"Sure. But-- on the first hand I really don't like the implications if we've all been involved in --" vague gesture -- "this, for years."

"What, like he... guided us, that our enemy handpicked who was going to be up against him?"

"I'm not actually especially clear on what the implications are, I just know I don't like them."

"He certainly knew about me long before Mrs. Winston-Rogers did."

"I wonder if Carrie had anything like that. Or Anemone.

Did he say anything else?"

"He said that ants kill fifteen humans a year. And that he's been around for five billion years but everyone dies except Azathoth. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to make of that."

".....last time you saw him, he said it was fun watching humans run around like ants about to get stepped on, right? Which makes the ants thing.... a thing."

"...huh. I had forgotten that."

"So he's either threatening us or encouraging us or fucking with our heads or is a bit weird in the head what with being 15 billion years old and not human and is currently enthusiastic about ants."

"Or a combination of the above."

"Frankly it could be all of them. If you've arranged a fun little game of international godhunt you don't want the players to lose too quickly. Takes the enjoyment out."

He is NOT A FAN OF NYARLATHOTEP.

The next day, two guards meet them outside the warehouse and conduct them to Montgomery Donovan's office. (They're not Lukas's guards.)

Awesome. Cool. Not going to die. Love not dying. Not dying is great. Mordred is on a roll as regards not dying.

There's a thin wooden door for privacy.

The office is well-decorated, a bit of art deco modernity in the midst of ancient stone; the desk is scattered with various unfiled receipts and papers and the bookshelf contains a small selection of books about local laws and business practices. Behind the desk is a safe.

He doesn't think Montgomery has any idea who he is. Things seem to be going fine(?) but he is not looking forward to changing that.

Montgomery sits in her chair. "You wished to see me."

"Yes. Prototype plan is --" and he goes over the prototype plan they'd agreed on the previous day. "Obviously you know more about local security and politics than we do, any obvious problems?"

"No, although I don't know anything about the catacombs. --The person who showed you the catacombs, they're trustworthy?"

"Yes."

"The big problem is keeping Peter out. I will try but-- it's going to be suspicious, whatever I do. Especially if I'm busy aiding you with Cast Out The Black Pharaoh. How are you planning to divide up helping me cast and dealing with unexpected events?"

"Someone should assist in me casting, it is irritatingly likely to fail with only me."

She looks. "Mordred, Zoe, you look more magically powerful. Unsure how Mordred's nonhuman ancestry will affect this. Possibly positively."

"I'll help, I'm good at languages and the worst for distracting Lukas on account of the murder."

"I personally would find someone I murdered being alive very distracting.

Is there any reason to delay later than tomorrow night?"

"Don't think so, unless you want to vanish from Malta immediately afterwards, in which case you might want some time to make arrangements for that."

"This is why I have a yacht. It is not a novel fact about my life that I might need to flee suddenly."

"You know, there's some kind of nautical phantom with a boat out there on the waters," he mentions, inanely.