“You bitch,” she snarled. “You piggybacked onto my heist.”
“You stung the museum, so I decided to sting you instead,” I corrected. “Honor among thieves is highly overrated. And why should I do all the hard, dirty work of getting into the vault when you and your crew were so eager to do it for me? I was prepared to crack it myself, but what happens when I finally go for it? Why, I find you in there ahead of me. So I decided to wait for the perfect moment to get what I came for—or, rather, to create the perfect moment.”
“The explosion.”
“The explosion,” I agreed. “You really shouldn’t leave bombs lying around where just anyone can find them.”
“And what was it exactly that you came for?” Clementine asked.
I plucked the diamond necklace I’d swiped from the vault earlier out of a pouch on my belt. I held it up, admiring the sparkle of the jewels for a moment, before tossing it over to Bria. “A lovely little necklace. Exquisite diamonds. All nice and shiny and ready to be fenced. That ebony tube you were after just happened to be a bonus.”
Silence. I could almost hear Clementine thinking, trying to figure out whether to admit that the tube was what she’d broken into the vault for. In the end, she decided to come clean. She didn’t have another play here, and we both knew it.
“And how did you even know that tube was what I was after?”
“Oh,” I said, “I have my ways. You wouldn’t want a girl to reveal all her trade secrets, now, would you?”
More silence.
“What’s your name?” Clementine asked.
“Well, I could give you a name, but I think we both know it wouldn’t be my real one,” I said. “So why bother?”
“Fine, Ms. No-Name. Here’s how this will go down. You either give me back what you stole, or I start killing people,” Clementine said, her voice just as polite and pleasant as mine. “Starting with Eva Grayson. I’m sure you saw her earlier tonight. Such a pretty girl. It would be a shame to have to put three bullets in her face.”
Owen stiffened, and his violet eyes blazed with anger. He started to open his mouth, but I shook my head and held my finger up to my lips.
I thought she might say something like that, and I was ready for her threat. I chuckled, making the sound light, carefree, and just a tad mocking. “You go right ahead. I don’t care in the slightest whether some poor little rich girl lives or dies.”
“Well, Mr. Grayson might care,” Clementine said, changing tactics. “Why don’t you put him on so I can ask him?”
Owen looked at me, but once again I shook my head.
“Grayson’s dead,” I rasped. “He took a couple of bullets helping me get out of the museum. Bled out quick after that.”
“I don’t believe you,” Clementine replied. “You went to a lot of trouble to get him out of the vault.”
“Wrong. I went to a lot of trouble to get my diamond necklace and your mystery tube out of the vault. Grayson was just there. I took him along as a human shield, in case I ran into any of your giants, which, of course, I did. He served his purpose, then outlived his usefulness.”
I stared at Owen. He frowned at me, doubt filling his eyes—doubt about me and my words. He was wondering what I was playing at. The fact that he couldn’t just trust me after everything we’d been through hurt, another briar burrowing into my heart. But I wasn’t surprised by his lack of trust. That was another thing I’d sliced in two when I’d cut Salina’s throat.
“Well, if Grayson’s dead, then why haven’t one of my men found his body yet?” Clementine asked.
“Because your men aren’t nearly as good at this game as I am. I hope you got them at a discount rate. I haven’t been impressed so far. I’ve killed, what, eight, nine of them now? And I haven’t got a scratch on me.”
Not true, of course, but she didn’t need to know about all my aches and pains, or my dwindling reserves of magic.
Clementine was quiet for a moment. Thinking. “Why haven’t you left the island yet?”
“Well, let’s just say that I didn’t count on you bringing along quite as many giants as you did. They’ve made things a bit more difficult than I expected.”
“You won’t get off Briartop alive,” she vowed, anger coloring her voice.
“If you want to lose more men, that’s fine by me. I don’t have any plans for the rest of the night, and I’ve got plenty of guns and ammo, thanks to all the weapons I’ve taken off your men. Rest assured that I have ten million little reasons to motivate me to live—and to kill whoever gets in my way.”
More silence.
I let Clementine stew a few seconds before speaking again. “However, all that doesn’t mean that we can’t come to some sort of agreement. Things don’t need to get any bloodier and more unpleasant than they are already. Besides, if there’s one thing I’m always interested in, it’s increasing my profit margin. I’m rather lazy that way.”
I was totally channeling Finn and his never-ending greed, but I figured it was an emotion the giant would understand well.
“What do you want?” Clementine asked.
Ah, the money question. Now she was finally getting down to business—and so was I.
“Now you’re talking, sugar. I consider myself a reasonable person. I’m willing to trade you the tube and its contents.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Two things. First, and most important, safe passage off the island.”
“And the second?”
I drew in a breath. “Second, you let all the hostages live.”
It was a calculated risk, but it was one I had to take.
“And why do you care so much about those folks?” Clementine asked. “Considering that just a minute ago, you were telling me to put a couple of bullets into Eva Grayson?”
“Well, let’s just say that this isn’t exactly a solo job. As I’m sure you know, you can’t pull a heist like this without greasing a few palms. Well, more than a few. This is Ashland, after all. Anyway, I have a connection or two in the rotunda whom I’d like to see live through the night. Connections that will make it far easier for me to cash in on all my lovely, lovely diamonds.”
“Well, if you care so much about your supposed friends, I could just start shooting people until you decide to turn that tube over to me,” she threatened.
“You could,” I agreed. “Although there are, what, two hundred and some people in the rotunda? The odds aren’t good that you’ll kill my connections. At least, not immediately. Besides, you start shooting folks, and the others will rise up and try to stop you. Self-preservation has a nasty habit of kicking in like that. And while you’re busy fighting off a mob, I’ll be slipping off the island. I’ll find some way off this rock. Trust me on that. The second I’m back on the mainland, I’m a ghost, gone, and whatever’s in this fancy tube along with me. Do you really want to take that chance, sugar?”
She fell silent again. All around me, the others shifted on their feet. The hums of crickets and the bellows of bullfrogs filled in the quiet. In the distance, I could hear the faint sloshing of the Aneirin River as it flowed around the island.
“Fine,” Clementine finally snarled. “I want what’s in that tube more than I want to kill the hostages.”
Well, that, and she had been planning to let them live all along. But I’d take what I could get.
“Excellent,” I drawled. “I thought you might see things my way.”
“Meet me at the boathouse on the back side of the island,” Clementine said. “That’s where we’ll make the exchange. You don’t show, and I tell my men to start shooting.”
It took me a moment to figure out that she was talking about the dock. In the summer, the museum let visitors rent out small plastic paddleboats and steer them through a series of canals that had been carved into and around the island. All the paddleboats were launched from the large dock at the back tip of the island.