Tangled Threads

24

“Gin? Are you out here? It’s Bria,” my baby sister called out. “I wanted to talk to you about the Christmas party you mentioned to me the other day.”

Bria stepped out into the alley in between us, and the door banged shut behind her. I was in front of her, while LaFleur lurked in the shadows behind her.

Before I could move, before I could do anything, before I could even shout out a warning, the assassin struck. Quick as lightning, she grabbed Bria by her shaggy blond hair and pulled the other woman up against her chest. LaFleur hooked her arm around Bria’s throat, placing her in a chokehold.

“Detective Coolidge,” Elektra purred. “So good of you to join us this evening.”

But my sister wasn’t going down without a fight. Bria went into immediate attack mode, lifting up her boot, probably to smash it down onto LaFleur’s instep before pivoting and throwing the other woman over her shoulder.

Before she could do any of that, Elektra brought up her hand, the ball of green lightning still flickering there, and shoved it into Bria’s face. My sister had to jerk back to keep the elemental magic from burning her cheek.

“Ah, ah, ah,” LaFleur warned. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Unless you want me to melt that pretty face of yours right off.”

Bria’s blue eyes narrowed. Despite the tenuous position that she was in, she wasn’t afraid — not the least little bit. Instead, I could see her thinking about things, calculating the angles and the chances of succeeding, just as I would have if our positions had been reversed. My sister’s gaze cut to me, then to the three giants standing in the alley behind me. She knew as well as I did that the odds weren’t with her. Not while LaFleur had hold of her, the assassin’s electrical magic an inch away from her eyes.

“Who the hell are you?” Bria spat out. “What do you want?”

“Why, your untimely demise, of course, along with that of good ole Gin here,” Elektra said. “You were actually next on my to-do list tonight, detective. How very thoughtful of you to come to me instead. Now I can double my fun. Your death will go a long way toward my employer having a very merry Christmas.”

“Mab,” Bria snarled. She knew as well as I did that the Fire elemental wanted her dead in the worst possible way. She just didn’t know exactly why. “You work for Mab Monroe.”

“Correct,” LaFleur said in a cheery tone. “I work for Mab. And you know what she’s hired me to do, specifically? Make sure that the two of you quit breathing. Immediately.”

The lightning intensified in LaFleur’s hand, until the glow from it lit up the whole alley. For a moment, I thought she was going to kill Bria right then, right there. I narrowed my eyes and studied the other assassin, wondering how I could distract her long enough to give Bria a fighting chance to get away from her — or at least out of the immediate vicinity of Elektra’s lightning. I’d only get one shot, one second of opportunity before LaFleur fried my baby sister with her elemental magic. I’d come too far, suffered through too much, killed too many people, to let Bria die. Not now, not ever.

But to my surprise, the lightning flickered and dimmed in LaFleur’s hand. Oh, she still had enough power in her to give Bria a good, sharp jolt, but the magic wouldn’t kill her now — probably.

I couldn’t help but wonder what the other assassin was up to. If it had been me, Bria would have been dead thirty seconds ago, and I’d be dying on the ground right now. Never hesitate, not for a second, not for any reason whatsoever. That’s what Fletcher Lane had taught me.

But LaFleur hadn’t gone for the kill shot, even though she’d had it. I had a sinking suspicion I knew why — and what the other assassin was going to say next.

“You know, I haven’t had a lot of fun these past few days,” LaFleur murmured. “I think I’ll change that tonight. Starting with the two of you.”

Of course. LaFleur wanted to play with us first before she killed us. Because that’s what she did to people. Because she’d let the Spider slip through her fingers and wanted someone to take her anger out on. And her proclivities might just be the death of me and my sister tonight.

LaFleur let out a low whistle, and the giants who’d been standing at the end of the alley stepped up to join the party. “Boys, put these two ladies in the limo.”

I managed to slip my silverstone knives back up my sleeves before LaFleur or the giants spotted them. The oversize goons reached for me, and I jerked and flailed around, pretending that I was desperately trying to get away from them, even though I really wasn’t. No way was I leaving Bria behind. But my jerky movements had the desired effect, and one of the giants shoved me against one of the metal Dumpsters in the alley.

I crashed into it with a loud bang, moaned for show, and slumped down to the alley floor. While I was curled into a ball, I slipped my silverstone knives out of my sleeves once more and slid the weapons underneath the Dumpster.

I didn’t want the giants to grab hold of my arms and feel the weapons tucked up my sleeves. Right now, LaFleur thought that I was just a defenseless cook. I didn’t want her opinion of me to change whatsoever. Every second she thought me weak was another second I had to escape and save myself and Bria.

Besides, sooner or later, Sophia would come out into the alley to see what had happened to Bria and me. When she realized that we weren’t back here, the dwarf would start looking around. She’d find the knives and realize something bad had gone down. She’d call Finn and get the cavalry charge rolling — provided Bria and I lived that long.

LaFleur shook her head. “Oh, now she starts blubbering. How disappointing. Pick her up.”

Two of the giants plucked me off the ground. The third moved over to help Elektra with Bria. The giant yanked my baby sister’s gun off her belt, then ran his hands over the rest of her body in a slow, suggestive way. Bria’s lips tightened, but she didn’t respond to his leers. The giant found her backup gun strapped in an ankle holster and removed that one as well, along with the cell phone in her jacket pocket and her keys.

I held my breath, but the two giants holding on to me didn’t bother to search me for weapons. I suppose they considered the cop more of a threat than the cook. It was a mistake that was going to cost them their lives. I was glad I’d ditched the two knives, though. The way the giants had their hands clamped on my arms, they would surely have felt the blades through my sweater. But the fabric was bulky enough to at least hide my silverstone vest.

When the giant finished searching Bria, the four of them marched us out of the alley, with LaFleur keeping a close eye on the proceedings, the ball of green lightning still flickering in her hand. She wasn’t going to drop her magic until we were secured. Maybe not even then.

LaFleur had a limo waiting two blocks away, well out of sight of the storefront windows of the Pork Pit. The giants shoved Bria and me inside the back, then crowded in after us. The few people still moving out on the street ducked their heads and walked even faster when they spotted us. In Ashland, giants shepherding people into the back of a car was never a good thing.

“Cuff them,” LaFleur called out from the street.

The giants produced a couple of pairs of handcuffs and clamped them on our wrists, shackling our hands in front of us. Mistake number one. It’s much harder to get free if your hands are behind your back.

While the giants were busy settling themselves into the limo, I looked at the metal, which had a peculiar glint that could mean only one thing — it was made out of silverstone. Which meant that I’d have to use my elemental magic to somehow break through the metal chains before I could get free to do anything else with my hands — like carve up LaFleur and the giants with the three knives I still had on me. Fuck. My being an elemental was something else that I didn’t want LaFleur to know about just yet. Not until it was too late.

“Don’t worry, Gin,” Bria said in a low voice, trying to reassure me. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

I just stared at my sister and the determination blazing in her blue eyes. If she only knew that I was the reason all this was happening in the first place. That I’d thumbed my nose at Jonah McAllister once too many times. That I was the Spider, the assassin who was going around killing Mab Monroe’s men. That I was the one with the Ice and Stone magic Mab had so desperately wanted to snuff out. That I was the reason why the rest of our family was dead. I wondered if Bria would be so eager to rescue me then. Probably not.

But I had a bad, bad feeling she was going to find out all that and more before the night was through.

Elektra LaFleur climbed into the limo and sat across from us. One of the giants was next to her, with the other two crowded in on either side of Bria and me. Elektra tapped on the roof of the car with her fist, and the limo pulled away from the curb.

Elektra regarded the two of us a moment before reaching into the small wet bar housed in the back of the limo. She pulled out a crystal glass and poured herself a couple of fingers’ worth of a pale blue liquor.

“Gin,” LaFleur said, toasting me, before taking a long pull on the cold drink.

I hoped she choked on it.

“Where are you taking us?” Bria demanded.

Elektra leaned back against the limo seat and smiled. “Somewhere nice and deserted where no one will hear you scream, detective.”

Bria didn’t say anything, but her eyes narrowed. Her whole body tensed, as though she was getting ready to launch herself across the seat at the other woman. I reached down and put a hand on her thigh, warning her. Bria’s head snapped around to me, and I gave a small shake of my head. No, I was telling her. Taking her on is suicide right now. Don’t do it. Don’t you dare. My sister frowned, but she seemed to get the message in my sharp gaze because her body relaxed the slightest bit.

“Aw,” Elektra pouted over the rim of her glass of gin. “I was really hoping that you’d be stupid enough to try something, detective. But don’t worry. I’m going to shock the fight right out of you, among other things.”

Bria opened her mouth, but before she could let out another angry retort, someone’s cell started chirping. LaFleur rolled her eyes, then dug in her coat pocket, pulling out a small silver phone.

“What!” she snapped into the receiver.

I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, but it had to be Mab by the way that LaFleur suddenly straightened up in the black leather seat.

“I was just getting ready to call you with an update, Mab,” Elektra said, confirming my suspicion.

My lips tightened. Damn and double damn. If Elektra told Mab she had Bria and me, the Fire elemental would probably want to meet the assassin wherever she was taking us just so she could watch Bria’s death in person. Just so she could be sure it had actually happened this time. And then we’d both get dead — in a hurry.

I had to do something to prevent that from happening. Elektra and her giants would be hard enough to take out. I didn’t want to have to face Mab tonight too. Not when Bria was here in the line of fire with me.

“Minion,” I said in a mocking voice just loud enough for the other assassin to hear. “You’re nothing but Mab’s little minion and Jonah’s little bitch. Who are you going to roll over and open your legs for next, Elektra? One of the giants here?”

Bria frowned and stared at me, obviously wondering what I thought I was doing, antagonizing the other assassin. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Elektra had showed me her temper once before in the alley. It was the only real weakness I’d seen in her so far — one that I was desperately trying to exploit any way I could.

Elektra’s green eyes narrowed, and she regarded me for a long moment. Then she straightened up. “You know what, Mab? I’m getting rather tired of your constant need for updates. All you need to know is that I’m working on it. I’ll call you back when it’s done and not a second before.”

Then she snapped her cell phone shut and tossed it down onto the seat between her and the giant. A moment later, it started ringing again. Elektra regarded it with a venomous look.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” one of the giants rumbled. “Mab doesn’t like it when her calls get ignored. Trust me. I know. I had to have Air elemental skin grafts for a week after she got done with me.”

Elektra snorted. “Fuck what Mab wants. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m busy doing her dirty work right now. So she can wait. Unless you’d like to answer the phone and tell her yourself? Although I have to warn you, it will be the last thing you ever do. Because I don’t like it any more than Mab does when people disobey me.”

Lightning flickered in LaFleur’s green eyes, bringing the promise of death along with it. The giant swallowed and stared at the window. The phone rang five more times before Mab’s call went to voice mail. Elektra glared at it again before pouring herself some more gin.

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. One problem solved.

Now I just had to figure out how to get my cuffs off, get Bria to safety, and kill LaFleur before Mab came looking for the other assassin.

All in a night’s work for the Spider.