Bad Blood [six of crows]

【03.0】the deadly addiction of greed

❝ HOW WOULD YOU like to go on a little excursion with me, Mr. Bjerke?" said Jayar Kade, shuffling and re-shuffling a deck of cards as Elias stuffed his face with the contents of all three plates he'd ordered at a small restaurant that was squashed between an opera house and a boat-themed betting hall in the Lid. It was never too late for second dinner (or early breakfast). Elias enjoyed this side of Ketterdam mostly because he found it funny, an area close to the harbors stacked with the nicest establishments to lure in travelers, deceitfully respectable in appearance only to lead unsuspecting tourists straight down to the Barrel.

Elias dug into a serving of warm hutspot, washing it down with fiery liquor⸻the only way he was managing to stay awake. He coughed, wincing a little. "What sorta excursion?"

"Rollins has some documents that I'd like to look at. You steal, don't you?" Jayar held up an engraved silver ring, and Elias frowned, wiggling his now-bare left pinky finger. Then he laughed.

"Break into his house? He's likely got guards on it, but sure, I can help. You're buying, though." He gestured to his food.

Jayar handed back the ring. "Done. What would you say to a massive heist for three million kruge per crew member?"

"Probably still not enough to pay off all my debts."

"No one said you had to. You could always run away and join the circus instead."

He didn't mind Jayar's company, but there were a lot of things that could be irksome about him, and probably the worst offense was that he was funnier than Elias was at times. It just felt unreasonable given how serious he seemed in general. "You know what? I might just do that," he replied cheerfully.

"I should disclose that the location of this heist is the Ice Court."

Elias snorted liquor from his nose, breaking into a hacking cough. It took almost a minute to get ahold of himself and swallow normally again. He cleared his throat painfully. "The what?"

"The Ice Court. We're going there and kidnapping a very important man before Kaz Brekker does. The reward is a shit-ton of kruge. You in?"

Elias didn't take a single second to consider it. "Absolutely."

Jayar stood, producing pale purple bills and depositing them on the table. "C'mon. We've got to get going." He lowered his voice. "Rollins keeps files on every member of the Dime Lions along with some financial documents in a flat a few streets down from the Emerald Palace, between the Zelver District and East Stave. Blaze is meeting us there."

Elias scrambled to scrape as much as he could off his plates before getting up. It took him a moment to register the information as he followed Jayar down the lamp-lit street.

"I think I know what you're talking about. Brekker's had intel on that building before."

"Let me guess," Jayar said dryly, "Inej Ghafa?"

"I'd bet on it, yeah."

"You'd bet on anything."

And there he went being funnier than him again. This was getting out of hand.

Blaze Torrance was waiting for them, hat pulled low and leaning against the side of an old red-bricked building. It seemed perfectly ordinary to Elias, and no one was doing patrols outside, but he'd been right; he did recognize it. A small flare ignited briefly and then cigarette smoke wafted through the dark. Blaze pushed off the wall as they arrived, shooting Jayar a look Elias didn't know either of them well enough to decipher.

"We'll be in and out," Jayar murmured to them both. "Blaze, Bjerke, I'm short on time and don't want any trouble from either of you. As a matter of fact, don't so much as talk to each other. There's a door around the back, correct?"