Damian FINUCANE's Arc

Chapter 43 of 57

Damian held the man against the bar. The ledger lay open in his free hand. He had won. Then the rider Rolo had bound spoke up from the floor. "You're too late." He nodded at the spilled coins. "That bag was already promised. There's a lookout down the road. His pay comes at dawn. If it doesn't, he rings the bell and warns them all." Rolo knelt and gathered the coins fast. "How far?" The rider grinned. "Far enough. You won't make it." Damian's grip tightened on the sword. Every name in the book meant nothing if the lookout raised the alarm. The men above would scatter before he could reach them. Damian made his choice. He pressed the man in the coat harder against the wood. "Where does the lookout sit?" The man said nothing. Damian leaned close. "You saw what I did to your rider. I don't need you to talk. I need the bag delivered." He looked at Rolo. She was already scooping the last coins back into the bag. Her patched red jacket flashed as she moved. She had run from a circus once and kept every trick. Now she tied the bag shut and stood on the fallen table like it was a rope. "I ride. I bring the pay. The lookout sees the coins, not us." "He knows the rider's face," Damian said. "Not in the dark. Not fast." She pulled the rider's hood from his slumped shoulders and dragged it over her own hair. "I flip off before he counts twice." Damian nodded. He trusted her road sense more than his own. Rolo took a fresh horse from the rail and rode out into the gray light. Damian kept the man pinned and waited. His raven settled on the sill above the window. Long minutes passed. The sky brightened. He counted his own breaths to stay calm, the way his teacher taught him. Hooves returned at a hard gallop. Rolo swung down and burst through the door. "Done. Left the bag on the post. He never came out. The bell stayed quiet." She dropped the empty hood. "He'll count it and think all is well." The man in the coat sagged. His last warning had died on a fence post. Damian pulled him upright. "No alarm rings. No one runs. The names in this book are yours to explain now." He set the ledger on the bar and opened it to the top page. The man's eyes moved down the list. His mouth went dry. "They will kill me for this." "Then talk before they know you're caught," Damian said. Outside, dawn broke full and quiet. The trail had ended in this warm room. But the ledger named men Damian had never seen, and the man under his hand knew all their faces.