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the trigger!’
    Destine cocked the hammer into firing position. ‘Killing you would not be an act of murder, Antoine, but an act of kindness to all the souls you have tainted over the years. Cornelius knew it, and that is why he sought to do the job himself.’
    â€˜Twice… but who’s counting?’ said Renard. ‘And whilst we’re on the subject, if he really has gone to Rome, surely you must know that he will never return.’
    â€˜Unless your lot aren’t as clever as they think they are,’ said Prometheus, bustling into the conversation. ‘Did you forget that Cornelius is a magician by trade? Performing the impossible is what he does every day!’
    â€˜Do you want to elucidate, ape-man? Or will I need a dictionary to translate your Gaelic twaddle?’ taunted Renard.
    â€˜You came here looking for Cornelius, right?’ said Prometheus, feeling just as well armed as if it had been him holding the pistol. ‘But for all your scheming and planning, you were wrong. Cornelius left here hours ago. He’ll be in Rome in a couple of days, doing his damnedest to raise hell, so he will.’
    â€˜If hell is what he seeks, ape-man, he will find it at the Hades Consortium’s headquarters, that is for certain,’ said Renard. ‘Or did you think their name was just meant to frighten people?’
    â€˜You have been there?’ asked Madame Destine. ‘Inside their fortress?’
    â€˜Several times,’ replied Renard. ‘And it’s hardly a fortress, Mother. We call it “the Hive”, and it’s a fitting place for dear old Cornelius to meet his end. I must say, my only regret is that I will not be there to witness it.’
    Madame Destine rose from her chair swiftly, driving the barrel of the gun into Renard’s stomach harder.
    â€˜Do it, witch! You’ll be doing me a favour!’ he snarled.
    â€˜Perhaps it is the other way around,’ Destine said, shifting her footing. ‘You said that you have orders to deliver Cornelius to your master?’
    â€˜To drag him all the way to Rome personally… and I was so much looking forward to it. He might even have been in one piece once we’d got there. But as he’s made a start without me, I suppose I’ll just have to catch up with him.’
    â€˜That will be difficult with a bullet in your guts.’
    â€˜But not impossible, Mother,’ said Renard. ‘I’ve cheated death before, remember?’
    â€˜Not this time. This time you have lost,’ said Destine. ‘As Prometheus said, Cornelius is long gone and there is no way that you could charter a vessel and have it prepared to sail in time to catch up with him. I wonder if your superiors will see you as such a valued commodity once you explain how Cornelius slipped so easily through your fingers.’
    Renard tensed his metal fist. ‘You are wrong, Mother. I hardly need to charter a vessel, for the Hades Consortium has already provided me with one! Its captain has even now prepared for the voyage to Rome and is merely awaiting my arrival, so if you’ve got any last words for dear Cornelius, by all means I’ll pass them on to him. However, first we need to get this little business sorted out, eh? So what are you going to do, Mother? Just shoot me then leave me to rot?’
    â€˜Actually,’ said Destine. ‘I am going to shoot you then commandeer your ship, and then it shall be me that drags you all the way to Rome.’
    Renard barely had time to open his mouth before Destine pulled the trigger.
    His metal hand darted to his stomach. As he lifted it to his eyes, the silver was tarnished by a swab of crimson blood.
    â€˜Bravo,’ he whispered, before collapsing in a heap on the floor.
    Prometheus was agog. ‘Destine… you
shot
him!’
    â€˜That was the general idea,’ she replied. ‘To accomplish our goal, he would be no good to me dead