I arched an eyebrow. "And you're just now finding out about it?"
Finn shrugged. "You know how paranoid the old man was about paper trails. He knew more about how to fake documents, confuse creditors, and hide assets than even I do. It's been months now, and I'm still trying to sort out which identity he used to purchase what property."
Everything that Finn said made sense. Fletcher had had dozens of identities and aliases, all with the appropriate driver's licenses, bank accounts, and passports to match. Still, I wondered why Fletcher had bought the property in the first place. Had he planned on telling me he knew who I really was? Maybe he'd thought that I'd want the land for sentimental reasons. Or had he known I'd battle Mab there one day? Once again, Fletcher had managed to surprise me from beyond the grave-and leave me wondering at his motives.
"Anyway, we can talk about transferring the ownership later, for a reasonable price, of course. And you can thank me later for digging up the rest of the files, Gin," Finn suggested in a not-so-humble voice.
I rolled my eyes, picked up the closest photograph, and got to work.
For the next half hour, we went through the information page by page, pulling out everything that might be useful. I didn't know much about Finn's methods, especially how he'd gotten his hands on so much data so quickly, but the maps and photographs were better than finding a pirate's buried treasure. Because I began to see that maybe things weren't as completely hopeless as they seemed. At least, not when it came to rescuing Bria.
"This is almost certainly where Mab will be," Finn said, pointing to a small cleared area on one of the photographs and then comparing it side-by-side to a more recent shot of the same spot. "It almost looks like some kind of patio."
I recognized the first, older photograph as being one that the police had taken during their investigation of my family's murder. There was a copy of it in the fat file of information Fletcher had left me on the same gruesome subject. All the photo really showed was a bleak landscape filled with piles of smoldering rubble. I'd looked at the photo a hundred times before, but my stomach still turned over at Finn's words. I recognized the spot-it was the place where I'd hidden Bria, the place where I'd thought she'd died all those long years ago.
The place where she could still die tonight.
My eyes dropped to my right index finger and the small silverstone band there. My spider rune ring. The one that Bria had given me for Christmas. Somehow, I'd forgotten about it during the long, long night. I could feel my sister's Ice magic in the thin band, like a cold string tied around my finger. Forget me not. I reached down and twisted the ring around, just like Bria always did to the ones that she wore. My heart lurched with the movement. If Bria died, this would be all that I'd have left of her-
"Gin?" Owen asked, seeing me stare at the ring.
"It was a courtyard with a garden and a fountain," I said in a soft voice, focusing on the photo once more. "Bria and I used to play out there and in a secret chamber that was hidden in a nearby staircase. I destroyed it all the night that Mab came to call on us when I used my Ice and Stone magic without thinking and collapsed our whole house. Part of the house toppled over into the courtyard, crushing the fountain, the staircase, and everything else that was there."
Finn gave me a sidelong glance. "Well, it's the only part of the house that's even remotely level and clear of rubble. At least, this area is. The rest of the place is overgrown with weeds."
"Looks like there's a lot of good places for Mab to hide her men around the courtyard," Xavier said.
"And a lot of good places for us to hide as well," Owen countered.
Xavier nodded his head in agreement.
I stared at the courtyard in the photograph. "How many bounty hunters do you think Mab has left, Finn? A dozen? Two?"
Instead of answering me, Finn pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and touched the screen a few times. "As of this morning, it appears there's about fifteen of them left in Ashland from the hotel records I was able to hack into. We took out five that night at Northern Aggression. Bria and I killed several more of them at the house last night, as well as the ones you took out in the woods. That thinned the ranks quite a bit. It looks like a few more have left town since last night, when Gentry turned in Bria and collected the bounty on her. Since you're turning yourself over to Mab, there's no use sticking around since there isn't any more money to be had from the bounties. Although rumor has it that Mab has paid some of the hunters to back her up tonight."
"But Gentry hasn't left yet," I murmured. "She'll be there with Sydney. I know she will be."
I'll take care of her as best I can until you come for her. The bounty hunter's words whispered in my mind. I wondered what she'd meant by them, what she was planning on doing. Gentry had already taken Bria to Mab, had already let my sister be tortured by the Fire elemental. What did the bounty hunter think she could do? Keep Mab from killing Bria outright? And why would she even bother trying? Gentry had gotten her bounty by now. Why would she care what happened to Bria after the fact?
Maybe it had something to do with my sparing Sydney that night outside Mab's mansion. Maybe Gentry thought she owed me something for not killing the girl when I had the chance. It didn't much matter what the bounty hunter was thinking or what she thought she owed me. If she stood between Bria escaping from Mab, then Gentry would die, just like the rest of the Fire elemental's men.
Finn continued with his count. "If I had to guess, I'd say that at least a dozen bounty hunters will be there, and Mab will have even more of her giants around the place as well. So let's say at least thirty men, total. Not counting Mab herself."
I didn't say anything. We all knew exactly how dangerous Mab was. I was the only one with even a remote chance of killing her, and I didn't think I could do it. Not really. I hadn't been able to stop her elemental Fire from burning through my Stone magic at the country club. Only the giant stumbling into my path at the last minute and being able to use him as a body shield had saved me from being burned to death.
Still, this was it-the final showdown-and I had to try, whether I thought I could actually take out Mab or not. So, game on.
Since my friends were determined to come with me, there was nothing I could do but let them-and hope I did everything in my power to help them survive it. Still, I wanted to give them all one more chance to reconsider, one more chance to back out and save themselves.
"You're all bound and determined to do this?" I asked, looking at each one of them in turn again. "Because you don't have to. You don't have to risk yourselves like this."