Chapter 26

Our first targets were in the Paris District of St Denis and were essentially a monitoring squad of Coalition Mages who we believed had been put in place as a snatch squad, none of whom it was presupposed were High Mages, nor expecting our response. Despite the fact that we were using a portal, I didn't expect them to realise that they were in any immediate danger as we'd arranged for the Mage being observed to frequently use a portal to lull their caution. We were also hoping that the recent attack on us had been unsanctioned and taken the Coalition as a whole by surprise too. Still, we were also told to be on our guard and not make any assumptions, after all, the word would soon get out that the truce was most definitely over.

Leaving Mage Philip at the portal to scan the area and keep our line of retreat open my team headed towards the building nulled up and in mine and Róisín's case using the mindcloak which Róisín had picked up far more easily than I or Morgana come to that. The rest of the team like many of the Mages working in the Department struggled with the concepts of the mindcloak because it breached several of the accepted ways of working that was instilled in Mages from their apprenticeships onwards. Hiding your thoughts from a casual scan involved the use of a minor shield which gave the impression of an ordinary mind, although a competent Mage would detect the shield from closer proximity as the shield was unchanging whilst the human mind very definitely was not. The mindcloak was also a shield, but based on the difference in principles between a portrait and a television signal in that it acted interactively with anyone trying to scan the user. It was constantly changing, not a fixed image and required a degree of lateral thinking to keep it in operation, although when mastered was ridiculously easy to keep in place. It was the inclusion of the variables that caused most Mages problems, mostly what we do has to be fixed in our minds before being activated or unleashed not constantly changing in an interactive manner.

Because Róisín and I were cloaked rather than nulled we were able to use passive scans to keep a check on the four man team we had been sent to capture or eliminate.

"Heads up!" came a response from Róisín. "They appear to be getting agitated, looks like the cats out of the bag."

A couple of hand signals later the team broke into a run and got to the door where the Mages were now frantically packing as far as we could tell. One focussed fireball later and the lock had melted and I kicked the door and dived to the ground as a blast of hellfire took journeywoman Mage Emily full in the chest without effect as her Null medallion took the full brunt of it without it even becoming hot as far as I could tell. From the ground I let fly with my traditional compressed air spell which took them by surprise and slammed the four off the walls where the team piled on top of them with cuffs ready.

"You OK Emily?" I asked.

"Yes John, came as a shock to find myself alive but yes, fine," she replied with a grin.

I ordered the team to take down their Null fields and checked Emily's medallion finding the substrates to be mostly fine, but in no condition to be first in line for the next mission.

"Pierre, you're point for the next round up," I said getting a nod from the young Frenchman.

Dragging the four stunned Coalition Mages with us we got back to the portal without incident and took them through back to London and Mage Henry before turning around to our next destination.

"This time we must presume they will know we are coming," I said to the team having portalled in some distance from where we knew the Coalition team were and jogging on foot to the house in Bremen where we had been told a Coalition hit squad had set up to deal with defectors.

"Surely these will be High Mages?" Asked Pierre.

"The Coalition doesn't have that many High Mages," I replied. "They teach their followers a few power spells but little else so as to not create too much competition at the top."

"Beats me why we didn't take them down long ago," he said.

"In the early days according to Morgana and Arch they simply vanished into the hinterlands of the North and tracking them down was next to impossible. They developed a cell structure so taking one group down rarely led to any significant breakthroughs until finally they tied themselves to the Russian Court and finally the Bolsheviks and got protection there as the basic accords that most countries were signatory too eventually did not permit open use of magic including the use of assassin's where they could be observed. The Coalition themselves stick to the same rule as it keeps them from being noticed by us though they are a bit more relaxed about attempting to take out an opposition Mage in public," I said.

"So in the end we just left them alone unless they bothered us?" he asked.

"No, if we knew where they were we attacked, they got very good in Russia and at one stage Nazi Germany at not letting us know where they were," I replied.

"I can't understand why they allowed the Soviets and the Nazi's to attack each other," he mused.

"Morgana acquiring the spear of Longinus put paid to the Coalitions attempts to bring down the Soviets and put the Nazi's in their place. They wanted a more civilised 'Empire' rather than a bunch of rustic bumpkins running things for them," I said.

"They considered the Nazi's civilised?" He said shocked.

"They understood indoor plumbing," I joked. "The Coalition are simply looking to control a world spanning empire, they want to rule behind the scenes in hedonistic luxury with both mundanes and lesser Mages catering to their every whim."

"So we fight proxy wars via diplomatic efforts to stop them gaining access to countries and influencing policy?" He asked.

"Pretty much so, utterly crazy I know," I replied.

"It's a living," he replied with a typical Gallic shrug.

We had now reached a house where we had been told the Coalition Mages were supposed to be occupying detecting no signs of life. Using hand signals I instructed my group to surround the place and then dropped my mindcloak exposing myself to any scanning Mage. The results were almost instantaneous as a massive blast of chain lightning hit me full on testing though not overcoming my shields, enhanced as they were by my knowledge of higher plane magic. I immediately began casting a series of anti-teleport spells to prevent their escape rather than go on the offensive.

"OK, that should hold them, let's see about taking them," I broadcast to the team.

I signalled Pierre to approach the house Nulled up waiting to see what would happen, I knew generally the Coalition would use magic against an opponent first and foremost rather than use it to affect something near them such as a compressed gas burst which was my particular favourite and had caught many a Mage unawares. Pierre got lucky as he was hit by three bursts of hellfire none of which were enough to break his Null and this was the signal for the rest of the team including Róisín to swarm the entrance break the door open and physically attack the Mages inside.

"You realise sooner or later the Coalition will work out a counter for this sort of move," Mage Imelda said quietly.

"I know," I replied. "But at the moment these journeymen and women need face to face experience in dealing with the Coalition rather than have their own Mages or Department team leaders do their thinking and actions for them."

"They could end up being killed if one of them has a gun," Imelda said watching carefully as the team used their numbers to scrum down and cuff the hapless Mages inside.

"I'm taking advantage of the probability that the Coalition do not expect physical attacks and will not think to use mundane means to defend themselves. After all, no mundane could do what my team has done," I said.

"I'm just worried about over confidence," Imelda said as the Coalition Mages were dragged kicking and screaming outside of the house to where Mage Philip had ported in to set up a portal on the house doorframe for transport.

"It is a worry, but I need to build their confidence up before adding an additional element of risk and these Mages are strictly amateurs compared to the ones our heavies are trying to take out," I replied.

Imelda simply nodded as we passed through the portal back to the Department in London.

"There will be no use of Null for this next one," I told the team. "You are to presume that the Coalition courier has both magical and mundane defences amongst the people guarding him. Emphasis will be on dodge and cover until you are close enough to seal off whatever building they are using and then try to avoid direct attacks should they detect you, we probably won't bring down their shields or get them in a rush, so Róisín and I will lead off on this one. Observe how we use indirect attacks using the physical effects of magic that will probably be enough to stun them. We may use expanding gas spells and telekinesis to accelerate small stones at their positions, hopefully will be enough I believe to keep them off balance until we can swarm them. Or we may just go with the flow depending on what they do in return."

The team nodded quietly, no objections raised and went to the portal Mage Philip had raised.

The change in temperature came down as a hammer upon us as we came out of a portal in the Egyptian city of Luxor.

"Róisín, full scan please," I requested as soon as we had our bearings.

"Got them, they're holed up in the Old Winter Palace, one ... no three Mages two of them are trying to shield their presence, one is feeling very confident, I suggest caution John," she replied.

That's one of the things I love about Róisín, She has a talent for subtle nuances in the quantum spectrum which is not exactly true, but it's the only way I can describe this something in the written word. As it is, she can pick up magical usage at least ten times more sensitively than I can to the extent that even Morgana will occasionally ask for her presence on various cases that require a subtle scan rather than a standard Mage look-around which can be detected easily by other Mages. She has the ability to coordinate with our Seers group on a level that I can only envy and is probably one of the finest investigative/researchers in the Department so much so that Mage Geoffrey has tried to poach her for the Research Section. Yet despite all this she considers the fact that she's not as good as me in combat situations as something to be ashamed of.

"Have they detected us?" I asked.

"Not yet as far as I can tell," she replied.

"That'll change soon enough, still lets hurry we may get lucky," I said as the team picked up the pace joined this time by Mage Philip who was to lay down an anti-teleport screen as soon as we were in range.

We detected a few traces of magical activity in the area which was what I hoped would shield our inbound portal, and it was to these we moved at a slow walk making it look like normal city activity. We were also careful to use no shields save for aversion ones and mind blocks to keep the locals eyes off us as well as the Coalition Mages. At the first magical use area we started to move towards the second until Róisín held up her hand.

"I think we're noticed, or at least they've become more alert," She stated.

I glanced at Mage Philip who shook his head.

"How close?" I asked.

"Quarter of a mile to be certain." He said tersely.

"Could you detect a group of Journeymen using mind shields moving towards you indirectly at this distance?" I asked.

"Yes, however that would depend on circumstances," he mused. "If I knew where to look and presumed any Mage activity to be overtly hostile then yes. In a small city like this though, at this distance, no not really likely."

"Let's assume they have merely been warned and proceed carefully," I finally said and led the way our group forming behind me.

Ten minutes later we were near one of the ruined ancient Egyptian temples and definitely within range of the Winter Palace for Mage Philip who was carefully drawing a set of glyphs and sigils on the surface as the team moved into positions around the hotel proper which was just next door. Róisín although looking worried had seen no other sign of activity other than general scans emanating from the three Mages we were stalking; I expected this to change as soon as Philip was ready though.