised weakness and worshipped strength, but Jake was something different, one of the strong who felt the need to protect the weak, and that made him dangerous. 'Summon a demon. Have it follow the big man.' Mar Pacifica, California They ate breakfast in what Francis called the nice dining room. Faye thought that it was a little ridiculous to have a chandelier that obviously cost more than her Grandpa's farm, but she did have to admit that it was very sparkly. The food consisted of a bunch of items that she'd never seen before with names that sounded vaguely European.
General Pershing was in his room. Apparently he no longer ever left his bed, not that it mattered, since the Healer, Jane, said that his stomach couldn't handle solid food anyway. Other than that, everyone else that she'd met so far was gathered around one end of the enormous table, and there were enough seats remaining for another twenty people.
'My father liked to entertain,' Francis explained, when he saw her looking down the empty expanse. 'We used to have some grand parties here when I was a child. More marmalade?'
She didn't know what that was, nor did she know what to do with all of the extra forks and spoons on each side of her plate, and it was really odd that servants kept bringing more plates, when she could just as easily served herself. Breakfast at the Vierras had consisted of one big pot of something dropped in the middle of the table, and all the milk they could drink of course, and then everybody helped themselves until they were stuffed. Breakfast in her old life had happened sporadically. Actually, all the other meals had been kind of like that, too. She'd spent a lot of time hungry.
Most of the others had the same gold and black ring. Francis had asked her not to wear hers yet. Apparently there was some sort of oath you were supposed to take before you could wear one. She noticed that Delilah didn't have one either.
'Any word yet from Garrett?' Lance asked.
'His train should be arriving in Ogden now,' Browning said. 'My home town actually. I do miss it. I'd love to see it again before I die.'
'Why can't you visit?' Faye asked.
The old man paused, muffin halfway to his mouth. 'Well, my dear, as far as the world is concerned, I died of a heart attack a few years ago while in Belgium. If our enemies knew that I was Grimnoir, they would go after my family. That is how they operate. That is a sad byproduct of our mission. Now I use my knowledge to help protect those in need of our aid.'
Faye scowled. His name sounded familiar from the radio. 'You're famous, aren't you?'
Lance grunted a laugh. 'Half the world's guns have his name on the patent. Except mine, because John Moses never bothered to make a revolver.'
'I'm a simple inventor,' Browning answered modestly. 'I designed a few firearms. Nothing important.'
'Semiautos jam…' Lance muttered, obviously trying to get a rise out of him.
'Mine don't,' the older man responded with a gentle smile.
Faye decided she liked Mr. Browning. He seemed like a very nice man.
'I'll drink to that, my deceased friend.' Lance raised his glass. It seemed a little early to Faye to be drinking that much whiskey, but the others seemed used to Lance. 'According to the papers, I died in a sudden fire. But I suppose by definition, fire is sudden if it kills you.'
'What were you before?'
'Big game hunter, adventurer, automobile racing driver, explorer…' Lance paused to think. 'Cow puncher, spent a year as a coal miner, let's see… come from a long line of cowboys, great-great grandpa was a pirate.' That sounded farfetched to Faye, but then again, when they'd first met, Lance had been a talking squirrel. She was willing to go with it.
Faye turned to the remaining three. Jane was reading a book again and apparently wasn't even listening to the conversation. She always seemed to be reading something. Delilah hadn't spoken yet either, she was sullenly stabbing at her food with a fork. Francis looked up.
'Well, if we're telling our stories, I'm still alive. Everybody knows I've got magic, but they don't realize how much, but most folks think I'm a sort of fop that gets by on his family name and attends lots of parties. I play it dumb.'
'Really?' Lance raised one bushy eyebrow. 'How ever do you pull that off?'
'I…' Francis frowned. 'Never mind.'
Faye glanced at Delilah. The dark-haired lady was about the prettiest woman she'd ever seen. 'I bet you were a movie star.'
Delilah started to laugh. 'Oh, come on… Wait… you're serious?'
'Yes,' Faye said. 'You're very beautiful.'
Delilah just stared, surprised, green eyes blinking rapidly. 'Why yes. Yes, I am. And yeah, that's paid a few bills for me, but probably not in the way you're thinking, little girl.'
Mr. Browning coughed politely.
'Oh, don't get all huffy, Moses,' Delilah said coldly. 'I won't talk about it in polite company.' She stood up and tossed the napkin on her plate. 'I'm not hungry.' She walked from the room without another word.
'What did I say?' Faye asked.
'Ms. Jones has had a difficult life,' Browning said. 'Her father was one of us… once. I'm afraid that sometimes the Society does what it thinks is best in the big picture, but it misses the suffering of the individual… never mind. I apologize.'
'Oh, don't worry,' Lance said. 'John here is our moral compass, but he can be a little disapproving of certain
