Elemental Assassin 04 - Tangled Threads

pushed through the swinging doors and resumed her position in front of the stove.
    “Finn?” I asked in a low voice, slapping a hamburger patty onto the hot griddle.
    “On his way,” Sophia rasped in her broken voice.
    In silence, the two of us worked to get the order ready. I finished McAllister’s cheeseburger, while Sophia dished up LaFleur’s baked beans. I didn’t look over my shoulder, but I could hear McAllister and LaFleur talking softly.
    I turned around and grabbed some clean white plates to put their food on, which meant that I was facing out toward the restaurant again.
    To my surprise, Elektra LaFleur had slid over in the booth so that her back was up against the storefront glass and she could see the whole restaurant. Her green eyes moved slowly over the interior, checking out every single thing inside, from the floor and walls to the long counter to the swinging doors that led to the back of the restaurant.
    Finally, her eyes landed on me, and she watched me assemble the food. Her sharp green gaze took in everything about me, from the way that my hands moved to the greasy blue apron that covered my long-sleeved black T-shirt and jeans. She didn’t sneer at me the way that Jonah had done earlier, though. All she did was watch me, a thoughtful, calculating expression on her beautiful face.
    It was a look that I knew—a mask I’d worn on morethan one occasion. And I realized what she was doing, why she was here in the first place. She was scoping out the restaurant—and me.
    Sizing up her latest target, just like assassins did.
    Just like she was going to come back and kill me later.
    Of course.
    Jonah McAllister hated me. He had ever since I’d dared to stand up to him when he’d tried to pressure me into forgetting that his son, Jake, had tried to rob my restaurant and kill the innocent diners inside. The lawyer had wanted me to drop the charges against Jake, but I hadn’t played ball, which had annoyed him to no end. Plus, McAllister thought that I knew something about Jake’s murder. That’s why he’d had Elliot Slater almost beat me to death a few weeks ago at the community college. And McAllister had wanted Slater to go ahead and finish the job when I’d run into the two of them again a few days after that.
    That’s why Jonah McAllister had come here tonight and brought LaFleur along with him. He wanted the assassin to kill me, Gin Blanco. She was in town anyway to take care of the Spider. Why not have LaFleur get rid of me while she was at it? The arrogant lawyer just didn’t realize that I was the Spider as well.
    A cold, hard smile curved my lips. Irony. What a bitch. But something that could actually be useful to me in this instance.
    With Sophia’s help, I finished the orders, grabbed the plates, and took everything over to the booth. Again, I felt LaFleur’s eyes on me, watching the way I moved, calculating my strength, balance, and stamina, just the way Iwould have if I were looking at a person that I was planning on killing later.
    I dumped the platters on the table much the same way that I had their drinks. But there was no water slopping around, so LaFleur couldn’t shock me again this time. “Enjoy.”
    I hoped they both choked on their food, but I knew that was just too much to ask. Especially with my bad luck.
    “Oh,” LaFleur drawled. “We will.”
    I looked at her, careful to keep the calm, cold violence out of my face. LaFleur stared at me a second longer before turning to her food. Apparently she thought that she knew everything there was to know about me. She just didn’t realize I could wear the mask of a simple restaurant owner as well and easily as she wore her expensive clothes. That I’d been taught how to do so by Fletcher Lane, by the Tin Man, one of the best assassins there had ever been.
    One of the other couples was ready to leave, so I went back to the cash register, took their money, and sent them on their way. Then I plopped down on my stool behind the counter and picked up the latest book that I was reading,
The Iliad
. Winter classes weren’t due to start back up at Ashland Community College until after the first of the year, but I was getting a head start on the classic Greek literature course I’d already signed up for.
    Everything was quiet for the next thirty minutes. I read my book, Sophia cooked her latest batch of beans, the other couple gobbled up their dinner, and my enemies dug into theirs.
    Finally, Jonah McAllister and