Chapter Eleven – Target Selection
"Are you certain the Council is aware of the Wizarding world?" Sir Ian looked across the desk at Lady Aydin. They were meeting privately in her office.
"Quite certain," she replied. "The movements of the currents are unmistakable. Added to that Robert called this morning to schedule a meeting regarding 'mutual interests' for next week."
"His little euphemism for matters we knew about but didn't tell them."
"Precisely. Ian is there anyway to determine how much they know?"
"Tricky business Sophia. Their internal security is better than the KGB during its heyday," he replied. "I suppose we could try putting surveillance on their people again. After all it's worked so well for us in the past."
"Come now Ian. As Robert pointed out at the time, they were kind enough to leave our agents with their underwear before dropping them off at Piccadilly Circus."
"Yes, wrapped around their heads, at three o'clock in the morning, in the middle of November," he gave rueful smile. "I suppose it's our own fault for trying to shadow the Summers sisters. No, in this instance we're on their timetable. They'll tell us what they know when they decide to. What I don't understand is how it's possible for them to find the Wizarding world. I thought the protective spell prevented anyone with the ability to detect magic from seeing the barriers or what happens in the enclaves."
"Its blocks all the detection magic my family knew about at the time," Sophia began to think. "We know virtually nothing about the full capabilities of a Slayer. Yes we've observed Slayers in combat and have some sense of the their physical capabilities. But as far other abilities they may possess we know next to nothing. The Council has always guarded information about the Slayer very jealously."
"That makes sense. If memory serves the Council didn't relocate its headquarters to London until sometime in the mid twelve century and they didn't have any relations with the Crown until the fifteenth century so there was no way your family would have known of the Slayer at the time the original spell was cast. Besides with only one Slayer at a time, there was no real reason to find out. I guess we've learned it's possible they can somehow find the enclaves."
"The problem is the Covenant prevents us from telling them anything. And when Riddle starts actively killing again the Slayers will breach the enclaves to find him. They may collapse the entire spell without realizing it. The Wizarding world will be revealed. At the very least they could trigger another supernatural war."
"The good news is they seem to be taking a slow approach and coming to us first. We have time Sophia," Ian tried to be reassuring.
"I suppose so. We just have to hope a solution presents itself. I doubt we can convince them to sit on the sidelines. Especially since we are prevented from telling anything useful about the reasons for the enclaves' existence. Well, we won't know anymore until I meet with Robert." Sophia decided to change the subject. "Have you made any further progress on the political situation at the Ministry?"
"Fudge is convinced Dumbledore is trying to take over. Why, I have no idea," Ian sounded exasperated. "There's a murderer running around loose and that idiot is trying to figure out ways to micro manage the local boarding school. He's also running an active campaign to discredit Dumbledore and the Potter boy. We can assume for the time being the Ministry is effectively useless."
"Why is the Ministry so paranoid about Riddle's return?"
"I don't know. Dumbledore has to have evidence beyond Potter's word. I can't think of a reason why he's not sharing it. Unless he's trying to control the timetable somehow," Ian theorized.
"Elder Sinclair is correct. Dumbledore clearly has his own agenda. We can discount him for now."
"The Elder has his own agenda as well Sophia."
"Of course. But I know what his goals are. Besides his blood is bound by the same magic as mine. Is any good news coming out of the Ministry?"
"The only good information is one of our moles getting promoted into a more senior position. We should start getting very good intelligence on Fudge's activities and access to virtually any area of the Ministry we desire."
"That's one thing. What about Major Chisholm's people?"
Ian nodded his head. "The news is better on that front. Elder Sinclair granted us access to his family's enclave. We've been able to do far more thorough testing of Talerie's and Marshall's new toys. They've been able to confirm our ability to isolate any enclave. Talerie says he will have an effective system for field operations by the end of summer. Marshall has all the electronic gear running. The only downside is a sharp decline in battery life. That should not affect any of our hit and run operations. He's still having problems with communications. Even with that Major Chisholm says his men will be ready to go after targets by September."
"Now all we need are the targets. Randomly hitting Death Eaters will only alert Riddle that someone's after him and he will go deeper underground. We need to be selective. Your thoughts Ian."
"Target Black. His betrayal of the Potters shows he's a senior member of the Death Eater organization. And it's fair to assume he had a significant hand in restoring Riddle. Might even have been the reason he escaped prison. If we can capture him he should have all the information we need to get Riddle."
"How do we find him?"
"Shacklebolt's team operates as an independent task force. They don't file reports with the other Auror's. They report directly to Minister Fudge. Our agent in the clerk's office was never able to get us the file. Our newly promoted agent should be able to get us a copy along with any other information we need on Black's background. Cromwell believes with that as a starting point he can find Black."
"The Auror's have been looking for two years. Is Jerry really that certain?"
"He was a detective for five years. And don't forget, he found us while investigating that string of vampire murders," Ian smiled. "Man marched directly into my office and demanded to know everything I knew about vampires and why the government was covering them up. I had no choice but to hire him on the spot. Besides, he views the Auror's actions or rather inactions about the Diggory boy's murder as an insult to decent coppers everywhere. This is a personal opportunity to show them how a true detective hunts down the bad guy. Trust me, if Black's to be found, Jerry's the man to do it."
"Very well," Sophia replied. "We take Black out first. Then Riddle."