Page 167 of Empire of Shadows

“Aarait, cousin,” Charlie replied easily.

He took out a cigarette, obviously preparing to light it.

Ellie frowned.

“You do realize that’s a dreadful habit,” she noted.

“Laura tells him that all the time,” Flowers cheerfully added.

Charlie looked at the cigarette a little mournfully, and then put it away with a sigh.

“Your boy Bates asked me to acquire something for him,” Charlie said. His Kriol accent warmed the words. “I acquired it into the coffee.”

“Don’t dig too far,” Lessard added with a terrifying grin. “It bites.”

“And maybe don’t find it until you are well and ready to disappear,” Charlie added pointedly as he locked his sharp brown gaze on her.

Ellie glared at them. “How am I supposed to dig through anything if I am constantly being watched?” she demanded. “Unless I am meant to go right now?”

The three men exchanged a look.

“She goes now, it will fall on this one here,” Lessard pointed out as he jerked his thumb at Flowers.

“She needs a distraction,” Charlie concluded.

He looked up at the temple. Ellie suspected he must be thinking the same thing that she was—that Adam was still under guard up there, and any distraction down below might not be enough to get him loose as well.

“I might have an idea,” Ellie blurted.

Charlie cocked an eyebrow. Behind her, Flowers chuckled, though he still maintained every appearance of guarding her.

“Oh?” Charlie prompted carefully.

Ellie felt a little burst of excitement at his invitation to elaborate.

“There is a box of ammunition in that pile of equipment over there, which they haven’t yet moved into one of the structures,” she explained. “I happen to have a bit of strong liquor in my pocket as well as a magnifying lens—which as a convex lens is quite useful for focusing light. Were we to douse the dry debris under the crate with the alcohol, and then focus the remaining light there with the lens, generating sufficient heat to spark a blaze—”

“You want to blow up the bullets?” Charlie cut in with a look that managed to be both horrified and vaguely impressed.

“I like this woman,” Lessard announced happily.

Ellie’s shoulders slumped as she thought of the flaw in her plan.

“Of course, I cannot know what sort of danger any shrapnel from the rounds might cause,” she admitted, “and Mr. Bates was quite insistent that I not make any explosions without clearing the matter with him first.”

“Did you want to makemoreof them?” Charlie prompted.

Ellie brightened and leaned in as she whispered a little wickedly. “I had the most wonderful idea for overheating the boiler on one of the steamers back at camp…”

Flowers snorted behind her.

Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose in a gesture that struck Ellie as rather Adam-like.

“Baas gat di regyula papshat ya,” he muttered in Kriol.

“What’s apapshat?” Ellie demanded, looking to Lessard and Flowers.

“Like a firework,” Lessard replied and illustrated with a gesture. “Hssss—pow!”

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