Page 17 of Crooked Kingdom (Dregs 2)
“Well—” Wylan began, but Kaz silenced him with a look. A strange hush fell in the tomb. Kaz took a seat at the table.
“The authorities can’t help you,” he said. “Not in this city.”
“Why not?”
“Because the law here is profit. Jesper and Wylan tried to take a shortcut. The stadwatch won’t so much as wipe their tears. Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself.”
“And that’s where you come in.”
Kaz nodded. “We’re going to get your money. You won’t lose your farm.”
“But you’re going to step outside the law to do it,” Colm said. He shook his head wearily. “You barely look old enough to graduate.”
“Ketterdam was my education. And I can tell you this: Jesper never would have turned to me for help if he’d had anywhere else to go.”
“You can’t be so bad, boy,” said Colm gruffly. “You haven’t been alive long enough to rack up your share of sin.”
“I’m a quick study.”
“Can I trust you?”
“No.”
Colm took up his crumpled hat again. “Can I trust you to help Jesper through this?”
“Yes.”
Colm sighed. He looked around at all of them. Nina found herself standing up straighter. “You lot make me feel very old.”
“Spend a little more time in Ketterdam,” said Kaz. “You’ll feel ancient.” Then he tilted his head to one side and Nina saw that distant, considering look cross his features. “You have an honest face, Mister Fahey.”
Colm shot Jesper a puzzled glance. “Well. I should hope so, and thank you for marking it.”
“It’s not a compliment,” said Jesper. “And I know that look, Kaz. Don’t you dare start those wheels spinning.”
Kaz’s only response was a slow blink. Whatever scheme had been set in motion in his diabolical brain, it was too late to stop it now. “Where are you staying?”
“The Ostrich.”
“It isn’t safe to go back there. We’re moving you to the Geldrenner Hotel. We’ll register you under a different name.”
“But why?” Colm sputtered.
“Because some people want Jesper dead, and they already used you to lure him out of hiding once. I have no doubt they’d be willing to take you hostage, and there’s too much of that going around already.” Kaz scribbled a few instructions to Rotty and handed him a very thick stack of kruge. “Feel free to take your meals in the dining room, Mister Fahey, but I’d ask that you forgo the sights and stay inside the hotel until we contact you. If anyone asks your business, you’re here for a bit of rest and relaxation.”
Colm considered Rotty and then Kaz. He expelled a decisive breath. “No. I thank you, but this is a mistake.” He turned to Jesper. “We’ll find another way to pay the debt. Or we’ll start over somewhere else.”
“You’re not giving up the farm,” Jesper said. He lowered his voice. “She’s there. We can’t leave her.”
“Jes—”
“Please, Da. Please let me make this right. I know—” He swallowed, his bony shoulders bunching. “I know I let you down. Just give me one more chance.” Nina suspected he wasn’t only speaking to his father.
“We don’t belong here, Jes. This place is too loud, too lawless. Nothing makes sense.”
“Mister Fahey,” Kaz said quietly. “You know what they say about walking in a cow pasture?”
Jesper’s brows shot up, and Nina had to stifle a nervous laugh. What did the bastard of the Barrel know about cow pastures?
“Keep your head down and watch your step,” Colm replied.
Kaz nodded. “Just think of Ketterdam as a really big cow pasture.” The barest smile tugged at the furrow of Colm’s mouth. “Give us three days to get your money and get you and your son out of Kerch safely.”
“Is that really possible?”
“Anything can happen in this city.”
“That thought doesn’t fill me with confidence.” He rose, and Jesper shot to his feet.
“Da?”
“Three days, Jesper. Then we go home. With or without the money.” He rested a hand on Jesper’s shoulder. “And for Saints’ sake, be careful. All of you.”
Nina felt a sudden lump in her throat. Matthias had lost his family to war. Nina had been taken from her family to train when she was just a little girl. Wylan had been as good as evicted from his father’s house. Kuwei had lost his father and his country. And Kaz? She didn’t want to know what dark alley Kaz had crawled out of. But Jesper had somewhere to go, someone to take care of him, somebody to say, It’s going to be all right. She had a vision of golden fields beneath a cloudless sky, a clapboard house protected from the wind by a line of red oaks. Someplace safe. Nina wished Colm Fahey could march over to Jan Van Eck’s office and tell him to give Inej back or get a mouth full of knuckles. She wished someone in this city would help them, that they weren’t so alone. She wished Jesper’s father could take them all with him. She’d never been to Novyi Zem, but the longing for those golden fields felt just like homesickness. Silly, she told herself, childish. Kaz was right—if they wanted justice, they would have to take it for themselves. That didn’t ease the starved-heart pang in her chest.
But then Colm was saying his goodbyes to Jesper and disappearing through the stone graves with Rotty and Specht. He turned to wave and was gone.
“I should go with him,” Jesper said, hovering in the doorway.
“You already almost got him killed once,” said Kaz.
“Do we know who set up the ambush at the university?” Wylan asked.
“Jesper’s father went to the stadwatch,” said Matthias. “I’m sure many of the officers are susceptible to bribes.”
“True,” said Nina. “But it can’t be coincidence that the bank called in his loan when they did.”
Wylan sat down at the table. “If the banks are involved, my father may be behind it.”
“Pekka Rollins has influence at the banks too,” Kaz said, and Nina saw his gloved hand flex over the crow’s head of his cane.
“Could they be working together?” she asked.
Jesper rubbed his hands over his face. “All the Saints and your Aunt Eva, let’s hope not.”
“I’m not ruling anything out,” said Kaz. “But none of this changes what has to happen tonight. Here.” He reached inside one of the niches in the wall.
“My revolvers!” Jesper exclaimed, clutching them to his chest. “Oh, hello, you gorgeous things.” His grin was dazzling. “You got them back!”
“The safe at the Cumulus is an easy crack.”
“Thank you, Kaz. Thank you.”
Any hint of the warmth Kaz had shown Jesper’s father was gone, as fleeting as the dream of those golden fields. “What good is a shooter without his guns?” Kaz asked, seemingly oblivious to the way Jesper’s smile collapsed. “You’ve been in the red too long. We all have. This is the night we start paying our debts.”
* * *
Now night had fallen and they were on their way to do just that, a waxing moon glaring down at them like a white and watchful eye. Nina shook out her sleeves. The cold snap had broken, and they were in the middle of a proper late spring. Or what passed for that in Kerch—the moist, claustrophobic warmth of an animal’s mouth relieved only by brief, unpredictable storms. Matthias and Jesper
had left for the docks early to make sure the gondel was in place. Then they’d all headed to the launch point, leaving Kuwei on Black Veil with Rotty and Specht.
The boat cut silently through the water. Ahead, Nina could see the gleam of lights guiding them onward.
Jesper’s revolvers were back at his hips, and both he and Matthias had rifles slung across their shoulders. Kaz had a pistol in his coat and that demonic cane, and Nina saw Wylan rest a hand on his satchel. It was packed with explosives, flash bombs, and who knew what else.
“We better be right about all this,” Wylan said on a sigh. “My father is going to be ready.”
“I’m counting on it,” Kaz replied.
Nina let her fingers brush against the grip of the pistol tucked into the pocket of her light spring coat. She had never needed a gun before, never wanted to carry one. Because I was the weapon. But she didn’t trust herself now. Her control over her power felt flimsy, like she kept reaching for something that was just a bit farther away than she’d thought. She needed to know it would be there tonight. She couldn’t make a mistake, not when Inej’s life depended on it. Nina knew that if she’d been on Vellgeluk, the battle would have gone differently. Inej never would have been taken if Nina had been strong enough to face Van Eck’s henchmen.
And if she’d had parem? No one could have stood against her.
Nina gave her head a firm shake. If you’d had parem, you’d be completely addicted and well on your way to the Reaper’s Barge.
No one spoke as they reached shore and disembarked as quickly and quietly as possible. Kaz gestured for them to get to their positions. He would approach from the north, Matthias and Wylan from the east. Nina and Jesper would be responsible for the guards on the western edge of the perimeter.
Nina flexed her fingers. Silence four guards. That should be easy. A few weeks ago it would have been. Slow their pulses. Send them quietly into unconsciousness without ever letting an alarm sound. But now she wondered if it was the damp or her own nervous perspiration that made her clothes cling so uncomfortably to her skin.
Too soon, she saw the shapes of the first two guards at their post. They leaned against the low stone wall, rifles propped beside them, their conversation rising and falling in a lazy hum. Easy.
