Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)(21)

But he might get off a shot or two before I reached him, killing someone in

the crowd, and the rest of the robbers were too far away for me to take down—

yet.

I looked at Bria, who shook her head. Owen and Finn shook their heads too, all

of us realizing that we’d have to bide our time. Or, at worst, let the

robbers escape and go after them later.

The giant checked his watch again. “Sixty seconds, gentlemen!”

The three robbers moved through the lobby quickly and efficiently to collect

the partygoers’ valuables. None of them so much as glanced at the three cash

cages behind the tellers’ counter. The robbers must have realized that

someone was sure to have seen them shoot the bank guards outside and storm in

here, which meant that they didn’t have time to crack open the cages before

the cops arrived. Trying would only get them caught.

“Thirty seconds, gentlemen!”

This was a well-trained, professional crew, not some smash-and-grabbers who’d

gotten above their raisings, as Jo-Jo might say. They knew exactly what they

were doing. Which made me all the more curious about why they would rob First

Trust, especially on this particular night.

Sure, the jewelry, phones, and watches would be a nice haul but hard to

unload. Besides, if you were planning a robbery, why not hit the bank during

the day and grab as much cash as possible from the tellers and cages? Or why

not sneak in at night, disable the security system, and take a crack at Big

Bertha, the basement vault?

Cold, hard cash was much easier to spend than trash bags full of rings,

watches, and necklaces. If they’d wanted maximum profit for minimum risk, the

robbers should have come up with another plan—a better plan.

Finn often claimed that I was the most paranoid person ever. He might have

been right about that, but I couldn’t help but think that the robbery had

everything to do with Deirdre Shaw.

She showed up in Ashland after being gone for decades, weaseled her way into

Finn’s life under false pretenses, and managed to get an invite to tonight’s

party—a party that was ruined by robbers an hour after it started. Those were

a whole lot of coincidences, even though I couldn’t see how setting up this

sort of small-time score would benefit her at all.

I looked at Deirdre, but she was on her knees, her arms wrapped around her

chest, staring down at the floor. She didn’t seem scared, not like other

folks who were trembling, crying, and shaking, but she wasn’t making eye

contact with the robbers either, like some of the underworld bosses were.

Those fools were glaring at the robbers and practically daring the men to

shoot them.

And more than a few of the underworld bosses were also staring at me,

expecting me to do something, expecting me to rise up and save them and their

baubles. If it had just been me in the lobby, I would have been happy to

unleash the wrath of the Spider, confront the robbers, and kill every single

one of them. But there were far too many innocent people here for me to take

out the robbers without some collateral damage, something I tried to avoid at

all costs.

Until one of the robbers yanked Bria to her feet.

“Hey, hey, pretty lady,” the robber crooned, pressing his body up against

hers. “Why don’t you be a doll and take off your shiny necklace?”

Bria glared at the robber, not responding to his taunts, although her fingers

twitched, as if she was thinking about blasting him in the face with her Ice

magic.

“I said take off the bling, bitch,” he growled, twisting her arm up and

behind her back and dragging her even closer.

Finn surged to his feet. “Get your hands off her!” he hissed, shoving the

robber away from Bria.

The robber stumbled back a few feet and stopped. Beneath his black ski mask,

his dark eyes narrowed, and his lips twisted with rage. I knew that look all

too well. The robber wasn’t going to be happy with just taking Bria’s

necklace. Not after Finn had challenged him.

So I scrambled to my feet, putting myself between Finn and the robber. Owen

got up too. So did Deirdre, although Tucker remained sitting on the floor,

staring up at the gunmen instead of trying to help his boss. Some assistant.

The robber looked back and forth at all of us, before tossing aside his bag of

loot and snapping up his gun. “What do you think you’re doing? Get your

asses back down on the floor! Now!”

Everyone froze, even the other robbers, and all eyes focused on us.

I stepped up so that I was right in front of him, with his gun pointed

straight at my heart. “You’re making a big mistake, pal. You have no idea

who you’re jacking.”

“Listen up, bitch,” he growled again. “Unless you’re Gin Blanco herself,

then I don’t give a f*ck who you are. And I especially don’t care how

important you think you are.”

A cold smile curved my lips. “Why, sugar, you said the magic words. Because I