Dance of Thieves

After an hour of questioning and torture, Zane admits to taking Kazi’s mother 11 years ago and realizes Kazi is her child. He swears it was the only time he abducted someone, and lies that her mom died. Jase knows he’s scared of someone else, which convinces him Zane is still involved with labor hunters. Zane refuses to budge on the name of his employer. Jase tells Tiago that Zane doesn’t need fingertips or toes as long as he doesn’t bleed out. Zane admits he was given a satchel of money by someone called Devereux and told to hire labor hunters. Jase tells Tiago to hold off on the fingertips for now.

Jase bathes and looks at his tattoo, a reminder to protect and defend all. Jase thinks about how the Ballengers have failed in protection by hiring people like Zane and Garvin without asking questions. Jase’s family protested when he brought up ousting Previzi drivers because it would affect their profits and anger long-term traders. After Jase told Zane’s story, their objections quieted. Jase plans to tell Kazi about Zane after he gets more information. Jase told her his feelings first, because he’s afraid of how she will respond when she finds out he lied about knowing Zane.