Phillip snorted. "Yeah, except this time, you got electrocuted, and I got a couple of bruised ribs."
"Well, I'd say that's a big improvement, since we used to get the snot beat out of us," I said. "Isn't progress grand?"
Phillip snorted again, but the smile on his face matched the one on mine.
* * *
We started with Stuart, since he was the largest. Phillip took his shoulders, while I grabbed his ankles. Together, we moved the giant out of the street, across the sidewalk, and into the shadows that spilled out of the alley where the Dumpsters were. Then we hurried to do the same thing with Richie and Sierra.
We'd just laid Sierra on the ground beside the giant and the dwarf when footsteps sounded. Phillip and I looked at each other, then both crouched down behind the closest Dumpster - something else that was eerily familiar from our time on the streets.
The footsteps grew louder, and a moment later, Gin strode into view, with Bria walking beside her. Bria was chatting about something, holding her hands out as she walked and talked, but Gin was much more wary. Her eyes never stopped moving from shadow to shadow, and I could tell that she was only listening to Bria with half an ear. Gin knew that this would be a great place for someone to try to ambush the Spider, and she was ready for whatever danger might be lurking in the shadows. But I'd already done the dirty work for her tonight.
Gin and Bria stopped a safe distance away from Finn's car. Gin remotely unlocked the doors and started the engine. Then the sisters waited, in case someone had planted a bomb on the car while they'd been inside the club. It broke my heart that Gin had to take such elaborate precautions, that she had to be so vigilant all the time, even when she was just out trying to have a drink with her sister. But it was part of her being the Spider now, and it probably always would be.
A minute passed, and the engine rumbled along smoothly. Bria headed over to the passenger's side to get in, while Gin went over to the driver's door. She reached for the handle but then stopped. Gin frowned, bent down, and touched part of the pavement next to the car. Then she brought her fingers up into the light.
I could see the blood shining on them from here.
I bit back a curse. We'd moved the bodies out of sight, but I hadn't thought to clean up all of the blood on the pavement. Maybe I hadn't spent enough time with Gin after all. Or with Sophia Deveraux, the dwarf who got rid of some of the bodies that Gin left behind.
Gin frowned as she studied the blood on her fingers, and then her gaze flicked to the door in front of her - and the dent in it, the one that Richie had put there with his foot. Her frown deepened, and she slowly turned her head left and right, peering into every shadow on the street, including the one that Phillip and I were crouched in.
I thought about rising to my feet, calling out to her, and explaining what had happened, but in the end, I stayed where I was, hidden in the shadows.
Gin looked past us once, but her gaze drifted back to our location, and her eyes narrowed as she tried to see into the darkness. Phillip started to show himself to her, but I put my hand on his shoulder, silently telling him to stay where he was.
"Something wrong?" Bria's voice drifted over to me.
After a moment, Gin rose to her feet and shook her head. She pulled a tissue out of her jacket pocket and used it to wipe the blood off her fingers. "Nah. Nothing important. Looks like somebody dinged Finn's car. Probably some fight gone wrong."
Bria sighed. "Great. He'll never let us hear the end of that."
"I know," Gin replied, stuffing the tissue back into her pocket. "And that's why we're not going to tell him about it until at least tomorrow morning. Now, let's get out of here."
They both got into the car, and Gin drove off. I waited until the car's taillights had disappeared into the night before I got to my feet and stepped back out into the street.
"What was that about?" Phillip asked. "Why didn't you go over and tell her what happened? I felt like a teenager again, hiding in the bushes outside my girlfriend's house, hoping that her dad wouldn't come and knock me around."
"I didn't want to ruin her night," I said in a soft voice.
"How would this ruin her night? You killed the bad guys for her. She didn't even have to get her knives bloody. We did all the work."
I shook my head. Phillip didn't understand how tired Gin was of being everyone's target, but I did. She deserved at least one night where she didn't have to worry about blood, bad guys, and bodies, and I was determined to give it to her.
"Besides," Phillip continued, "as far as grand romantic gestures go, I can't think of a better one for an assassin than a couple of dead bodies."
"What happened to all your talk about flowers, candy, and jewelry?"
He shrugged. "Like you pointed out, Gin's not exactly that kind of woman."
I stared down the street at the corner where Finn's car had disappeared. "No, she's not. Now, come on. Help me finish getting rid of the bodies."
* * *
By the time Phillip and I had heaved the bodies into the Dumpsters, wiped some of the blood and dirt of the fight off us, and gone back inside the club to tell Xavier that Sierra wasn't quite what she seemed, it was after midnight. Xavier took us back to Roslyn's office, where she looked through some records. It turned out that Sierra had only been working at the club a few days, probably just as a cover job. Roslyn and Xavier promised to find out what they could about Sierra, but I doubted that they'd come up with much. Northern Aggression wasn't exactly the kind of place that was conducive to truth telling, either by the patrons or by the employees.
Phillip and I left the club, got into my car, and drove over to the Delta Queen, which was docked downtown on the Aneirin River. The casino was closed for the night, and the strings of lights that swooped down from one deck to another were all dark, although the whitewashed wood and brass railing still glimmered in the moonlight.
Phillip got out of the car and came around to my side. I rolled down the driver's window, and he propped his forearms on the frame.
"Well," he drawled, staring down at the blood spatters on his jacket sleeves. "I suppose that this suit is officially ruined."
Mud, blood, and grime covered just about every inch of his white suit. Wisps of blond hair had escaped his ponytail, dirt smudged his chin, and the left side of his face had already started to bruise and puff up from where the giant had hit him. Phillip looked terrible, and it was my fault - again. He'd taken a beating because of my desire to protect Gin, and we were both extremely lucky that things hadn't been a whole lot worse.