-guard, I leap back to my feet. It’s a mistake, and I know immediately that I should have stayed on the ground a little longer. Dizziness overwhelms me for a moment, causing me to stumble and almost drop the vase.
Recovering quickly, I scowl at the woman as she turns from me and leaps up the stairs to the second floor. I shake my head to make sure it’s clear and growl between my teeth. I carefully replace the vase and then run up the stairs after her. When I reach the top of the stairs, I’m just in time to see the door at the end of the hallway close. I race to the door, but she already has it locked.
I can’t kick at the handle of the door without alerting the Thaves to the break-in, disrupting my entire routine. Instead, I fish out my lock pick to get inside without damaging the handle, but when I enter the room, all I see is the open back window. I look outside to find her racing across the yard in the direction of the wall.
“Dammit!” I close the window and quickly retrace my steps to the cellar door, close it quietly, and then attempt to catch up with the thief.
She has a good head start on me, and moving without detection usually means moving fairly slowly. I keep my pace as fast as I dare, hoping she is heading back to the same place along the wall where she came in and that I can catch up with her there.
When I arrive at the wall, she’s already most of the way up the rope. I grab the end and hoist myself into the air, using my feet on the wall to aid in my ascent. I’m fast but not fast enough. By the time I am halfway up, she cuts the rope at the top. I gasp in surprise, and my hands automatically grip at a higher point on the rope, as if that would make any difference. The top of the wall speeds away, and I fall to the ground with a thud. As I lie there, flat on my back, the remainder of the rope falls on top of me.
I brace myself, waiting for the sirens to go off and alert the Thaves to the presence of an intruder, but nothing happens. I breathe a sigh of relief before glaring up overhead.
Looking up, I see the figure on the top of the wall, leaning over a little and staring back at me. It’s too dark to see her features, but I have the feeling she’s smiling with a toothy, self-satisfied grin as she raises her hand and holds up her middle finger. A moment later, she disappears over the top of the wall.
Despite the pain, I find myself shaking with quiet laughter.
“Bitch,” I mutter under my breath.
Chapter 4
I make my way back to Plastictown with a sore back and empty pockets.
All my amusement is gone, and now I’m just annoyed with myself. The night has been a complete failure on all sides, and I’m not very good at dealing with defeat. In my head, I keep seeing the figure of the thief looking over the edge of the wall and flipping me off, but I no longer find it funny.
She played at being frightened to get me to relax my guard, and I bought into her act.
“Bitch,” I mutter for the tenth time. “This shit is not over.”
By the time I reached to spot where the thief climbed over the wall, she was long gone. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I’ve always been successful at scaring off any competition, which is one of the reasons I’ve stayed in this area as long as I have.
Maybe it is time to move on.
I stomp down the trail, not caring if anyone hears me at this point. Though it can’t be much later than midnight—much sooner than my normal quitting time—I need to take a step back, determine my next move, and refocus.
Along the edge of the river is a nice level place where I often sleep, but as I rub at my lower back, the idea of an actual bed is more and more appealing. Ava did ask me to stay a couple more days, but at this hour, she would still be working.
I wonder how much Ava actually makes on an average night and if I could cover the expense of her taking the night off. I have some coins hidden away I could offer her, but would she take them? Ava prides herself on being self-sufficient. If only I’d found something to trade, but alas, I have nothing in my pack that would be of interest to her.
I rub my back again. I suppose it can’t hurt to ask if she’d take coin.
The merchant street is relatively quiet. The tavern on the other side of the river is likely still open and busy, but here the booths and carts are all closed for the night, and the people of Plastictown are sleeping.
As I approach Ava’s tent, a burly man with a long moustache pulls back the entrance flap and ducks out, still fastening his belt. His eyes are bright, and he grins as he looks at me.
“I think she’s done for the night,” the man says with a dark laugh. He reaches down and adjusts his crotch. “She’s not recovering from that one too quick!”
I stare through him as he walks away from me, wrapped up in my own thoughts and only barely hearing his words. The only thing that registers is that Ava isn’t busy at the moment.
After waiting a minute to give Ava some time to redress, I smack my hand against the side of her tent a couple of times and wait for her to answer. I stare down the street as I wait, half looking for the dark-haired woman who got away. Of course, she doesn’t appear.
I tap at the tent again, sighing impatiently and wondering what’s taking Ava so long.
“Ava!” I finally call out. “Ava, it’s me!”
When I get no answer, I push back the entrance flap and peer in. The air smells like sweat and cum, which I expect, but there’s another odor as well, something darker.
“Ava?”