"Then take the final assignments down."
Riplas left the room. She had the positions and descriptions of all of Lord Vetas's lookouts. She'd hand them over to the eunuch's goons, and they'd do the rest.
Everything was in place. Now Adamat just had to wait.
He lifted the looking glass to his eye and returned his gaze to Vetas's headquarters. Over an hour passed, and he watched from his vantage point as the eunuch's goons took care of Vetas's lookouts. He felt the sweat roll down the back of his neck as he waited. So much could go wrong. The slightest slip, and Faye was dead.
"What if he doesn't come outside today?" Bo asked.
The front door to Vetas's headquarters opened, and a familiar figure stepped outside. He wore his sharp black coat, top hat, and carried a cane in one hand. Adamat felt his heart jump at the sight.
"That's not going to be a problem," Adamat said. "He's leaving now."
Lord Vetas checked the street with the smallest twitches of his head. Probably receiving signals from his lookouts – the closest of whom Adamat had left undisturbed.
Vetas gave an almost imperceptible nod. A woman came through the door – the same one he'd seen in the red dress weeks ago, with the auburn curls – and together they headed south down the avenue. They were followed two steps back by a pair of well-dressed and well-muscled men. A few seconds later a third came out the door, waited for a moment, then followed.
"I'll keep on his trail," Fell said, disappearing down the stairs.
"Take his tail," Adamat said to the eunuch, "and then meet us at the house. Bo?"
Bo stood up, stretching his gloved fingers. "I'll get a little closer and unravel the Privileged's wards. It'll take me some time, but I'll be ready when you get back."
Sergeant Oldrich was waiting for Adamat in the chapel beneath the bell tower. He sat in a pew, legs up, a wad of tobacco in one cheek. He tipped his hat back, watching as Bo slid out one exit.
"So," Oldrich said, turning to Adamat, "you got yourself a Privileged."
Adamat steeled himself. He couldn't be sure how Oldrich would react after having specifically stated he wouldn't help Adamat rescue Bo. "I did."
"I heard Verundish dismissed her men and left town yesterday. I thought that might have been the cause."
"I did what I needed to. He's freed of his gaes, if that makes a difference."
"Oh?"
"He killed the guillotine operator who took off Manhouch's head."
"Huh," Oldrich said. "Well, I'm sure the field marshal will be delighted. You ready?"
"Let's go."
Oldrich's soldiers fell in with them as they left the chapel, and Adamat told them to stay back a hundred paces.
Adamat, in turn, trailed Fell. He saw her weaving in and out of foot traffic as they headed farther into the city. The streets were crowded just after lunch – that would make it harder for Vetas's men to spot Adamat, but just as hard for Adamat to keep track of them.
It was a little over thirty minutes before Fell stopped and waved Adamat forward. They stood at a busy intersection, just around the corner from a flower market. Fell had her back against the wall, her shoulders slumped as if she didn't have a care in the world. Adamat came up beside her and mimicked her body language.
"His tail is over there," she said, slowly tilting her chin upward in one direction.
Adamat saw the man right away. He was eating a meat pie and scanning the crowd with a mistrusting leer. Not subtle, but an effective lookout. Not far behind him, Adamat spotted the eunuch.
"Vetas is inside the flower stall around the corner," Fell said. "Leave him to me. Have your soldiers take his goons."
"I want him alive."
"So do I," Fell said.
Adamat needed him alive so Vetas could tell him where Josep was. He wondered why Fell would want him breathing.
"I'm going," Fell said. She disappeared around the corner, casual and graceful as a cat.
Adamat gave the signal to Oldrich, then tilted his hat forward to hide his face and followed Fell.
He made his way to the middle of the street and was soon joined by Oldrich and six of his men. They each examined bouquets or pretended to talk, but he couldn't help but think they looked far too obvious.
Vetas's two goons were standing outside of the Parkside Flower Boutique, watching the crowd, their arms crossed, not the least bit subtle. Adamat glanced toward the tail. The man was gone. Adamat hoped that meant the eunuch had taken care of him.
Adamat could feel every muscle tighten as he watched the flower shop entrance out of the corner of his eye. Maybe Vetas had already spotted them and disappeared out the side. What if his goons warned him, or Vetas was able to slip into the crowd?
His hands were beginning to shake from nervousness when Lord Vetas finally emerged from the flower shop with the woman in the red dress. She carried a bouquet of flowers. He handed a package to one of his goons and scanned the flower market.
His eyes locked onto Adamat's. Adamat felt a cold sweat break at the corner of his brow. He tensed, ready to chase Vetas through the streets.
Fell emerged from the flower shop, strolling out like a paying customer. A stiletto dropped from her sleeve and she gracefully swung it around over Vetas's shoulder and pressed it to his throat.
The two goons stepped back, shouting. Both drew pistols. The crowd split apart.
Adamat felt like he was in a dream. He watched himself draw his own pistol and fire it. One of the goons went down. The other took a cudgel to the back of the head from one of Oldrich's soldiers, and the rest of the soldiers quickly fell in around Vetas, obscuring him from the crowd.
Adamat shouldered his way through the soldiers until he reached Vetas.
Lord Vetas was on his knees in front of Fell, a stiletto still to his throat. She'd relieved him of two very similar-looking daggers and a small pistol, both of which were lying on the ground behind her.
Adamat took great pleasure in the mild look of surprise on Vetas's face. It died quickly when Vetas saw Adamat.
Vetas smiled. "Adamat! I suspected you might still be alive."
"Is she still alive?" Adamat pressed the hot barrel of his pistol against Vetas's face.
"Every pain you do to me," Vetas said, not flinching at the heat of the pistol barrel, "I will return to you and your wife tenfold. I want you to remember that, Adamat."
"So she is alive?"
"Quite," Vetas said. "Though she won't be in an hour and forty-two minutes if I haven't returned." He paused, looking around at the soldiers. "I suspect you know where my headquarters is. You've probably been watching me very closely. Bravo. But do you have enough men to get in there?"
"You mean past your Privileged?" Adamat asked. "Yes. Yes, I think I do. Where is my boy?"
Vetas gave a sickeningly self-satisfied smile. "An hour and forty-one minutes. Are you sure you have time for this?"
Adamat looked at the woman in the red dress. Oldrich held her tightly by the arm. She glared at him through narrowed eyes, but he could see that her hands trembled. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"Nila," she said.
"What do you do for him?" He pointed at Vetas.
"Nothing! I … nothing. I don't work for him. I'm just there to watch Jakob. He's only a boy!"
"What was Vetas buying in there?"
"Flowers!"
"For who?"
"Lady Windeldwas, or something like that." Nila brushed the hair out of her face.
"Lady Winceslav?"
"Yes, that was it."
"Why?"
"I don't know." For all her fright, she was remarkably calm beneath the torrent of questions.
Adamat turned back to Vetas. "Why?"
"An hour and forty minutes, Adamat," he said.
Adamat brought his pistol back and slammed the butt across Vetas's face. "Secure them," he said to Fell. To Oldrich, "Sergeant, give her four of your men. We need to get off the street before the police get here."
Fell dragged Vetas to his feet, still holding the stiletto to his throat. Oldrich sent four of the men with her, along with Nila and the two wounded goons, and the rest of the soldiers followed Adamat.
They met up with the eunuch three blocks down from Vetas's headquarters.
"My men are in position," the eunuch said.
"Where's Bo?" Adamat asked, wheezing from the effort of the run.
He found the Privileged around the corner, standing in the middle of the street. Bo wore black gloves over his Privileged gloves to conceal them. He was muttering to himself, his gloved fingers working silently in the air in front of him, as if he was playing an invisible piano with one hand and plucking a harp with the other. There were three or four people watching him as if he was some kind of madman. He certainly looked the part.
"We have to go in now," Adamat said. He hunched over his pistol, trying to conceal it from view while he reloaded it.
Bo's fingers continued to work the air. "I said I'd need time."
"We don't have much time," Adamat said. "His men have orders to kill Faye if he doesn't return at a prescribed time."
"Unfortunate," Bo said with a scowl. "Tell the eunuch to get his men in place."
The order was given, and five minutes later the eunuch joined Adamat and Bo.
"We're ready," the eunuch said.