? ? ?
Normally, people run away from goons with guns, so my unexpected sprint toward the dwarves made a couple of the men pull up short, raise their weapons, and take aim at me. But I didn’t slow down, not even for an instant. Instead, I reached for my Stone magic and hardened my skin, turning it into an impenetrable shell—and not a second too soon.
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bullets kicked up the dirt and grass at my feet and zinged through the air all around me. A couple even hit my body, but they bounced off my Stone-hardened skin and rattled away.
And then the men were on me, and I was on them.
I sliced my knife across the chest of the first guard who came at me, making him scream and stagger away. His buddies snapped up their guns and started firing at me again, but I kept my grip on my Stone magic, ignored the hard continued blasts of bullets against my skin, and waded right into the center of them.
My knives sliced every which way, the silverstone blades gleaming in the late-afternoon sun, and I cut into every single man I could reach. Blood spattered through the air like sheets of rain, the stench of it mixing with the acrid scent of gunpowder.
The guards quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be felled by mere bullets, and they whirled around and ran away, trying to get back to the mansion so that they could regroup.
Too late.
As they ran, I summoned my Ice magic, shooting out spray after spray of deadly daggers, which punched into their backs, making them fall face-first onto the ground. The perfectly pruned grass quickly turned a dark, mottled black with blood.
In less than two minutes, it was over, and half a dozen guards littered the lawn, all of them bleeding out from the vicious wounds that I’d inflicted on them.
I glanced behind me, but Owen and Elissa were long gone, and I didn’t hear any sounds of gunfire coming from the front of the mansion.
“Owen?” I said. “Owen, what’s going on?”
A second later, his voice sounded in my ear. “Elissa is with Jade. Finn and Bria are here too. The only one we’re missing is you.”
A grin curved my lips. “On my way.”
I turned to go, but one of the guards rose and grabbed my ankle. I tried to pull free, but he was a dwarf, with a strong, firm grip, despite the fact that his guts were leaking out all over the lawn. So I kicked him in the face with my other foot, breaking his nose with my heavy boot, and he screamed and slumped back down onto the ground. I stepped over his body, ready to head back to my friends—
“Well, this is a surprise,” a voice slurred. “And way more exciting than my trip to the bank was.”
I whirled around.
Damian Rivera stood on the edge of the stone patio. Wavy black hair, dark eyes, bronze skin, shockingly white teeth, expensive suit. He looked just like he had when I spied on him in his office two nights ago, and it was obvious that he’d been drinking just as heavily today as he had been then. A ruddy flush stained his cheeks, and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot at the same time.
He gave me a lopsided, goofy grin, as though it amused him to see his men crumpled all over the lawn like paper dolls that I’d shredded to pieces. Rivera didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned by his moaning, groaning guards or the blood dripping from the knives in my hands. The longer he looked at me, the wider his grin became, as though he were actually pleased to see me.
After several seconds of grinning like a fool, his brow furrowed, and he snapped his fingers over and over again, as if trying to remember who I was or where he had seen me before. It must have come to him, because he snapped his fingers a final time, much louder than before, and stabbed his index finger at me.
“Gin Blanco, right?” he said in that same slurring voice.
I flashed my bloody knives at him. “The one and only.”
Rivera nodded and grinned again, happy that he’d figured out who I was. “So you’re the one who’s been causing so much trouble lately.” He shook his head. “You’re really starting to annoy Mason. And let me tell you from personal experience, that’s not something you want to do.”
My eyes narrowed. Mason? Who was Mason?
Was he—could he be—was he the leader of the Circle?
My breath caught in my throat, but I forced myself to rein in my shock and surprise. Instead, I tightened my grip on my knives and slowly sidled toward Rivera, not wanting to startle him in his obviously drunken state.
“Gin?” This time, Bria’s voice was in my ear. “What’s going on? What’s taking you so long? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Rivera’s here,” I muttered. “And he seems to be in a chatty mood. I’m going to ask him a few questions. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“You need to get out of there,” she said in a worried voice. “Silvio says that three more SUVs are pulling up to the front of the mansion. Whatever alarm you triggered, it’s summoned a lot more men.”
I’d been so focused on taking down the guards that I hadn’t noticed that the alarm had finally quit blaring. The lights in the mansion had also quit flashing. Someone had shut off the alert system. I wondered why, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“All I need is one more minute,” I said.
“And I’m telling you that you don’t have one more minute. Get out of there, Gin. Get out of there now!” Bria yelled at me.
But I couldn’t go. Not yet. I’d blown my cover with Rivera, and I couldn’t leave him alive to tell Hugh Tucker that I’d been here and had killed his men. Tucker would realize that I’d identified Rivera as one of the Circle members, and the rest of them would start closing ranks. So I might as well stay and get the answers that I wanted—needed—about the Circle.
It was worth the risk.
“Tell me about Mason,” I called out, as I crept closer to Rivera. “Is he your boss? Is he the one who runs the Circle?”
Rivera gave me another sloppy grin, but his eyes sharpened, telling me that he wasn’t quite as drunk as I’d thought. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He frowned, as though some odd thought had just crossed his mind. “Although I’m wondering how you found out that I was a member of the Circle. That’s most upsetting.” He paused. “Isn’t it, Porter?”
Porter. I’d forgotten all about Bruce Porter, but he’d driven Rivera to the bank, which meant that he’d come back to the mansion with his boss.
A shadow moved out of the corner of my eye, and Porter hurtled out from behind a bush, catching me square in the chest and driving us both down to the ground. My knives flew out of my hands, but I channeled my Stone magic into my fists, making them as hard and heavy as concrete blocks, and started pummeling Porter.
But he was a dwarf, and a tough one at that. Porter grunted under my blows, but they didn’t do much more than bruise his thick hide.
Then it was his turn to pound on me.