Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin 4)

I kept my face smooth, as though the name LaFleur meant nothing to me. Elektra, either, even though it was an obvious play on her electrical power. What a cliche. I wondered if that was her real name or one that she'd just chosen for herself, given her elemental magic. Didn't much matter either way. She was still going to die.

I nodded my head at her, even as my thumb traced over the hilt of my silverstone knife.

At this point, Sophia had gotten interested in things. The Goth dwarf knew all about my problems with Jonah McAllister and had actually stopped stirring her pot of baked beans long enough to stare over her shoulder at the three of us. Sophia made a questioning sort of growl low in her throat, telling me that she was up for whatever I wanted to do, however I wanted to handle McAllister and LaFleur.

I met the dwarf's black gaze and made a flat, level, slashing motion with my hand, the one still holding the knife down out of sight. No, I was telling her. Stay cool. There was no real problem here-yet.

Besides, I wanted to see exactly what McAllister wanted, exactly why he'd brought LaFleur here to the Pit, before we got into anything . . . messy.

"So do we seat ourselves or is there somewhere . . . special that we need to go?" McAllister asked.

My eyes narrowed. "You came here to eat? In my restaurant?"

That was one of the very last things I'd ever expected him to say.

McAllister gave me another cold smile. "That is what one does here, is it not? I was under the impression that you were running a restaurant. " His brown eyes roamed over the clean, but well-worn, interior once more. "Such as it is. "

The arrogant sneer in McAllister's bombastic voice might have made a lesser woman cower. Instead, below the counter, my hand tightened around my silverstone knife.

But instead of bringing up my weapon and ending the arrogant lawyer's miserable existence, I tucked it into a slot under the cash register. There was nothing I could do but seat them. Not without creating a whole lot of trouble for everyone in the restaurant.

If it had just been me and Sophia, well, I might have brought up my hidden knife and slit Elektra LaFleur's throat with it before turning my deadly brand of attention to Jonah McAllister. But there

were innocent people in here, people who had nothing to do with my feud with McAllister.

Even when I'd been the Spider full-time and assassinating people for money, I'd never killed innocents, no matter what. There were certain rules that you just didn't break, even if you were a cold-hearted bitch of an assassin like me. No kids, no pets, no bystanders. It was a code that Fletcher had taught me, one that I'd lived by for years. One that I still adhered to today-and one of the few things that was keeping McAllister alive right now.

Besides, I wanted to see exactly what kind of game the lawyer was playing, what he thought he was doing here, other than being a dick. So I leaned over, picked up a couple of stray menus, and stepped around to the other side of the counter.

"This way. "

I led them over to a booth next to the storefront windows, which was as far away from the back counter, Sophia, and the other two pairs of diners as I could get them. Still too close for my liking, though.

Jonah and Elektra settled themselves in the booth, sitting on opposite sides. I handed each one of them a menu and took a step back.

"What would you like to drink?" I asked in a flat voice.

"I suppose it's too much to hope you have any sort of wine here," Jonah sneered again. "I imagine it would just be cheap swill anyway. Or worse, some sort of home-grown moonshine. "

"Jonah will have an ice water with lemon," Elektra interrupted him in a smooth tone. "And I'll have a strawberry lemonade. "

I raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised that she was ordering for him-and that he didn't dress her down for having the nerve to do it.

Elektra reached over and started tracing small circles with her fingertips on the back of McAllister's smooth hand. She gave him a sly smile, which he returned, before his cold brown eyes dropped to what he could see of her cleavage through the undone ribbons on her green shirt. A knowing smirk curved his tight face, like he knew exactly what was underneath the slick fabric.

Oh. So that's how it was. An interesting development. I wondered if Mab Monroe knew that her lawyer was fucking her assassin. I was willing to bet no. The Fire elemental would frown on that kind of fraternization, if only to make sure that her minions stayed loyal to her alone. Not that I imagined that McAllister and LaFleur had any kind of real love connection, but still, people would do a lot of crazy things for sex. Like kill for it.

"I'll be back in a minute to take your orders. "

Jonah waved his hand at me, a clear indication that I was dismissed. Anger filled me at his arrogance, but I didn't act on it. Instead, I put the emotion aside for now. It would only motivate me that much more later, when there was no one around but me, McAllister, and my silverstone knives.

I stalked away from their booth and went back behind the counter

"Call Finn," I said in a low voice to Sophia as I grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them with ice. "Tell him that LaFleur is here and will probably be here for at least the next hour. Tell him to park out on the street and follow her and McAllister when they leave. The two of them just might lead us to Natasha. And tell Finn to bring whatever supplies he might need to finish things. I want to end this-tonight. "

Sophia grunted her acknowledgment and kept stirring her beans.

I finished fixing the drinks. Then I grabbed my order pad and pen, along with the glasses, and walked back over to their booth. I plunked down the drinks, not caring that McAllister's water slopped over the side and spilled onto the table.