“Well, I know where this is leading.” He said as he stared at some very familiar handwriting. He was looking at the request board, and quickly noticed the handwriting of Jerr, a local orphan boy, whom he had recently finished a request for. Since he already knew the kid was good for it, he went ahead and took the request, and promptly made his way to the location listed.

“At it again kid?” He said when he arrived in the alley and saw Jerr, the kid jumped and quickly turned. When he saw Ambrose, his face brightened, “Hey mister!”

“You know, you should really work on your handwriting. Typically I can only easily make out the number of jewels you’re offering. So what is it this time? More food? It’s barely been over a week, and I know I got you enough food to last longer than that.”

“No sir, not this time.” The kid said with a grin, making Ambrose lift a brow, “Besides, I don’t really like to steal from the locals all that often if I can help it. That’s why I’ve been watching the merchants that come to town most often.”

Where’s he going with this?  He thought as he cocked his head a bit.

“I’ve been watching this one merchant for a while now. He has this big gold bracelet that he wears every day. And I know for a fact that he takes it off once a day to get it polished.”

“Observant, aren’t you?” He commented, “Well, yeah. You taught me that.” The kid said with a shrug, once again making Ambrose feel a slight twinge of begrudging admiration for the kid.
“So let me guess, you want me to steal the bracelet while it’s getting polished.” He said, already trying to think of a way he’d be able to easily pull that off, and not really coming up with any desirable options. But that was when the kid surprised him and said, “Nope. I’m going to steal it.”

Ambrose quickly raised a brow at that, thinking for a second before realization dawned on him. “I’m the distraction.”

“Yep.” Jerr said with a big smile. Ambrose gave a sardonic glance sideways, Devious little brat.

He didn’t like the thought of being the distraction, but decided to go along with it anyways. The child had provided him with some decent entertainment recently, and had made good on his reward the last time, so he had no reason to believe the kid would do any different this time around. Plus, he knew that Jerr still feared him plenty, which was further incentive for the kid to make good on the reward.

“There he is now.” The kid said, motioning towards a fairly wealthy looking man, obviously the merchant. Ambrose’s eyes were quickly drawn to the rather gaudy looking bracelet the man was wearing. It was tempting to just screw the kid over, and take the bracelet himself. He had no doubt he could fetch a great deal of jewels for the thing. However, he didn’t like the thought of screwing over a potential future paying customer, and the kid had plenty potential to be just that. For years to come, this kid could come to deliver him far more jewels than this one simple bracelet could fetch him just once. So he brushed aside any more thoughts of backstabbing the kid.
“Very well. Let’s get this over with.” He said, lazily walking in the direction of the merchant, heading towards the polishing booth.

This shouldn’t be too hard, so long as the kid has some stealth. He thought as he neared the booth. The merchant was already taking a seat in front of the polisher’s desk; the bracelet already being handed to the polisher. Ambrose saw Jerr already rounding the shop, keeping himself out of sight.

When Ambrose was a few feet from the booth, the polisher looked up, the simple conversation the two were having coming to a small pause, “Can I help you?” The polisher asked, a squat man in his late forties, and wearing a pair of extremely thick glasses. The merchant, a handsome man in his mid-thirties, and sporting a very expensive black suit, also turned to look up at him, no suspicion in his features.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt.” Ambrose said in response, his features and tone both perfectly innocent sounding; a pleasant smile on his face. He was an excellent actor to say the least, with years of practice under his belt. He was very good at easing tense situations, or suspicion if needed.

At that, the two began to turn their attention back to the merchant’s bracelet, “But, if you wouldn’t mind, I just had a quick question.” Ambrose said, drawing their attention back on himself, and watching as the polisher set the bracelet down upon a soft thick towel. Ambrose then removed an old ring he always wore; a gift from years back. It was a simple silver ring, now sporting many dents and scratches from years of wear. And while their attention was on him, he saw Jerr making his move, quietly crouching around the corner of the stand, and getting into position.

“I have this old ring here. It was a gift from an old friend. It’s pretty beat up now,” He said as he took the ring off his finger, “But I was wondering if it might be possible to fix it up.” A small smile on his face, but showing just enough sadness and worry, like he was afraid of hearing no. At that moment, he pretended to accidentally drop the ring, fumbling it for a second before quickly crouching to pick it up off the ground.

When Ambrose stood back up, he saw a less than impressed expression on the polisher’s face, mild amusement on the merchant’s, but most importantly, that the kid had taken the opportunity Ambrose had created to silently sneak up and grab the bracelet without being seen, and had started to sneak away. Ambrose feigned embarrassment at his apparent clumsiness, “Sorry.”

“Well, I’m not surprised that it’s beat up if that’s how you treat it.” The polisher said, just before reaching for where the bracelet had been before, “What the…” The man said, his eyes going wide as both his and the merchant’s heads snapped to where the bracelet had been just a moment ago, but now only sat the towel.

Shit. I was hoping for a little more time. He thought with a bit of worry, but he should still be at least a little fine, surely the two of them wouldn’t automatically jump to the right…

Oh damn. He thought, as both the merchant and the polisher immediately turned to glare at him just before the merchant lunged at him, grabbing his arm, face furious as he yelled, “You damn rat! Where is it?!”

As if on perfect que, Jerr chose that moment to stop being stealthy, tripping as he was rounding the stand to make his escape. Everyone’s attention shot to him, as he stopped, frozen in a crouch like a dear in headlights, shinning bracelet in his hands. The next second he shot off like a dart, “Stop him!” The merchant yelled, causing a few of his men that had been waiting nearby to take action. Jerr was too fast however, already sprinting off, so the men decided to come after Ambrose.

Before they could make it very far however, he took hold of the merchant’s arm, ducking and spinning to place the merchant in a joint lock right before landing a well-placed kick, sending the merchant sprawling on the ground and interrupting the goons just enough. A second later, Ambrose was sprinting off as well; the few second head start, and detailed knowledge of the alleyways proving extremely helpful in his getaway.

Mere minutes later, Ambrose knew he was free of pursuit, though he doubted it would be safe for him to show his face around that area for quite some time. The downside of being the distraction. People always remembered you.

It didn’t take him long to reach to spot Jerr had mentioned they should come to after the theft, and not long after him, the kid rounded the corner as well, bracelet shining on his wrist and mischievous smile on his face. “That was fun.” He said giggling a little, “Thanks again mister.” And with that, he tossed Ambrose another leather bag of jewels.

“Hope we can do this again.” He said with another grin.

“Keep up the good work, and maybe. Just remember, the higher the stakes, the more it’ll cost you.” Ambrose said as he turned and left.

[EXIT]

Word Count: 1,453/1,000