Read Ketty Jay 04 - The Ace of Skulls for Free Online Page B

What’s he to you?’
    ‘I’m his replacement.’
    Ashua stared into his eyes. ‘So you say.’
    ‘Miss Vode,’ he said levelly. ‘If I wanted to kill you, there are better ways than approaching you in a crowded bar. I don’t work for Screed. I work for the people who killed him.’
    She sized him up. He was Vardic, educated, probably from minor nobility by his accent. If the softness of his belly was anything to go by, he wasn’t much of a physical threat.
    She put the gun away. Ocken let out a little breath of relief. It was the only sign that he’d been tense at all.
    ‘Over here,’ he said, gesturing towards a small table tucked in the corner. She followed him, and made him wait while she checked the table and chairs for concealed weapons. Danger had sobered her up fast.
    ‘You’re very suspicious,’ he observed.
    ‘So would you be,’ she said. ‘Sit.’
    They settled themselves. She regarded him in the dim light of the gas lamps. Night had fallen over the town now, and the windows were dark. She could feel a slight tremor though her legs: the thundering falls nearby.
    ‘How did he die?’ she asked, as quietly as she could over the noise in the bar.
    ‘Our people caught up with him. You don’t need to worry about him any more.’
    ‘The others?’ Ocken gave her a blank look. ‘The others that worked for Dager Toyle,’ she elaborated.
    ‘I hope you don’t expect me to name names.’
    ‘Are they all dead?’
    ‘Not all.’
    She drummed her fingers restlessly, thinking over the implications of Ocken’s news, wondering whether to believe him. It had been Screed she’d been hiding from when Frey first encountered her, skulking in a den of drug addicts. Her hired muscle proved to be a useless defence. If Screed had found her before Frey, she’d be dead by now.
    ‘What do you want with me?’ she asked.
    ‘I want to resume our relationship,’ said Ocken. ‘Toyle might be dead, but the organisation is not. Cut off a limb’ – he spread his arms as if to say: Here I am – ‘and it grows again.’
    She sat back in her chair, never taking her gaze from him. ‘I’ve got a new thing now,’ she said.
    ‘Yes, the Ketty Jay. I hear they’re doing moderately well these days. Don’t worry. It rather suits our purpose that you stay on the crew. Look on us as, well, something on the side. Insurance. In case it all goes wrong somewhere down the line.’
    Ashua thought about that for a time, but in the end she shook her head. ‘You let me down before. Screed wouldn’t have been after me if you hadn’t screwed up.’
    ‘We understand. You deserve compensation for what you’ve been through. That’s why we intend to treble your retainer.’
    That was enough to give her pause. Money had never been the guiding force in Ashua’s life, but it was a lot of money to someone who’d never had much.
    ‘First payment up front?’ she asked.
    ‘Naturally. And subsequent payments every quarter-year, for as long as we need you. And as long as you provide what we want.’
    Tempting. A little insurance never hurt anyone. And after all, what did she know about what the future held? She might be kicked off the Ketty Jay tomorrow, and then where would she be? She knew from experience that it was naïve to rely on others. They all let you down in the end.
    She leaned forward across the table. ‘Keep talking,’ she said, and Ocken smiled.

 
     
     
     
    Four
     
    The Thacian & Jez – A Necessary Change – A Meadow – The Small Hours
     
     
     
     
    P elaru the whispermonger lived on the most exclusive of Timberjack Falls’ three islands. Frey and his companions were taken there by motorised carriage, after first picking up their delivery from the Ketty Jay. The bridge guards eyed the scruffy passengers suspiciously as they approached the gates to the island, but they knew Pelaru’s man and waved them through.
    The villa was set back from a woody lane on a steep hill. Evergreens rustled in the night;