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

I’d say you’re being bold but you’ve resisted the urge to be impulsive. I’d hope that they’d not only approve; they’d be proud.” There was no need to respond to that. He simply turned and left for the Waterfront.

He didn’t waste any time. He went straight to a vantage point where he could observe one of the remaining storehouses. There were three more that he knew of, but none of them as active as this one. None of them were further to the east, either. He didn’t need to wait long, maybe fifty minutes, but it couldn’t have been an hour, before four men entered the building. Oddly enough, one of them was a local. Ten minutes later, the four men left the building and returned to the Waterfront. Cooper followed them. They took up their customary positions on the boardwalk except that the local man walked further to the southwest along the boardwalk’s edge. Cooper realized, “They’re starting to use locals for lookouts. Smart. Locals will know what’s normal and what doesn’t look right; and he’s picked a spot along a regular patrol route. He’ll see them when they’re still a long ways off.” He wondered how many of these merchants were actually sailors from the Lukasi ships. Each ship could certainly hold more than a dozen people. He began making a mental tally of how many merchants he knew had been killed or captured and realized that he’d probably barely made a dent. A noticeable dent from a Lukasi perspective, no doubt, but that seemed to have done little to stem the flow of Apex.

He watched as a patrol made it’s way along the boardwalk. The local man walked leisurely back to the other three men and gave them a hand signal, jerking his thumb towards the buildings to the north. One of the men left the group and stepped across the walkway in the direction the local had indicated. He was careful to examine the narrow pathway before leaning his back against the side of the building. Cooper smiled as he realized that extra caution was because of him. He idly wondered how reactions might change if he’d brought his bow along and put an arrow through the man’s skull. He put the notion from his mind. He couldn’t allow these attacks to be attributed to the Guild; not yet at least.

As the patrol came closer, Cooper left his spot and walked east, parallel to the boardwalk. Once he was well beyond the three men he turned south. Before stepping onto the boardwalk he wiped his hands across the dusty ground and ran his hands across his face and through his hair. He dragged a sleeve under his nose, then stepped to the water’s edge and waited. As the patrol approached, Cooper put on a frowning, pouting expression and pointed back to the west, in the direction the patrol had come, “Yer jes’ gonna let’em keep doin’ wut they’re doin?! Yer jes’ gonna walk right past’em? Preten’ ya dunno wut’s goin’ on? How much’re they payin’ ye, eh?” The guards had noticed him immediately with some amusement, but with his last sentence he earned their attention as well as their ire. One of the Watch replied gruffy, “Watch yer tongue, lad!” The man started to step toward. He’d already raised an armored fist to give Cooper a thump. Cooper cringed but another of the guards, probably the patrol sergeant, stopped the man, “Waitaminit.” He turned to Cooper, “Suppose you tell us what you’re all worked up about?” Cooper pointed back to the west, “See those three men there? Standing all together? They’re sellin’ Apex. I know it cuz my sister used ta buy it from ‘em, an’ now she’s dead. An’ you all jes’ walk past ‘em like there’s nuthin’ wrong!” The sergeant tried to calm him, “Easy now, lad. How are we supposed to know that?” Cooper looked at him as if seeing him for the first time, “How?! Jes’ tuck away here an’ watch’em if ya don’ b’lieve me!” He turned to leave in a huff, “I can’t stan’ here an’ watch’em anymore. I can’t stan’ the sight of ‘em. If I stay here much longer, I’ll try ta killem myself. That’d mean I’d be dead wi’ my sister.” He turned to leave and the Watch sergeant held out a hand to stop him, “Look. We’ll take a look at them. Alright? But we can’t just go arresting men just because someone points them out.” Cooper tucked his chin and wiped his nose on his sleeve, he let emotion build in his voice so that he nearly sobbed, “Awright.” He took a few steps until he was past the patrol then spoke behind him, over his shoulder, sounding like he was a moment from tears, “Thanks. An’ sorry ‘bout what I said b’fore.” He then turned north and slipped between two buildings before the twinkle in his eye could give him away. Cooper returned to a spot near where he’d been watching initially, feeling content, satisfied and anonymous.

In fact, Cooper had been noticed. A young boy, Bennet, formerly of Batter’s Field but recently relocated to the Waterfront, had noticed Cooper. Bennet drew a sharp breath in through his nose and held it, “I know him!” he thought. The reasons for Bennet’s relocation were the same reasons for the recognition. The young man he’d just seen talking to the City Watch was the same young man who’d killed his House Father last month, or was it the month before? Still, there was no mistaking him. He didn’t even need to see his face to know it was him. How the men of the Watch couldn’t see it for themselves astounded him. When the young Guild Assassin turned in his direction, his face, especially the eyes, confirmed what he already knew. It was definitely him. He wasn’t sure which of the Guild members frightened him more, probably the other one. The one with