Owen sucked in another angry breath, but he forced himself to let it out and slowly unclench his fists. "Fine," he muttered. "You win."
He would do anything to protect Eva, even help the giants break into the vault.
Clementine let out a delighted laugh. "Of course I win. I always win. Now, get started. Time's a-wasting."
Once again, Owen didn't respond.
Clementine went over to one of her men. "I'm going to go check in with the others," she said. "You three get started. And don't stop until the door is ready to be moved. You understand me?"
The giant nodded.
Clementine moved to the back of the room, out of sight of the camera, and a few seconds later, I heard a door shut, telling me that she'd left the vault.
One of the giants drew several pairs of safety goggles out of his duffel bag. He handed a pair to Owen, which he reluctantly slipped on, along with some heavy work gloves. He stood by while all three of the giants put on their own goggles. Then one of the men handed Owen a torch and carefully fired it up. Another giant fired up the second torch and turned toward the vault door while the last one reached for his Fire magic, making flames dance across his fingertips once more.
Owen hesitated, staring first at the lit torch in his hand, then at the giants. I knew he was thinking about using the torch to toast the three men. I would have been.
But I wasn't surprised when he finally faced the vault door, stepped forward, and used the torch to start heating up the silverstone lock. Because I would have done the same thing then too. I would have played along nicely until I was sure the others were safe, then I would have laid into Clementine and her crew for all I was worth, even if I knew that I wouldn't survive the fight. But the giant had her hand clutched around Eva's and the others' throats, and she and Owen both knew it. He had no choice but to go along with her scheme - for now.
I studied the monitor for a few more seconds. I didn't have Owen's elemental talent for metal, so I didn't know how long it would take him to get through the silverstone. Forty-five minutes, maybe an hour, given what I'd heard Clementine tell Opal and Dixon earlier. It depended on how slowly he decided to work, and he would probably drag things out as long as possible, in hopes of figuring out some way to turn the tables on Clementine and her men.
But Owen didn't have to worry about that - because I was going to do it for him.
Clementine might claim that Mab's gold was stored inside the Briartop vault, but I didn't necessarily believe her. Maybe it was gold, maybe it was diamonds, maybe it was something else entirely. But whatever it was, Clementine wanted it.
And I was going to take it from her.
Clementine would just as soon kill me as look at me. She'd proven that already tonight. She wouldn't be threatened, scared, or intimidated in the slightest by me. And if she realized that I was still alive - that the Spider was still alive - sneaking through the museum and killing her men, she'd grab Finn or one of my other friends and hold a gun to their heads until I agreed to surrender. Once I did that, she'd put a couple of bullets in my skull, and that would be the end things for me and everyone else in the rotunda.
No, whatever was in that vault was the only bit of leverage I would be able to get here. If I swiped it first, Clementine would have no choice but to deal with me to get what she wanted, and I'd force her to trade my friends and the rest of the hostages for the treasure in the vault. Of course, Clementine would no doubt try to double-cross and murder me, but that was nothing new.
Still, to steal whatever was in the vault and rescue Owen, I needed supplies, and I needed help - and I knew exactly where I could get them both.
Chapter 12
I turned away from the monitors and went over and looked at the giant I'd killed earlier, still careful not to touch her. She seemed to have the same gear that the first guard had: leather belt, gun, ammo, baton, pepper spray. I wouldn't have minded another gun and some more ammo, but I didn't want to electrocute myself to get them.
So I pulled out the metal baton I already had and used it to smash the rest of the security camera monitors. I'd seen what I'd needed to, and I didn't want Clementine and her crew using them to try to find me when I finally made my presence known.
When that was done, I went out into the antechamber where the lockers were. It was easy enough for me to use my Ice magic to freeze and then shatter their flimsy metal locks. I sorted through the items inside, but I didn't find anything useful or interesting, except for the fact that one of the guards kept a stash of p**n in the bottom of his locker. Of course he did. Why stare at priceless works of art for hours on end when you could look at fake, inflated boobies?
I also came across a small red cooler, which I opened. Someone had brought his lunch along tonight. A tuna fish sandwich, from the rancid smell of it. I wrinkled my nose. Ugh. I shut the lid and put the cooler back where I found it.
I had turned away from the lockers and started to go over to the exit when I noticed a door next to the vending machine, one I hadn't spotted before. A sign on the front read Broom Closet, but I was more interested in the blood smears on and around the handle. Senses alert and knife in hand, I carefully opened the door - and immediately stepped back as bodies tumbled out of the dark space.
Five poor souls had been killed and stood up and crammed into the closet, and they pitched forward and thumped to the floor like dominoes. Three men and two women, all giants, all with multiple bullet holes in them. Well, now I knew what had happened to the museum's real guards. They'd been shot, probably while they'd been looking at the monitors in the other room. There was nothing I could do for them, so I left them on the floor, although I did take a moment to close their eyes.
My search complete, I headed over to the exterior door. I listened a moment, but I couldn't hear any more through it than I had before, so I cracked it open and gazed out into the hallway.
The dead giant lay in the same position as before, although more blood had pooled under and around his body. Sharp, shocked whispers reverberated through the gray marble, but I shut those sounds out of my mind and listened for any other notes of warning, danger, or unease that might be rippling through the stone. But there was nothing. Now that Clementine and her crew had taken control of the museum, the stones had settled down a bit, their tension lessened - at least, until I killed someone else within the marble walls.
I considered moving the giant's body inside the antechamber but discarded the idea. He was far too heavy for me to carry. Sure, I could drag him, but it would take some effort on my part, and I needed my energy for more important things. I couldn't have cleaned up all that blood, anyway, not without Sophia and her Air elemental magic to help me. Sooner or later, one of Clementine's men was sure to stumble across the dead giant, but I just had to hope that luck, that capricious bitch, would let it be later. I doubted my chances on that, but there was nothing else I could do.