Chapter 6

Our next mission was to observe and assist if necessary the taking out of a doppelganger of the Coalition who was impersonating the President of the United States at the invitation of the Department for Magical Regulation, the North American equivalent of our organisation. Intelligence had been uncovered that the doppelganger involved was a fairly high caste member of that group and quite a proficient magician amongst its peers. Mage Hermione, who headed the American Mages, was concerned that her team's lack of experience in taking a doppelganger down might allow it to escape, so sought out Morgana's advice and experience. Normally members of the Council or the Coalition don't get into impersonating mundanes, though the Coalition are not above removing any politicians who get ideas above their station (as in being their own person). As far as the Coalition are concerned the only reason politicians are there is to keep their people in line and under their thumb. Mostly to save the Coalition the bother of having to do it themselves, though Merlin was possibly a bit more hands on than Elymas or Gilles de Rais, the other leading lights of the Coalition. Personally I couldn't and still can't see why anyone would want to bother, it's not like it enriches them or adds to their power, if anything it just leads to a lot of work keeping an eye on politicians.

What the Coalition would do however is use doppelgangers to impersonate politicians in countries the Council had friendly relations with to remove the Council's influence. Unfortunately owing to the sexual proclivities of the U.S, President he'd fallen into the clutches of a Coalition doppelganger and had been murdered, consumed and impersonated by it.

Doppelgangers are vile creatures, originally created by the Sidhe (who else) to plague human expansion by demoralising tribes and infiltrating societies in order to make them collapse from within by sub optimal decisions. These days they are almost all under the control of the Coalition, the Council policy on them is to either remove them to an uninhabited one way world or kill them if they could not be captured. Usually they end up being killed as their impersonating body is often in the public eye and will be missed if it vanishes. They are highly intelligent, very cunning and have a tendency towards murder followed by the ingestion of their victim. They are also very hard to kill as they regenerate really quickly, a lot of the vampire and werewolf legends come from incidents with these creatures, who are not above using our own fears to terrorise us.

Oh and garlic, silver, crucifixes and stakes through the heart will not stop them and in the case of the stake through the heart merely pisses them off as they have no circulatory system as such, although the stake might just pin one in place long enough to dismember it. The only reason that they are not a major threat to humanity is their low numbers and the fact that whilst they can co-operate well together, they are far more likely to kill a fellow doppelganger than attempt to mate with it as hierarchy is everything to them.

Morgana and I had gone through reams of intelligence provided by the American Mages before deciding that the best place for them to remove the doppelganger would be at the Lyndon Johnson Ranch at the end of a Presidential visit to Texas in November of 1963, as trying to get at it in the Whitehouse or the confines of a hotel would be next to impossible. Using a portal we entered the United States and observed the American Mages in both Dallas and Fort Worth as they checked out our reasons for the best place to deal with the situation. They were under a great deal of pressure from the Council too. Seems the doppelganger was testing the limits of its powers and several policy changes that would be disastrous to the Councils activities in the United States were in the pipeline.

I found Dallas itself to be a profoundly depressing place; bigotry and unthinking racism were commonplace and the people themselves unfriendly, even hostile to anyone they did not approve of. Everywhere we went seemed to be flying a Confederate battle flag and flyers on shop windows abounded with the slogan 'Don't mess with Texas'

Reading the local papers gave us the route that the presidential motorcade would be taking and we chose a location on the steps leading up to a grassy knoll in Dealy Plaza to make a passive scan of the doppelganger as we went over the formulated plans to remove it and replace it with what Morgana called a homunculi or what I referred to as a spare dead lookalike body which would be diagnosed as having passed away due to a massive stroke. There were a fair few people around, somewhere in the region of five to six hundred at a guess and a guy standing next to us introduced himself as Emmett Hudson, though we were rather vague about our identities. What happened when the Presidential car appeared has gone down in history and made our job a lot easier, though I can confirm that three shots did appear to come from the Book Depository and one at almost the same time as the third shot came from almost directly behind us on the knoll itself. No, we didn't see who did it, we weren't interested, we were rapidly making our way out of the area and didn't stop to investigate, we weren't even supposed to be in the country and although we could have used our powers to avoid entanglement with the law enforcement people, we were far more concerned about getting to where they were taking the body as the ranch extraction plan was now a non-starter, before the doppelganger could find a way to escape.

We soon learned that the body had been taken to Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room and caught a taxi to be the first to get there. After that we had to be very careful as although we could use our powers to make people not notice us, it didn't stop people trying to walk through us. The doppelganger would have detected our presence anyway. As it was we managed to get hold of some medical uniforms and in the confusion during a brief scuffle when a doctor objected to the removal of the body by the secret service, used a teleportation transference of the doppelganger in the sealed casket. The doppelganger ended up in a protected room and the homunculi ended up in the casket, though, because we were rushed, it was not an identical copy with regards to the obvious wounds seen on the Zapruder film and led to a lot of conspiracy theories as to just what exactly had happened to the President. Normally we'd have been far more precise in our actions, but with all the security and hysteria around we did the best we could. It is my belief that the doppelganger would have waited until it was alone (possibly on the flight back the Washington) then killed all on the plane and destroyed the evidence in a staged crash, though again that fortunately is something we'd never know.

As it was we had captured a Coalition doppelganger of pretty high status, even if it was trashing its warded prison and we avoided detection ourselves, though the repercussions carry on to this day.

Back at the prison Morgana and Hermione were observing the doppelganger as it methodically reduced every article in the room into debris.

"Is this usual?" I asked in general.

"Not really," Hermione said. "It knows the wards are out of reach. I think it's just peeved we managed to snatch it before it could complete its mission."

"They captured a gunman," I said. "Without him I doubt it would have been this easy."

"Yes, having to play dead limited its actions," Morgana stated. "Though I believe we could have got it at the ranch house with fewer people around."

"How do you intend to proceed, my Mage?" I asked.

"Sooner or later it will attempt to negotiate, it knows there is no other way out of here, or even where here is for that matter."

As I didn't have a clue where 'here' was either I made no further comment on the subject. Morgana is always strictly honest with me, but rarely if ever tells me all that is going on, simply enough to let me do my job. Not that I'm not curious, but I know my limitations in getting anything out of Morgana she doesn't want to tell me, that and if the worst were to happen and I were captured, I can't tell what I don't know.

The doppelganger had now stopped its hissy fit in its cell and turned to face in our direction.

"I see you! Release me!" came a voice from thin air.

"Like that's gonna happen," Hermione replied to its cell in a similar manner, there was no way she was getting into mental contact with a doppelganger, personally I'd rather go bathing in a sewer, at least you'd feel cleaner at the end of it.

"Did you think you could act with impunity in Council territory?" was Morgana's more measured reply.

"I recognise no Council, human!" came the cold reply.

"Recognition is not a requirement, nor is ignorance an excuse," said Morgana in rebuttal. "Your choices are limited, tell us all you know of your master's plans and live in exile. Refuse and die."

"You cannot hold me for long; I will be ransomed, for we hold others of your kind for such exchanges," came the contemptuous reply.

"I know of no others," said Morgana looking confused.

"We have your women," it said.

Morgana closed off the channel it was using and looked at Hermione in consternation.

"I'm not aware of any female Mages being in Coalition or doppelganger hands," she said. "The Coalition have a tendency to rape, enslave or murder any female Mages who fall into their hands and as far as I'm aware the doppelgangers simply ingest their victims, not keep them."

I remembered back to the conversation I had with Brianna.

"You don't suppose they have the Coalition female Mages do you?" I said after reminding Morgana of the details. "I could just see Elymas and co using the doppelgangers as a way of dealing with awkward questions from those they see as their inferiors, as well as incorruptible guards."

"This will need looking at," Morgana said looking very pale.

She opened the channel to the doppelganger.

"How many?" she asked.

"At least fifty," came the reply.

"Why did you not ingest them?" I asked.

"The Coalition has no use for women who can do magic other than as breeding mares and has us guard them. Yet we foresaw the day when the Council might take one of us and would be willing to exchange some for our more valuable lives," it said coldly.

"How will contact be made?" I asked.

"I will need to use a telephone," it replied.

"Very well," Morgana stated. "But treachery will bring annihilation upon you if you lie or attempt to trick us."

"I need no tricks, you are weak, we will do as we have always done and prey on humanity despite all you do to prevent us," it said coldly. "And when caught we will always have something you want in order to gain our release."

"And your deal with the Coalition?" I asked.

"Convenience, nothing more, they offer us a means to an end and food aplenty, nothing else matters to us."

A phone was teleported into the creature's cell, no wires, but it worked as manipulating current flow is second nature to a Mage.

"Make your call," Morgana said.

The thing just picked up the receiver and without dialling sent a series of hisses and crackles down the mouthpiece followed by a howling tone pitched high and low.

"They will contact you soon," it told us after putting the receiver down.

I teleported the phone out of the room as it started to ring.

"Your terms?" came a voice from the receiver as I picked it up.

Morgana mouthed 'you answer' at me.

"All your hostages," I said.

"That is unacceptable," the voice said. "The unit you have is of low status to us."

"Then we have nothing else to discuss," I said. "The unit will now be killed or exiled after interrogation."

"Wait!" came the voice. "We are prepared to release twenty of the females into your care."

"All," I said "We already know the unit is high caste." A guess, but as it turned out correct.

There was a long silence that stretched out for over a minute.

"Agreed," said the voice. "We suggest a mutual exchange on the footbridge to Theodore Roosevelt Island in your Washington D.C. In twenty four hours from this moment."

I glanced at Morgana and Hermione, who both nodded.

"Agreed," I said.

"How are we going to keep it under control whilst we transport it?" I asked Morgana later.

"We are not, John, I will be, whilst you go and take a look at the exchange site to rule out any surprises," she replied. "Mage Hermione could you prepare somewhere for any hostages to be taken after their release, I somehow doubt they'll be in good condition."

"I'll contact Rowenna's people," she said. "Do you want any of my Mages around to help, John?"

"No," Morgana said. "They may be observing the area, any powerful or High Mages might just cause them to renege on their offer. I think we'll keep the numbers low at least until we know what we're dealing with. I realise I'm treading on your toes a little, Hermione, but I trust John to do the right thing here."

"No problem, Morgana," she replied with a smile. "I'll have my people ready to drop in should anything untoward happen though."

"Thank you, Mage Hermione," Morgana replied.

Getting there was not easy as teleporting or using a portal into anywhere you haven't been before is very dangerous. Yes, you can displace air and cope with the energy exchange fairly easily as air moves out of your way, but teleporting into a solid object is a big no, no and invariably fatal along with a massive energy exchange as two dissimilar objects try to occupy the same space. Fortunately I knew the hotel and environs from our adventures during the Cuban missile crisis and was able to jump into an open space at the back of the building late at night.

"Took your time getting here, John, I've been freezing my nipples off for the last half hour," spoke a voice I recognised.

"Hello, Róisín," I said smiling. "I might have known Morgana and Arch would collaborate over this. Damned if I know how they do it though."

"It's not telepathy; that I do know," said Róisín. "Might be magic," she chuckled.

"One day," I muttered, rolling my eyes at the pun and her grinning face. "Let's catch a cab to the island."

"Yes, boss," she said linking her arm through mine.

Once at the footbridge over to the island it became obvious why the doppelgangers had chosen this site, it had a fairly extensive goblin colony.

Goblins themselves are fairly harmless; they're scavengers and only really a danger to the rat populations of major cities, even then the rats still tend to increase in numbers. They're also, as most semi magical creatures, easily able to hide their presence from mundane humans. What they can't hide from Mages though is their constant mental chatter and this background noise makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to cast spells. The closest I can get to an analogy is a crying baby; it affects most of us down at a pre-programmed genetic level.

"This could get tricky if the doppelgangers can ignore the noise," I said.

"Tell me about it," said Róisín, wincing. "I can barely hear myself think."

"No such thing as mental ear plugs either," I said "Puts us at a disadvantage if they try anything other than magical too as they're faster and stronger than us and guns don't really work too well against them either for that matter."

"We can't call it off, John, not after agreeing to the terms, particularly as they aren't in breach of them ... Yet," Róisín said miserably. "And Council rules state we can't just kill the goblins either, not unless they're attacking humans."

"I know," I said. "Still I think I might have an idea how to drive them off, temporarily at least, though I don't think I can do it magically, well not at my present level of knowledge, but fortunately we've got just under ten hours before the exchange, so I need to find a music shop and an electrical supplier.

It came as no surprise to find that the shops were closed, but that didn't stop us. Within an hour I'd gathered several loudspeakers, a lot of electrical cable, a charged car battery and a frequency generator from the American University.

Róisín watched in fascination as I wired the generator via a purloined sound mixer to the speakers which I scattered all over the top of the goblin colony. She also went off to do another set of wiring as requested by Morgana, along with a few refinements of our own.

"Here we go," I muttered when she'd returned and I turned on the frequency generator and started to ramp up the oscillations passing through the mixer to the speakers. At first nothing happened, then the mental background noise started to increase and gradually became more panicked in tone. Róisín nudged me.

"Look," she said.

The ground seemed to be a heaving mass as goblins exploded from all directions on the island and ran hither and yon in apparent distress. Gradually though they headed away from the bridge and towards the river and the mental chatter gradually receded to more manageable levels.

"That's amazing," said Róisín. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"They hunt in the dark, but have poor eyesight, I figured like bats they'd use something like sound-waves and hoped I could disrupt their activities that way," I replied. "The rest was just wiring."

Half an hour later Morgana, Hermione and Arch along with the doppelganger ported into the Island at the foot of the bridge. The doppelganger itself was linked to them via what appeared to be a dog lead though I suspected it was far stronger than that and probably lethal under certain mental commands.

At the appointed moment several figures appeared at the other side of the bridge and milled about apparently confused.

Cautiously I approached them, recognising a few, mostly apparatchiks attached to various Soviet and Eastern Block countries.

"Problem gentlebeings?" I asked. "Only I see no hostages, merely targets."

"We were just making sure this was not a trap, you Mages are not to be trusted after all," came an eventual reply.

Yeah, right, I thought, your little plan came off the rails and now you need to honour your pledge or die right here right now, because you know I can prevent all of you teleporting out before Morgana, Hermione and Arch as well as the American Mages waiting in the wings deal with you, though admittedly I probably would not survive the experience.

The doppelgangers seemed to reach an agreement and I felt a surge as a powerful mass teleport came into being. A group of 50 emaciated distressed women appeared dressed in Soviet Gulag clothing and shied away from the doppelgangers surrounding them. A quick scan told me they were all Mages of varying power, but a metallic collar around their necks seemingly prevented them from using their powers.

Chapter 7 »