“Or?”

“Or he won’t be telling no one nothing ever again, and the name walks with me.”

“I see.”

Shatters grinned. “Smart lad.” He bent down to rinse his face.

“Smart,” I agreed as I grabbed the back of his neck and shoved his head down into the water. I shifted my weight to keep him there, steadying the bucket with my other hand as he struggled.

As a rule, I don’t mind renegotiating-hell, it’s part of doing business with people like Shatters. Kin are always trying to line their pockets with a few extra hawks. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. The right way involves respect and a little give and take from both sides; the wrong way usually involves demanding more money “or else.” Unless I’m the one offering it, I hate “or else.”

Even underwater, Shatters was loud. His assistants came running. I barely glanced up as they came into sight.

“First one of you raises a hand goes dustmans,” I said. They both skidded to a stop, torn between my threat to kill them and their duty to their master. They eyed me, Shatters, and each other in turn.

I knew I had them the moment they hesitated. “Fade,” I said. Still, they stood there. I looked up from Shatters’s flailing and met the larger man’s eyes. “What are you, a couple of Eriffs? Don’t you know who I am? I said, fade!”

The larger man ducked his head and turned away. The smaller one paused and eyed the distance between us, considering. I showed my teeth.

“Come on, pup. Try me.”

He left.

Shatters’s struggles had begun to weaken by then. I raised his head out of the water long enough for him to get half a breath, then shoved it back under. Pause, repeat, and again. Near the end of the fourth dunking, I let go and stepped away.