Deadly Sting (Elemental Assassin 8)

"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.

I frowned. Why would Clementine want to meet way out there? Why not in the rotunda? Or out by the moving trucks? At least, that way, if things went badly, she could always order her giants to kill me or hop into one of the trucks and make good on her getaway -

Getaway.

The word, the thought, the idea, echoed through my mind, along with everything I'd seen and heard this evening. Clementine boldly announcing herself to the hostages. Opal taking such care sorting through the jewelry. Dixon saying they wouldn't have to share their loot. The bomb under the moving truck.

Clementine's getaway plan - that's what this was all about.

I'd wondered before why the giant and her crew hadn't worn masks. I'd thought it had been because they were going to kill all of the hostages. But now I knew the real reason: Clementine planned to fake her own death. She was going to blow up the first moving truck, and no doubt all the other ones too, with all of the art and all of the giants inside them . . . probably right as the vehicles were crossing the covered bridge. The wooden structure would collapse from the force of the blasts, plunging the trucks and everything and everyone inside them into the Aneirin River. The currents ran deep, swift, and sure around Briartop Island. They'd carry the blasted remains of the art and the robbers downstream and muddy the waters of the subsequent investigation, so to speak.

That's why the jewelry was so important. It was the only thing Clementine planned on taking with her. Well, that and the tube that held Mab's will. I still didn't know exactly what she wanted with that, but it didn't much matter at the moment.

What did matter was the fact that Clementine was going to sacrifice her own men and millions in art so that she, Opal, and Dixon could get away clean. No one would come looking for them after the fact, because everyone would think that they were as dead as the other giants. And by the time the bodies were sorted out and folks realized what had happened, well, Clementine would be ensconced on some tropical island far, far away from Ashland.

And to do all this, Clementine had to have a boat stashed at the dock. That's why she wanted to meet down there.

No doubt, the giant thought she could go kill me, take the tube, and drift on down the river with Opal, Dixon, and all the jewels they'd stolen before any of the other giants realized that she'd left them behind. Not a bad idea, considering how much I'd already screwed up her original plans. She could definitely improvise in a pinch - but so could I.

"Are you still there?" Clementine asked. "It's the boathouse or nothing. I want you as far away from my men and our art as possible. You've already done enough damage to both this evening. "

Of course she did, but not for the reasons she was saying.

"Don't you worry, sugar. I'll be there. When you tell your men to release the hostages, I'll hand over the tube. Then we can both go our separate ways. "

"Fine," Clementine snapped. "You have thirty minutes. Be there, or I tell my boys to start shooting - and not to stop until every single person in the rotunda is dead. "

* * *

Static hissed through the walkie-talkie, indicating that the giant was done talking. Good. So was I. Now it was time to act. I turned down the volume on the device and looked at the others.

"You know she's going to double-cross you," Bria said. "Just as soon as she gets the chance. She's probably already ordering her giants to get into position all around the boathouse to take you down. "

I shook my head. "No. She'll order some of her men to guard the hostages in the rotunda, and the others will be out by the moving trucks, protecting the art. The only ones who will be at the boathouse will be Clementine, Opal, and Dixon. They're the only ones in on the real plan. "