Free Hawk (Vlad) by Steven Brust Page B

expression on her face was all I could have wanted. I was beginning to enjoy this.
    “Maybe,” I told her. “I’m not sure yet, but, yeah, I just might manage to pull this off. It’ll be tricky, and I’m going to need help, but yeah.”
    She nodded and her eyes seemed to light up. “How?”
    “By offering them something they want as much as my head.”
    “I can’t imagine what that might be.”
    “I have a good imagination,” I said.
    She glanced around the area again, then turned her attention back to me. “Money, of course. But it would have to be a lot of it. Are you planning to knock over the Dragon treasury?”
    “Nothing so direct, or impossible.”
    She studied me for a minute or two, then said, “It has to be either a scam, or a new business.”
    “A scam would be temporary.”
    “That was going to be my next sentence. What’s the business?”
    “Remember when I said I don’t want to tell you?”
    She looked like she was about to argue, then she said, “All right.”
    “So I can use the lockpick?”
    “You’re sure it wouldn’t be better to just have me open the lock?”
    “I’m sure. I may not even need it. In fact, if things go as I hope, I won’t need it. But if I do, you wouldn’t be—never mind. I’m sure.”
    “All right. What’s the best way to get it to you?”
    “Do you have any favorite drops?”
    “Several. Do you know Filsin’s tannery?”
    “I’ve seen it.”
    “Go around to the back, face the door, turn and take three paces to your left, and at knee level is a loose stone. The pick will be there by this time tomorrow.”
    “Thank you, Kiera.”
    “Good luck,” she said. She kissed my cheek again, then she was gone.
    I knew what I wanted to do next. I couldn’t think of any way to do it, and it wasn’t at all necessary to my plan, but I wanted to go visit my estranged wife and my son, because if this was going to kill me I really ought to say good-bye. But the Jhereg would be watching her and watching the house.
    So much for what I wanted.
    I only learned of my son when he was about four. That kind of thing happens when you’re on the run, and is one of the reasons I was tired of running. One of the big reasons. Do you have kids? It’s kind of a big deal. You don’t know how much kids matter until you have one. He was eight now, and I’d only seen him a few times. The last time I’d shown up to see him, he’d smiled and run toward me with his arms out.
    Loiosh was silent while I tried and failed to figure out a safe way to see Cawti and Vlad Norathar. Eventually I sighed and said, “All right. On to the next step.”

 
    5
    M AKING C ONVERSATION OR M AKING D EALS
    The bar was still mostly deserted, and no one was paying attention to me.
    “What’s the next step, Boss?”
    “My old friend Tippy.”
    “The money guy?”
    “Right. Then a jewelry store.”
    “Boss, seeing Tippy is dangerous.”
    “What do you suggest instead, Loiosh?”
    “You could just rob the jewelry store.”
    “What I want, I can’t steal. Besides, that requires a set of skills I don’t have. And what I want in the jewelry store isn’t in the jewelry store. And the money isn’t for that—it’s for, um, incidentals.”
    “You’re enjoying this too much, Boss.”
    “Indulge me.”
    “I still think it would be easier to rob some place than see the money guy.”
    “No,” I said.
    He didn’t say anything; I got the feeling he was sulking.
    “Oh,” I said.
    “What?”
    “I just figured it out. All those years on the road, when we were robbing the road agents. You liked that, didn’t you?”
    “So?”
    “You just enjoy robbery.”
    “Well, if someone has something, and you want it—”
    “I understand. But that isn’t what we’re doing now, Loiosh. This all has to be done right. It’s complicated, and liable to get messy. I can’t risk improvising.”
    “All right,” he said.
    “Glad I have your permission.”
    “Heh,” he said.
    Loiosh and Rocza flew