The Insider System

Chapter 132: Forced Pt.1

The plan had actually been pretty easy for them to hash out. Tiffany had said with his badge and what she planned to tell them when they tried to renege she was sure she would walk out with the money. Lake decided to just finish what he had actually come out to do which was buy new equipment while he waited for her.

They had made plans to meet later if it was possible and if it wasn't they would do so at their first opportunity. That would be when he would hand over the Dagger and she would pay him. Then the next time they saw one another would be when he was going to hide them. That last part would never happen, but she didn't know that.

It was a good plan and he made off like a bandit while doing nothing; which he was pretty sure was the definition of made off like a bandit. Lake patted himself on the back where he had been stabbed not that long ago and thought about the fact he was technically going to get revenge by doing the same to her.

He hadn't thought about that till now, but if he ever had the chance to tell her why he had betrayed her, he would say that was why he had done it. He could picture it, her finally tracking him down after all her friends had died because he hadn't shown up. Her screaming at him as she tried to kill him. Then finally he would drive his knife through her heart and as she lay dying she would ask him why, and he would say, because you did it first.

It would most likely never happen because what were the chances she would survive that long without his help, she would be dead long before he had to kill her and even if she did survive he would have made the million by the time anyone could track him down. The only reason anyone was able to this time was because he had made it easy by rushing things when he had plenty of time.

He had been in a rush to leave the vault because he thought whoever it belonged to could be on their way back and once he had it in his bag he hadn't wanted to take it out because of its strong aura forcing him to have it on him at all times. That wasn't what he meant by him rushing though, he should have taken more time to get to know the place before he broke in.

Seeing he was at the Blacksmiths guild Lake saw there were actually quite a few people here. He guessed they were open for business today as well and people weren't letting that go to waste. Stepping inside he couldn't help but think about how the effort to get his money was going.

...

Tiff knocked and a few seconds later the same greasy servant opened the door. Tiff didn't even need to say anything before she was let in and led down the stairs. Once they were in the basement she was led down another set of stairs that led to the shelter under this house just like last time.

She didn't feel the same going down the stairs this time though. Last time she had been nervous because she didn't know what to expect. This time she knew exactly what was going to happen even if she didn't know what the results would be. She wasn't nervous, she was scared.

At least she knew the thieves would feel the same about the possible fight and it might make them just give her the money with no threats ever even needing to be exchanged. Sadly it was more likely they had set some form of trap and she was currently walking right into it. They had plenty of time to do so so she didn't see this going down any other way.

Reaching the same metal door that was the entrance into the room she had spoken to the thieves in last time she saw it was closed. She didn't know why it was closed but the fact it wasn't last time and now it was, made her think she was right about them trying to kill her once she entered.

The servant stepped forward and opened the door for her so taking a deep breath she stepped in to see there was now one less thief in this room then there was last time. Tiff wasn't dumb so she didn't take this as a fact and instead assumed the other thief was probably here as well just hiding.

If that was the case they had cheaped out on the trap either because they were cheap or out of necessity, there was a war going on after all. It would have been really hard to get an Enchanter out here to lay some traps so they probably just settled for an ambush. "I'm here for the money."

Tiff thought this was the best way to start because if she said she had killed the target that was all the information they would need to get rid of her. As long as she didn't confirm it she could drag on the conversion to a point where she would be able to say everything she wanted to before they tried to kill her.

"Did you take care of our problem?" Tiff didn't answer and said. "Let me see the money you promised." The atmosphere in the room tanked as soon as she said this because everyone knew they never had intended to actually pay her. She was afraid that they wouldn't have the money though.

There would definitely be some around here somewhere, there was no way people as greedy as them would ever not keep a good portion of their money around so it was ready to go whenever it was necessary for them to leave. "Let us see the tracker." Tiff was happy they had just reaffirmed how important the tracker was because it was the whole reason she was confident enough to come here at all.

They had asked her to keep the news that there was such a thing to herself because it made their guild look bad and it would make thieves in the guild think they couldn't trust their badges. She hadn't kept this secret she had told Jon the guild was able to track people she just hadn't said how.

Her plan was to tell them if they didn't give her the money and let her leave her friend would spread the news to every person he could so she was pretty sure they would rather spend the 100,000 she was asking for. She could probably ask for more to be honest, but she didn't want to push her luck.

"How about you show me the money then we'll trade." Tiff couldn't believe she was actually doing something like this, she was doing it out of necessity, but it didn't change the fact she hadn't stopped to think how bad of an idea it was, and the feeling of being unprepared for an hostile negotiation was making her start to panic.

It had already started though so it was too late for her to just take the dagger from Jon and return it to the Temple. After a bit of whispering between the two thieves that were in the room one of them finally said. "Give us the tracker or we'll just take it."

Tiff nodded, not to what the thief had just asked of her, but to the fact that she had been right that the offer of money had always just been something to lure her back here after she was done with what they had asked her to do. The fact that they had made the vague threat that they would take the tracker instead of just killing her and taking it made her think their plan was to stab her in the back as she left, so it kind of confirmed she was going to be dealing with them instead of an actual magic formation designed to kill/trap you.

Deciding to make it obvious that she guessed their plan Tiff decided it was time to drop all pretenses and said. "Is your friend getting my money, or are they just standing right behind me?" Tiff didn't really understand how to sound threatening so she felt her attempt was a little flat but it got the point across.

Not wanting them to attack before she got the rest out she continued. "We both expected this so we both prepared for it; give me the money and let me leave or my friends will spread the news about the tracker to every thief still in the city." She hadn't actually told any of her real friends because she didn't want them to know what she was doing, so the only person who kind of knew about it was Jon and she had never told him this was the plan, so she was lying, but they wouldn't know that.

After a few seconds of silence which Tiff took as the thieves realized she had them in a position where they had to pay her, she finally heard something. One of the thieves was laughing a disgusting laugh that made her picture what they must look like under their armor. Feeling uneasy that they were laughing instead of paying her and sending her on her way she asked for the money again.

"Just give me the money so I can leave." As soon as she said this the laughing stopped, and with no whispering between the two like usually happened before they said anything she heard. "That won't be happening. We don't care if the rumors spread because they already have, and guess what, no one believes them. We just said what we said to make you think you had leverage when you didn't, so you would bring yourself and my tracker back when you came to get the money."

It took Tiff a second to even understand what had just been said to her. After she understood they had very much fooled her to get her to come back with the tracker she only had one question. What was the point in them wanting her dead? If they didn't care about the rumor they weren't killing her to cover its existence out of fear she would tell people after she left.

There was something else going on, and it was too complicated for her to even try to figure out what they were up to. She also didn't have time to worry about it because the one thing she thought would keep her safe ended up being bait. Activating her skill Tiff headed for the door, she knew it wasn't really going to hide where she was in such a narrow tunnel but it was better than nothing.

After taking about twenty stairs Tiff felt something hit the back of her head. It didn't make her lose consciousness but it did make her feel dizzy and fall to the ground. Trying to get up she found both her arms and legs had lost their strength leaving her unable to fight off the person who started to lift her off the ground.

"She's still conscious, finish the job and get her in a cell. On.." This was all she heard before another blow landed on her head.