6
Mercy
It was late enoughthat the night air was getting a bit of a bite to it. I pulled on a thin black hoodie over my tank top and leggings and slipped out the apartment window. The wind nipped at my ponytail as I jumped to land on the roof of the two-story building next door.
Once I was on my feet, I took off running, leaping gaps and climbing trellises and even pipes but not letting my feet touch the ground below. It was safer up here where I could easily melt into the shadows of the city.
Wylder had told me to lay low for a few days after our discovery that Xavier was working under somebody else, somebody who was potentially more powerful than him. And also crazier? I didn’t even want to think about that. But I couldn’t just wait around doing nothing.
I landed on the terrace of a squat brick building deeper within the heart of the Bend and scrambled over the bars to drop into the alley below. As I checked my watch, a wry voice carried from farther down the alley. “You’re late.”
Anthea sauntered over. She’d traded her usual housewife-y dresses for sleek, dark-washed jeans and a black blouse, but even though we’d gone for similar colors, she still looked ten times more professional than me. Well, we each played to our strengths.
I grinned at her. “Only by three minutes.”
She harrumphed. “Well, you can’t tell me you got stuck in traffic.”
“Hey, the pigeons around here can get pretty vicious.”
A soft laugh tumbled out of her. She peered past me onto the quiet street. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to have a chat with the former Claws members.”
Anthea raised her eyebrows at me. “Haven’t they all gone into hiding since they turned against the Steel Knights and basically lost that battle for them?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t seen them around, no. But I know the usual spots where they’d get together. I’m pretty sure at least a few of them are doing a little business out of a pawn shop a couple of blocks from here.”
“Sounds like you’ve got the situation under control. What do you need me for?”
I tapped her with my elbow. “You’re the best person I know at reading people and picking up on subtle clues. I’m going to be asking them some questions they might not really want to answer, about what they found out after they switched sides to join up with the Steel Knights. You can tell me if you think they’re being less than truthful. And if I can’t convince them to talk, maybe next time we’ll come back with some of that truth serum of yours.”
Anthea smirked and followed me down the street. We stuck close to the fronts of the buildings, out of the glow of the streetlamps, though half of those were broken or burned out anyway.
The pawn shop’s windows were dark and streaked with grime. A very sad looking guitar lay across the display ledge next to a china doll with a chipped nose. The sign on the door was flipped to CLOSED, but I ignored that and headed around to the back.
The back door’s paint had mostly flaked off, but the lock held well enough when I tested it. I glanced at Anthea. “This is the other reason I asked you to come. You brought your lock picks?”
She brandished a fabric case. “I’m going to give you a few lessons and my spare set next time I visit so you don’t need me for this part.”
All it took was a jiggle and a flick of her wrist, and the lock disengaged. As she put her tools away, I took out my gun and eased the door open.
I couldn’t be sure exactly how friendly these guys would be. Some of the former Claws men had stood up for me and the Nobles during the shoot-out with Colt, but some of those same men had shot at us just a few days before that. And tensions were clearly running high in the Bend these days.
When the door shut behind us, the storage room we’d stepped into was almost totally dark. A faint glow emanated from down a set of concrete stairs that led to the basement.
“Hello?” I called out, not too loudly since I didn’t want my voice to carry outside. “Whoever’s here, I just want to talk.”
The air shifted next to me, and my instincts kicked in before any thought had a chance to. I ducked and punched the body that’d come at me square in the ribcage, sweeping my attacker’s legs out from under him at the same time. He went down with an oof.
As I turned my gun on my attacker, Anthea illuminated him with the flashlight on her phone. The guy stared up at me, going still as he blinked in shock, and I let my gun hand lower just a little.
It was the man who’d come to warn us about Steel Knights’ impending arrival when we’d been setting our trap—who’d stopped us from getting caught in Colt’s trap. His face had paled beneath his sprinkling of mouse-brown hair.
“Mercy Katz,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I had a few questions that I thought my father’s former associates could help me out with,” I said with a crooked smile. “I’m guessing there are at least a few more of the old Claws downstairs.”
The man nodded warily, but got up and beckoned to me. “Come on. They won’t mind seeing you. I’m sorry—we can’t be too careful with the way things have been going. After Jenner and a bunch of the others stood up to the Steel Knights, all of them that are left have been gunning for us.”