As they were clearing the city of Karaj, heading north east on highway fifty-nine, Kai's phone rang – the caller ID showed as being Lorcan. Kai shared a quick glance of apprehension with the others, before hitting the accept button and lifting the phone to his ear. After the inevitable enquiries about their health and such like, Lorcan took a deep breath.
"My friend. Might it be possible that you have done something on the way out of the city?"
"Well, we stopped to pick up some supplies…nothing too much though." Kai responded carefully, wondering if the line was being listened to or traced.
"Well, I might suggest you turn on your radio if you have one, or check the local news feeds. Quickly. And I wish you well in your journey – I think you will need it."
Kai was about to ask what he meant when he heard the disconnect tone, and instead waved for Hunter to pull out his pocket computer and scan for local news bulletins, and to fire up the radio as well.
Getting the vehicle radio tuned in took only a moment, and they scanned through the frequencies, until they found a news broadcast. Aswon and Hunter translated the rapid fire newscast, where the main story was a major theft at a museum in Karaj, with police now arriving in droves, reports of deaths and much confusion.
"I didn't kill anyone!" Shimazu exclaimed hotly, as several sets of eyes turned towards him. "Honestly – I pushed past a security guard, but I didn't strike him, or the cleaner. There's no way they were going to die from anything I did!" The team exchanged meaningful looks, and Marius accelerated slightly, increasing their speed and flight from the city.
Hunter's pocket computer had found an open relay onto the matrix and was logging on to the local news site, automatically adding English subtitles to the audio stream. Hunter scrabbled in his bag and pulled out the roll out screen to connect to the IO port, and spent a few minutes working to bring up a matrix feed from one of the media channels, eventually getting a somewhat fuzzy and low-res cast of a live broadcast.
As they tuned in, the Police were establishing a cordon, and shooing back the people gathered around, including the reporter and camera operator – the screen tilted wildly for a moment and the footage became shaky as they moved back behind some arbitrary point. A man in a suit emerged from the museum, and walked across the clear space, towards the reporter. As he did, a team of paramedics came out of the front doors of the museum, with a gurney – a human sized lump strapped on the top but covered with a blanket. They moved to their ambulance, but stopped to speak to a couple of policemen on the way, with no urgency to their movements. The team all looked over at Shimazu again who glanced back at them saying, "That wasn't me!" before returning his attention to the screen.
The man had reached the reporter, and said that he had a small statement prepared, but there were no questions at this time. In a smooth and calm voice he announced that there had been a terrorist attack on the country, and that a priceless Iranian heirloom had been stolen from the museum. Based on the swiftness of the assault and exact methods used they suspected the interference or involvement of far-east organisations or governments, and as a result, the police and all border agents were looking for a man in relation to this incident.
The screen cut away to an identikit image of a generic Japanese male. It didn't really look anything like Shimazu – except perhaps a passing similarity in the slant of the eyes. Several of the team snorted as Shimazu muttered under his breath, "That's racist." The screen flipped back to the live broadcast, where the man was just finishing his announcement in the same calm and unhurried voice.
A long black limousine style car pulled up, being waved through the police cordon, and a man in a plain business suit emerged, followed by a number of clerics in traditional dress. They grabbed a shot of the man in profile and Hunter set to with a computer search, running facial recognition to establish that he was Imam Safar Naeimi, one of the dozen most respected and powerful Imams in Iran.
By this point, the reporter was starting to repeat facts and rehash the situation, telling the same news in a slightly different way, for those just joining the broadcast. The team concentrated on getting out of the city as best they could on the main roads, keeping a careful eye out for police patrols, blockades or anything that might affect them.
Some twenty minutes or so later, a new bulletin appeared, and the team gathered around the screen again. Now it was reported that something had apparently been transferred to the museum by mistake, instead of being in a secure vault, obviously the work of foreign agents intent on destroying their ancient heritage. As a result a cordon was being thrown up around the city, establishing a bubble around fifty kilometres or so around Karaj, where the police and army units would stop ALL vehicles, and subject them to a thorough search. Due to the nature of the theft and the attack on not only the country, but Islam itself, this was mandatory, and non-negotiable. Flights in and out of the city were grounded, and armed drones and helicopters would enforce the quarantine with orders to shoot to kill.
Hunter got to work quickly, plotting out a map showing the likely checkpoints, frowning as he did so. Throwing the results onto the screen, the team could see that the check line ran along the mountain range to the north – the roads all came down to the same few routes through passes and chasms, and would be natural chokepoints and very difficult to circumvent. Looking around the map they wondered if trying to break through into Tehran might be their answer.
Marius slowed the truck slightly, in case they needed to make a sudden turn to the side, and change their route. They also discussed breaking all the way across Karaj and trying to evade to the west or south – accepting that it would massively increase their journey time, but making it less clear where they were heading for.
Another news bulletin made them cluster around the screen again. Now Imam Safar Naeimi approached the crowd and the waiting reporters and addressed them, calling on the faithful to look out for those responsible no matter where they were in the country. He elaborated that the stolen priceless artefacts were items of faith, irreplaceable ancient tracts that contained the writings and observations of someone who had accompanied Mohammed, Peace Be Unto Him, on part of his journey, that had been transferred into the museum. He covered again the significance of the texts, their unique nature, and how their theft could only be seen by an attack on Islam itself by the unbelievers.
Kai was watching carefully, and told the team that this guy was good – he was a good speaker, but his body cues and language were all carefully controlled, and he was dialling up the rhetoric, making the crowd angry and feeling like they had been personally insulted. The speech continued in this vein for several minutes, before he pointed to the museum security chief and accused him of being part of the job, of working with these foreign agents. The guards on either side of him stood back, and a clear space formed around him as people stood back, not wanting to be associated with him. The inflammatory language and accusations continued, being spat at the man whose protests of innocence were drowned out by the growing angry chants from the crowd. Someone in the crowd threw a stone, striking the chief in the side of the head, stunning him and opening a large gash. When the police took no action, another stone flew, then another. Within a minute, the body lay curled on the floor as the angry crowd turned into a riot, the ritual beating leaving little chance of life.
The scene cut back to the studio for a moment, before going to another outside broadcast, showing a hastily set up checkpoint, with police officers checking IDs and searching vehicles, backed up by units of the Iranian army in armoured personnel carriers, rifles and heavy weapons in obvious view. The scene was chaotic, and they saw more transports arriving, disgorging troops hurriedly as the checkpoint was reinforced and solidified. Another checkpoint showed a similar set up, with a transport helicopter sitting just off the side of the road, and several squads of troops enforcing the checkpoint. At another, a warning of violence scrolled across the bottom of the screen, before the footage ran, showing some argument with the police, and a vehicle trying to push its way past the cue, before troops opened fire on the vehicle, killing the occupants.
The voiceover for the segment condemned the people in the car for failing to comply with directions from the checkpoint, laying the blame on the incident at their feet and speculating that it was possible that they were in fact foreign agents, working in concert with the thieves. Back in the studio, there was speculation that the museum hit was by the same team who had struck at a diamond facility to the west, and that this was all part of a concerted effort by foreign agents to strike at the country and its religion. The speculations from various talking heads grew more wild and fanciful, but at the core of each was a determined effort by the enemies of Islam to strike at their country and to damage the people. The rhetoric was loud and obvious, but no doubt effective to people who had no other source of news, or for those that wanted to believe what they saw or heard.
The team considered their options again, becoming less happy that they could get through the checkpoints without being caught. Poring over the maps again, they came up with a possible solution. If they followed the route north east, close to the border, they could then take a road east that led to the Varjin Protected Area – a bio-reserve in the mountains that was fenced off, with limited road access, and showed on the map as being heavily wooded. More importantly it straddled the 50km line – if they could get in, they could travel under cover of the trees and travel off road, cross the bubble, and hopefully get out into mountain roads on the other side, without being detected. It was unlikely that the people setting up the checkpoints had considered the mobility of their six by six vehicle, or the terrain that a driver of Marius' calibre could handle.
Marius plugged the route in as set out by Hunter, and they headed north, once again accelerating to the maximum speed of the vehicle, chewing up the miles. Shimazu meanwhile called his contact and discussed the situation, trying to work out if he could offer any assistance or help with getting them over the border. He also discussed the idea of selling the artefact – seeing as they were already in trouble for stealing it, and Saito went off to make some calls.
Tadibya and the rest of the team turned their attention to the handful of "extra" scrolls they had lifted from the museum, working through them and establishing what they had, and soon spotted an ancient and tatty scroll amongst the collection. A quick evaluation revealed that this was the almost certainly the one… Kai evaluated it as being thousands of years old, significantly older than the others in the collection that Shimazu had grabbed.
A while later Saito called back, saying that he had found a buyer – but was only willing to offer fifty thousand for the artefact. It was worth more – it was priceless, in its way, and absolutely irreplaceable – but it was a buyer's market when the item was that hot. Shimazu checked with the team, and they declined the offer. Saito actually sounded relieved that he wasn't going to have to handle the item after all.
Tadibya finished her examination of the scroll, and announced that it wasn't magical, or radiating a magical aura – it was just old and valuable in its own right. Still, it was a unique item, and if it was as important as it seemed, a team of mages would soon be able to track it down.
"It'll take a while to set up, but if they can get a team of mages together, they can absolutely find this thing. All they need is for one of the mages to be familiar with it in some way, or have some item linked to it… maybe even just have the container it used to be stored in. They can start a ritual of tracing, and one of their ritualists will follow the astral trail between the two, powered by the mana generated from the rest of the team."
"What about our wards? I thought that would stop this kind of stuff?" Kai asked.
"It will help – but it is not enough. Think of the ward as a disguise, perhaps. Or, even better – imagine the item is a light, and the ward is a blanket we have thrown over it. It will stop much of the light, hide it, and conceal it. But if the light is powerful enough, and the seekers skilled enough, they will spot the light leaking out from under the edge of the blanket. And once they have seen it, they can track it easily – and send in more usual assets to stop us in the real world." Aswon responded, to Kai's question while Tadibya was still looking for the right words to use.
"Yes, what he said, more or less." She added, realising as she did so that it sounded a little redundant. "But it will slow down things considerably for sure. Against a powerful team that is well motivated? It won't stop them, and if they do find it, it will be a matter of seconds from then until they can report to the group. From there, they can start another ritual – perhaps one to target the vehicle or us, with some kind of spell to stop or incapacitate us.
"So what are our options?" Kai asked, his eyes flicking between Aswon and Tadibya, who seemed to have the best handle on the situation at the moment.
"Well, we can try to move the scroll into a fixed location and leave it behind?" Tadibya suggested.
"Or even better, transfer it into another vehicle, and let them track that instead." Aswon added. "Though I pity the occupants of that vehicle when they are located, based on what has happened so far. This has already led to the death of one man – I'm not sure I would be happy in causing any more."
"Maybe if we can get it into a police car or something?" Tadibya mused. "Surely that wouldn't lead to their deaths, based on who they were?" Aswon snorted at her naivety, and just shook his head. "How about if I summon a spirit to actually materialise and to carry the scroll, heading back towards Karaj. And we tell it that as soon as anyone or anything appears, to drop the scroll and vanish back to the metaplanes, so they can't track it or trace it?"
"That's a good idea – but instead of that, if the spirit can carry the scroll very high, that would be better."
"Why?" Kai asked, puzzled.
"Well," Aswon responded, "to get that high, the observers would need to be in either a plane or a helicopter, and that means they're unlikely to be able to loiter and observe it carefully. And if an astral mage shows up, they can't really do anything as they're not really there… they can only observe. That gives us plenty of time to put distance between us and the scroll – which they should chase as the most important thing."
"Ok, go for it. Let's get that thing out of here."
The spirit was duly summoned, causing Tadibya to wince in pain and look a little woozy from the effort, but the requirements were laid out. The spirit then promptly vanished, leaving the party looking a little confused. A minute later it reappeared in the road ahead of them, physically manifest and with a large bird, a raven or crow of some kind, squawking and flapping its wings and trying to escape from the grip of the spirit. They threw open the top hatch to admit the spirt and the captured bird, confused as to what was going on.
The spirit spoke, a voice that rose and fell in gentle waves, the wind moaning as it washed through the back of the truck.
"Tie your item to the leg of this bird. I will push and guide it through the air, taking it in the direction you wish it to go. If your enemies arrive, I will disappear, leaving the bird to fly freely. They will seek out the scroll, and have nothing to trace back to you, no magical signature or bound spirit." Tadibya smiled at the spirit past her headache, and mentally thanked it – at least summoning a spirit so powerful came with perks – it had understood her intentions and wishes, rather than her literal requests and had come up with a plan more likely to succeed.
They attached the scroll, and the bird flapping in panic was propelled by the spirit up into the air and to the south, accelerating beyond the limits its tiny brain could comprehend by the spirits powers of magical movement, disappearing quickly into the darkening skies.
Now without the main target of tracking, the team progressed down their route, following the path laid out. They made good time, until they reached a village called Asara – where they spotted an angry mob dancing around a burning car that looked like it might be foreign in the middle of the street. Marius dropped the lights, took the truck off road and followed a goat trail up into the hills and around the town, dropping down to the main road again on the far side, without having been spotted, and then continued on their way, not wanting to get involved in any lynch mobs.
Eventually they made it to the protected area, and located an entryway into the nature reserve. Again, Marius turned off the lights to the truck, cranked up his sensors, and rolled forwards into the reserve, at a brisk walking pace, working his way down the rough tracks and terrain into the wilderness preserve. The rest of the team stared out into the inky blackness, those of the team with thermal vision watching the odd animal shape burst from cover or scuttle into their burrow as they passed.
They worked their way down into a shallow river, and Marius turned to follow it, the massive metre high wheels and high ground clearance letting them trundle forwards relatively safely, and of course – leaving no sign of their passing. They continued on in this way for several hours, with the team starting to become fatigued as the night marched on, and the truck lurched from side to side over the uneven riverbed.
About three in the morning they all sprang upright though when the truck gave a small lurch as it hit and rolled over an obstacle, and a high pitched shrill scream shattered the quiet. Within seconds, the truck started taking fire from something – repetitive thuds as missile after missile hit the side of the truck. Aswon peered out of the left side of the vehicle, spotting a number of creatures to the side, about the size of a dog, but with a dense and confusing heat pattern. Every half a second, they suddenly got warmer and then "wham", another impact on the truck. Marius told them they were undamaged, and continued to push down the river, leaving the attackers behind.
A hundred yards down the river, another creature burst from the undergrowth, massive hairy legs propelling it across the floor in rapid bounds, before all eight legs bunched and it prepared to jump towards the truck. Tadibya had other ideas however, and a massively powerful bolt of magical energy was summoned, striking the arachnid hard and dashing it into unconsciousness. They pushed on, hoping not to startle, injure or irritate any more of the wildlife.
As dawn approached, they made it to the western end of the Lar reservoir, and moved around the northern shore, finding a copse of trees down by the water's edge they could use as cover. Examining the outside of the van they found a handful of quills stuck in the cracks and crevices of the truck – apparently they'd run over a Volleying Porcupine, and the rest of the herd had attacked them, launching wave after wave of toxic spines at them. They carefully gloved up and harvested the quills, in case they were useful later, and then settled down to get some rest.
They were out of the quarantine area, and had only a few hundred kilometres to go, until they got near the border, and with luck could meet up with Saito's smuggler team in their T-bird and get a lift across the border into Turkistan. It should be smooth sailing from here…
