Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)

by Jennifer Estep

  And just like that, everything made sense.

  Deirdre coming back to Ashland, cozying up to Finn, putting the jewelry exhibit together. Part of me marveled at her plan. It was far more clever, devious, and intricate than I’d expected. Fletcher had been right all along. Deirdre Shaw was definitely one of the most dangerous people I’d ever met. Even worse, she’d been absolutely right when she’d mocked me about not seeing the big picture until it was too late.

  An icy fist of dread clenched tightly around my heart. “Where’s the secondary location? Where did they take the jewelry?” I already knew the answer, but I needed her to confirm it.

  “First Trust bank. It’s one of the most secure facilities in Ashland.” She frowned. “Why do you care so much about where the jewelry went—”

  Bria’s eyes widened, and her face paled.

  “That’s Finn’s bank.”

  23

  “That’s Finn’s bank,” Bria whispered again, her mind stuck on that one terrible, horrifying fact.

  I nodded, my mouth set into a grim slash. This had been Deirdre’s master plan all along. Santos must have told her that there was no way to heist the jewelry from Briartop, that there were too many guards and too many cops at the museum. So the two of them had sent those men in to die, all with the ulterior motive of getting the jewelry moved somewhere else—somewhere better.

  Fletcher had a saying: Why steal one million when you could steal two? In this case, why just rob the museum when First Trust was a veritable treasure trove of jewelry, cash, and other valuables? But Deirdre had needed an inside man at the bank to make her plan work. Someone high up on the food chain. Someone above suspicion. Someone to squire her around and give her tours and let her into the basement vault so that she could memorize the security setups and pass all that info on to Santos.

  Finn was that inside man. He just didn’t realize it.

  Bria stared at me, putting Deirdre’s plan together the same way I had. With one thought, we both bolted out of the rotunda.

  Xavier had left to check on something elsewhere in the museum, and I didn’t see him among the throngs of cops and guards Bria and I darted past. There was no time to track down the giant and tell him what was going on. Every minute, every second, counted now.

  Even though Finn might already be dead.

  That icy fist squeezed my heart again, but I forced myself to push the thought away. Finn wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be.

  He just couldn’t be.

  Right before Bria and I reached the front doors of the museum, I grabbed her arm and forced her to slow down to a fast walk.

  “Easy,” I murmured. “We don’t want to attract any unwanted attention. We need to get out of here as quietly as possible.”

  Bria didn’t like it, but she nodded and matched her pace to mine. We skirted around more clusters of cops, and she stabbed her finger to the right toward the parking lots.

  “This way,” she said. “My car’s this way.”

  “Right behind you.”

  Still keeping to our fast walk, both of us weaved around the other cops and then ducked under the yellow crime-scene tape that had been strung up around the museum perimeter.

  Bria broke free of the crowd, her strides getting shorter and quicker until she was almost running again. She couldn’t help herself, and neither could I. The two of us darted around patrol cars with flashing lights and raced over to her sedan. We jumped in, and she cranked the engine and zoomed out of the parking lot. I grabbed my phone and tried Finn again.

  No answer.

  “How long ago did the security company arrive at the bank with the jewelry?” I asked.

  “The armored truck had just pulled up to the bank when I told you,” Bria said, glancing at the dashboard clock. “Ten twenty-three now. So maybe five minutes ago?”

  I cursed. Santos and his crew had probably already taken down the armored-truck guards, along with those at the bank. The heist was in full swing now.

  Bria drove down the hill to the covered bridge. She reached for the switch to flip on her sirens and blue lights, but I grabbed her hand.

  “Don’t,” I said. “Santos might have someone watching the museum to make sure that the cops stay here. I don’t think that anyone noticed us hurrying outside, but a car leaving with sirens and flashing lights might tip him off. If Santos and Deirdre realize that we’re on to them, they’ll grab what they can from the bank, execute Finn and anyone else inside, and leave before we get there. We need to be smart about this. Not go rushing in blindly.”

  Bria’s mouth tightened, but she dropped her hand from the switch. “What do you suggest?”

  “Just drive away from the museum at a normal speed. Once we’re a couple of miles away, hit the gas. And let me make some calls in the meantime.”

  Bria nodded, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. “If that bitch has hurt him, if she has mussed so much as one hair on his head, I will strangle her with my bare fucking hands.”

  “Not if I get to her first,” I promised, my voice as dark as hers. “Not if I get to her first.”

  * * *

  While Bria drove, I made another round of calls. I finally got through to Silvio, who’d been talking to someone, digging up more dirt on Deirdre. I told him what was going on, where I wanted him to meet us, and, most important, what I needed him to bring me.

  I’d just hung up with the vampire when Owen called. I told him the same things I’d told Silvio, and he promised to meet us ASAP.

  I debated calling Jo-Jo and Sophia, but I decided not to. If Deirdre and Santos were holed up in the bank, then stealth was the best option—the only option. The more people I brought in to help Bria and me, the more chance there was for one of us to be spotted before we rescued Finn.

  Bria drove to the downtown loop in record time. Most of the office buildings and skyscrapers were closed on the weekend, with their corporate drones safely ensconced in the suburbs, so the area was largely a ghost town. First Trust of Ashland was also closed, making it the perfect time for Deirdre, Santos, and their crew to rob the bank. Since it was Saturday morning, they could take as long as they needed to crack the cash cages behind the tellers’ counter in the lobby, along with Big Bertha, the basement vault where the real payday was. The thieves could easily make off with hundreds of millions in cash, jewels, and more. At one fell swoop, Deirdre could pay back her investors, shore up her charity foundation, and have plenty left over for her champagne bubble baths. Once again, I had to admire the cleverness of her plan.

  “How do you want to play this?” Bria asked when we were three blocks away from the bank.

  “Drive by the bank at a normal speed. Not too slow. We want it to seem like we’re just another car, cruising through downtown on our way to somewhere else.”

  Bria nodded and made the turn.

  The block that housed First Trust was as deserted as all the rest, and I didn’t spot so much as a bum digging through trash cans on a side street. What I did see was an armored truck sitting outside the bank entrance. A couple of guys were grabbing boxes from the back of the truck and passing them over to several giants, who were all wearing the gray uniforms of the bank’s security guards.

  Including Rodrigo Santos.

  The giant had his gray cap pulled down low on his forehead and his arms crossed over his chest as he supervised the jewelry exchange, but I still recognized him. My heart sank. If Santos was out here on the sidewalk, acting as the head guard, then that meant he already had control of the bank. I wondered how many guards—legitimate guards—might be inside. Probably a skeleton crew, since it was a Saturday.

  Bria cruised past the armored truck. Santos stared at our car, and I leaned my elbow up in the window, hiding my face from him. The light at the end of the block winked to red, and Bria made the appropriate stop. She looked in the rearview mirror, while I did the same in the passenger’s-side one.

  The armored-truck guards finished handing over the boxes of jewelry, th
en closed the back doors on their truck, got inside, and pulled away from the curb. Santos watched the truck drive off, then went into the bank with the rest of his crew, leaving one man outside to stand guard. Santos might have control of the bank, but he wasn’t taking any chances, and storming in through the front was out. That would only end up getting Finn and every other innocent person inside killed.

  “Now where to?” Bria muttered as the light turned green.

  “Go around the block. There’s a garage on the back side of the bank. Drive in there, and park on the top level.”

  Bria did as I asked. Three minutes later, we were in the garage, which was as deserted as the rest of downtown.

  She killed the engine, then looked at me. “Now what?”

  “What was the protocol for transferring the jewelry? How was it supposed to work? How many guards were supposed to be at the bank? Lay it all out for me.”

  Bria drew in a breath. “An armored truck with three guards was supposed to drive the jewelry from the museum to the bank and unload it out front, just like we saw. The bank was supposed to have at least half a dozen guards waiting inside to take the jewelry from the lobby down to the basement vault.”

  She bit her lip. “Finn was supposed to be at the bank too, running point on everything. He wanted to be sure that nothing went wrong with Deirdre’s exhibit. Or if it did, that at least the jewelry would be secure in the vault.”

  Another reason Deirdre had needed him, so he could let her into the bank this morning.

  “So he’s in there,” I said. “Along with at least six other innocent people.”

  If Deirdre hasn’t killed them all yet.

  I didn’t have to say the words. The worry pinching Bria’s face told me that she was thinking the same thing. Deirdre wouldn’t leave any witnesses behind. She would execute every single person in the bank, including Finn.

  “Yeah. So how are we going to get everyone out?” She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket. “I could call in a SWAT team. They could be here in twenty minutes.”

  “And Finn and everyone else inside would be dead a minute after that.” I shook my head. “You can’t call it in; you can’t call for any backup at all. Deirdre’s probably paid someone in the police department to tip her off at the first hint of trouble. When that happens, either she’ll kill everyone outright or use them as hostages to make her escape. Either way, they’ll still end up dead. We have to do this ourselves. Are you up for that?”

  “You’d better damn well believe it. I want to kick that woman’s ass for what she’s put Finn through.” A faint smile curved her lips. “And for making me call her Mama Dee.”

  “You got it, sister.”

  I held out my fist, and Bria bumped me back before her expression turned serious again. “I’ve got a few supplies in the trunk but not enough for us to take out all the thieves. Even if I did have enough supplies, I don’t know how we’d even get into the bank.”

  “Leave that to me. There was a reason I wanted you to come here.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You know how to break into the bank.”

  I grinned. “Among other things. Let’s go. We don’t have any time to waste.”

  24

  Bria popped the trunk and opened the cases inside, revealing enough guns and ammo to outfit several commandos, along with knives, flares, binoculars, and a couple of black vests lined with silverstone like the one I still wore.

  I let out a low whistle. “Nice arsenal.”

  She shrugged. “It pays to be prepared in this town.”

  Bria shrugged out of her jacket and zipped a silverstone vest over her chest before stuffing extra guns and ammo into all the vest pockets. I added some extra knives to my usual arsenal. I also grabbed a tin of Jo-Jo’s healing ointment and smeared it all over the goose egg and the cut on my head. The dwarf’s Air magic pricked my skin, scabbing over the cut, smoothing out the swelling, and easing the ache in my face. The knot and the cut weren’t completely healed, but it was better than nothing.

  We’d just finished gearing up when Silvio pulled his car into the garage, Owen right behind him in his own vehicle. The two of them hurried over, each carrying a black duffel bag.

  Owen dropped his bag, then cupped my cheek, his violet gaze steady on my gray one. “How can I help?”

  I reached up and squeezed his hand. “Thank you for coming.” I paused. “Especially since I know how much you still want to punch Finn.”

  He made a face, then gave me a crooked grin. “Yeah, but he’s family. I’ll punch him after we rescue him.”

  “Deal.” I turned to Silvio. “Did you bring it?”

  The vampire huffed and gestured at the bag at his feet. “Of course I brought it. What kind of assistant would I be if I didn’t? Although I don’t see how it’s going to help you get inside the bank. I drove by the entrance. I saw the guard stationed out front.”

  “We’re not going in through the front.”

  I crouched down, opened the bag, and pulled out a large crossbow, a long length of rope, a couple of metal handles, and a silverstone grappling hook strong enough to shoot through a stone wall. Silvio, Owen, and Bria watched in silence while I assembled everything.

  Owen frowned. “Is that a zipline? What are you going to do with a zipline?”

  Silvio crossed his arms over his chest. “My question exactly.”

  I checked to make sure the equipment was in order. “Remember back during the summer, when Finn, Owen, and I were playing that war game, and the two of them bet me that I couldn’t mock-kill both of them?”

  “Finn bet you.” Owen held up his hands. “I was just an innocent bystander.”

  “Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, one of the places that I scouted out to kill Finn was at the bank.”

  “But you didn’t kill us at the bank. You killed us at my office,” Owen said. “Quite easily, from what I remember.”

  “That’s because your office wasn’t nearly as secure as the bank. But no matter how locked down a building is, there’s always a way in.”

  “You cracked the bank’s security setup,” Silvio said.

  “Yep. It took a while, but I managed it.” I got to my feet, hoisted the crossbow onto my shoulder, and looked at my sister. “You ready to have a little fun?”

  Bria sighed. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

  I grinned. “Only if you’re afraid of heights.”

  * * *

  It turned out that Bria was, in fact, not the biggest fan of heights. But when I explained my plan, she sighed again and nodded. Owen and Silvio didn’t much like my plan either, since it left them waiting outside while Bria and I went into the bank, but I needed my sister’s Ice magic to help me get down to the lobby and then to the basement vault. That’s where Deirdre and Santos would be—along with Finn. Besides, Owen and Silvio had their own parts to play.

  Five minutes later, I was standing on the roof of the parking garage with Bria, Owen, and Silvio. The garage was one story taller than First Trust, giving us a clear view of the bank’s roof, including an access door with stairs leading down into the bank itself.

  First Trust took up its own block, and a fifty-foot-wide alley separated the parking garage from the back of the bank. The main entrance might be guarded, but no one was on the roof yet, something that I was going to take advantage of.

  I peered through the scope attached to the top of the crossbow, lining up my shot, then gently squeezed the trigger. The hook shot out from the bow and sailed over and across the alley, taking the rope along with it.

  Thunk!

  The hook punched into the stone wall right next to the access door. I unhooked the rest of the line from the crossbow, wrapped it around one of the parking garage’s columns, and yanked on it several times, making sure that it was securely anchored on both ends. Then I clipped two metal handles to the line—one for me and one for Bria.

  “You’re up, baby sister.”

  Bria nodded, took hol
d of the handle, and stepped up onto the roof ledge. The wind whistled over her, making her blond ponytail flap around her head. She shivered, and not because of the chill in the air.

  “You don’t have to do anything,” I said, trying to reassure her. “Just let your weight carry you down the zipline. When you get over the bank roof, let go, drop, and roll. Easy as peach pie.”

  “Easy. Right,” she said in a faint voice, peering down at the eight-story drop.

  “It’ll be over with before you know it.”

  Even though her face was pale, Bria nodded and gripped the handle a little tighter. “The things we do for love,” she muttered.

  “Better watch out,” I teased. “That’s rapidly becoming your new motto.”

  “Well, let’s just hope that Finn is still alive to appreciate all my sacrifices.”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, she winced, and we both fell silent, hoping that Finn was indeed still alive. I wouldn’t let myself think about the alternative—I couldn’t.

  “Here goes nothing,” Bria whispered.

  Before she could think about it anymore, she pushed off the ledge. Gravity immediately pulled her down, and she sailed down the zipline with barely a whisper of sound. As soon as she was over the bank roof, she let go of the handle, dropped down, and rolled to a stop. She lay sprawled facedown on the roof for several seconds, then slowly got back up onto her feet. Even though she was wobbling from all the adrenaline rushing through her body, Bria gave me a shaky thumbs-up and pulled out one of her guns, screwing a silencer onto the end of the barrel.

  I gave the zipline several more hard yanks, making sure that it was still secure. Silvio was peering over the side of the ledge, his face as pale as Bria’s had been, but Owen stepped up, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me.