Chapter Seven

Red Right Hand

They were back in his office, furniture pushed against the walls and Inej in the middle of the room as he circled her. Over the course of their last sessions his hits had become faster, he allowed the cane to meet its target harder. To leave bruises. Inej was quicker than before, she no longer attempted to block the hits, but had gotten better at dodging them. He assumed she knew that the hits would hurt just as much if they were blocked. Throughout the last few sessions, Kaz had begun incorporating hand to hand fighting as well, Inej needed to know how to fight people other than him after all. Perhaps it was the fact that he so clearly did not want to be in close contact with her, but Inej had appeared more comfortable to fight than he had anticipated.

His own knowledge of bare fist fighting was, admittedly, rough. He had learnt to fight on the streets of Ketterdam, from watching other Dregs and gangs. His methods were survival-based, hitting any weaknesses he could see. He remembered the first time Old Man Haskell had seen him fighting, yanking a gang member's shirt over their head so he could beat them ferociously. He had laughed and mocked him for his lack of style, but in the end, Kaz had never lost a fight.

He swung his cane forward to hit Inej's hips and at that moment she did something that shocked him for a moment, Inej grabbed his cane as it swung. Kaz used her grip to pull her closer and in seconds his free arm had swung out to hit her squarely in the middle, as she doubled over he twisted the cane free and swung the head towards the back of knees, sweeping her off her feet and causing her to land hard onto her back.

Inej lay winded and Kaz straightened up as she gasped to catch her breath. He held the cane under him and stared down at her in silent anger. Of course, many had tried to take his cane from him, it was always a possibility in a fight, and who wouldn't want to face him without his weapon? A cripple without his aid? But he hadn't expected her to try, for some reason hadn't thought it was a possibility that the wraith would even consider it.

"Don't do that again Wraith," he scowled, "And don't stay on your back." He had begun to use the name since the night of her meeting with RadMakker. The title felt smoother and seemed to instil fear in those who had heard how she had come and gone from Radmakker's mansion without a sign.

Inej coughed as her breath returned in jagged gasps, but she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up. "You…weren't…being…fair." She gasped.

"No one is going to be fair, haven't we already covered this?" His eyes rolled but he met her glare.

A knock on the office door paused them, "Come in Jesper." Kaz called out and Inej let out a huff of annoyance that he wouldn't allow her the time to compose herself.

"Beating up the wraith before the job, that's a new idea." Jesper snarked and Inej rolled her eyes in union with Kaz.

The job in question was to complete Kaz's end of the agreement, to take De Vries out of the picture.

"I told you to be here twenty minutes ago." Granted he had lost track of time himself, as he often did when training Inej. She occupied all his focus when they trained, he had become determined to make her more formidable than she could imagine.

"Here I am."

Kaz shook his head and turned to the now fully standing, Inej. "I left the plans of the mansion on my desk, go get it for me."

The wraith scowled at him but turned to the window and in moments was gone.

"Do you think her door feels neglected?" Jesper wondered aloud and Kaz pushed past him in annoyance.

"Shut up Jesper."

When Inej joined them she held the map in one hand, and as Kaz's eyes drifted downward he could see she had found the leather slippers he had left on the desk.

"Kaz…"

"You found them, let's go over the layout quickly." He cut her off before she could say something that would make him regret purchasing the slippers. They would keep her gripped and her feet free from the scum and sickness that coated the walls of the Barrel. It was the practical thing to do, he had reasoned with himself, and it kept the thought of those scratches on her feet out of his mind. He grabbed the map from Inej and splayed it out on the table.

"De Vries has the money to splurge out on guards, we're taking Specht and Rotty to take out the majority of the ones outside, Jesper, Inej I expect you to take down the ones inside whilst I go for De Vries. No loud noises until I have him understood? He lives alone so there are no small distractions."

"How down?"

"Knock them out with a rock if you have to, I really don't care." Kaz snapped at Inej, the frustration with her morals springing up again. "Go ahead and scout how many guards there are, we'll meet you there."

Inej nodded and was out the door in a moment as Specht and Rotty approached the table, they weren't privy to the same amount of information that Kaz allowed Jesper and Inej, but they didn't question the lack of information, they knew what he wanted them there for and didn't question their roles.

"Anything you find on the guards is yours to keep." Was Kaz's last point to make to the Dregs before they too left the Slat and began the path to De Vries.

The walk was in silence for the most part, if you could count Jesper's sporadic whistling as silence. The sharpshooter managed to blatantly ignore Kaz's glares each time the sound left his mouth.

Kaz paused and the group followed suit as Inej stepped out in front of them.

"Fifth-teen guards, 7 outside and 8 inside," Inej spoke and Kaz turned to look at Specht and Rotty. Rotty was grinning at Specht as he pulled his knives out.

"Winner gets the most down?" Rotty spoke.

"Deal." Specht nodded and with a look to Kaz for approval they set off towards the property.

"Give them a moment," Kaz spoke to Inej and Jesper, Jesper was already loading his guns methodically. Inej moved backwards and away from the group, she had taken to her role as a spider well, already moving off to watch Specht and Rotty.

When she returned, with a short nod to Kaz, he began to make his way up and towards the mansion back door.

He slipped his picks from his gloves into his fingers and unlocked the door quickly, taking down the first Stadwatch by the stairs with a sharp hit of his cane that cracked the man's head against the wall with a sickening thud. De Vries should be in his bedroom but Kaz listened carefully as he moved up the stairs in case he needed to change his direction.

He made his way to the room and stood by the door, waiting until Jesper and Inej appeared at the stairwell, both looking out of breath but aside from a cut on Inej cheek, no worse the wear. Kaz studied the cut for a moment, eyes focused on it before he shook his head slightly and focused back on his job. He turned and knocked twice on the closed bedroom door, the movements he'd heard within stopped suddenly.

"What is wrong…Saints." De Vries cut his own sentence off as he opened the door.

"Hello, De Vries isn't it?" Kaz greeted him as he moved forward into the room.

"Guards!" De Vries shouted.

"Well that's a bit rude, the guards are taking a nap now, well the lucky ones are."

De Vries had backed himself against the wall, Kaz continued forward. "Take whatever you want."

"Thank you for the permission but I'm not actually here for that. You were stupid enough to make a deal with Radmakker and now he has decided he would rather go solo. So, I'm here to tie up the loose ends if you will." Kaz explained the situation bluntly. He had no sympathy for Merchants or many others for that matter.

"I know who you are! You're Kaz Brekker, you're a thief."

"It's only fair you should know the name of the man who kills you." Kaz had a gloved hand around the man's neck pushing him up against the wall.

"Wait…Wait! I can make a deal; I have information on what's coming into the fifth harbour!"

"We already have access to the dealings of Fifth Harbor."

De Vries was going red in the face, Kaz's spare hand drifted towards his pocket to grab the knife he stored there.

"Not this one! He'll never let you into this container!"

Kaz paused and considered the man in front of him, he let his hand drop and De Vries collapsed to the ground massaging his throat.

"Go on then, what's in the container?"

" Jan Van Eck has requested a DeKapple, it's expensive, priceless even! If you let me live I'll give it to you and tell him it was stolen."

Kaz began to move away, and it amused him for a moment at the hope that flickered in De Vries eyes.

"Why would I bargain for something I can take?" He asked quietly and watched as the panic seeped back into De Vries as the man began to stand up. "Jesper."

A shot rang out and De Vries slumped against the wall. They moved out of the room and down the stairs quickly.

"You could have made a deal with him," Inej spoke firmly.

"I already made a deal, no sense in making another." The night had been more successful than he had planned, the prospect of a bigger heist doing wonders to his mood, it would be difficult to secure a DeKappel, almost impossible if they could not get the painting before it left the harbour. A part of Kaz hoped that they would have to wait, Van Eck's house would be a fortress, a real challenge for him.

"A better night for you then boss?" Jesper spoke cheerfully as they headed back towards the Slat, Specht and Rotty had presumably headed off after hearing the gun, quick to escape any possibility of a run-in with the Stadwatch.

"What makes you say that?"

"You're looking noticeably less 'scowly' than you usually do after a job."

Kaz's scowl deepened in response and Jesper began his whistling again.

"I'm not above two murders in one night."

The whistling stopped abruptly.

AN:

Okay I know what your all thinking, it's too early for the Dekapple painting to get stolen, that happened six months before six of crows! Yes I know that and as you've probably guessed things will not go to plan, but I definitely wanted to introduce it as I think that a heist like that would have taken Inej and Kaz a long time to plan out and there is so much to fit in before that including the introduction of Nina and eventually Wylan as well!
Question: How could Roeder redeem himself to Kaz? Important for future chapters!

Responding to Reviews:

Thank you GreyHaru and AspiringGeek for your review! I love that you guys are enjoying the story!

Cat K- You were right about the shoes hahaha, although we can't expect these to last really since they aren't the fabricator made ones she eventually buys. I love building their relationship it's such a challenge righting how Kaz slowly views her differently. Thank you for reviewing!

Thank you everyone!

~ ThisMayFlower