“And the girl? She would’ve been about fifteen or sixteen years old.”
“I…I sold all the young women to a man named Roderick Vane, but I don’t know what he did with them after that.” He rubbed his sweaty cheek against his shoulder. “I swear I’m telling the truth.”
I looked at him and saw the face of a coward. Criminals were all the same. They would turn their best friend over if it meant saving their own skin. My lip curled in disgust.
“Will you let me go?” he whimpered. “You promised.”
I casually retrieved the stained bandage I’d had on my leg when they picked me up. “Did you know that siren’s blood will knock a grown man unconscious within seconds when smelled? Siren voices work on our ears, but their blood works just as effectively. Inhaling this will send a person into dreamland for hours.”
“You promised,” he reminded me in a small, child-like voice. “I told you the truth.”
I leaned in close. “And I believe you. But I’m a criminal, just like you. And criminals can never be trusted.”
With that, I shoved the cloth against his nose. After holding his breath and trying to resist for a few moments, he slumped back to the floor of the coach.
I placed the cloth right under his nose where he lay.
“The funny thing about that six-year-old girl who got left behind,” I hissed at Silas’s immobile body, “is that she grew up and vowed revenge.”
CHAPTER 2
Idragged the bound and unconscious Silas through the back door of the Syndicate’s rundown-looking safehouse in Berkway. It was just a dull, aging structure wedged between a shuttered tailor shop and a long-forgotten tavern that smelled permanently of fermented alcohol, nothing that would have let passersby know what went on inside.
“Good work, Gil!” Brent, a fellow bounty hunter, said as he slapped me on the back. “You beat everyone else to him.”
“All in a dishonest day’s work,” I answered cheerfully. “I had some good luck to help me along. Is the Employer in?”
Elvin, another bounty hunter, leaned back and popped some pomegranate seeds into his mouth. “Is he ever? Ambrose is, though. Just through there.” He pointed down the hall to where the Employer’s secretary sat at his desk.
“Want to carry this piece of vermin for me?” I asked, nudging Silas with the toe of my boot. “I’ll make you some food if you do.”
Elvin scoffed and wrinkled his nose. “No way. Carry your own target.” Elvin couldn’t be much older than eighteen and still had the youthful arrogance I despised so much. He went back to sketching another face on a wanted poster.
Brent shoved Elvin. “I’ll take you up on that, Gil. Make me that hash I like.” He dragged Silas by the feet down the hall. “Elvin only eats pomegranates lately,” he called as he heaved Silas across a rug. “It’s his new health plan, but it still hasn’t fixed his sour attitude or helped him grow. I’ll wager you’ll pass him next year, Gil.”
After exchanging disgusted looks with Elvin, I went to the safehouse’s small kitchen and whipped together the egg and potato scramble. The kitchen wasn’t particularly clean, but I found a skillet and set about cobbling together the promised meal. Pomegranate rinds littered the table and counters.
Brent came into the kitchen. “Ambrose says good work and that you can go in to collect the bounty whenever you want.” He scooped up the potato peelings and eggs shells and dumped them down the large garbage chute that led to the compost heap outside. “You know, maybe one day we’ll finally meet our actual employer. I’ll bet he’s a lot more interesting than Ambrose.”
“Isn’t everyone?” I grinned back. It was a running joke in our syndicate that we would eventually meet the mysterious Employer who had issued and paid bounties for more than thirty years, yet no one had ever seen hide nor hair of him. Instead, everything was coordinated through his stuffy and bookish secretary Ambrose, who looked like he should be sitting in a library rather than handing out missions to lethal bounty hunters.
“Your scramble’s done,” I told him. I shoved a few handfuls of scraps down the large garbage chute and, after getting a waft of the smell, sloshed a bucket of water down after it as well. “That compost heap smells almost as bad as Elvin.”
“I heard that!” I heard Elvin shout from the next room.
Brent and I beamed at each other.
“Eat,” I told him, handing over the bowl. “I need to go sign for that bounty. Thanks for saving me from carrying Silas another inch. He was heavy.”
Brent picked up the bowl and gave a hearty sniff. “Your muscles will come in soon, lad. Just wait another year or two. You’re already pretty strong.” He peeked around the corner to make sure Elvin wasn’t looking, then threw the last pomegranate down the garbage chute as well and laid a finger on his lips.
I tapped the side of my nose, then said loudly, “Hey, good luck with that pirate. Dargen, right? Ambrose said that was a tough bounty last time I was here.”
Brent raised his eyebrows and grimaced. “Thanks. I’ll need all the luck I can get.”
I left the kitchen and strode down the hallway to Ambrose’s study, my steps long and confident.
“Gil reporting,” I announced. “I’m here to collect the bounty on Silas Grimbeard.”
