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He looked her in the eye.
"Will I see you again?"
Her answer was a slow and sad smile. He reached out to touch her cheek. She flinched.
"I'm sorry, I know. I'm dressed up in a dead man's skin." He forced a chuckle, trying to play it off. "It's natural for me. It isn't for you. It never will be."
"Fontaine, if things were different, if we were different--"
"You don't have to say it." He shook his head. "You don't have to say anything."
Ada took his hand. She held it gently as they looked into each other's eyes. They stayed like that for a long, slow count to sixty-six.
Then she let go, and turned and walked away.
"Fly free, darlin'," he whispered.
5:58 a.m.
Fontaine stood alone.
Rache walked up, hovering a foot behind his back. Contemplating.
"I think I'm gonna be pretty good at this," she said.
"We'll see. You ain't passed the audition just yet."
"No; thing is, I think I have a natural knack for putting things together." Rache's lips curled into a tiny, malicious smile. "Ada. She's the Madrigal."
Fontaine turned. He put his hand on his hip and cocked his head at her.
"Now, where would you get a notion like that?"
"Back at the diner, she said our targets all turned traitor. That the Madrigal was visiting each of them tonight, trying to get them to change their minds and come back to the fold."
"Sure," Fontaine said.
"She told us to go after Foster first, because we'd lose him otherwise, instead of laying a trap for the Madrigal. But Foster wasn't fleeing town. He was getting drunk in a shitty bar. We could have grabbed him any time we wanted."
"His bad luck," Fontaine said.
"But it slowed us down just long enough for the Madrigal to visit the Russo twins. Then we waited. All this pressure, all this 'gotta get the job done in time,' and you delayed us for an hour so you could find a hat?"
Fontaine lightly tapped the brim of his Stetson. "It's a mighty fine hat."
"You were stalling while Ada made her sales pitch to the last poor schlub on our list, trying to get him to stay with the Redemption Choir. I'm guessing he said no, too. So she called you and told you exactly where to find him. We weren't hunting the Madrigal's agents tonight, we were her personal cleanup crew."
Fontaine's hand curled ever so slightly. His fingers brushed the killing chain hidden up his sleeve.
"You're a mighty clever little thing, aren't you?"
"I just want to know," Rache said. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Fontaine chuckled. He looked past her, into the distant dark. It had started misting again, ice water drifting down, kissing his upturned face.
"The prince's agents were hot on Ada's trail and closing in fast. She was all but burned, one hot minute from being exposed. She had to get out of Detroit, pronto. Her four buddies wanted to stay and fight the good fight. So she risked her neck and gave them one last chance to run with her. They all said no. So, yeah. We shut her old network down for her. Cut the trail. I took this contract because Ada asked me to. Because another hunter would have nabbed her."
His fingers closed around the garrote.
