Exploitable Weaknesses by Brian Keller (best interesting books to read txt) 📕

utensils, a proper cooking fire, and the beginnings of a stocked pantry. The air was soon filled with delicious odors as Birt walked beside Cooper and sat down, “We’re going to be drawing more and more attention, the longer the construction goes on.” Cooper nodded as he rolled up his leathers and placed them beside his pack, “I’d have to agree that’s true. And that’ll be a problem that we’ll address as it presents itself.” He pulled the sleeves of his ‘worker’ clothes to his wrists and tied them at that length. Birt smiled, “What if we could get ahead of it? I might have an idea.” Cooper repeated, “An idea? Do tell.” Birt replied, “We need to expand, diversify…” Birt was wearing a clever smile, “and misdirect.” Cooper encouraged, “Go on. I’m listening.”

Birt settled in, “In the Grid, just across the street to the north of the Trade Quarter, there’s a tavern called The Griffin. It shares a wall with a brothel called The Gilded Feather.” Cooper nodded, “I know the places.” Birt raised an eyebrow and Cooper clarified, “I’ve walked past them and read the signs.” Birt chuckled, stood and gestured for Cooper to follow, “I need more information. I know the idea makes sense, I just want to know if I’ve found the right location for it.” Birt led him to Mister Ysel, “Sir, I hate to interrupt your work, but I was telling Cooper about an idea and I need more information.” The man was scribbling on some scraps of paper, trying to reconstruct the signatures for the deeds as perfectly as his memory would allow. He almost seemed grateful to have an excuse to lay down the quill, “How can I help?” Birt repeated the information about the locations, then added, “How much of a percentage do we own of those businesses?” Mister Ysel considered the question and replied, “The Feather, we own thirty percent, maybe a point or two more. The Griffin, maybe twenty percent, but probably closer to fifteen. Why do you ask?”

Birt sat down and waved the two of them closer, then explained, “We need to increase our ownership of these two businesses.” Birt pointed at Cooper, “You mentioned something like this, weeks ago.” Birt resumed his explanation, “We wouldn’t need a controlling interest, but closer to fifty percent, or more, would make our plans a certainty. Or we might simply buy them out completely. Then we close off the street entrance to The Feather.” Both men in his audience took a breath to speak and Birt held up his palms to ask for patience, “Yes, the Madame will protest, but we’ll let the ladies in on the reasons for the changes and I’m sure they’ll all be pleased. The new entrance to The Feather will be through The Griffin. An exclusive entrance. The Feather will still be a brothel, but will now host a higher class of clientele. We’ll also introduce a few high stakes games, supply some premium wines and liquors, a few choice delicacies. The Griffin will get some improvements as well but the main floor will remain largely unchanged, we’ll just dress it up a little. A bit of paint, some padding and upholstery on the chairs and bar stools… It’ll be the Griffin’s rental rooms upstairs that’ll get completely redone. Something… memorable.” Cooper was uncertain, “This sounds awfully expensive.” Birt stared blankly at him and Cooper ducked his head, “Probably not as expensive as what we’re doing here in the Ruins… I get it. Ok, what’s your reasoning?” Birt smiled, “A new, ‘secret’, exclusive entrance in the Grid? A newly walled off street entrance?” He looked from one to the other as if expecting to see a look of comprehension. He couldn’t bear waiting and continued, “The City Watch, Planning Commission, and Tax Assessors won’t know how to react! There’ll be at least a raid every week for a month! The Madame and The Griffin will cry out for compensation for damages and lost revenue… imagine the distraction!” Birt’s voice was gaining volume in his excitement, “And think of the gossip, publicity and notoriety! Once the initial dust settles, we’ll be turning patrons away because we won’t have seats enough for all of them! Meanwhile, construction continues here without pause. A project like that could buy us another couple months of privacy here, perhaps three, or even more if we play it right. After all, no one really wants to come investigate the Ruins…yet.” Birt crossed his arms over his chest with a satisfied grin, “Well?”

Cooper looked apprehensive, “I don’t know. It’ll be expensive, and I know we covered that already, but it could also be traced back to us.” Mister Ysel was smiling, “I like it. The first month or two we could double our money on compensations and reparations alone, at the city’s expense. That alone will cause monumental agony for the Merchant’s Council. That coin would be in addition to whatever actual revenue the businesses would generate. Plus, the information flow from a brothel can’t be ignored. Changing to a higher class of patron and adding high-end liquor… the value of that chatter could be immense. Within a few months the information value could outweigh the coin by three to one! We could wall off a couple of private meeting rooms… So-called “reputable” patrons conducting shady business deals… secret alliances… and we’d hear it all.” Mister Ysel was warming to the notion, “We’ll conceal Guild involvement by creating a Developer and Contractor business and submit that charter to the Merchant Council and Planning Commission. They’ll accept, naturally, and we’ll gain the added benefit of receiving stamped seals on the Charter.” He looked at Cooper with an arched eyebrow, “One of those seals will be the very one that you’ve been far too busy to obtain for me.” Cooper leaned backward and looked at the two of them, “Well, I guess it’s decided then.” Birt’s jaw dropped but he recovered almost immediately,