Chapter 345: Finders Keepers

Damien swung his gun toward the gate.

The man with the box dropped down the far side before he could fire.

At the foot of the ladder, the other two had their rifles up on the quay. One of them fired. Damien fired back, and the shot rang off the steel. Out past the gate, his boats were shooting too.

Rémy reached the ladder. He grabbed the rungs and hauled himself up, slow and clumsy, the open cuff swinging from his wrist. Halfway up he stalled. One of the men caught him by the waistband and shoved him higher.

Damien’s aim followed them up the ladder.

Then he lowered the gun an inch, put his phone to his ear, and said something short in French.

The firing from the water stopped.

"What did you tell them?" Aria asked.

"Not the son." His eyes stayed on the gate. "That was the deal."

Rémy went over the top. The two men went up after him, one at a time, and the gate stood empty under the lights.

Beyond it, two engines started and pulled away across the harbor, fast. Damien’s boats went after them.

Leo let his head fall back against the bollard and breathed out.

Aria reached for his wrist and laid two fingers along the inside of it. His pulse was fast but strong.

"Is that a doctor thing?" he asked.

"It’s a me thing. Hold still."

He held still. His skin was clammy, and there was dirt ground into the creases of his palm.

"When did you last drink anything?"

He had to think about it. "This morning. I think."

Aria looked up at Damien. He already had his phone out.

She let go and looked down at her own left hand. Where the ruby had been, a band of paler skin ran around her finger.

Damien’s phone buzzed. He read it and turned the screen so she could see.

[Kai: Her phone’s moving. South, toward the islands. Fast.]

A minute later, it rang. Damien listened, said "Cherchez," and hung up.

"They split up," he told her. "Two boats, no lights. Into the islands."

"So she has it."

"For now."

Car doors slammed along the quay as his men came in from the gate. Two of them went down the steps with their guns out and checked the dark behind the timber blocks. One called up in French.

"Empty," Damien said.

Aria took the cheap phone out of her pocket. The screen was dark. She held it out, and Damien passed it to the nearest of his men.

"Kai," he said.

He stood and held out a hand to Leo. Leo took it, and Damien pulled him up and got a shoulder under his arm.

At the car, one of the men shrugged out of his jacket and put it around Leo’s shoulders. Another pressed a bottle of water into his hand. Leo drank half of it without stopping, then pulled the jacket closed with his swollen hands.

***

Jade was out of the car.

Two of Damien’s men stood between her and the basin gate, one with a hand on her arm. She was arguing with them in fast, furious French when the Mercedes came out past the containers and its headlights swept over her.

She stopped talking.

Damien pulled up short of the barrier. Before he had the brake set, Leo had the back door open.

He got out slowly, one hand on the roof. The jacket hung off his shoulders, and his feet were bare on the asphalt. He straightened up in the headlights.

The man let go of Jade’s arm.

She crossed the distance at a run and pulled up one step short of him. Her eyes went over his face, the swollen eye, the blood dried in his hairline.

Then she punched him in the chest.

Leo folded over with a grunt, one arm around his ribs.

"Désolée—" Jade’s hands flew up. "Sorry. Sorry, sorry—"

"It’s fine." He was laughing, carefully, still bent over. "They were already broken. Probably."

Jade took his face in both hands, careful of the bruises, and lifted it until he was looking at her.

"It wasn’t your fault," Leo said.

Jade pulled him down onto her shoulder and said something into his neck in French, low and fast.

"I know," Leo said. "Me too."

Aria turned away. Damien had come around the hood. She leaned into his side, and his arm came around her.

After a while, Jade let go. She wiped her face with the heel of her hand, came over to Aria, and dug into the front pocket of her jeans.

She held out the rusted key.

Aria took it, closed her fingers over it, and slid it into her coat.

"Thank you."

Jade shook her head and hugged her hard.

"There’s a doctor at the villa," Damien said. "Get in."

Leo and Jade took the back seat. Damien drove, with Aria beside him. Jade’s head was on Leo’s shoulder before they had cleared the port, and by the Old Port she was asleep, one hand fisted in the borrowed jacket.

The city slid past, lit up for the evening. Café terraces full of people, the masts packed along the quay, a man walking a dog along the water. Leo watched it go by with his temple against the glass.

"Is there food at the villa?" he asked.

"Whatever you want," Damien said.

Leo thought about it. "Pizza."

"Done."

"With pineapple," Leo said.

"Now you’re pushing it," Aria said.

Leo laughed under his breath and winced, and Jade made a sleepy, warning sound against his shoulder.

At a red light by the water, Damien reached across and took Aria’s left hand. He lifted it and kissed her bare finger, where the ruby had been.

The light changed. He drove on with her hand in his lap.

Aria checked her phone. 7:31 p.m. Nothing yet from Elias.

From the back seat, Leo spoke.

"Sister Aria."

She turned around in her seat. His good eye was open, and he was looking at her.

"The ring," he said. "It wasn’t the real one, was it?"