Owen stared over his shoulder at Finn and Roslyn, and they all exchanged grim looks. Finn shook his head. There was nothing they could do. Not without all of them and a whole lot of other people getting hurt in the process.
Owen turned back to her. "Fine," he growled. "You've made your point. I'll help you."
"Good," Clementine replied. "I'm glad you've decided to be reasonable. Now, follow me."
She strolled out of the rotunda. Dixon stepped over, shoved his gun into Owen's back, and forced him to follow her. Opal gathered up the jewelry she'd been sorting through, put it into a silverstone case lined with black velvet, and went with them, as did two other giants.
Owen managed one more tight, worried look over his shoulder at the rest of our friends before he disappeared from sight.
Chapter 10
I remained in my position, lying flat on the balcony floor, and considered my options. There were really only two: stay here and keep an eye on the hostages, or follow Owen and see what Clementine wanted with him.
No choice, really. I hated leaving them behind, but Finn and the others were safe enough for now. The other hostages had been properly cowed, and I doubted anyone else would be stupid enough to try anything. Yes, Phillip was seriously injured, but Finn and Roslyn would slow the bleeding and help him as much as they could. Given his above-human strength and muscled body, the bullet probably hadn't gone quite as deep and done quite as much damage as it would have to a normal person. That probably meant he had at least a few hours left.
On the upside, Clementine had just split up some of her men, which meant that she'd also split her attention, energy, and resources. She couldn't be everywhere at once, and she'd already done the dividing for me. All I had to do now was conquer, or, rather, kill. One on one, I had a chance against the giants.
More than a chance as the Spider.
I scooted back across the floor toward the doorway. When I was sure I was out of sight of everyone below, I stood up, grabbed my shoes, and eased down the stairs to the first level. The chill of the marble had sunk into my skin from lying on the floor for so long, and it felt good to move, even though I could still hear the worried whispers of the stones and the sharp stings from the gunfire that had already seeped into them. I pushed these things from my mind.
A soft, familiar mechanical whirring sounded. I looked up and realized that a security camera was mounted above the staircase entrance. I hadn't paid any attention to the cameras when I'd rushed out of the bathroom earlier. Clearly, nobody had spotted me running toward the rotunda on the feed because nobody had come charging onto the balcony after me. Besides, the crew had been focused on the hostages then, not the possibility that one lone woman had somehow escaped their sticky web. But now that Clementine and her giants had taken control of things, I didn't want to give myself away by barreling down the hallways in plain view of all the cameras.
The camera moved in a slow, steady arc, so it was easy enough for me to dart past just outside of its line of sight when the lens turned in the opposite direction. I stared down the hallway at the next camera mounted on the wall, but it likewise moved in the same slow half-circular pattern and was just as simple to dodge.
Repeating the maneuver, I slid from shadow to shadow, hallway to hallway, all the while keeping my eyes and ears open for any sign of anyone else lurking in Briartop. But the only ones moving through the museum were the group Clementine was leading. Wherever her other men were, they were all busy with the tasks they'd been given. I stayed one hallway behind Clementine and the others, close enough that I could hear her voice as she barked out orders to her men and the faint crackles of the walkie-talkies as they reported back to her.
"Team one, status?"
"Starting on Exhibit Hall A."
"Good. Keep to the schedule."
"Roger that. We'll load everything up and move on to Exhibit Hall B when we're done in here."
And so on and so on. Clementine and her crew really were looting the whole museum, stripping it bare like locusts chewing through a field of sweet summer clover. Good for them, for thinking big.
Too bad she'd singled out Owen to help with her heist. She was going to die for that, for threatening my friends, for Dixon shooting Phillip, for ordering Jillian's murder - for all of it.
It was one thing to want to kill me. I expected it as the Spider. I'd practically signed on for it, taking out Mab the way I had, then being foolish enough to let all the underworld bosses live through Salina's ambush. But nobody preyed on my friends and family, nobody scared or hurt or used them as pawns. Nobody.
My heart pumped with cold, steady rage, and I reveled in the blackness, embraced it like the old, familiar friend it was, let it seep into every part of my being until there was nothing left but me, my knives, and my sharp, bloody will to use them on every enemy who crossed my path tonight.
Finally, the soft scuffles of shoes and crackles of conversation stopped. I eased up to the end of the hallway I'd been creeping down, made sure I was in the cameras' blind spots, and looked around the corner.
Clementine had led Owen deep into the museum, past a dozen exhibits and gallery after gallery, until they were in the center of the main wing in the very heart of Briartop. She approached two giants standing in front of a large metal door marked Museum Personnel Only - Special Clearance Needed. The museum's rune - that tangle of briars and brambles - curled around the words on the sign.
The two men both wore security-guard uniforms. Well, that confirmed my suspicion that Clementine had gotten some of her men hired on as guards for tonight's event and had taken out the rest. With them out of the way, she and her crew could rob the museum at their leisure, without worrying about setting off any alarms or someone calling the police.
Even if someone did manage to summon help, Clementine had a whole rotunda full of hostages to use as leverage, and there were enough important people here tonight to make the cops think twice about simply storming the museum. None of the underworld bosses would appreciate being collateral damage, especially since so many of them paid the po-po to look the other way when it came to all of their illegal activities.
No, Clementine had been smart about things - just not quite smart enough, since I was still alive and eager to mess up her plans.
One of the men standing by the door opened it. Dixon pushed Owen through the opening, and the two guards went inside behind him. Clementine turned to the two giants who'd followed her here from the rotunda.
"Tanner, you go inside with the others and help them get set up. Gary, you go over to the security center and see if Rose needs any help monitoring the camera feeds. We've got the museum locked down tight, but I want some extra eyes on the hostages in the rotunda, just in case any of them get any dumb ideas about playing hero."
The giants nodded and did as she commanded, heading down the hallway and leaving her alone with her family. When the others were out of earshot, she turned to Opal and Dixon.
"How did we make out with the jewelry?" she asked.
Opal lovingly patted the silverstone case she was carrying. "At least five million in this case and another five to ten million easy in the garbage bags. Maybe more."
Clementine nodded. "Good. Go back and deal with the jewelry. I want it out of the rotunda and secured as soon as possible. Dixon, you know what to do with that case.""Sure thing, Aunt Clem."
Dixon expectantly stretched his hand out to his cousin. Opal's fingers clenched around the handle of the case for a moment before she finally passed it over to him. Dixon smirked at her, his swollen nose and the dribbles of blood on his face making his orange skin look even more cartoonish. Opal coldly eyed him like she wanted to rip the case out of his hand and make him eat it. Definitely no love lost there.
Clementine checked her fancy watch. "If everything goes according to plan, it shouldn't take Grayson more than an hour to work his magic. Most of the art should be loaded into the trucks by then. Then the rest."
Opal and Dixon both smiled at her words, their faces creasing with dark delight.
The rest? What else did they have planned? And what did they need Owen for? I also wondered why Clementine was so concerned about making sure she had all of the hostages' jewels, when her men were busy robbing the entire museum. But I shrugged the questions away. I'd find out the answers soon enough - body by bloody, bloody body.
"All right," Clementine said. "I'm going to go motivate Mr. Grayson. You two know what to do, so go do it."
"Yes, Mama," Opal said.
Dixon also murmured his agreement, and Clementine went through the door and closed it behind her.
For a moment, the two cousins stared at each other, before Opal stepped up to Dixon.
"You'd better take good care of that case," she said in a low, ugly voice. "Or I'll pull your insides out through your nose - while it's still broken."
Dixon winced, and his hand crept up to his swollen face. "Geez. Relax, Opal. Everything's going just fine so far. Even I couldn't screw up this job. It's easy money, just like Aunt Clem said it would be. And the best part is that we don't have to share."
I frowned. Don't have to share? What about all the other giants? I doubted they were working for free, so what was Dixon talking about?
Opal cocked an eyebrow. "That remains to be seen. But know this - if you do screw up, it'll be for the last time. I'll make sure of that. This is a dangerous job. Plenty of chances for . . . accidents to happen."
She smiled then, her face soft, pretty, and pleasant, despite the shimmer of violence in her hazel eyes.
Well, well, well. It looked like Opal had the same ruthless streak her mama did. It was certainly enough to scare dear cousin Dixon, who winced again.
"And go clean up and wipe that blood off your face," Opal snapped. "You look like a pig gorging on a trough full of tomatoes."
Dixon nodded vehemently. "Sure, I'll go do that. Just as soon as I take care of the jewelry."
He clutched the case to his chest and backed away several steps before turning and scurrying down the hallway as fast as he could without actually running.
"Idiot," Opal muttered before walking in the opposite direction.
I waited until they were both out of sight and the cameras had pivoted away before slipping around the corner and hurrying over to the door. I tried the handle, but it was secured from the inside. Frustration surged through me; it was a sturdy, high-end lock, not the sort of thing I could finesse open with a couple of elemental Ice picks. Finn could have managed it, but I wasn't as good with locks as he was. Plus, an electronic card reader was attached to the wall to the right side of the door, something else I couldn't easily bypass.
Well, just because I couldn't open the door didn't mean that I couldn't see what was going on inside - and exactly what Clementine was making Owen do.
I hurried down the hallway, heading in the same direction as Gary, the giant who'd left for the security center. With cameras covering the entire museum, there had to be at least one that would let me see what was happening behind that door with Owen.
Despite my desperate need to make sure he was okay, I still made myself be cautious and quiet about things. Looking, listening, and creeping from one pool of darkness to the next. It was frustrating, especially since I had to keep dodging the security cameras, but I wouldn't be able to help anyone if Clementine and her crew spotted me before I was ready for them to.
Finally, I reached the end of a hallway next to the security center. I stopped in another blind spot, drew in a breath, and peered around the corner.
Gary stood in front of a steel door with a sign that read Security Center - Authorized Personnel Only.
"Come on, come on," he muttered, patting down the pockets on his uniform.
At first, I wondered what he was doing, but then I realized another electronic card reader was mounted on the wall beside the door. He must be looking for some sort of key card to slide through the device. He should have found it already, because his lapse was going to cost him his life.
All I had to do was figure out a way to kill the giant - on camera - and get away with it.
Yet another security camera was mounted in the hall, high up on the wall across from the door. I studied its slow movement, which was an arc pattern just like the others. I could sneak up and kill the giant while the camera was turned the other way, but there was no way I could get rid of his body before it swiveled back around.
I cocked my head to one side. Unless it didn't swivel back around.
I thought about my idea for a moment, but it seemed solid enough. Besides, the giant would find his key card any second now, and I didn't have time to think of anything else. So I tucked my knife back into its holster, laid my hand on the marble wall, and reached for my Ice magic.
A bit of cold silver light leaked out from underneath my palm; it only took a second for small crystals to spread out from underneath my palm, run up to the top of the marble wall, and snake down the hallway toward the camera. I alternated looking at the camera and at the giant, but he wasn't an elemental, so he didn't sense me using my magic.
I waited until the camera was turned away from the giant before I pushed even more of my power outward. A second later, an inch of elemental Ice encased the camera, freezing it in its tracks, so to speak.
As soon as the camera was Iced over, I grabbed my knife and headed for the giant. I let the cold, black rage rise in me once more, even as I crept up behind him, my bare feet as soft and quiet as silk skimming across the marble floor, since I was still carrying my heels in my other hand. The giant had a gun in a holster on his leather belt, along with his own fists and whatever other weapons he might have.
It really wasn't fair - to him.