A Jewel Among Thieves

Chapter 3: The Question

Safia watched through narrowed eyes as Rezo dragged his chair well out of reach before sitting back down, still facing her. Or rather, her shadow. She turned her hard look down at the offending darkness. She really, really needed to get Gana to find a way to get rid of the dratted thing.

"Well, before you decided to interrupt our conversation, you were about to tell me who hired you."

She propped a hand up on one hip. "Was I now? That's news to me."

Rezo leaned back so far the front two legs of the chair came off the ground. He balanced there, as if gravity wasn't an issue for him. Safia longed to kick the chair out from under him. He smiled faintly, as if he could hear her thoughts. "It's not as if you have anywhere else to be, so you might as well talk."

"And if I give you the name of my client, will you let me go?"

His wicked smile widened. "We both know you'd only lie. You're too much the professional to not have a hard-earned rep within Perdim. I'm sure the guards know who you are. And before you get excited." He held up one hand. "I can assure you, no one can bribe or corrupt Kasen. He all but worships law and justice. I wouldn't have called in just anyone, not for so slippery a fish as you."

Safia couldn't help the heavy sarcasm that coloured her words. "Thank you, I'm glad you have such a high opinion of me."

He covered his mouth with his hand, but not before she saw the grin he was trying to hide. Good. Her slip-up had amused him. But she'd have to watch herself, too much of what she actually thought or felt coming out unexpectedly and she could spoil this game.

"Though I must admit to being surprised. Two small knives are barely enough to defend yourself, and not good if you're dealing with more than one person. What were you going to do if there were more people here than just me?"

She crossed her arms over her chest as she considered what to say. As it didn't hurt her, and might make him relax more, she decided on the truth. "Those are for emergencies, in case I'm attacked. I can defend myself fine, but I don't start shit, especially not on job. Believe it or not, you're the first person to catch me when I'm invisible. I'd much rather sneak in and out and never have anyone know I was there until I'm well away."

Rezo nodded. "A Cat then. That's what I thought."

Safia blinked then frowned. Rezo wasn't wrong, she was a Cat, but that was... "How do you know thieves' cant?"

A fleeting grimace crossed his face before he shrugged. "It's helpful to know in my line of work."

Her eyes narrowed, but she left his lie where it was. No need to push him right now. "Well, you're definitely better than most of the personal security I've dealt with it. I find it odd I've not heard of your before. You should have quite the reputation among my kind with your skills."

A faint smile tugged at his lips. "It's very hard for thieves to warn others when they're never let back out again."

Safia ignored the faint shiver the sheer confidence of his words drew from her. He might think he'd won, but she'd turn the tables on him soon enough. His own confidence would be his undoing. She was no Monkey, but she could still read people and she'd talked her way out of more than one tight spot. Of course, she'd had her tools as insurance, but she would figure things out. She was only facing one man.

"I'm sure your guard friend had nothing at all to do with it."

"Clever girl, though you only get half marks. Yes, I do know Kasen well, but he's not a friend. He's my brother. And that's why I know even a quick-witted Cat like you won't be able to twist your way out of his hold, once he gets you. He's even better than I am."

She bared her teeth in Rezo's direction. If he wasn't lying, and she didn't think he was, her secondary plan of working on the guard was damn near hopeless with the way she stood right now. And it just had to be his brother. A friend was bad enough, but family was far more likely to fight for him. At least, she'd seen that type before. Not from her family, but she was aware of those whose first loyalty was always to their family. She'd even seen it among Perdim's guards.

"And you're sure I can't convince you to let me out? I can obviously offer you quite a substantial amount of money." Safia knew what his answer would be, but had to go through the motions so he didn't suspect the game she was really playing.

He leaned further back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "I'm paid exceptionally well and don't need more. And as you know, protecting your professional reputation is important if you want to keep working. You seem entirely too smart to be the type to keep stealing when you got yourself a score large enough to retire on."

Rezo really was far more familiar with thieves than was normal. Or healthy for thieves. He was far too skilled and clever to have failed as a thief, and with a brother in the guards, it should have been easy enough to join if that was his ambition. She'd found most personal security fell into either one of those categories. There was the odd guard who'd made themselves enough of a rep to be able to command high fees in the private arenas, but they'd be known to the underworld.

So who was Rezo? The question was beginning to niggle at her, but she pushed it away for the moment. She had to focus on getting out. And while she'd need to know as much about her captor as possible to achieve that, she sure as hell didn't need to learn everything. Just enough to either convince him to let her out, or find some kind of angle she could exploit to escape.

And seeing the calm and faintly smug expression he was wearing, Safia knew she had her work cut out for her.