Coatl and Cerulean looked away. Lizbeth and Slate looked back at Rain with neutral expressions. Abeyance stayed quiet.

“All right,” Rain said at last. “I take it from your silence you’re ready to do some work.” He fitted something into the projector, then glanced over at the light switch. It moved with a click and the room was plunged into darkness for a moment before the projection focus activated and a life-sized figure materialised in front of us, shedding a glow over the group.

Like most projection images, the figure outlined before us was brighter and clearer than an ordinary image would be, more real than real. The shape was that of a woman, outlined in blue light, perfectly detailed but frozen and still. She was tall and slim, with a long neck, a willowy build, skin so dark it was nearly black, and short wavy hair that curved outwards to frame her face. She wore a black-and-beige dress, cut long.

“Take a good look,” Rain said. Standing behind the image, the reflected light cast him in deep blue. “This is your target, Mage Vihaela. Age thirty-five, apprenticed under Ylath. Became his apprentice at age sixteen, made Chosen one year later. After Ylath’s death, she moved out on her own. Drifted between various cabals, picked up a few records but nothing serious. Even then she was building a reputation for herself. Joined White Rose four years ago, recruited personally by Marannis. Within a year she was in charge of their internal affairs, and after two she was the second-in-command of the entire organisation. Our sources say that she’s now director in all but name.”

“Type?” Trask said.

“Death-life hybrid, heavier on the death side. Specialises in incapacitation and inflicting pain. One bit of good news is that we’ve got no indication that she can bypass shields. Bad news is that she definitely has ranged capability. How she can handle herself in a fight is not well known. She’s never been brought in and there are no reliable accounts from people who’ve gone up against her. For that reason and for several others, I do not want you to engage her in combat if there is any possible alternative.”

“Anything on associates?” Haken said.

“No apprentices, no cabal mates. It’s believed she does most of her work personally.”

I studied Vihaela’s image. The recorder had caught her with her arms folded, large dark eyes looking out into space. Her expression made it seem as though she were studying someone. She didn’t look obviously intimidating, but there was something in her face that triggered warning bells. I had the feeling I didn’t want to get into a fight with her.

“Everyone familiar with her face?” Rain said. “Good. Because I want her brought in by tonight.”

I felt Haken start a little at that. “Tonight?” For the first time, Slate looked taken aback. “Seriously?”

“That’s not enough time,” Lizbeth said.

“That’s the time you have.”

“Captain,” Haken said, “we need to set more groundwork in place before doing something like this. We should be putting in surveillance, figuring out associates . . .”