After that . . . silence, as the giants continued with their various tasks. I’d just found the command to program the cell-phone timer when the walkie-talkie crackled again.
“Anton?” Clementine’s voice filled the air. “You and Hannah back inside the museum yet?”
I hesitated, debating whether or not to answer her. Anton had been one of the giants I’d killed at the bridge, so it wasn’t like he was going to chime in. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and tip off Clementine that someone was running around the museum murdering her men, but I still needed a few more minutes of anonymity before I made my presence known.
“Anton?” Clementine asked again, her voice sharper and more demanding than before.
From the conversations I’d heard, it didn’t sound like the crew was using complicated code words, so I decided to risk it.
“Done,” I said, making my voice as deep and manly as possible. “Heading back now.”
“Good,” she responded. “Grayson is almost through the last of the hinges on the vault. Shouldn’t take him more than another five minutes. So get your ass back up here, help the others load up the rest of the art, and get ready to move out.”
“Roger that,” I rumbled again.
I waited a few seconds, but Clementine didn’t respond, and I didn’t hear any other chatter either. It seemed like she’d bought my act, so I turned the volume back down, grabbed the bomb, and left the parking lot.
I snuck through the bushes until I was flush against the museum once more. I hugged the wall and hurried all the way around the building to the same side door I’d first snuck out of. Looking inside through the glass, I saw that the area was still dark. No giants moved in the hallway or adjoining rooms, so I used my stolen key card to open the door and slipped inside. Once again, the small snick sounded as loud as a gong banging in the mausoleum quiet of the museum, but there was nothing I could do to muffle the noise.
Now it was decision time. Where to plant the bomb? I needed a spot close enough to the vault to get Clementine’s attention but far enough away to give me a chance to grab Owen, figure out what she was after in the vault, and get out before she realized that the blast was just a diversion.
Near the rotunda, I decided. The giants might have raised one gate so they could come and go from the area, but the hostages had zero chance of escaping with all of the other exits blocked. The bomb should have more than enough power to blow through one of the gates and create an opening.
I headed in that direction, once again tiptoeing across open doorways where Clementine’s giants were still looting various parts of the museum. Judging from all the tubes, boxes, and crates clustered in the rooms, she’d trained her crew to be quick and efficient. She had tens of millions packed up already, more than enough to fund the most lavish criminal syndicate—or retirement—imaginable. So what was in the vault that was so important that she’d risk sticking around to get it? What score was bigger than what she already had?
I was going to find out—just as soon as I set off the bomb.
I made it all the way back to the main hallway that led into the rotunda. It was easy enough to hurry over to one of the side entrances, attach the bomb to the center of the metal gate there, and set the timer on the cell phone for ninety seconds.
90. I stared at the numbers on the phone, drew in a breath, and then let it out, preparing myself for the bloody battle to come. I was going to do this—I had to do this for Owen, Phillip, Roslyn, Eva, Finn, and everyone else the giants had trapped inside the rotunda. And for everyone Clementine and her men had already hurt and killed tonight—including Jillian.
Especially Jillian.
That black, murderous rage rose in me again, coating every part of my heart and soul, freezing my softer emotions, and making me cold, hard, and strong enough to do what was necessary. I leaned forward and hit the Send button on the cell phone. As soon as the timer started, I turned and ran in the opposite direction, not caring who saw or heard me.
Because there was no stopping the bomb now.
Or the Spider.
15
As I raced toward my destination, I counted off the seconds in my head.
Ten . . . Reach the end of the rotunda section . . .
Twenty . . . Start sprinting toward the vault . . .
Thirty . . . Reach the hallway that leads to the vault . . .
Forty-five . . . Slow my steps, quick, quick, quiet, quiet now . . .
Sixty . . . Look for a place to hide out of sight of the vault entrance . . .
Seventy . . . There, behind that doorway will do, giants have already looted this room . . .
Eighty . . . Knife in my hand, the spider rune stamped into the hilt pressing against the larger scar on my palm, familiar, comforting . . .
Ninety . . . Take a breath . . . get ready . . .
BOOM!
For a moment, there was just—noise. I couldn’t see the explosion, but I heard it, this great, thunderous roar, like a dragon belching fire, which rocked the whole museum. All around me, the stones screamed as the bomb blasted through the gate and into them, scorching the marble with heat and smoke and force and fire. I winced and shut the anguished wails out of my mind. I didn’t like destroying stone, especially something as beautiful as the museum’s gray marble, but it was a necessary evil—just like all the other horrible things I planned to do before the night was through.
More like before the next three minutes were through.
As soon as the last rumble from the blast faded away, I started counting off the seconds in my head once again.
Ten . . . twenty . . . thirty . . . forty-five . . .
The door that led toward the vault area flew open, banging into the wall so hard that it cracked the stone there. Clementine raced out, a gun in one hand and her walkie-talkie in the other. Dixon rushed along behind her, his gun also drawn. Given what I’d seen on the security camera earlier, that meant that there were at least three men still in the vault with Owen, maybe more.
“What the hell was that?!” Clementine screamed into her walkie-talkie as she ran.
Crackles and hisses burped back to her, but I couldn’t make out the sounds or what the other giants were saying. It was all just background noise anyway. The only thing that mattered right now was reaching Owen and getting him to safety.
I waited until the two giants had disappeared down the hallway, then grabbed a second knife and sprinted for the open door. It led into a short hallway that opened up into an enormous chamber, with the vault sitting at the very back of that room. I raced forward, not even bothering to be quiet or cautious. The time for that was long over, along with hiding in the shadows.
Too bad the giants were waiting for me.
There were three of them in the chamber, just as I’d seen earlier through the security-camera feed. All three had their guns drawn and were facing the door, forming a solid line of mass, muscle, and malice. For a moment, my gaze flicked past the giants to Owen, but I couldn’t see him clearly, so all I got was the sense that he was standing behind them, nothing more. One of the giants stood at more of an angle to the door than the others, his weapon trained on Owen instead of me. Still, the sight lifted my heart, because if Owen was still standing, then he was still breathing, still alive—which meant that I still had a chance to save him.
As soon as they saw me running toward them, two of the giants lifted their guns and fired. Not able to avoid getting hit, I reached for my Stone magic and used it to harden my skin.