Page 75 of Magick and Lead
“It’s already getting warm out here,” Bo said, breaking the tension. “Gonna be a hot one. Are you guys flying? Should I get the plane ready?”
“No,” Charlie said. “We’re planning. We have a foreign diplomat to kill.”
“Hmm. Sounds like fun,” Bo said.
Charlie sipped his coffee, his eyes still watching me in a way that made my cheeks warm. At last, he glanced at his cousin.
“But if you’d like to help me make breakfast, Bo, I won’t say no.”
34
CHARLIE
We ate a real farm breakfast. Bacon, eggs, sausage, fruit, and toast from bread Bo had baked himself. Though Bo was the superior chef and did most of the work, it still filled me with pleasure to watch the appreciation on Essa’s face as she ate.
I could almost imagine it was a normal Sunday morning, that Essa was my girlfriend who I’d brought out to see the farm, that we had nothing ahead of us but an afternoon of card games and walks down the farm lane and lazy lovemaking. But my eyes kept going to the window. The Air Force had this address. Which meant—although I’d never brought Kitty out here—she and her spooks could get this address, too. I had plenty of other haunts in the city they’d probably check first, and I couldn’t think of any safer place for us at the moment than this. Still, I remained on edge, ready to fight and run if we had to.
When the breakfast plates were cleared away, I brought a map and some blank papers from Bo’s desk and laid them out on the table. The map was of the entire region, but there was a zoomed-in section showing Ironberg.
“Okay,” I said. “Planning time. According to Suzie’s schedule, Kortoi will be at a state dinner tonight. That’s the best place for us to strike. And this is where it’s going to take place.” I tappedon a spot near the river. “It’s called The Mint. Coins were made and stored there a hundred years ago, but it’s since been turned into a ballroom.”
“So how do we get in?” Essa asked.
I drummed my fingers on the table. “Excellent question. With the president and the foreign diplomats there, the place will be crawling with Special Service.”
“If it’s a dinner, there will be waitstaff,” Bo said from where he stood at the sink, washing dishes. “You could always pose as a couple of servers or cooks. It’s a classic ruse.”
“We could,” Essa bit her lower lip, thinking, then held up her handless right arm. “But I’m not exactly inconspicuous. Or good at carrying big trays… Why make it harder than it has to be? Let’s just fight our way in and kill him.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it would work. The president has tons of security. There will be sharpshooters and bodyguards, and that’s not even taking into account what sort of protection Kortoi will have.”
“I’m sure he’ll have a couple of powerful mages with him,” Essa agreed. “But if we bring Othura…”
I laughed. “Crash into The Mint on dragon back? I don’t think so.”
She glared at me. “What’s so absurd about it?”
“Well, for one thing, she wouldn’t fit through any of the doors. And the place was built as a gold repository. The walls are two feet thick. Even a dragon couldn’t smash through them.”
Essa crossed her arms, irritated. “What’s your idea then?”
“I’m thinking,” I shot back.
Bo turned to us, drying a plate. “There seems to be an undercurrent of tension here,” he pointed out. “Maybe I should go for a walk…”
I looked up suddenly. “Undercurrent,” I tapped the map again. “The Mint is on the river. Part of it is built on pylons overthe water. There used to be trapdoors to lower the currency out onto boats. We could get underneath it. Come up through the floor and take everyone by surprise.”
Bo frowned. “The Special Service will be watching the river.”
“And they must have sealed up the trapdoors when they turned the place into a ballroom, right?” Essa pointed out.
I rubbed my chin. “A distraction could draw off the Special Service guards,” I said. “And even if there are no trapdoors, I bet Othura could smash a hole up through the floor for us, no problem.”
Essa was nodding. “Come up from below. Kill Kortoi before he knows what’s happening…”
“And escape on dragon back,” I finished.
“It could work,” Essa said, though she looked far off, as if she were watching it all play out in her mind.
