options – let yourself look like you can’t back your play . . .’
‘Or?’
‘Show them you ain’t the one to fuck with. Push back hard enough and the Old Man will eat the loss – he’s got no interest in starting a full-scale war.’
‘What’s to stop him from coming at us another way?’
‘Tomorrow’s problems can be dealt with tomorrow. Today’s problem is that the Giroies are making mince out of our people, and unless you want that to continue, you need to make a move.’
Salvation, a line for a drowning man – who wouldn’t grab it? Just make sure he doesn’t learn you’re the one who tipped him overboard. Joachim wasn’t the sort to go off half-cocked. He didn’t say anything for a while, a long while, his eyes blank as a catatonic’s. ‘What do you recommend?’
‘Something loud. It needs to carry.’
A minute more passed. Then the weave of his mouth curled upwards. ‘Thank you for the information, Lieutenant. We’ll speak again soon.’
I knew a dismissal when I heard it. Joachim remained where he was, finishing off his coffee. A serving boy ran over and blotted up the spilled milk. There’d be blood to join it, soon enough.
37
Guiscard’s hounds came in a scant twenty minutes after Joachim’s had deposited me back at the Earl, and this time weren’t neither of them playing nice. I’d figured they might stop by, so in the interim I’d divested myself of any legally questionable arms or substances, but they took a good long time making sure. They stopped before my pants were around my ankles, a fact for which I was grateful.
‘I keep a shiv in my asshole.’
The friendly one hit me in the stomach hard enough to make me a ball on the floor. The unfriendly one kicked me in the head. That was why he was the unfriendly one.
They pulled me to my feet. I fell back down. They pulled me up again, and held me steady. I blinked the light away, wished I could do the same with the blood.
‘That was my best shirt,’ I said, the red bloom adding contrast to the sweat stains.
The friendly one looked ready to give me another, but the unfriendly one waved him off, cuffed me and led me out the door. I was thinking maybe I needed to switch their tags. The ride over was pretty similar to its predecessor, except that this time no one smiled, and every bump in the road splintered through my skull.
Black House seemed much the way it had last time, though I was brought through it at a rapid clip so there wasn’t much opportunity for inspection. A few minutes and I was back in Guiscard’s windowed office, with a forced seat in an uncomfortable chair.
He’d worn since I’d seen him last, which was a good sign that my work hadn’t been entirely in vain. My eyes had mostly swelled shut, and it hurt when I breathed, so I did my best not to.
‘You’ve dropped the ball, Warden. You were supposed to keep me apprised of the situation. I wake up today to find out there’s a smoking crater where an Association bureau used to be, and three bodies smoldering in the rubble.’
‘Four bodies,’ I said. ‘Don’t short the count.’
A floorboard creaked behind me, and then my jaw struck against my chest. The unfriendly one, I figured. Six inches down he’d have snapped my neck, but he knew what he was doing. The correct method by which to hit a seated man was something you learnt coming up through the Black House ranks.
‘I’d have figured, after some of the things I’ve done for you lately, the least you’d do is keep me abreast of current events.’
‘In what fashion have I been remiss?’
‘What do you know about the Association hitting a shipment of the Giroies?’
‘I know they hit it.’
‘Then why didn’t I know that?’
‘I figured you’d get word eventually.’
This time Guiscard didn’t delegate. He’d never have the raw talent of his subordinates, but it was a credible effort just the same. At that point though I hurt too much to feel anything else, and that gives a man a certain audacity. ‘Forgive me for crediting you with the wit to smell smoke.’
‘The house is on fire, is it?’
‘The whole city, soon enough.’
‘Because of Giroie?’
I shook my head sadly. ‘You can’t really be as slow as you act.’
Behind me I could hear my escort positioning himself for another blow.
‘Slip the cuffs,’ Guiscard said, ‘then split.’
There was a pause, but with my head settled like it was I couldn’t figure what occurred during it. After a moment one of the dogs unbound my hands. I settled them together, pride keeping me from checking my injuries.
‘Keep out of trouble,’ the friendly one said on his way out.
The door closed. ‘Got a cigarette?’ I asked.
‘I quit.’
I smiled through loosened teeth. ‘You ain’t gonna pretend you don’t have a hold out stashed somewhere?’
He sighed grudgingly, then opened a drawer and passed over a small leather pouch.
‘You ask them to work me over?’
He didn’t answer.
‘Just left it up to their discretion? You gotta be careful with that – they get enthusiastic and suddenly there’s no one left to interview.’ My fingers shook, and I made a mess of the tab. But Guiscard was off on his own, and he didn’t notice. They’d been kind enough to leave a book of matches in my pocket, and I struck one and used it.
The sound seemed to bring Guiscard back to the immediate. ‘Have you spoken to Pretories?’
‘You ought to know the answer to that, if you’re a quarter competent.’
‘What did he say?’
‘What do you think he said? He’s going to pay a visit to the Giroies, and . . .’ I brought my thumb against the table, like I was squashing a nit.
‘You holding something back from me, Warden? I wouldn’t recommend it. The Old Man wants this situation with the vets taken care of, and he doesn’t care how it happens. If you’re thinking about running a double-blind on me, then you’ve been huffing too much breath.’
‘I’ve certainly been doing the latter.’
Guiscard ran his fingers up the bridge of his nose and between his eyes. ‘I don’t buy it. It isn’t in anyone’s interest to start trouble, least of all Pretories.’
‘Why? Because he’s in your pocket?’
I’d been holding that one back for a while, and it was a spot of light to see it land. He didn’t roll with it well either – I mean, I’d done a better job with the tap he gave me. Though I’ve had more practice being hit. ‘How the hell do you know that?’
‘You think there are things you know that I don’t?’
The silence spread too long, and he came on hard to compensate for it. Foolish – anyone could see we’d swapped chairs. ‘Then you should know it doesn’t line up. Pretories banks our checks. Has for ten years. He keeps the Association on the straight, makes sure none of his wilder members get to thinking any of their old master’s heresies, and we let him play the big man.’
‘And the rally?’
‘A sideshow – lets his boys blow off some steam.’
‘Is that what it is?’
‘We got a good arrangement going.’
‘You can’t buy a whore, Guiscard. Only rent one.’
