A Tricky Deal (3) - 25

"And why would I do that? I would have to remake all of my plans again."

Seeing this reaction, I was highly impressed, as he was basically probing for my information at this point, so I happily reciprocated.

"You wouldn't have to do anything. You see, I'll just be a bystander the entirety of the time. I won't interfere with anything, and you would only need to add into account passage for one other passenger on that ship and the fact that your team wouldn't be hostile to me. The rest of the trip afterwards, I can handle on my own."

"You won't interfere, at all?"

"Yes, I wouldn't interfere when watching the greatest show of my life after all. I expect great things from you, Mr. Rietveld."

"And, are you able to keep up?"

Once again, he was pressing me for information, and, again, I would happily reciprocate.

"Of course I can. Let's just say... I'm faster and more agile than Ms. Ghafa, I can withstand explosions pretty well, I'm stronger and I have more stamina than Mr. Helvar, and I have more fighting ability than Ms. Ghafa and Mr. Fahey combined."

"That's... impressive." He said, whilst rubbing the top of his cane thoughtfully.

This was an expected reaction, as he knew that I would never lie to him, and that I wasn't mistaking my own strength either, as I knew full well the abilities as well as the secrets of his team.

"I can also make much better plans than you, so if you happen to need any help during the job..."

"Got it, and there should be a payment too right?"

"Exactly." I replied, happy that I was talking to a smart person for once.

"Then that will be all, Mr. Curator." Said Kaz after a little while of just staring into blank space, before he put his low hanging hat back on his face, tipped his hat, and then walked out the door.

And now, with that, all my plans could start.

...

A few days later, I found a letter stuck between my front door and the doorframe after the sun rose.

Not needing to sleep, I had just come back after buying all the necessary supplies, and setting into motion some people or things that would eventually snowball into having very, very big effects on the story.

So, when I reached my bookstore again as the sun rose over the black city, I knew that it was time.

The letter in front of me was just something that confirmed everything that I already knew.

After all, I had predicted that it would take Kaz about this many days to gather 4 of the other members whilst taking another day to break Matthias out of jail

So today was the day that we would set sail for Fjerda.

Thinking about the troubles that the group of misfits would face just right before the trip, I couldn't help but smile.

'Hmm... should I help them, or not?'

...

As dusk came, I quietly closed my shop with a notice saying that I would be closed for a few months, before I quickly slinked away into the slimy alleyways of the barrel.

Cutting off the fingers of a few more pickpockets, I once again threw them into one of the canals running through the city before finding the actually correct boat that I we were about to embark on this journey on.

You see, Kaz, being the careful guy he was, had bought another boat to be a red herring that even his own team didn't know about, well, all of them except for Ms. Ghafa.

And, in the novel, this had proved to have been one of the best things that Kaz had done, as there had been an ambush set up by rival gangs at the place the decoy boat was, and the decoy boat had been blown up.

As for the crew, the would all slowly crawl over to this boat as they fought threw the onslaught of their competitors, rival gangs who had been paid to do the exact same task of kidnapping the Jurda Parem boy from the Fjerdans.

"Boom!"

Hearing the sound of an explosion in the distance, I knew that this part of the story had started, so I would only have to wait about thirty minutes more before all of them arrived at this place.

So, taking out a tea set, I quietly made myself some tea and took to drinking it, as I bathed in the cacophony of sounds, mostly gunshots and more explosions, as they got louder and louder as they got closer and closer.

As for the sailors on this boat that I was currently on, they already knew what they had to do as they were directly under Kaz, and it seemed like Kaz had predicted that I would go straight to the real boat, as none of the sailors seemed surprised or alarmed that there was a strange man dressed in an impeccable full suit with a black overcoat draped over the rest of it.

Honestly, it was kind of surprising for the sailors in the way that, with how hot the day was, the mysterious man didn't seem to be sweating at all under all those layers whilst drinking hot tea.

But, as they knew what there jobs where, they didn't dare disturb the man, and continued on with their work, preparing to launch the boat as soon as the last member of the crew got on the boat.

I smiled as I sensed that all the sailors had gone back to their work, and I continued waiting.

Finally, the crew arrived on the boat, with a hostage, before Kaz immediately signaled for the captain to leave the dock as soon as possible.

And so, we sped off into the open sea.

As the burning dock created smoke that did nothing to the already grim air around Ketterdam, the gang of misfits looked at the city that had taken them in for a little while, as they knew that it could be their last time looking at their "home".

But Kaz and Nina were different, as they immediately started treating Ms. Ghafa, Inej, who had been shot through the leg.

Looking at the state of the rest of the members, it seemed like Inej had been the only one to sustain a major injury, whilst all the others only suffered from flesh wounds.

Thinking that I could offer some help to the currently unconscious and bleeding Inej, I walked over, just to the point beside Kaz.

"Would you like some help healing her? Mr. Brekker?" (I used his false last name, as the others were there.)

"...y-yes."

I smiled, after all, Kaz has just made his first "real" deal with the devil.

In other words, me.