Glass Eye lowered his voice and leaned forward. “Yeah. In my room. Only got a case. People are buying it up to cut out that mean hook.”
Dirty Hands leaned back. “It’ll have to do. I’ll get you your gold tomorrow. Hold it for me. I have to unload a couple things later.”
“You knew I was coming. Why didn’t you get it all done earlier?”
Dirty Hands leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table. He lowered his voice, but we were close enough I could still hear it when he said, “They found Granny’s little worker.”
“No shit,” Glass Eye said, shaking his head, then taking a swill from his pint. “The one that got snatched from the operation?”
Every hair on my head stood on end. Nova’s gaze slid my way, her posture still loose, not giving anything away.
“Yeah. My gods, she’s a pretty little thing, too. You get a hard on just looking at her. She gave the seller hell—something about whatever they are putting on the snacks—and then popped one of them things right into her mouth. Bought up a whole bunch of it, too, before storming off. That seller thought something was off about the whole thing so he let the watch know. Turns out, they’d been given a likeness of her by the organization. There’s a nice reward for bringing her in. They recognized her immediately.”
“Get the alpha,” I mouthed to Nova, adrenaline pumping through my body.
Her brow pinched together for a moment before her expression cleared. She nodded minutely, having figured out what I wanted, before leaning back and running her fingers through her hair.
“I’m starting to feel it,” she told me.
“You’re a lightweight, that’s why. I’m going to have a couple more before I help get supplies. We’re not leaving until tomorrow, we have time.”
“I hate when you shop drunk. It slows everything down.
“Well then you go get a head start and there won’t be much to slow down.”
She gave an annoyed sound and sipped her drink, allowing me to keep listening in to the others.
“Who’s going to take her in?” Glass Eye asked.
“Nah, they were told to keep her. Someone from the organization is going to come and collect her. That’s what I was doing—sending word. They don’t want her falling into the wrong hands again. They’ll take her to the packing village and make her work there. The production village has been compromised, I guess. The raiding party took all the product.”
“Fuck,” Glass Eye breathed out, just as Nova finished her ale and excused herself.
“Don’t be too long,” she told me, pointing.
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied, waving her away.
“That’s going to delay getting in new product, right?” Glass Eye asked.
Dirty Hands fell back against his seat, making it rock backward. “You got it. They’re already planning to jack up the prices to compensate. You’re going to have a lot of angry stall owners.”
“Not my fault. I just distribute it.”
“Yeah.”
“I think I saw her.” I leaned forward over the table, swaying a little to emphasize I’d been drinking. “That hot little number walking around late last night? I was thinking to myself, I was thinking—what is a sexy little lady doing walking around this late? Is she looking for fun? She turned a corner before I could catch up to her, though. She looked strangely familiar but I couldn’t place her. I think I may have seen a poster with her likeness, like you said. Just in passing.” I sat back in my seat, feigning indifference. “I don’t work for anyone relevant. I’m in a different trade. We can’t sell for shit. I don’t even know why I’m doing the damn thing?—“
“Do you ever shut up?” Dirty Hands snarled.
Glass Eye had turned to look at me, his eyes distant. “A lady late at night you say?” He leaned sideways on the table. “I’ll be damned—I saw that woman. She was trying to get into town. Stopped at the gate. She must’ve run in after me. Fuck.” He slapped the table. “I wish I’d fucking known. I could’ve grabbed her myself. She was saucy. I did think it was strange that she’d show up in the middle of the night, on foot, no less. She said her horse was lame or something.” He scratched his chin and sighed. “A huge payday was right in front of me and I fucking missed it.”
“Yeah, well.” Dirty Hands gave me a sour look before re-focusing on Glass Eye. “You’re probably better off. You don’t need to deal with the organization any more than you already do.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “They’re cutthroat. It’s all great if things are going well, but when they go wrong?” His eyebrow arched and he drew his finger across this throat. “Believe me. Be happy the town watch is handling this.”
“I coulda used that payday,” Glass Eye mumbled. “You’re probably right, though.”
“I coulda used someone to play with my pecker,” I muttered, slouching over my ale. “Think they’re letting in visitors?”
“Weren’t you just sitting with a lady?” Glass Eye asked, turning his chair a little so that he could better see me.
