“That’s why you’ve been assigned a time mage and a diviner. They should be able to give you all the information you need.”

“You know how White Rose are going to take this. We march in there without preparation—”

“You’re not arresting her.”

“They’re not going to care!”

“Believe me, I am aware,” Rain said. “But these orders come straight from the top. The Council wants immediate action.” Rain paused. “For what it’s worth, I told the representative almost exactly what you just told me. It did not sway his opinions on the matter. As far as the Council is concerned, the subject is closed.” Rain looked around. “Any other questions?”

“What if she just does a cut and run?” Slate said.

“Yeah,” Lizbeth said. “There’s no way we can get an interdictor up.”

“If she runs, she runs,” Rain said. “You search the premises and bring back what you can get. But White Rose is pretty entrenched. If I were you, I’d be ready for something else.”

Lizbeth muttered something under her breath. “We at least have somewhere to look?” Slate said.

Rain touched the focus: the image of Vihaela disappeared, to be replaced by a map of London, projected on the whiteboard. Three red dots shone from points on the map: two in the inner city, one a little farther out to the west. “White Rose runs houses at these three locations,” Rain said. “Best guess is that none of them are going to have anything too illegal on the premises. However, from what we’ve been able to gather, all three houses have a transport focus, probably a freestanding gate. The gates all link back to White Rose’s primary base of operations.”

“So where’s that?” Slate said.

“They move it,” Rain said. “Last known location was a warehouse in Manchester, but it’s been abandoned. Rumour is they went out to some new location in the country. Wherever it is, that’s where their holding and training facilities are. Vihaela will be there.”

The Keepers started talking and the subject of the briefing switched to personnel and resources. Slate wanted more; Rain was telling him no. I listened with half an ear, studying the other mages in the room out of the corner of my eye. Slate, Trask, and Lizbeth seemed to have forgotten about me, at least for now. They were the most involved, and despite their complaints, the most committed. Abeyance was staying out of it, her stance indicating that this was Keeper business. Coatl was sprawled back on his chair, cleaning his ear with his little finger. Cerulean hadn’t said a word. Haken was the one I was most curious about: he was silent, occasionally chipping in to the argument but mostly listening. He didn’t look happy, and I had the feeling that it was because of the time limit.

“All right,” Rain said at last. “You’ve got your tasks; let’s get to it. Haken, I want to be kept in the loop on this. Hourly reports and you don’t deviate from the brief without clearing it with me.”