Diao Li, Chinese trade official has been found dead in his apartment. All evidence suggests that he was murdered during an intimate encounter and the woman in question was nowhere to be found. Shang Da, a Chinese military liason, has requested that Mike Callahan handle the case, this is due to his concerns about police corruption and the possibility that the murder was connected to the parties which have corrupted the police. He also provided Mike with several unusual foreign consultants. Unknown to Mike and Yasha the Russian boxer these consultants are from another dimension, and so are Shang Da and Diao Li. Diao Li was, in fact, impersonating a doppelganger of the version of him in this dimension. He was a Chinese official from the Homeline version of China who had an interdimensional conveyer, that conveyer has vanished. Shang Da is also an agent for another dimension, He is a master illusionist from the Invisible college in Assiah, he has used illusion to make himself appear to be a Chinese military Liason, the location of the real Shang Da is known only to the illusionist who has replaced him. Mike and the consultants examined the crime scene and had it dusted for prints. They discovered an address and time in the pocket of Diao Li's pants. After interviewing his secretary, who discovered the body but had nearly nothing of import to say, they went to visit Shang Da's office and arranged for him to cast an illusory image of Diao Li on Mike. They scouted out the warehouse, then returned to have the illusion bestowed. Mike and Yasha approached the door, Miriya, the mind control mage, attempted to establish a telepathic link with Yasha. It failed spectacularly and resulted in a boom, a flash of light, and a stench of sulfur. This brought gunmen running to the door, they appeared shocked to see Diao Li, and there was a moment of chaos. Miriya and Elsa, the mages, struck the first of them with foolishness but it was not long before the leader was shouting orders. One gunman ran for the back door while the rest readied their weapons. Another gunman was struck foolish, to an even more extreme degree, shots were exchanged, as well as boxing blows from Yasha, Elsa teleported to the other side of the building and slammed the door a few times as well as mentally impairing the escaping gunman. Both Mike and the leader of the gunmen spent most o their time laying prone, exchanging fire. Finally the gunmen were incapacitated and Miriya charmed the leader, who revealed that they worked for the notorious gangster Nam Cam, who had a business relationship with Diao Li and they were waiting to ambush his killer. He and his surviving minions were released alive, with a message to Nam Cam that it had been an unfortunate mistake and the party hoped future hostilities could be avoided.
