Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

thirty.”
    the various halls and buildings were more or less grouped
    “All the campus buildings except the library close at together and connected by a series of grassy quads. But six,” I said. “If she’s not at the library cramming, Violet space was at a premium in the downtown area, and the Fox should be on her way here right now. We’ll give her a lots that surrounded the college had been developed long few more minutes. This lot is almost a mile from campus. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 86-87
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    It takes a good twenty minutes to get here from the stuinto the parking lot. His head swiveled right and left, and dent center, and that’s if you’re hoofing it fast.”
    he stayed as close to Eva as her own shadow. His bulky Finn sighed and settled a little deeper into his seat. I windbreaker had ridden up, revealing a Glock tucked rolled down the window. It was still drizzling, and the wet into the small of his back. Looked like owen Grayson sheen of rain made the night seem colder and gloomier had gotten his sister that bodyguard after all. than it really was. Even in the Aston Martin’s plush conViolet and Eva stopped in the middle of the lot and fines, I could hear the vibrations of the concrete barriers exchanged a few words. Violet said something that made and broken asphalt of the parking lot. Sharp, worrisome Eva laugh. Then Violet waved her hand and started walkmutters that spoke of violence, blood, fear. This was a ing toward her aging Honda. Eva waved back. The man place where people got beaten, robbed, and mugged with grabbed her elbow to escort her out of the parking lot, alarming regularity, even for Ashland—but Eva gave him a nasty glare and shook him off. The A figure passed through a gap in the concrete barriers. two of them turned, walked back through the gap in the A short, curvy woman with a mop of blond hair that had concrete barrier, and disappeared from sight. frizzed out to TBH—Tennessee Big Hair—proportions Since we’d already disabled the light in the front of the thanks to the drizzle. Violet Fox. She wore a heavy down car, I opened the door of the Aston Martin and swung jacket that didn’t do enough to shield her from the rain. my legs outside.
    Her purse was looped over her chest and shoulder. She
    “Well, she’s alone now.” Finn reached for his own door stepped underneath the flickering light, and a small metal handle, but I grabbed his arm.
    canister glinted in her right hand. Pepper spray, unless I
    “Wait,” I said in a low voice. “Let’s see who else is missed my guess. Smart, sensible precautions. This was a around.”
    girl who was used to walking through here at night.
    “You think the shooter is here?” he asked. “We would But she wasn’t alone. Another girl was with her. Bluehave seen him by now.”
    black hair, pale eyes, slim figure, designer jeans. I recogI shrugged. “Maybe. Depends on how good he is. He nized her too.
    could have slipped in the other side of the lot. The point
    “That’s Eva Grayson,” I said.
    is he missed her at the Pork Pit and probably couldn’t get Finn’s green eyes latched onto Eva. He smiled and to her on campus today. Too many witnesses, too many sat up in his seat. “Really? owen Grayson never told me security guards. This is his last shot at her before she goes what a looker his sister is.”
    home for the night.”
    “Then he knows you well enough to know not to do
    “And you think he’s going to take it,” Finn said. that,” I replied.
    “I would.”
    As I watched, a man about my age followed the girls So we watched. Violet Fox was no fool. She approached Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 88-89
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    her car cautiously. She looked right, then left, in front and behind her. She also stayed in the middle of the lot away from the sides of the parked cars. Making sure no one was sneaking up on her or was waiting underneath one of the vehicles to grab her ankles and pull her down. Smart girl. 8
    But she wasn’t quite smart enough. Violet Fox reached into her purse, and her steps slowed as she fumbled for her keys. She didn’t immediately find them because she stopped, dropped her head, and peered into her bag. And that’s when I saw a shadow slither out of the bed of the monster truck and head toward her.
    “There he is,” Finn said, scrambling to open his door.
    “He was hiding in the truck bed the whole time.”
    I