And then the explosion.
It hit her as a hard, hot shove, and then she was down and rolling across the sand, and then the massive roar rattled in her ears and she saw the plume of fire and smoke, and finally,finally she realized that the building they'd been headed toward, the one Kim had led them to, had justblown up.
Claire sat up, staring. The tin building was collapsing in on itself, burning, sagging--a wreck. The awning, the one where the guards had been headed, was utterly gone, destroyed. Flames and smoke hissed straight up in a black-and-red column, and the wind caught it and blew it out in a plume that drifted west. There were pieces of wrecked metal and junk everywhere, still falling like flaming rain, and Claire covered her head as a thick piece of sharp-edged siding slammed down into the ground a few feet away.
Amelie lay on her side about ten feet closer to the explosion site. Claire got to her feet, weaved around a little, and shook off the lingering dizziness.
Amelie moved before she reached her--a twitch at first, and then she rose to a standing position in one unnaturally fast, smooth motion. There was blood running down her face. More cars were pulling up now, black and heavily tinted. Oliver got out of the first one, dressed in a heavy coat and hat, took one look at the burning building, and then moved in a blur. He reached Amelie, and when he paused, his hands were on her shoulders. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped up the blood; the cut had already closed. Claire saw the look on his face for a few seconds, and then it smoothed out into a cynical neutrality.
"Functional?" he asked her. She nodded. He let go, then stripped off his coat and hat and put them on her. "Get to the car. You should not be here."
"You think I will run from cowards who try to kill me from a distance?" Amelie laughed, and it sounded wild and strange to Claire's blast-deadened ears. "You are my second in command, not my bodyguard."
"Your bodyguards are indisposed," he said. "And at least one is not coming back. I can see parts of him in several places. Don't be foolish. Be safe."
Kim and Mr. Martin were getting up now. Kim was holding her arm like it hurt, and she was covered in ashes.
Amelie focused in on her with narrowing eyes. Oliver's head turned, too. Claire couldn't see his expression, but she saw the tension gathering in his shoulders.
"How very odd," Amelie said. "She begs for a day off and leads us here. To our deaths, presumably." She gestured to Mr. Martin. "Bring her here. Now."
Kim clearly didn't want to come; she was staggering all over the place, but Claire didn't think she was dazed. Just worried about her chances. "Wow," Kim said. "That was intense." Her lips curled into a
vicious little smile. "Guess we got the right address after all."
Amelie didn't seem to move quickly, but suddenly she had hold of Kim and was pulling her very, very close. Amelie's eyes had gone an intense, scary white that Claire had seen only once or twice. Kim stopped smiling and began to look very worried.
"Someone tipped them off," Amelie almost whispered. "And you, my dear Kim, are the most likely suspect. Convince me you didn't do this."
"Why would I?" Kim shot back. "I've got everything to lose. You'd kill me if I did that!"
"Yes. I would. I still might. Explain how this could have happened, if you didn't betray me."
Kim hesitated, licked her pale lips, and then said, "They could have been watching for any trace activity. Didn't even have to be a live person; it could have been a program. A trip wire. Once it knew I'd found the address, it could have sounded an alert. They'd clear out once they knew they'd been found."
"And the bombs? Surely that is not now a common home-defense mechanism."
"I have no idea, except maybe they planned it in case you showed up looking. Would I have been heading for the building if I'd known they were there? My arm is practically broken! Ithurts !"
"Yet you still breathe," Amelie said. "For now." Her white eyes were fading back to gray, though, and Claire knew Kim's moment of fatal danger was passing. That was almost too bad. "Very well. I will accept that this is not due to your will, except that you were negligent. Negligence is enough." She looked at Mr. Martin, standing with his arms folded behind Kim. "Take her back. Now."
"No!" Kim blurted, but Amelie pushed her roughly toward the other vampire. "No,please ! I didn't do anything, I didn't!You need me! "
"Why?" Amelie shot back. "You've performed the only task for which you were fit. You've proven yourself unworthy by your conduct and your words and your callous behavior. I am returning you to your cell, where you will live out your days in silence and solitude. No more films, Kim. No more books. No more soft living. You will be fed, but no one will speak to you, no one will acknowledge your existence. You will live as a ghost until you are one. Because in the end, I do not believe that you are innocent. I think you knew about the trip wire, as you call it; I believe you triggered it, knowing that they would run. I believe you didn't know about the bombs; you are far too fixed on your own self-preservation to be that daring. But I saw your smile. We all did. You knew."
Kim's face lost color, so much so that she almost looked like that ghost Amelie was talking about. "No," she said. "You can't do this. You can't prove anything."
"I am the Founder," Amelie said. "And I don't need to prove anything." She nodded to Mr. Martin. "Take her. I don't wish to look on her face again."
Kim's eyes met Claire's stare. "Help me!" she shouted. "Don't just stand there, bitch! I'm human! I'm one ofyou !"
Claire shrugged. "You're not anything of mine. You knew," she said, "and you didn't care."
Kim looked shocked for a flash of a second, and then she bared her teeth in a white, feral grin. "Yeah?
Well, you know what else I don't care about? Whether Shane was in that building or not. I hope he's dead. I hope he died thinking about you and wondering why youdidn't find him. "
Shane.
She hadn't thought about it at all; she'd just assumed...but he could be in there.
He could be burning.
Claire didn't even think about it. She started to run for the building, which was still belching red flame and black smoke high into the air.
"No," Oliver said, and caught her around the waist, swinging her off the ground. "Not the time for your gallant suicide attempt, Claire."
"He could be in there!"
"Yes," Oliver agreed. "And if he is, you can't help him. Now just--"
That was when someone shot Mr. Martin in the back.
Claire didn't know what had happened; she heard a crack and saw him lose his grip on Kim and pitch forward. Kim didn't hesitate. She broke and ran.
Oliver dropped Claire and jumped for Amelie, taking her down flat. Claire staggered, off balance, and went down, too, which probably saved her life. She heard the crackle of guns--more than one--being fired, and staying down seemed like a good idea all of a sudden. Mr. Martin was lying near her, but he wasn't moving. His eyes were open, and as she looked at him, she saw him blinking.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Bullet in the spine. It will take a few moments," he said. "Where is she?"
Claire carefully raised her head. "Escaping."
Kim was running for the cover of the wreckage--not away from the guns firing at them, buttoward them. And they seemed to be deliberately missing her, too. Claire finally spotted a dusty, tan-camouflage jeep parked between two sand dunes. There were two men with rifles using it as a firing platform, and Kim was heading for it, fast. One of Oliver's men went dashing after her and almost made it before a bullet sent him spinning and crashing to the dust.
Kim jumped in the jeep, and it revved its engine and spewed up sand as it raced away. One last shot echoed in the dry air, and then they were gone.
"Get off!" Amelie barked, and Oliver rolled away from her and smoothly to his feet. He offered his hand, but she got up without needing it, looking bone-sharp and very, very angry. She glanced at Claire and Mr. Martin, then out toward where Kim and her rescuers had disappeared. "I misjudged," she said. "Kim didn't make a mistake. She's part of this. Somehow, she is part of it. I should have snapped the little animal's neck long before this, but I was too merciful. Too conscious of responsibility." She glanced down at Claire, but there was no sense of recognition in her eyes; she was too angry. "Get up, unless you're too badly injured to stand."