Petrified, I stared at the dark holes of several muzzles pointing straight at me. I would never reach my revolver in time. It was too late to move.

At least for me.

Mr Rikkard Ambrose, however, had already started moving at the first mention of the word "ambush". Appearing in front of me in a flash, he lifted up the prisoner in his grasp—just in time.

Bam! Boom, boom!

In the confines of the tunnel, the gunshots were deafening. But they weren't loud enough to drown out the sickening sound of torn flesh as the bullets slammed into the man who had been bragging about the impending ambush only a few seconds ago.

"Agh!"

He would not be bragging again.

The man twitched for a moment or two, then went limp in my husband's grip. His death didn't stop Mr Ambrose for even a second, though. Dashing forward, he rammed into the closest opponent using the (probably) dead body as a battering ram. Snatching the gun out of the startled man's grip, he whirled around and fired off two shots in quick succession. One of the masked men went down, the other clutched his wounded side and leapt behind a pillar.

The only problem was...that still left two. Four if you counted the wounded one and the unarmed one. And one of those was heading straight towards me.

Crap.

I didn't have time to care about the others now. All I could do was to raise both arms and shield my face against the fist coming my way. A moment later, the punch landed and sent me stumbling back several steps.

Bloody hell!

Well, good news: my opponent was the unarmed one. Bad news? He punched like a son of a witch!

"Ugh!"

Colliding with the dirty wall behind me, I whirled to the side, just in time to avoid the second punch coming for my head. It hid the hard wall instead, drawing a curse from my opponent.

Ha! Take that!

Never mind that I had to rely on a wall for a counterattack or similar insignificant details.

To gain time, I grabbed the first thing in range and hurled it at the man. That thing happened to be a very surprised and rather displeased rat. When it hit the man's face, it decided the thing looked tasty and immediately took a bite out of his nose.

"Aaagh!"

Howling in agony, the man stumbled back, giving me enough time to do the thing I had been itching to do since the moment these bastards had jumped us: draw my gun.

Bam!

Screaming, my opponent went down. Unfortunately, not from a gunshot wound caused by my excellent marksmanship, but because the rat, in order to escape the man's flailing hands, had fled down into his shirt and from there into his trousers. Apparently, it had found something to nibble on down there that was even tastier than a nose.

"Eeeep! Grng!"

The rat trouser dance performed by the masked gentleman was such a fascinating sight I nearly forgot to attack. Something I came to regret a moment later.

"Raaah!"

A violent kick sent the rat flying out of the man's trouser leg and straight at my face. Frantically, I threw myself to the side. I was not touching that thing, especially considering where it had just been. Rolling on the ground to soften my fall, I came up again just in time to see a boot coming towards my face.

Crap!

I twisted my head to the side to avoid the brunt of the attack. Closing my eyes, I braced myself and...

Bang!

...and nothing?

Cautiously, I opened one eye, only to see Adaira standing over the fallen attacker with a smoking revolver in her hand.

"Are you all right?" she demanded.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Do you still have bullets in that gun?"

A grin spread over her face. "You bet!"

An answering smirk appeared on my own. "Then let's get to work!"

She held out a hand, and I grabbed it, letting her pull me to my feet. One quick scan of the gloomy tunnel told me the current situation. Karim and Mr Ambrose were engaged in a furious firefight with their opponents, while Captain Carter had managed to disarm his opponent and was currently wrestling with him on the ground.

"That son of a...!" Adaira's eyes flashed. "You take care of those two, Lilly. I have to explain to this gentleman that there's only one person who is allowed to roll around on the ground with my future husband!"

And she was off. Silently sending a prayer heavenwards for the unfortunate masked goon, I lifted my revolver and took aim at the man who was currently shooting at my husband.

Bam!

The man, fully concentrated on dealing with Mr Ambrose, was taken completely by surprise and went down with a bullet in his back. Without a second's hesitation, I turned my gun on Karim's opponent and put him down with two swift shots.

Then I turned back to my husband with a big grin on my face, ready to receive praise.

"You wasted a bullet," he told me.

One of my eyelids twitched. "You're welcome, Sir."

"There's still one left." Rising from behind the pillar he had been using as cover, Mr Ambrose strode towards the place where Captain Carter had last been seen struggling with his opponent. "We should keep him alive to question him."

"We should? Oh my." I gave my dear husband an awkward smile. "Just so you know, Adaira went over there."

My husband's pace immediately quickened. Swiftly, he made his way down the gloomy tunnel and arrived at the site of the altercation—just in time to see his sister press the barrel of a revolver against the nose of the petrified attacker. Captain Carter was still sitting on top of the other man, his fist still raised high, but didn't seem to have the heart to strike the poor fellow.

"Adaira..." Approaching slowly and carefully, Mr Ambrose addressed his sister. "Don't shoot."

"Name one good reason why I shouldn't!"

"If you fire while you are this close to him, you'll get blood and brain matter all over yourself."

Adaira blinked. "Huh. That...actually is a good reason."

"Also, we need to question him."

"Your first reason was better."

A muscle in Mr Ambrose's cheek twitched. Turning to me, he sent me a "You go deal with her!" kind of look.

In response, I sent him a "Why exactly? She's your sister!" kind of look.

That got me an icy stare in return, the meaning of which needed no explanation. Ah, the bliss of silent communication... I would have indulged in it a little longer, but Adaira still hadn't put her gun down. Stepping forward, I was just about to try and cajole her, when somebody pre-empted me. A hand reached out and took hold of Adaira's wrist.

"Put your gun down, will you?" Captain Carter's voice was soft and deep. "For me, please?"

Adaira bit her lower lip, and the hand holding the gun trembled ever so slightly. "Why should I? Those bastards tried to kill us!"

"And there might be more of them out there who want to do the same." His hand let go of her wrist and gently cupped her face. "I don't want anything to happen to you. Please."

She hesitated, gazed deep into his eyes and—

"Finished, you two?"

Mr Rikkard Ambrose's frosty voice rudely interrupted the unfolding romantic scene. Like a kid caught with her hand in the candy jar, Adaira leapt back and blushed. I grinned and would have made a comment, but considering my dear sister-in-law still had a gun in her hand, I decided against it.

A gun that was no longer pointed at the masked man, incidentally. But before said man could take advantage of that fact, Mr Rikkard Ambrose strode forward and kicked out.

"Ow!" Captain Carter exclaimed, jumping to his feet with a hand on his behind. "Hey! I'm not a mysterious masked attacker!"

"Oh, I know." Mr Ambrose said coolly. "More's the pity. Otherwise, I could do this." And, lifting his foot, he aimed a far harsher kick straight at the masked man's gut, sending him sliding away from his opponent and crashing against the wall. The captain, smart man that he was, quickly got out of the way.

This left Mr Rikkard Ambrose to deal with the masked man. Oh my, I wished I had a chair and some snacks.

"You." Striding towards the fallen masked man once again, Mr Rikkard Ambrose crouched in front of him and pinned him to the spot with his patented icy stare. "Talk."

The man coughed and tried to push himself up. "I'll never—"

A hand grabbed him by the throat, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Several of your companions are already lying dead on the ground, covered in sewage. Do you wish to join them? Or we could simply break your arms and legs and leave you in this place. I'm sure there are plenty of rats down here who would love a fresh meal for a change."

Captain Carter leaned towards me and Adaira and cleared his throat. "Um...can I change my mind about trying to elope with this man's little sister?"

"No!" Adaira told him in no uncertain terms.

"Ah. Just checking."

Ignoring their banter, I focused fully on Mr Ambrose's captive. Or rather, on Dalgliesh's man. If Mr Ambrose wasn't going to be successful in his interrogation...well, suffice to say that I had my own methods to try out.

"Well?" My husband demanded, his icy gaze not moving from the masked man for an instant. "Ready to talk?"

"I...I..."

Without wasting another word, Mr Ambrose placed the barrel of his gun against the man's leg.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"Good choice." Crouching next to my husband, I stared him down and pointed my revolver at the man's other leg. "Now spill! Who are you, and what do you have to do with Dalgliesh?"

"E-Evans. My name's Roy Evans. I'm one of His Lordship's agents in Delhi, currently acting as his bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?" I stiffened. "You mean to say that son of a bachelor is actually down here right now?"

The man looked like he wished he could swallow his words back down and bite his tongue off.

"Speak!" The barrel of a gun appeared at his jugular. "Now!"

"Y-yes! Yes, he's here!"

"What," Mr Ambrose enquired, his voice sending chills even through me, "is he planning?"

"Revenge."

That one word nearly made my heart stop. The only reason I didn't immediately lose my mind was that I knew Berty was safe and far away from here.

"Revenge?" My hands clenched around my revolver's grip. "How can he be planning to take revenge on us? Why does he even know we're here?"

"N-not you." The masked man coughed and reached up to massage his bruised throat. "He's not planning to take revenge on you."

"Who then? Talk!"

"Not who. What." From behind his mask, the man met Mr Ambrose's eyes. "He's going to take revenge on the city. The entire city."

I stared at him for a moment—then snorted with laughter. "Ha! Bloody likely! The entirety of India is rebelling. He's just a single sorry sod now. What's he going to do?"

It was only after a second or two that I realised Mr Ambrose didn't laugh.

My laughter trailed off, and I felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. He wouldn't...he wouldn't really, would he?

He absolutely would.

But he couldn't, right? He was alone. He had lost his empire, along with most of his men. He couldn't do anything.

Mr Ambrose grabbed the masked man by the throat. "What is he going to do?"

"He...he..." Glancing down the tunnel, the man hesitated.

Mr Rikkard Ambrose didn't.

Crack!

"Aaaagh!"

"Last chance." Mr Ambrose's right closed more tightly around the man's neck, while the other one twisted his captive's broken thumb. "Next time, it won't just be a finger. And in case that is not enough to convince you, let me remind you that not only my companions and I, but also you are currently stuck in the city that your master wants to destroy."

Even with just a few small bits of skin visible behind the cloth that covered most of the masked man's face, I saw him pale abruptly.

He seemed to come to a decision.

"Dalgliesh...he never told us explicitly what he is going to do. I was just in charge of the rear guard. But..."

"But?"

"But, judging from the direction we were going, I can guess what is going to happen." Bleak eyes met those of Mr Rikkard Ambrose. "This city is going to burn."

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Next chapter: reveal of the evil master plan! I hope you look forward to it, my dear readers! :-)

Yours Truly

Sir Rob