Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

rumbled. “Maybe it’s just a false alarm. I jogged back to the far end of the basin away from the
    “No way,” the second guy replied. “The case is open. mine office. I didn’t sprint full out, but I didn’t dawdle Somebody touched that safe.”
    either. I kept my pace just quick enough so I’d still be
    “Maybe. But you know how sensitive that rune alarm able to hear the giants behind me when their friends arDawson created is. I had to come up here twice last week rived and they decided to investigate the area outside the because the cleaning crew jiggled it while they were dustoffice. But I didn’t worry about them finding anything. ing. Remember?”
    The drizzling rain would wash away any trace evidence
    “I remember,” the second man said. “But you know the detective or I might have left behind, including our how obsessed Dawson is with that diamond and the othfootprints. ers he found. We’d still better call him, just to cover our I reached the back slope of the basin where we’d come own asses. And get Stan and Donny up here too. They down, rounded the rock outcropping—and found myself can help us look around.”
    on the business end of Donovan Caine’s gun. The first giant sighed and picked up the telephone on
    “Nice to see you too,” I drawled.
    the dwarf’s desk.
    Donovan let out a breath and lowered his weapon. I stood outside, still processing what I’d just learned.
    “Sorry. I heard footsteps.”
    others? There were more diamonds like the one in the
    “Don’t worry. That’s not the first gun I’ve had pointed safe? I began to get a bad, bad feeling about why Tobias at me.” Probably wouldn’t be the last one, either, but I Dawson wanted Warren T. Fox’s land so badly. If my susdidn’t mention that to the detective. picion was correct, Dawson wouldn’t stop harassing the Donovan holstered his weapon. Then he stepped out Foxes until he was dead. Which meant the thought of from behind the rock and looked toward the mine offices. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 218-219
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    By now, more lights burned there, like fireflies that had been grounded by the rain. Faint shouts drifted through the night air.
    “Did you kill the guards?” Donovan Caine asked in a low voice.
    20
    “No.”
    Surprise and relief flashed in his golden eyes. “Why not?”
    I shrugged. “Because a possible breakin is one thing. Dead guards are another. I don’t want Tobias Dawson to realize I’m coming for him. Not until it’s too late.”
    Donovan’s relief melted into stubborn consternation, and I half-expected him to start lecturing me about the sanctity of life. To tell me it was just plain wrong to go around planning someone’s assassination, even if it would Even using our rope and gloves, it took twice as long for save two innocent people in the end. Donovan stared at Donovan and me to climb back up the ridge as it had me like he wanted to do that very thing, give me the good taken to come down. The drizzle made everything slick, lecture. Then another emotion crept into his golden gaze. slimy, sloppy. By the time we crested the rim of the ridge, The detective almost looked . . . sad.
    we were both wet to the bone and covered with mud, What did he have to be sad about? It wasn’t like I was burrs, briars, dead leaves, and other woodsy debris. It going to kill him or even one of his friends. I didn’t untook us several more minutes to reach Donovan’s sedan, derstand Donovan’s sudden mood swing, and I didn’t which was just enough time for the warm exertion from care to stand out here in the dark to try to puzzle it out. climbing up the ridge to wear off. The rain had picked up Not with Tobias Dawson’s men lurking around. and was now a downpour. Despite the Ice magic in my “Come on,” I said. “Let’s get out of here before the veins, I still shivered with cold. Besides our squish-squish guards head this way.”
    footsteps, the only other sound was the plop-plop-plop of the rain coming down.
    Donovan reached inside the sedan and turned on the interior lights so we could see what we were doing. Then he hit another button, which opened the trunk. “I’ve got some towels and spare clothes in the back.”
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    Web of Lies 223
    I nodded. While the detective dug around in the sighed as I looked at the cotton. I’d bought the pink Ttrunk, I pulled out my cell phone and called