The Shadow Crow (A Shadow and Bone: Season 2 Fanfiction)

Chapter 6: The Heist

As Nina walked in through the front door of the building where Pekka's banker worked, Inej lowered Kaz down to the window of the building where the banker's office was located. Kaz pushed the doors open with ease and walked in, beginning to rifle through the papers on the desk. Jesper, Wylan and I were in a rat-catcher's carriage, following Pekka's driver. 

While Kaz rifled through the papers on the desk, he heard a voice. 

'Fine night, ain't it, Brekker?' Kaz looked up, his gaze turning cold. Pekka stepped into the room, turning on a gas lamp. Footsteps sounded outside of the door, and Kaz saw two men standing outside of the door, silent sentinels waiting for the right moment to strike. 

'Burning the midnight oil, are we?' Kaz snarled. 

The cart moved through the streets, keeping a close eye on Pekka's driver. 

'He's rounding the corner,' Wylan remarked. 

'Follow him,' Jesper said. He did so, but to our surprise and utter horror, the cart we'd been following had utterly vanished. I peeked out of the wagon with Jesper as Wylan slowed the horse to a stop. 

'By the Saints,' I breathed. 'They're gone.' The three of us stared out at the darkness quietly. 

'This isn't right,' Jesper said softly. 

Pekka rounded the table with the gas lamp to come closer to Kaz. 

'I thought I'd cut to the chase,' Pekka said. 'You can't show your faces at my clubs and my brothels to pull threads on me, so, where would you go? Step away from the desk.' 

'Why?' 

'I don't want blood on my furniture. My numbers man will bill me for it, and well, you've already cost me enough money by blowing up my club.' 

'My club,' Kaz snapped. 

'Before I kill you, I want you to know that I brought in a madman to capture your Wraith. Sorry. My Wraith.' Kaz looked out the window in horror to see someone in a red suit climbing the rope, with a mask of a grotesque-looking lion on his face. 'I fixed up the cellar at the Menagerie, got the best shackles that money can buy. I got them for your Grisha girl too. The shadow one. Oh, and I got my man to lay a trap for your gunslinger. Clean sweep, Brekker. All that will be left will be my little spider, back in her cage. Oh. I'm going to sleep well.' Suddenly, the door slid open, Pekka's men collapsing. A second later, Pekka groaned and fell to the floor. 'Heartrender,' he cried out. 

'Meet the newest member of my crew,' Kaz snarled as the older man began to fall unconscious. 'Sleep well then.' Suddenly a gun went off, and one of the men who had fallen earlier was now up, staggering, and he fired at Kaz as he ducked behind the desk. 

Moments later... 

Jesper, Wylan and I walked through the darkened cemetery. 

'Are you sure he said here?' Wylan asked. 'This is the plague cemetery, no one ever comes here.' 

'Which means we'll be safe here,' Jesper replied. The three of us rounded the corner, meeting Kaz, Nina and Inej. 'Assuming you got ambushed too?' Jesper called out. 

'Oh, yeah. So many of them, I lost count,' Nina replied. 

'I got what I needed, and Wylan's bombs took care of the rest,' Kaz replied as we all stumbled down a dark alleyway in the cemetery. They opened a door, and Nina helped Inej inside. 'Get her inside,' Kaz urged. 

Jesper removed his hat, turning to all of us as we stood around in a semicircle. 

'Looks like Pekka made a move on more than just the Crow Club while we were away,' Kaz spoke. 'He bought out all of Fifth Harbour.' 

'Inej took some serious damage,' Jesper said. 'The novice nearly lost his head, both the Heartrender and the Shadow Summoner took bullets, but no worries. At least you're on top of Pekka's corporate holdings.' 

'You don't take down a lion by cutting off his tail.' 

'You've been on safari when?' I snapped. 'We're putting our lives on the line.' 

'I thought you preferred it that way, Adela,' Kaz snapped, turning to us with venom in his eyes. I glared back at him with an equal amount of poison. Nina entered the room. 

'Is Inej going to be okay?' Wylan asked. 

'I wouldn't call myself the most proficient Healer, but she'll not be a permanent resident here,' Nina replied anxiously. I stood from where I was seated. 

'Good. I'll see myself out. I have some business to take care of in Ravka,' I said, and ducked easily out of the catacomb that we were holed up in. Kaz looked like he was going to say something, but Nina ducked out instead to catch up with me. 

'Not yet, anyway,' Jesper said once Nina had ducked out. 

'Technically, no one gets buried here anymore,' Wylan replied. 'When the firepox plague hit, so many people died that the crematoriums all got backed up, so they had to float all the dead bodies in the harbour.' 

'That's enough!' Kaz exclaimed angrily. 

Nina hurried out into the cemetery as I walked, the shadows crowding around me. 

'Adela!' she called out in a harsh whisper, and I turned, the inky shadows swirling around my worn black kefta. 

'What is it, Nina?' 

'You're leaving?' 

'Yes. I am no longer needed or wanted here. I'm sorry. I hope you find the Fjerdan, and that you gain all that you seek, but I have business.'

'You can still stay.' 

'No. Kaz is destroying himself in this pursuit of madness. I am better served in Ravka. I'll be able to help my people, the Grisha, find a better home. And maybe - just maybe - I'll find a better life. Try and make something of myself.' I turned, without saying another word, and the shadows swirled, covering me in darkness.