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"Opal, you keep your gun on her," Clementine said. "You too, Dixon. I want to make sure that Ms. Blanco gave us what she promised she would. "
I gave her a bright, carefree smile. "Why, Clementine, would I lie?"
"Certainly," she replied. "I would. "
Apparently, Clementine was more familiar with the tube than I was. Instead of taking a moment to figure out how to open it, she immediately pressed on the ruby in the middle of the sunburst rune. Interesting, that she would know to do that.
Clementine slid the paper out of the hollow tube, unrolled it, and read the sheet. Opal and Dixon kept their guns trained on me, and I stayed perfectly still, not wanting to give them any reason to shoot me or, worse, Eva.
Clementine scanned the sheet for the better part of two minutes before she was satisfied. I kept my eyes on Dixon - and the shadow that was creeping closer and closer to him. Another minute, two tops, and Owen would be ready to make his move, as would Bria and Xavier in the rotunda.
When she finished reading, Clementine rolled the paper up, slid it back into the tube, and stuffed the whole thing into her pants pocket. Then she looked at me again.
"You know, I'm rather surprised that you gave it back to me just like that. "
I shrugged. "It's just Mab's will. What do I care about that? It's not like she left me anything. Although I am curious about why you want it so badly. Care to share? After all, you're just going to kill me anyway. "
"You'd better fucking believe it," Clementine agreed. "But I'm not dumb enough to tell you anything, especially while you've got that radio clipped to your belt. Why, who knows who might be listening in?"
Well, it had been worth a shot. More important, though, Owen had crept closer to Dixon. He was now standing on the outer circular path behind the column nearest and parallel to the giant. He couldn't move any closer for fear that Dixon or Opal would spot him, but he was well within striking distance. All I had to do now was distract the giants until the right moment.
"You know, you and I are a lot alike, Gin," Clementine said.
"Really? How so?"
She stared at me. "We both do whatever we have to in order to survive. In fact, I rather admire you. Why, to hear the rumors, you're the most heartless, ruthless bitch this town has ever seen. "
"My, my, my," I drawled. "What a lovely compliment. Especially coming from someone like you. "
"I mean it," she continued in a genuine voice. "The things you've managed to do as the Spider, the folks you've taken down these past several months. I've heard about them, you know. Tobias Dawson. Elliot Slater. Elektra LaFleur. And then of course the biggie, Mab Monroe herself. "
I shrugged. "What can I say? I don't like bullies. That's what all of them were - just like you. "
Her eyes glittered in her face, but her voice was calm, friendly even, when she spoke again. "Actually, you killing Mab has made life better for a lot of folks, including me. My boys and I have had a lot of fun with that Fire elemental bitch out of the picture. My protection business has been booming. Of course, what the idiots who hire me don't realize is that there's no one around anymore to keep me from taking whatever I want, whenever I want it, especially from them. "
"Well, I'm happy that I could help a small business succeed. "
"But the problem is that a lot of other people have had the exact same idea," she continued, as if I hadn't spoken. "In some ways, things are even worse than before. At least, with Mab around, you knew where you stood: below her. Now everybody's fighting everybody else. It makes things . . . messy for us all. It's one of the reasons I've been thinking about getting out of town for a while now. Too much damn drama going on these days. "
"Pardon me if I don't shed any tears for the trials and tribulations of Ashland's criminal element," I said. "I've got my own problems with them, in case you haven't heard. "
Clementine grinned. "Oh, I've heard, all right. Did you know there's a huge betting pool about who will kill you and when they'll do it? Last time I'd heard, the pot was more than a million bucks. "
I didn't respond, but the news didn't surprise me. There was already some fool supposedly selling T-shirts with some cheesy slogan about eating at the Pork Pit and living through the experience. I didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed that people were cashing in on my notoriety. Finn would have been annoyed, especially since he wasn't getting a cut of the action.
"Really?" I asked. "Well, who am I to stand in the way of commerce? Although I pity the folks who try to collect on that particular wager. It's a deadly gamble. "
Her grin widened. "I thought you might say something like that. That's another way we're alike. You make sure that your enemies don't live too long, just like I do. "
"Well, I'd say that you've failed pretty miserably at that so far tonight, since I'm still breathing. Then again, you should never trust a minion to do something important, especially one who doesn't know when to quit with the self-tanner. " I looked at Dixon. "You do realize that you look like a pumpkin on steroids, right?"
"Hey!" Dixon shouted, his features turning petulant and sullen. "I'll have you know that this was a spray tan. The best spray tan money can buy. "
Opal rolled her eyes. So did Clementine.
"And my point is made. If you want something done right . . . " I let my voice trail off.
"Oh, don't you worry, Ms. Blanco," Clementine said, flexing her free hand into a fist and taking a menacing step forward. "I plan to give you my personal attention this time around - "
