Snared (Elemental Assassin #16)(23)

Excellent. Wouldn’t want any stragglers to miss this.

The two giants trooped into the room behind me, along with Marco and the third giant, who closed the door behind him. I grinned at the sound of the lock snicking home, then straightened up and turned to face the men.

Marco crossed his arms over his chest. “Not so mouthy now, are you?”

“Oh, sugar. I’ve always thought that actions speak far louder than words.”

He frowned at my cryptic comment, but I ignored him and stared at the three giants standing in front of me.

“I hope you boys didn’t pay too much for those fancy suits,” I drawled.

“Why is that?” one of the giants asked.

My grin widened. “Because I’m going to have a lot of fun splattering your blood all over that pretty, pretty fabric.”

The giant snorted. Another disbeliever. His loss.

“Enough talk,” Marco said in a bored tone. “I have a club to run, so get on with it. Slap her around and then throw her outside.”

“Yes, sir,” the giants said in unison.

The first two men came at me with outstretched arms, thinking that they could latch on to me again and hold me still while the third man hit me.

I actually did let the first giant grab my shoulder, just so I could snap up my fist and sucker-punch him in the throat. He choked and started to stagger backward, but I grabbed hold of his silk tie, yanked it down, and slammed his face into the table beside me. His nose busted open, and blood flew through the air, along with the poker cards. The giant screamed, but I whipped around and drove my knee into the side of his head. He collapsed to the floor unconscious.

The second giant growled, pissed that I’d hurt his buddy, and he too came at me with outstretched arms. I whirled around him, grabbed one of the coffee cups from the desk in the corner, and tossed the contents into his face. Luckily for him, the coffee had cooled, but it still blinded him. He yelped in surprise and batted at his face, as if he expected the liquid to start burning him at any second. I rammed my foot into the side of his knee, making it give way with a sickening pop! He yelped again, his leg buckling. I darted forward, dug my fingers into his hair, and slammed his head into the table. Once, twice, three times, until his screams cut off, and he too dropped to the floor unconscious, landing right on top of his friend.

Two down, two to go.

The third giant was a little smarter or had at least been in a few more fights than his friends. He raised his fists and gave me a wary look, but he didn’t actually attack.

“What are you waiting for?” Marco demanded, his voice sounding higher and more panicked with every word. “Get her! Now!”

The giant ignored his boss and stared at me, waiting for me to make the first move. With my left hand, I feinted like I was going for another cup of coffee on the desk. Even as the giant moved in that direction, I reached out with my right hand, grabbed the landline phone off the desk, and smashed it into the side of his head. The giant screamed and staggered away, but I grabbed his suit jacket, pulled him right back to me, and smashed the phone into his head again. The plastic broke apart in my hands, and the giant screamed again.

I tossed away the ruined phone and went low, sweeping my right leg out and catching the giant around his ankles. His legs flew out from under him, and his head hit the floor with a resounding crack. He didn’t move after that.

I straightened up and eyed the giants, but they were all out cold, sprawled all over the floor, and bleeding all over their fancy suits just like I’d warned. I could have palmed a knife and killed them, but that would have been a whole other headache to deal with, one that I just didn’t have time for right now. So I turned to Marco, who had pressed himself up against the wall, his eyes wide, his hand clamped over his mouth, as if he was going to be sick.

“Let me guess,” I drawled. “Your boys can dish it out, but you can’t take it yourself, right?”

Marco made a choking sound and ran for the door, but I beat him to it. I wrapped my hand around the knob and blasted it with my Ice magic, further sealing us inside the security office.

“Now, now,” I said. “We wouldn’t want anyone to interrupt us. We have important business to discuss. That private conversation you were so eager to have with me—remember?”

Marco stumbled away and tripped over one of the unconscious giants. I reached out and grabbed the back of his suit jacket so that he wouldn’t fall down and accidentally knock himself out. The manager quickly regained his balance, although he scuttled away from me, pressing his tall, thin body into the corner, as if that would somehow protect him.

“What—what do you want?” he whispered.

This time when I stepped forward, I did finally reach under my jacket and pull out my silverstone pendant. Marco’s eyes locked onto the spider rune symbol, and his mouth gaped open. Now he knew exactly who I was. What a nice surprise.

“Now that the pleasantries are over with, I want to look at your security footage.”





8


Marco was so much more helpful after that.

He spent the next thirty minutes downloading the club’s security footage from last night onto some DVDs, along with emailing me the information. I used my phone to forward the footage on to Silvio, Bria, and Finn so they could review it too. DVDs in hand, I used another round of my Ice magic to blast open the office door and left the Five Oaks Country Club.