“I forge those permits,” Jonas told her. “I know how the process works. One day after the papers cry blood, and the whiteboots are already equipped for such an attack?” Jonas shook his head. “Hard to believe the force organized that fast, even for this.”
“They managed operations like that during the Great Street War,” Levi pointed out.
Jonas snorted. “Captain Hector is so old he was probably captain then, too.” He shot an apologetic glance at Scythe, who remained impassive at the comment, despite obviously being the oldest one at the table. “It’s all hard to believe.”
“I don’t understand why the whiteboots didn’t apprehend anyone at the scene,” Levi said. “What was the point of such an organized operation if the objective wasn’t to capture Bryce?”
“I don’t think the objective was to capture me. It was to kill me.” Bryce rolled up his sleeve, exposing a gash on his forearm, covered in stitches. “The bullets all came from the back side of the property, where my office was. I got nicked with some glass—Rebecca and Harvey thankfully were in a different part of the building, which was how we were able to evacuate in time.”
“Evacuate where?” Scavenger asked.
Bryce’s eyes shifted between them and rested on Enne. “We’re not accepting any business for the next few days. Not until we can be certain we’re safe.”
It was Enne’s turn to kick Levi under the table. Enne had paid the Orphan Guild a visit only yesterday, so clearly Brycewasopen for business. Maybe just not for Jonas. Someone had ratted out their last location, and so now Bryce had no reason to trust the Scar Lord...or Scythe.
But Levi needed the lords united against the South Side. A united front would mean fewer whiteboots north of the Brint. It would mean business as usual and volts flowing in the Irons’ accounts. To make that happen, they needed to work together. And if that cooperation wasn’t going to be built on trust, it needed to be built on something else.
“So what are you going to do?” Levi asked.
“What do you mean?” Bryce asked.
“Eight of your associates are dead. Considering the sort you employ, I would’ve thought you’d have returned the favor by now at Humphrey Yard.”
“We’re an agency, not a gang. I find them contracts. Not trouble.”
“You’re right. This is the responsibility of the lords,” Levi said seriously. “This attack wasn’t just on you—it was on the North Side. If we do nothing, then we let it happen.”
Jonas laughed and flicked his soot in the ashtray. “I don’t care what you and this missy—” he pointed his cigar at Enne “—did at the House of Shadows. The Scarhands overwhelm the size of your operations, of your connections, of your manpower. And you,” he added, gesturing to Scythe. “Your lord doesn’t even bother to show. Should we all be offended? We not good enough for her?”
“Ivory doesn’t need to show,” Scythe answered coolly. “Her presence is felt all the same.”
Levi shivered, proving Scythe’s point.
“You’re all shatz if you think I’m going to send my own on such a stunt,” Jonas said. “We have no interest in what happens to any of you.”
“Half of your men came from me,” Bryce growled.
“You provide a convenience, not a necessity,” Jonas countered.
“Andyouknow what’s best? How long has Eight Fingers been dead? A week?” Rebecca cocked her head to the side. “You sit rather comfortably in his seat.”
“You insult rather comfortably in a room full of killers.”
She grinned. “Bryce is the businessman. No one claimed the same of me.”
Levi felt the goal of this meeting slipping away from him. He needed to act, otherwise the lords would leave here not just as rivals, but as enemies. And everything would end up worse than it started.
“I would never suggest an idea I wasn’t willing to execute myself,” Levi began. Enne gave him another kick under the table, hard enough that Levi cringed.
“Oh, you have a scheme?” Jonas said with a sneer. “We all know how good you are at those. Forgive me—I didn’t think you meant outplaying Captain Hector in a game of cards. I can’t guess what other service you’d provide.”
“I don’t want to play the captain,” Levi said. “I want to play you—all of you.”
The room fell silent, and Levi knew he was at that moment—like in the twelfth round in Tropps, when you were asked to turn over your cards, to back up your bluff with something to show for it. Right now, Levi might’ve found his palace, and he might’ve earned back his gang’s respect, but he still needed to rewrite his reputation.
It was lucky for him he had more than a bluff: he had an alliance with Harrison Augustine, and he had Tock’s blood talent.
Already, a plan began forming in his mind.
