I tilted my head, studying the design. “A skyscraper?”
“Recognise it?” Morden asked.
It took me a second. “Heron Tower,” I said. It was at Liverpool Street, right in the middle of London’s financial district.
Morden nodded. “One of the tallest buildings in the city, and far enough removed from the Council power centres at Canary Wharf and Westminster. Levistus’s data centre is here.” The tallest block on the tower, the one with the radio mast, blinked red.
“Huh,” I said. I must have looked up at Heron Tower a thousand times while living in London. I’d never suspected a thing. “How come no one’s noticed anything?”
“Levistus has opted for stealth over fortification. The data centre has almost no permanent wards, and the few magical sources within are heavily shielded. No bound guardians, no powerful defences to radiate an obvious signal to magesight.”
“Security forces?”
“As I said, stealth over fortification,” Morden said. “The system is entirely automated. Remember that Levistus’s primary concern when setting up the site was not defending it against Dark mages, but against Light ones. He would not have been able to permanently staff it without the risk that someone would talk.”
“So in theory pretty much anyone could just break in and steal the hard drives,” I said. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“More or less.”
“Okay,” I said. “So if this place is such a great target, why haven’t you knocked it over?”
“Morden doesn’t need anything some Light mage could give him,” Lyonesse said. She and the other three had been standing quietly up until now.
“Trust me,” I told her, “there are lots of things your master could do with that.”
“While such material is less useful to me now than when I was on the Council,” Morden said, “it is still valuable.”
“Which makes me wonder why you haven’t made a move.”
“While Levistus’s data centre may not be fortified, it is still defended,” Morden said. “The location has multiple redundant alarm systems. If any are triggered, Levistus can deploy a rapid reaction force. Privately hired mercenaries, probably from outside the country.”
“Mercenaries don’t sound too bad.”
“Secondly, the data centre contains a compact and powerful bomb. I suspect, but do not know, that it is set to detonate in case of any incursion that reaches the computer systems at the centre. The bomb is more than powerful enough to destroy the synthetic intelligence and all of the records on-site.”
“Ah,” I said. “If he can’t have it, no one can.”
“And that is why I have not taken action,” Morden said. “Destroying the data centre would prevent Levistus from gaining any future benefit, but he would still have access to the records it had generated already. Over time it would weaken him, but it would take years, and any influence he lost would simply be gained by other Council members instead. I judged it not worth the risk.”
“But if you could disable the bomb and retrieve the records . . .”
Morden nodded.
I tapped my lip. “What are the bomb’s triggers?”
“You’re a diviner. I expect you can find out.”
I studied the glowing lines of the tower. “Hmm.”
“Oh, and I would suggest timing your attack for, say, tomorrow afternoon.”
I shot Morden a look. “Why?”
“Just a suggestion,” Morden said. “You’re free to ignore it.”
“Your little suggestions have a habit of being not so little,” I said. “I’ll keep it in mind. One last thing. What are you going to be doing while I’m dealing with this?”
“You mean, will I be coming with you?” Morden asked. “No. Honestly, Verus, I really don’t think you need me to hold your hand. Besides, Levistus is your problem more than he is mine.”
“If he wasn’t yours as well, you wouldn’t be being this helpful.”
“Needs versus wants,” Morden said. “The one who wants sets the terms. Was there anything else?”
Tomorrow afternoon didn’t give me much time. I’d need to stake out the place and path-walk to feel out the defences. Even once I’d learned everything I could, I had a feeling this wouldn’t be a one-man job. “No,” I said. “I think that’s enough to go on.”
We departed without incident, Morden’s students giving me suspicious looks as I walked away. Before gating out, I glanced around the ruins of Arcadia. It was still beautiful, despite the damage. I wondered if the adepts who’d trained here had seen it as a haven, and whether it would grow into a legend over time.
I also wondered whether Morden’s help was a form of revenge on Levistus and the Council for what they’d done here. Over the past few years, Morden and I had both sat on the Council, and we’d both been stripped of our positions. There was a certain symmetry in the two of us being the ones to strike back.
* * *
—
I spent the afternoon scouting out Heron Tower and path-walking to test its defences. There was good news and bad news.
The good news was that I was pretty sure I could break in. The bad news was that as I’d suspected, this wasn’t going to be a one-man job. If I wanted to have any reasonable chance of this succeeding, I’d need help. And that was a problem, because while I knew a lot of people capable of supplying that help, there were good reasons that I didn’t want to ask them.
The natural choice for a job like this was Luna. Luna isn’t the best combat mage, but her chance magic is excellent for stealth operations. Just as important, I knew her, trusted her, and we knew how to work together. The problem was that while I was pretty sure we could get into the data centre without being detected, leaving would be another story. There was a very good chance that I was going to end up shooting my way out, along with anyone I brought with me. And if I did that with Luna, it was only a matter of time until the news got back to the Council. At that point, Luna would become an outlaw, just like me. The life as a shopkeeper and independent mage that she’d so carefully built would be destroyed. I couldn’t do that to her.
Going to Variam brought the same issues. He’d be worse at the stealth parts of the job, better at the combat ones, but again, it would only take one person recognising him for his career as a Keeper to be over. In fact, pretty much anyone with any kind of relationship with the Council was out for the same reasons, which ruled out all Light mages and most independents.