Page 21 of Throwing Fire

He’s still not getting it. “Not as a mole.”

Or a rat, goes unsaid.

Acker’s large black eyes narrow as he flicks them between me and Kez. “I don’t see how?—”

“Work for me. For Tyng. Out in the open. Tyng SoBo Sec Xec.”

Acker snorts. “Work for you,” he repeats.

He shakes his head and resumes eating.

That wasn’t ano.

“Killin’ Kincaid left me with a hole,” I explain. “I need someone to fill it. Someone I can trust.”

Acker looks up at me for a long moment. Then he puts his spoon down, steeples his paws over his plate and looks at me through his crossed claws. “I’m honored.”

I shrug. I haven’t made any secret of what I think of Acker. “You’d have all the resources of Tyng Enterprises at your back. No one would fuck with the Whites ever again. You need credits, weapons, food, whatever, I’ll make sure you have it. And if you want to go to war, well, I don’t fancy the Ojos’s chances.”

“You do not have to enumerate the benefits of allying with such a powerful organization to me.” He taps his foreclaws together. “This is not the first time I have been offered such an alliance.”

“I know why you turned it down before. I’m not tryin’ to get you to move Hex through your tunnels. You’d never have to touch a flake.”

Acker’s black eyes flick from me to Kez again. “I have a question, Lightfoot.”

“Fire away.” Kez puts down her chopsticks and lifts her chin.

“I know your history. Hex has robbed you of many loved ones. Why would you perpetuate such misery?”

“I could give you the old line about how they chose it,” Kez says, drumming her fingers on the side of her plate. “If we don’t provide it, someone else will. But the truth is, we’re in this for one reason: to protect my family. As soon as we can do that without pushing Hex, we will. Right?” She looks at me.

I take her hand. “Right.”

“I hate it,” Kez continues, looking back at Acker with those clear blue eyes. “I hate getting up every day knowing someone else is going through what I have. Because of me. I’d like to end it now. But we can’t. Not without putting my family at risk. So we’ll do it slow, but we’ll do it. Two years from now, Tyng Enterprises won’t sell a single flake, right?”

My strong kitten. I squeeze her hand. “Right.”

“Snow thinks you could help us. With all of it,” Kez finishes.

Acker tilts his head to the side. “What do you think?”

Kez rubs her free hand through the soft shag at the back of her head. If she still had her dreadlocks, she’d be scratching. “I think we need the help.”

“Am I the man to give it to you?” Acker asks softly.

Kez glances at me. “If Snow says you are, you are.”

Acker’s nose twitches. He taps his claws together. “Then I am doubly honored.”

CHAPTER 9

We stay for another hour, lingering over juice and tiny, tart lozenges of compressed fruit that melt into creamy sweetness on the back of my tongue.

We talk about the credits on Kez’s head. The attempted hit on Chiara. The other security threats that keep me up at night while Kez dreams, warm and soft, against my side. I tell Acker the truth behind our coup. He shakes his head and looks at me in wonder.

Before we go, Kez pulls out the gifts she’s brought for Tiancha and Acker. Acker’s I understand. A Zhakkry whetstone and sheathes for his new knives: a pair of kukris that I made ‘specially for him. Tiacha’s I don’t. It’s just a little ribbon of cloth, with a kind of silvery sheen to it.

After we say our goodbyes, leaving Acker and Tiancha to whatever complicated sleeping arrangements they have to look forward to, I ask Kez about Tiancha’s gift. She leans against my side as we walk down the corridor towards the rats’ main cavern, where the Flaming Pink Flamingos are still raising the roof.

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