It took me about twenty minutes to maneuver through the train yard. I stayed well clear of the hubbub of activity around the old depot, as that would be the most dangerous place for me to get caught, and worked my way around to the railcar that Finn said LaFleur had disappeared into.
As I skulked from shadow to shadow, I also kept an eye out for any sign of Natasha. But Finn had been right about that too. I didn't see anyone standing guard outside one of the railcars, nobody taking a tray of food anywhere, and nothing else that would indicate that the girl was being held here somewhere. All the construction workers seemed focused on the depot, the railcars, and their repairs to them.
Which meant that Natasha was probably already raped, tortured, and dead.
My heart twisted at the unpleasant thought, but I pushed it aside and kept moving. Finally, I was able slither up beside the railcar that Elektra LaFleur had entered. Since I didn't want to take a chance on anyone from the depot seeing me hovering beside the front windows, I crept around to the back, the side that faced the Aneirin River. Lights blazed inside the railcar, and I went to the window farthest back, where the golden glow was the dimmest. To my surprise, it was actually cracked open, as though someone had forgotten to completely shut it against the cold. The window was about ten feet off the ground, so I had to scale the ladder on the right side of the car to see in through it. I hung there in midair, like a spider clinging to its own web, and peered inside.
The inside of the railcar was completely finished-opulently so. Thick crimson carpet covered the floor, while the walls had been shined to a high silver gloss. A lone table covered with a fine white cloth sat in the middle of the rectangular area. A single red rose perched in a slender crystal vase on top of the table, which was set with bone china with a scarlet floral pattern swirled through it. A silver bucket of champagne chilled nearby, while a crystal chandelier dangled over the table, sending out rainbow sparks of light in every direction. An enormous bed covered with black silk sheets and crimson brocade pillows took up the back wall. All put together, the railcar looked like some kind of high-class bordello, just as Vinnie had said it would.
Elektra LaFleur lounged on a crimson loveseat in the corner, the dark green of her shirt looking particularly garish against the blood-colored fabric. She twirled a single white orchid in her hand, the same kind of flower that she'd left on the dwarf's electrocuted corpse two nights ago. I wondered whose body she planned to drop the orchid on tonight.
But what surprised me most was that LaFleur wasn't alone-Mab Monroe was inside the car with her.
Mab relaxed at the table, sipping a glass of champagne. The golden gleam of the liquid matched the play of the chandelier's lights across the sunburst necklace that ringed the Fire elemental's creamy throat. The rune's golden rays flickered as though they were actually moving, while the ruby set into the middle of the design proudly whispered of fire, death, and destruction-a sound that always made me grind my teeth.
Mab was dressed down tonight in a dark green pant-suit that made her copper-colored hair seem even redder than usual. Despite the bright lights of the chandelier, the Fire elemental's eyes were still bottomless black pools that seemed to suck the glow out of the crystals dangling above her head. I supposed it was only appropriate, since Mab herself consumed everything she came into contact with, just the way fire destroyed whatever was in its path and left nothing behind but dull, gray, useless ash.
"Well, Elektra, I have to admit that you've whipped the giants and other builders into fine shape," Mab murmured, taking another sip of her champagne. Her voice was as soft and smooth as silk delicately rasping together, but there was a clear undercurrent of power in each word she spoke. "I didn't hear any muttered complaints about working through the night the way I had before you came to town."
LaFleur gave her a thin smile. "You hired me to come to Ashland, to restore ... morale and authority to your organization after Elliot Slater's untimely death. To help you open your new nightclub. That's what I've done. I'm mildly disappointed that I only had to kill two of your men to get them all back under control. It was hardly a challenge."
"Three, counting the dwarf you electrocuted at the docks," Mab reminded her. "Which I still think was unnecessary."
LaFleur shrugged. "Well, I couldn't have him go around talking about the fact that I was in town and hunting for the Spider, now could I?"
"No," Mab said. "I suppose not. Especially since you failed to trap and kill the Spider like you promised me."
The Fire elemental's voice was still soft, still mild, but there was no mistaking the stinging rebuke in her words. Mab was pissed that LaFleur hadn't bagged me yet. It was probably the first time in a long time that the Fire elemental hadn't gotten exactly what she'd wanted exactly when she'd wanted it. Yeah, my heart really bled for her.
Elektra recognized the barb in Mab's tone as well. Her eyes narrowed, and a bit of green lightning flickered in her gaze. Even through the metal of the car, I could feel the electrical charge in the air around her.
"Getting that bartender to mouth off about your so-called drug shipment was a solid plan," Elektra said. "It was just the kind of thing that the Spider would go after, according to what you've told me of her previous attacks against you and your organization. It wasn't my fault she didn't take the bait this one time."
Mab's own eyes narrowed at the assassin's casual insolence. "And you promised me the bitch would be dead before Christmas. Something I paid you a great deal of money to accomplish. Something you haven't done yet."
I was mildly curious as to exactly how much Mab had paid LaFleur to hunt me down and kill me. From Fletcher's file, I knew that the assassin's going rate was three million for the simplest of hits. But there was nothing simple about taking on the Spider. So how much had Mab given the other assassin to entice her to come to Ashland and try? Four million, maybe? Five? More? I would have liked to know, if only so I could tell Finn and watch his eyes gleam at the thought of that much money and what he could do with it.
"I don't like people who don't deliver on their promises to me," Mab continued in a soft voice. "I don't think I have to tell someone of your skills and qualifications what happens when one of my employees displeases me."
Black fire flickered in Mab's eyes as she embraced her elemental magic. Even though the metal of the car separated us, I could still feel the intense heat of it, pricking my skin like red-hot needles. Add it to the electrical charge of LaFleur's magic, and it made for one uncomfortable sensation. Not to mention that the feel of their power, which was so different from my own Ice and Stone magic, made a small, primal voice start muttering in the back of my head. Enemy, enemy, enemy ... I ground my teeth together to keep from snarling.