Chapter Nine

Nothing Comes For Free

He didn't go back to Inej's room, he stood by the staircase on her floor for a moment too long, before making his way back up to his room, forcing his mind to think about the crows club, he had used any time he was willing to leave his room to be down at the club, overseeing and working to make it better than it had been when he first opened it. Now that the season of sickness was starting to ease, he would be able to fully invest his time into it as well as approaching some choice merchants to take shares in the club for his own benefits. The barrel really did go to the ground during flu season, timing the opening of the Crow's Club to the ending of the season was a surefire way to kickstart the club's profit.

Kaz had already begun sending out the newer of the Dregs to begin the whispers of the club's opening. It wasn't difficult to plant seeds amongst the pigeons. 'Did you win any at Pekka's last night?' One Dreg would whisper, allowing his voice to carry out to nearby pigeons,

'Not a dime, swear it's all rigged to the house.'

'Well, I heard,' here the Dreg would lower their voice and glance around, 'That Per Haskell is reopening the old Crows Club, winners every night.'

A few of these conversations, carefully scripted by Kaz himself, and the pigeons had begun flocking past, eyeing the building in its refurbished glory, questioning when it would open. Kaz supposed Per Haskell was grateful, the two biggest projects he'd reluctantly approved of Kaz's, and they were the highest payoffs yet. Kaz was successfully raising the Dregs out of their hole, rebuilding the Slat, bringing the Crows Club back and setting up Fifth Harbour. He was becoming a man with a finger in every corner of the barrel, enough to close a fist around Pekka Rollins one day.

He was right to give Anika the extra money, the Medwatch had left the first night with a bleeding lip. But they had returned and Kaz watched them exit the Slat each night, after they left he would go stand in the staircase closest to Inej's room, listening for her coughs. They began to ease up after each visit, going from wet, shoulder shaking coughs to dry barking coughs until finally after a few weeks she began to only cough occasionally.

Finally, after another two weeks, he felt that presence again, the presence outside of his window that he had not had for nearly a month now. It felt almost ethereal to look up and see her crouched silhouette behind his window, her hand resting on the bottom as if prepared to pull it up, so sure even after this time that he would say yes. He tried not to stay in his writing or keep staring at the window for longer than he usually would.

"Hello, Inej."

"Anika said you paid for the MedWatch? It's not cheap to get them to come to the barrel?"

"Cost more to get them to stay apparently."

"Sorry about that."

"I added it to your contract."

"Of course you did, Kaz." She was scowling in her way, but a small smile threatened to peak out. Kaz watched her as she adjusted herself to be sitting on the windowsill more comfortably, her cheeks were flush with blood, with life. It had been hard to see her pale in bed, hard to remind himself that she was living, not dead and bloated, cold and lifeless.

"Kaz?"

He blinked, he hadn't heard a word she had said, he snapped himself away from the barge and back to her.

"You mentioned a job unless I was hallucinating."

Had she been hallucinating whilst sick? He wondered what she had seen, her life hadn't been any better than his own, but he knew she had moments before the menagerie, parents who loved her, memories. To many in the barrel, a month of hallucinations would be better than reality.

"The old man wants us to follow through with the agreement, go down to the harbour and take what was promised to us. Radmakker tried to rip us off whilst we were out, so he owes us extra now."

"Who else do we need?"

"I'm going myself, all I need from you is to stand watch." If a Dreg couldn't complete a shakedown by themselves then they might as well empty their pockets and give up. Kaz was loath to even ask Inej to stand watch, but an extra pair of eyes for the Stadwatch was never amiss.

"So I'm back from the dead for a stand and watch."

"If it's too dull…"

"Tonight?"

"Tonight." It was a simple pattern; she was back to normal, and he didn't need to think again about the feelings he had felt when she had been sick. His mind could go back to what it was used to, money and heists.

Inej did not meet up with him when he began his walk to the Fifth Harbour, but he knew she was nearby and could feel her presence with each corner he took. When he met RadMakker at the harbour he could feel her presence in the shadows.

"Where's your ghost Brekker?" Radmakkers eyes darted around them, the memory of Inej's blade against his throat must have still been fresh.

"Haunting more important targets tonight, I'll send her your regards." Kaz nodded towards the containers that were by the docks. "Shall we begin?"

It was as Kaz had expected, the products in the containers were of poor quality, it was almost hilarious that the Merchants in Ketterdam continued to underestimate those of the Barrel. Radmakker truly thought he could stick useless cheap stock into his containers and Kaz would believe that this was the best he had to offer him?

"What of the Items we missed whilst the flu season struck?"

"We halted all shipments, didn't want a repeat of the Queen's plague." Lies didn't seem to slip from Radmakkers tongue quite as easily as they spilt from Kaz's, he stuttered over the sentence but Kaz pretended he didn't hear.

"What a shame for your funds."

"We must all make sacrifices."

"Oh we must, well I'll send two of our men, come 12 bells to collect a quarter of this container, you won't begrudge me that much, after all, you may have sacrificed during the flu season, but we never agreed to."

Radmakker's jaw ticked, from his view Kaz was falling into his plans, and yet he still appeared annoyed at the nerve.

"I'll accept it this time, but our deal is that you have the first choice from the containers as they come in, not months after."

"I'll be sure to pass on the message."

Inej met him again after he had left Radmakker and neared closer to the Crows Club, only days before its opening night.

"You seemed very agreeable with Radmakker tonight?"

"I asked for more than what he expected."

"Well yes, but my point was that you asked, you didn't simply take it. That isn't like you, Kaz."

"No, I suppose it's not like me is it." He was thinking hard, lulling Radmakker into a false sense of security only made the inevitable sweeter, he would be getting exactly the amounts they had planned to receive from the containers, and if he had his way, even more.

"I think I am going to name that face."

"I don't have a face," Kaz said, pulling a face.

"You do, right before you commit yourself to a particularly dastardly plan that would make the saints weep."

"Maybe the saints could stand to weep for once."

"You shouldn't say such things."

"Oh, dear saints, knock me down where I stand." He gestured his cane up with dramatic flair, Inej scowled at him, looking for all the world as if she wanted to be the one to knock him down. He raised an eyebrow, inviting her to try.

"One day Kaz, they might do just that, and then where will you be?"

"On the floor I assume, if they're any good at knocking one down."

"Are you going to share your plan with me?"

"Radmakker is trying to scam us, you can't scam a scammer Inej, the merchant's love to think we are all simple headed thugs. Haskell won't stand for the amount in that container, we're going to get what's owed." And more, always more. "I need you to find out where the contents of the last few containers have gone. I want the layouts of their houses or wherever they've chosen to store the items."

"You don't want their names?"

He pulled out a folded piece of paper from one of his coat's pockets, Radmakker would find a similar blank one when he went to check later tonight. With a flick of his wrist, he unfolded it and handed it to Inej. "I already have them." He watched her eyes skim the paper, reading the names of Radmakker's contacts.

"How did you steal his clients' list without him seeing?" He ignored the question, the secret to being a good thief was not to share the knowledge behind your skills with every other member of the gang. "They'll know it was you."

"But can they prove it was me?"

AN: Apologies for the late update, it was meant to be posted earlier today but I have not been mentally well. A heist is coming! A big one!

Responding to Reviews:

GreyHaru: Your comment gave me an idea that is now building in my head, expect good things coming!

Cat K: I agree he doesn't have romantic feelings yet, I think it's a fondness that he has felt before for say Jesper, but it's a little stronger than that and he's not sure how to feel about that feeling. I love the idea of them jumping on ships I'm definitely toying with that for what I have planned.

Thanks, everyone
~ThisMayFlower