Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A gunshot split the air. Big Bolliger let a cry before he crumpled to the ground. "Damn it!” Jesper shouted, dropping to one knee beside Bolliger and pressing his hand to the bullet wound as the big man moaned. Niklaus stayed where he was, scanning the buildings. He didn't care as much about Big Bolliger as he did Inej. He'd made her invisible earlier, hopefully that meant she was safe. "You worthless podge! You just violated neutral territory!" Jesper yelled at Geels.
"Nothing to say you didn’t shoot first" Geels replied dismissively. "And who’s going to know? None of you are walking out of here" Despite his confident words Niklaus didn't miss how his voice was much higher, worry and panic mixed in with it. What are you planning Kaz? "You don’t look well, Geels" Kaz said "I’m just fine" Geels responded. But he wasn’t. He looked pale and shaky. His eyes were darting right and left as if searching the shadowed walkway of the roof. "Are you?" Kaz asked "Things aren’t going quite as planned, are they?"
"Kaz, Big Bolliger is bleeding bad" Jesper warned. "Good" Kaz said. "Kaz, he needs a medik!" Jesper said. Kaz spared the wounded man the barest glance. "What he needs to do is stop his bellyaching and be glad I didn’t have Holst take him down with a headshot" Niklaus didn't miss the way Geels flinched
"That’s the guard’s name, isn’t it?" Kaz asked "Willem Holst and Bert Van Daal. The two city guards on duty tonight. The ones you emptied the Black Tips’ coffers to bribe?" Geels said nothing. "Willem Holst" Kaz said loudly, his voice floating up to the roof, "likes to gamble almost as much as Jesper does, so your money held a lot of appeal. But Holst has much bigger problems, let’s call them urges. I won’t go into detail. A secret’s not like coin. It doesn’t keep its value in the spending. You’ll just have to trust me when I say this one would turn even your stomach. Isn’t that right, Holst?"
The response was another gunshot. It struck the cobblestones near Geels' feet. Geels released a shocked bleat and sprang back. “Just shoot him, Holst!” Geels bellowed in desperation. "Shoot him in the head!" Kaz snorted in disgust. "Do you really think that secret would die with me? Go on, Holst" he called. "Put a bullet in my skull. There will be messengers sprinting to your wife and your watch captain’s door before I hit the ground" No shot came.
"How?" Geels asked bitterly. "How did you even know who would be on duty tonight? I had to pay through the gills to get that roster. You couldn’t have outbid me" Kaz only shrugged "Let’s say my currency carries more sway" he said simply "Money is money" Geels said "I trade in information, Geels, the things men do when they think no one is looking. Shame holds more value than coin ever can" Kaz said "Are you worrying about the second guard? Good old Bert Van Daal?" He asked.
"Maybe he’s up there right now, wondering what he should do. Shoot me? Shoot Holst? Or maybe I got to him, too and he’s getting ready to blow a hole in your chest, Geels" He leaned in as if he and Geels were sharing a great secret. "Why not give Van Daal the order and find out?" Geels opened and closed his mouth like a carp, then bellowed, "Van Daal!" No shot came.
