Jesper and Wylan had seen it all from their vantage point. At one-point Jesper had nearly let his bullets fly, but Wylan had stayed his hand, making sure they kept their promise to not interfere less signalled. From what they had seen they were sure Inej was in trouble as it was the only reason that could explain Kaz's lack of fight.

Jesper had witnessed Kaz fight many times. Despite his apparent disability, Kaz had a scary gift for it. People would often underestimate him, paying the price for it in their own blood and defeat. To Jesper, Kaz appeared almost like a mind reader, being able to sense his opponents move before it happened, allowing him to easily counter it. Jesper had never understood it, but counted himself lucky he was on Kaz's good side.

Sometimes Kaz would even let his opponents hit him to lure them in, allowing him to strike back with bone shattering force. A shiver of fear ran through him at the thought of having to face Kaz in an all-out-fight. The training fights they had when Jesper first joined the gang had been scary enough, and in those fights Kaz had always held back. Kaz had inflicted pain, but never proper harm. Jesper had never managed to outsmart Kaz in those training fights, and they both soon realized that close-up fighting would never be Jespers forte. He would be reliant on his guns, not a multi-fighter like Kaz who was adapt at wielding several different weapon and fight styles.

Because of his knowledge of Kaz's ability and strength, he found it extra unnerving to see his boss get beaten, a fullout surrender. It was a sight he had never expected to see. Kaz was a fighter, a survivor, he was the Bastard of the Barrel that no one could keep down, a demon fighter that would never quit. Kaz never showed weakness, but his enemies had finally found the right way to break him; Inej. The only woman Kaz had ever cared enough for to show weakness.

Kaz and Inej hid their feelings for each other well, but Jesper had suspected it for a long time. He had seen the spark and looks between them start shortly after Inej had joined their crew, but after Kaz had freed her from her indenture it had become even more noticeable, but he was apparently the only one who saw it. They themselves didn't even seem to realize their true feelings for each other as they were too busy hiding and running away from them.

There were many times he had wanted to shout at them for being stupid, to tell them that they both wanted the other, and for them to just stop being so restrained, but he had forced himself to remain silent. Nothing was ever easy with those two. Pushing them before they were ready would only drive them apart. They would need to find their own way to each other. He only hoped that they at some point would pick up some speed, or they would all be old and grey by the time the two of them finally figured it out.

He knew it could be scary to take the next step, the risk of loosing the ease and friendship one currently had. He had feared the same with Wylan, but he had never been good at being careful or patient, and had jumped straight in. Thankfully Wylan had reciprocated his feelings. Even though Kaz and Inej didn't know it yet, he just knew that when they finally connected, they would be good for each other. He just hoped they didn't realize it too late.

Wylan, like everyone else, was still clueless to the fact. Too new to the gang, and not familiar enough with Kaz and Inej to spot the looks they sent the other when they thought no one was looking. Wylan was at ease around Inej, but still had a healthy dose of respect, and sometimes fear, around Kaz. Wylan looked up to Kaz as a mentor and the way his mind worked and his technical skills, but at the same time, his violence and cold heart scared Wylan.

Even though Wylan knew that he would never be at the receiving end of Kaz's wrath as long as he stayed on Kaz's good side, it still made him shiver to know what Kaz was capable of. He still had nightmares about the time Kaz had pulled out a man's eye in front of him. He knew Kaz had his reasons, and that it was part of their survival, but it was one side of Kaz he would never be comfortable with. At the same time Kaz could be gentle, sometimes even kind to those he cared for. Kaz was probably the only reason he was still alive, saving him from the streets when his father had kicked him out. In short, Kaz was still an enigma to Wylan, but he was willing to keep puzzling away at it in hopes of one day fully understanding his friend.

After the men had carried away what looked like an unconscious Kaz, Jesper and Wylan had kept the church under constant surveillance. There had been no comings or goings as far, and the church itself had been silent for the last 30 minutes. Even the candles had started to die out.

"We can't wait any longer. I'm going in!" Jesper fired off, his patience running out.

"But Kaz told us to wait, and follow at a distance," Wylan protested, trying to hold Jesper back.

"That may well be true, but there is nothing happening. Either everybody is sitting around singing psalms in the church, or they've vanished some other way. We need to help them, we can't lose them!" Jesper said, desperation lining his plea.

Wylan sighed. "Okay. We only got plan A and B from Kaz, and his plans usually goes to at least K or L, so yeah, I guess we are in newfound territory which means we have to make up our own plans as we go."

Jesper nodded at Wylan, taking the words as agreement, and started to climb down from their vantage point. Wylan followed close behind, although a bit slower and more clumsily.

Jesper smiled fondly as he watched Wylan's decent from the ground. Both Inej and Kaz were good at climbing and scaling buildings. Jesper could make it if the building wasn't too hard to climb, but Wylan would never be a good cat burglar, preferring to keep his feet on the ground where there was no risk of falling.

After a short while they neared the church. All was quiet and the entrance door was ajar. The light from the candles had nearly burnt out, leaving the building close to darkness. Jesper longed to have Inej in the rafters or Kaz by his side to take on whatever was hiding inside, but his own skills and Wylans smarts would have to be enough to carry them through this.

As Jesper was about to storm in, guns blazing, Wylan laid a hand on his shoulder. "I think it's better if I go first. I can sneak in, and if I get caught, I could set off a flash bomb, blinding everyone, and giving you the chance to take everyone out with your bullets. You should stay out here till either the bomb goes of, or I call you".

Jesper hesitated. He didn't want Wylan going in alone. He could see that Wylan was scared of what would await him inside, but that he was being brave for his crow friends. He couldn't deny the logic in the plan Wylan was laying out. Maybe Wylan had studied Kaz a little too well. He sighed, but gave Wylan a nod and encouraging thumbs up. He took his position by the door as Wylan slipped inside.

Wylan wasn't the most adept person at sneaking, but after many lessons with Inej at their house he had improved a lot. He was nowhere near Inej's level, not even close to Kaz's either, but he had easily surpassed Jesper. Jesper with his flashy attire, short patience and fondness for loud noises had never made for a good sneak, but he often made for a great distraction utilized by Kaz in many of his plans, much to Jespers chagrin. At one particularly tricky heist Inej had told Wylan that Kaz had made up plans for every letter in the alphabet. The heist had nearly failed as Jesper had mixed up the plans, too many for him to remember. After that Kaz tended to tell them fewer plans, keeping them on a more need to know basis, but Wylan was sure that Kaz always had more back up plans if needed. He just hoped Kaz had one to get out of this mess because.

Wylan crouched silently behind the furthest pew. He closed his eyes and stilled his breath as Inej had taught him, listening for the barest sound. Nothing. He raised his head above the pew, letting his eyes roam the dimly lit room, searching for any signs of movement. Still nothing. He rose and took a few more steps into the church, waiting for any kind of result, but nothing happened. From what he could tell, it was well and truly empty. He went up to the alter, and snuck inside the small room behind the alter. It was empty as well. He went outside to collect Jesper.

"The church is empty. They're gone," he told Jesper rejectingly.

"But how?!" Jesper yelled in frustration, storming inside.

While Jesper was prowling the church in anger, Wylan grabbed and lit a lantern by the door to search the church for clues to their friends whereabouts. In the middle of the church, by the window, Wylan found a button from Kaz's coat. Probably lost in the scuffle. He picked it up, knowing Kaz would often prefer to mend his own clothes, not wasting what could be fixed. Jesper had collapsed on the front pew, hanging his head in his hands. Wylan could sense the frustration and disappointment coming off Jesper. It was up to him to figure out where Kaz and Inej had been taken.

He walked the church, and side office several times, looking for anything amiss or out of order. He soon realized that the only place they could have escaped without them seeing it was in the area hidden from the windows, and he focused his search there. Behind the alter was a pulled down tapestry. Probably used to hide something, maybe Mr. Keller himself. But what was more interesting was that the edge of the tapestry seemed to be caught between the stones. Wylan studied the brickwork closer, and it appeared that the floor had recently been disturbed. "Jes, help me move this tapestry. I think there is secret trap door here".

At that Jesper seemed to get the pep back in his step, always better when he had a mission. From what they could see it looked like there was a secret passageway underneath the church. But finding out what opened it was harder. After 15 minutes of trying every thing they could think of as lever or switch they paused in the middle of the room.

"Where is that damn lever?!" Jesper puffed out annoyed.

"Maybe we are going about this wrong," Wylan suggested, trying to channel Kaz's problem solving skills. "I mean, why would there be a secret escape tunnel in a church? It must be old, and must have been built for the priest and his parishioners to escape in times of emergency. So where would you hide a switch if you where a priest who needed to escape in a hurry?"

They pondered for a few seconds, before they both looked at each other and said; "The preachers chair!". They both ran to it, letting their hands slide around the intricate wooden stand, pushing and pulling at everything on it. A small wooden figure in an intricate carving sunk in, and they heard a click followed by a grating sound as the secret tunnel opened.

Jesper pulled his guns and Wylan grabbed the lantern in one hand, a flash bomb in the other hand as they descended into the dark tunnel. After a short while they found themselves outside, a few streets over from the church. Not far, but just enough to hide the escape from prying eyes, the buildings in between efficiently hiding the escape. The street offered no clues as to how or where Kaz and Inej had been taken. They had lost them.

"Crap! Where do we go from here?" Jesper asked dejectedly.

"Well, what would Kaz do if it had been us?"

"Kill his way through the Barrel till he found us?" Jesper suggested.

"Well, you're probably right. But he would also ask questions, send his Wraith out to search for clues into the man who took us as it might offer up our whereabouts," Wylan suggested.

"Yeah, lets do that… except maybe not the killing part. Let's get the Dregs to start combing the streets for info and hunt this scoundrel down. We'll get them back, just like they would have saved us. Crows stick together!" Jesper said triumphantly as they started running back to the Slat to find more help.