Ambrose, the thin, horse-faced secretary, was already examining Silas, comparing his face to one of the wanted posters that lined his office. Each showed a sketch of the wanted person, then listed their name, any pertinent information, and the offered bounty.
“Very well, very well. The bounty for Silas is four hundred. Would you like it in coin now or credited into your account?”
“Credited to my account,” I told him, staring at one wanted poster in particular. “How long has this bounty been available?”
Ambrose, busily marking his ledgers, didn’t hear.
I pulled the poster from the wall, brought it over to his desk, and jabbed a finger onto it. “This man. How long has he had a bounty out on him?”
Ambrose examined the poster. “Roderick Vane? He’s been at large for many years.”
I looked at the bounty set for him—two thousand gold shillings. Even if he didn’t have information about my family, I would have wanted to take the bounty. “I can see that. Tobias told me about him several months ago.”
“Tobias? Why were you at the Syndicate’s location in Ebora?”
I rolled my eyes at Ambrose. “I was undercover on that pirate ship for months. We pulled into multiple ports. You were the one who assigned me that mission.” I ran a hand over Roderick’s poster. “I’ll take this one.”
“I don’t think so.” Ambrose licked his dry lips. “Roderick Vane would be too difficult for you. I wouldn’t assign anyone other than the most senior hunters to him.”
“Most bounty hunters tend to die or become injured before they reach senior status,” I shot back. “So why not give it to me?”
“Because then you will certainly never reach senior status. You’d die. Start with easier targets first. You ran off with that pirate captain before I could stop you.”
“I succeeded on that one,” I pointed out, watching as Ambrose shuffled his papers. “I want Roderick.”
“My answer is no.”
Stupid bookkeepers. But he couldn’t stop me before and wouldn’t stop me this time.
“Ambrose, how much do I have in my account?” I asked, still staring at Roderick’s poster.
He riffled through the ledgers and gave a low whistle. “Nineteen thousand, four hundred and eighty-two gold shillings, before the additional credit for Silas. See, you don’t even need Roderick’s bounty.”
“Not everything is about money,” I said quietly.
Ambrose gave a wheezing laugh. “Who are you and what’ve you done with Gil? The Gil I knowonlycares about money.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off the poster for Roderick as I picked it up from the desk. This was the man my sister had been soldto. Who knew what atrocities he had committed, and then gone unchecked for years, decades even?
“Has anyone gone after him before?”
“A few, but they all failed.”
I rolled up the paper, prepared to tuck it into my jacket. “Then I’ll take the assignment.”
Almost immediately, Ambrose tried to snatch the paper from my hands, but I danced out of reach.
He reached for it again. “I already said no. You’re too young, and I won’t send a boy to an early grave, even if he is as troublesome as you are.”
I ducked under his arm. “Let me rephrase, then. I’m taking this assignment whether you agree to it or not. All members of the Syndicate are allowed to take or reject whatever assignments they want. We’re free agents.”
Ambrose shook his head. “I won’t give you the information. You could die on a mission like that.”
“What makes you think I care if I die?
Ambrose waggled a finger at me. “That’s exactly why I’m saying no. Take that assignment and you’ll be chasing death, not doing what’s right.”
I scoffed. “Please. No one in the Syndicate cares about doing what’s right. All we care about is getting paid.”
