“You’re coming to France?” Jason asked.
“Just seeing you off,” Anna said. “I’m Operation Director for the Sydney branch. Heading up the coast to your hometown is one thing, but traipsing off to France is another. Keith Culpeper and Asya Karadeniz are committee-level representation, which is over my head anyway; I just supplied some staffers. Michael Aram, you met briefly.”
“The guy I was talking to when the Frenchman ambushed me,” Jason said.
“Yes,” Anna said. “He’s quite intimidated by you, so please don’t make things hard on him. There’s also Ketevan Arziani, who you’ve yet to meet. She’s my right hand, which means she gets to run off to France while I stay here and do the actual work. It feels like it should be the other way around. We’re also sending a unit of four from Tactical Division. We can’t spare any category threes, but these are category twos with experience in personal security.”
They entered through the open hangar doors, where ground crew were loading luggage onto a private jet. Jason recognised Asya and Keith chatting with another pair, while the obvious security locked eyes on Jason and Anna as soon as they came into view.
Jason’s attention was more arrested by the plane than the people. His magical senses revealed that magic was incorporated into the construction from the frame out.
“I’m glad to see that we can still impress someone who’s been to a magical world,” Asya said, watching his gaze linger over the plane.
He turned to her, his face apologetic.
“I’m sorry about earlier, Asya,” he said. “You did something to help me and I responded like a savage. I apologise. Also, thank you, which I should have said earlier instead of snapping at you. Not my finest hour.”
“It’s alright.”
“It’s not, but I appreciate you saying.”
“Maybe I can hold it over you the next time the Network needs a favour,” Asya mused.
“Deal. How about we make some introductions and then you tell me about this plane? It’s nice to meet you in the flesh, Mr Aram.”
Jason offered his hand and Aram shook it. He had only spoken to Aram through Shade in the past, as a precaution against an ambush. It hadn’t helped, since Jason had been ambushed by someone else entirely. Channelling his senses through his familiar was a distraction his enemy had used against him.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t intervene that day,” Aram said. “I saw them bundling you into the car after the category three left.”
“You don’t go fighting category twos when you’re only a one, Mr Aram,” Jason said. “Not unless you have a gold spirit coin and they’re stupid enough to let you get real close.”
“Gold?” Aram asked. “Is that the colour of a category four coin?”
Jason took out a gold spirit coin and flicked it into the air, the other essence users watching it like cats tracking a toy dangled in front of them. Jason snatched it out of the air and held it up for them to see.
“I don’t have a lot of these,” he said, returning it to his inventory.
“We don’t have any,” Anna said. “The British have some from looting a category-four ADE a few years ago.”
Jason was introduced to the remaining people and then they boarded the plane. Along with the Network’s contingent were the plane staff, made up of the pilots and a pair of flight attendants.
“Fancy,” Jason said, looking around at the lavish interior. There were only a handful of seats, along with a couch and a television on a low, long cabinet. Doors led to the cockpit in one direction and more of the plane’s amenities in the other.
“Shade,” Jason said. “How long until you can turn into one of these?”
“I imagine silver rank,” Shade said, the others sharing looks as the voice came out of Jason’s shadow. “The best I could manage right now would be ultralight aircraft.”
“That’s still pretty good,” Jason said.
“This plane is a product of my department,” Asya said as they took their seats. She claimed one directly facing Jason. “Research Division has been divorced from specific branches and brought under the umbrella of the International Committee. That way, breakthroughs are shared by the entire Network. It’s part of a gradual progression by the Network away from the factionalism of the past and towards truly becoming one organisation. This very trip demonstrates that there’s still a long way to go.”
“Unsurprisingly,” Ketevan said, “the main resistance comes from the branches with the most power in the existing framework. The Americans, the Chinese, some of the older European branches.”
Ketevan’s formal title was Assistant to the Director of Operations, Sydney branch. Jason guessed that she was around thirty, with an athletic build, broad shoulders and short brown hair. Her features were more handsome than pretty. Jason suspected that she would be deeply striking should she ever reach higher rank.
“So, what does your magic plane do?” Jason asked. “Can it shoot lightning?”
“No,” Asya said with a laugh. “We went for more common use upgrades. It may not shoot lightning, but it can absorb it to help charge the batteries.”
“That’s pretty sweet,” Jason said.
“The big advantages are general performance increases and the hybrid magic-electric power plant,” Asya explained. “This plane is capable of low supersonic speeds, cruises at fifteen thousand metres and can circumnavigate the globe without stopping to recharge, all with zero emissions.”
“And you harvested the materials from proto-astral spaces?”
“That’s right,” Asya said.
“What does it use for fuel?” Jason asked. “You don’t have a lot of spare spirit coins, right?”
“A mix of regular electricity and lightning affinity gems,” Asya explained. “One of the keys to efficient magical technology is to lean on the magic as little as possible. Let the technology do the work and use magic to skip over the places where the tech would otherwise bottleneck.”
“Lightning quintessence and no lightning gun? Talk about your missed opportunity.”
While Jason distracted himself with light banter, his insides were roiling. He was one of the few people for whom Farrah’s return from the dead was not the most arresting point. His failure to be there for her as she was captured and subjected to ongoing suffering and indignity filled him with shame. The idea of failing to liberate her now filled him with fear.
These feelings were a cancer eating him up from the inside, even as he plastered on an unconcerned smile. Asya went along with his fa?ade, although he could tell from her aura that she saw through it. She was doing her best to keep him distracted, which he appreciated.
Miranda’s satellite phone rang right on schedule.
“Well?” Adrien Barbou asked.
“It’s in motion,” Miranda said. “Your man is being liberated as we speak. Just make sure that portal specialist is ready to go.”
“Just make sure you rendezvous with Sebastian first,” Adrien warned. “If he isn’t there, no portal.”