"Welcome. Why don't you come in?"

It had been a long, long time since Adaira had heard that tone of voice. Oh, she'd heard the voice often enough. But that tone? That superior, mocking tone? Not since a certain smarmy bastard had driven her and her family out of their ancestral home.

Yet she would never forget it. Nor would she forget to whom it belonged.

Glancing sideways at her brother and sister-in-law, Adaira saw on their faces that the same applied to them as well.

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

Her brother hesitated for just a second—then nodded and gestured for them to go ahead. Slowly, guns raised, they all approached the arched doorway.

The room beyond was cavernous and dark, like the belly of some giant beast. Yet, even in the dark, Adaira could make out the vague outlines of numerous big crates scattered throughout the room, covered with bright red danger warnings, just like the open door. Thinking about the reason for that, she shuddered—then almost fell on her face as she stumbled over something on the floor. Only by grabbing onto Captain Carter's arm did Adaira manage to stay on her feet. She glanced down...and saw an ominous black cable stretching across the stone floor. Glancing around, she noticed this was by no means the only one. They all led from the various large crates and up the set of stairs on the opposite side of the room. All to a single point.

Those aren't...those can't possibly be...?

She exchanged a glance with Captain Carter—and he nodded.

Adaira couldn't help but shudder again.

"Come," that familiar, mocking voice echoed out of the darkness ahead. "It is bad manners to keep your host waiting."

"It's also bad manners to blow up half a city and kill the rest by burning hundreds of thousands of people alive," Captain Carter responded in a far-too-chipper tone. "Just saying."

"Really?" The voice sounded amused. Amused. "Then you will have to excuse my bad manners just this once."

Adaira felt like she was about to vomit. So...it was true. This whole place was a death trap. Not just for them, but for everyone in the city above. After having been chased hither and thither by the city's inhabitants, she didn't exactly have the warmest feeling for them. But nobody deserved that.

Adaira felt queasy. So queasy, in fact, that she nearly missed him make his move. Only the flash of movement she caught out of the corner of her eye made her look over to the left in time to see that her brother was already ten steps ahead, his revolver aimed at a shadowy figure at the top of the stairs.

For once, she agreed whole-heartedly with his tendency to not waste time.

"Freeze!" he ordered, his gun aimed straight at the bastard's centre mass. Adaira was sure the only reason why he hadn't fired yet was that, in here, one badly aimed shot would mean death for all present, along with most of the city.

"Freeze? Why?" came that familiar mocking voice from the shadowy figure ahead. "Because I should be scared of your chilly voice? Not everyone is as pathetic as those minions you are so fond of ordering around."

The man rose from the crate he had been sitting on like a throne and stepped forward. Strands of golden hair glittered in the few beams of sunlight falling in through a metal grid far above. Adaira saw a familiar mouth curl in a disdainful smile.

Instinctively, her fists clenched.

"No." Not for a moment did her brother's gun waver. "It's because I have a gun aimed at your heart."

"Are you sure you want to fire a gun in here?"

"I am sure to not miss."

"Very well then. Let's end this charade."

Adaira saw an aristocratic hand rise to snap its fingers. Instantly, masked goons emerged from behind various crates and columns, guns aimed at her and the others. She whirled around to face the new danger just a moment before Lilly, Karim and Captain Carter did the same. Only Rick kept his gun aimed at Dalgliesh.

"I would suggest you put your weapon down," that insufferably smug voice echoed in the massive room.

"Why don't you put down yours?" Out of the corners of her field of vision, Adaira saw her brother's eyes narrow infinitesimally. "If it comes down to it, I guarantee you will die first, Dalgliesh."

"Oh?" came Dalgliesh's voice again. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Raising his hand, he gestured for his men to go ahead. They approached, guns raised.

Adaira's grip on her revolver tightened. Judging by the creaking of metal coming from her brother's direction, hers wasn't the only one.

"Have you lost your mind, Dalgliesh? Let your men put their guns down, or I will shoot!"

"Oh, by all means," came Dalgliesh's voice once more, "go ahead."

Then he stepped out from behind a pillar to the left. Adaira opened her mouth to shout a warning to her brother, but before she could—

Bam!

Her brother went down with a bullet in his leg. He only just managed to get off a shot at the shadowy figure in front of him before he hit the ground. The bullet struck the man right in the chest.

Too bad it was the wrong target.

"Well, hello there." Adaira froze at the voice coming from right beside her. "So nice to meet you again, Miss Ambrose."

Captain Carter whirled around, bringing up his gun at—

"Now, now, none of that, Captain." A sharp blade appeared at Adaira's throat. Though not nearly as sharp as the smile on the face of the blond bastard who had grabbed hold of her. "Or else, I might be forced to, you know..."

With his free hand, he made a slashing motion.

Captain Carter froze. Then, very, very slowly, he lowered his gun.

"Smart man. And speaking of smart..." He turned his head, glancing down at Rick who, despite his wound, had turned around on the floor and was about to aim his gun at Dalgliesh. "That wouldn't be. Unless you want your sister's pretty face to be damaged?"

Mr Ambrose froze.

"Very good. So well-behaved. Now, why don't you let yourself be tied up like a good dog?"

A grinding noise sounded through the cavernous room. Adaira didn't have to look far for the source. She had heard the sound of her brother's grinding teeth before, but never like this. For a long moment, he stared at her and Dalgliesh—then, slowly, almost torturously, he extended his hands.

"No!" Lilly stepped forward. "We can't! If we surrender to this bastard, we'll all be—"

"Silence!"

Her brother's voice was so hard and cold it made Adaira flinch. She felt the chilly steel of the blade press against her throat—yet she forced herself to speak anyway.

"Lilly is right," she croaked. "If it's just me with a knife at my throat, that's one thing. But if we're all in his power, we're done for."

"Oh no, don't say that." Dalgliesh's saccharine voice somehow sounded as if he were comforting a friend. Adaira wanted to punch him. "You are done for either way."

"Go eat shit, you bastard!" she hissed.

"I prefer caviar," he answered smoothly, seeming not in the least bothered by her insults. "And speaking of fish...you over there had better not think about doing something fishy."

Lilly, who had been in the midst of slowly shifting her revolver to aim at Dalgliesh's foot, froze in mid-motion.

"Now, to paraphrase someone with whom I'm sure you are all familiar, let's not waste time, shall we?" Dalgliesh gestured with his free hand. "Throw down your weapons and kneel on the ground."

For a long moment, nobody moved. Judging by the press of the knife Adaira felt at her throat, Dalgliesh didn't like that.

"I said weapons down and kneel on the ground, now!"

A long moment of silence. Then...

Clunk!

The sound of Mr Rikkard Ambrose's revolver hitting the stone floor echoed through the chamber.

Adaira closed her eyes in despair.

***

I watched Adaira close her eyes and despair, and part of me wanted to do the same. But I didn't, because I was far too busy staring hatefully at Lord Daniel Eugene Dalgliesh.

"How did you do it?" I demanded as one of the masked men yanked my arms behind my back and started to tie a rope around my wrists. "How are you unharmed? You were supposed to have been shot!"

"Ah, that?" One corner of Dalgliesh's mouth crooked up. "Men? Unmask."

The masked men finished tying the last few knots, then reached up to pull off the pieces of cloth that covered their mouths and noses—only to reveal faces that I knew all too well. Or rather, one single face.

I froze.

"You really think these people are just my agents in this city? Spies and bodyguards?" Dalgliesh smirked. "If so, why would I make them put on masks that practically scream 'spy'? Oh no, most of them serve a different purpose entirely, as does hiding their faces. You see, I always knew the nature of those savages around these parts. I knew that, sooner or later, they wouldn't be able to suppress their brutish instincts and would rise up against their betters. For that day, I was always ready." He gestured at the dozens of men around him who had an uncanny resemblance with him, several of them looking almost identical. "If those barbarians ever wanted to get their filthy hands on me, 'Lord Dalgliesh' would be caught and killed, and I would slip away unharmed. At least, that was the plan." His smirk widened. "I must admit, however, that I prefer the use for my doubles that I came up with today. The looks on your faces...simply delicious."

I lunged forward to punch him—only to be reminded by a sharp pain in my wrists that my hands were tied behind my back. One of the Dalgliesh-lookalikes grabbed my bonds and roughly pulled me back.

"Now, now. Behave yourself. If you want to explode with anger...." He glanced at the crates covered in danger warnings all around. "Trust me, you'll have your chance."

Those words immediately made the hair stand up all over my body. Next to me, Mr Ambrose's eyes burned with a cold fury that should have spread frost through the entire sewer and killed Dalgliesh and his goons by freezing their blood and bones. Only...it didn't. Instead, at a dismissive gesture from Dalgliesh, we found ourselves dragged off to the back of the room where the men started to tie us to a pillar.

"You will pay for this," I threatened.

"Undoubtedly." Sighing, Dalgliesh looked around. "Rebuilding this city will probably be expensive. But it will have to be done."

"You son of a...! That's not what I meant!"

"Oh, I know." Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. "Ah! I've got it! The reconstruction won't be so expensive after all. Not if I force the surviving locals to work for me for free."

I gritted my teeth. "Slavery is outlawed in the Empire!"

"Slavery? No, no, they naturally won't be slaves. I would never do such a thing. They will be prisoners of war, trying to make reparations for the crime of rebellion. Everything will be proper and lawful, trust me. I own enough judges and MPs to make it so."

I wanted to spit. I wanted to bite. I wanted to curse at him. But someone was faster than me.

"Tusīṁ ika kutē dī lāśa dē saṛē hō'ē sapauna!" The curses exploded from Karim's mouth like a flood of poison. "Maiṁ tērā galā pāṛa di'āṅgā atē cūhi'āṁ nū tērī adaralī rōṭī khāṇa dēvāṅgā! Tusīṁ—"

"Gag them," Dalgliesh ordered leisurely without even looking at the bodyguard. A moment later I found a piece of cloth stuffed into my mouth and my body firmly tied to a pillar. The others tried their best to struggle, but were all quickly overpowered and—

"Raaaaaah!"

Oh.

Correction: nearly all were quickly overpowered.

With an earth-shattering roar, Karim tore himself free from the men trying to bind his wrists, kicked aside the one in front of him and rushed towards Dalgliesh like an enraged bull. One of the men jumped into his way, but Karim simply grabbed him and bodily hurled him over his shoulder. With a sickening crunch, the unfortunate man collided with a wall.

He wasn't the most unfortunate, though. No, that honour belonged to Lord Daniel Eugene Dalgliesh, upon whom Karim was bearing down at this very moment.

"Stop him!" Dalgliesh screamed, his face paling abruptly as he stumbled back. "Stop that madma—aaaagh!"

His voice was abruptly cut off when another of his men who had tried to stop Karim was hurled at him and slammed into him head-first. The two men tumbled down to the ground and ended up in a tangled heap of limbs. In a blink, Karim was upon them and slammed his fist down with all his might.

Crunch!

Only the fact that his guard had ended up on top of him saved Dalgliesh from having his face caved in by a gigantic fist. Even so, the back of his underling's head smashed into his nose and sent spatters of blood flying all over the floor. The next instant, the underling was ripped off of him and hurled across the room, and an enraged, turban-wearing giant appeared in his field of vision.

"Men!" Dalgliesh howled. "Protect me!"

Like a pack of hungry wolves, the black-clad men pounced on Karim. They clung to his arms, his legs, even his beard. With a roar, Karim jerked from left to right, trying to shake off his attackers. One or two were sent flying away, but as soon as they were gone, new ones appeared to grab hold of him. I wanted nothing so much as to rush forward and help him, but my bonds firmly held me in place.

"Grrrahhh!" With another roar, Karim grabbed one of the black-clad men and slammed him down onto one of his compatriots, head first. There was an unsettling cracking noise, and both of the men went limp. The big bodyguard lunged forward, trying to get hold of Dalgliesh's throat. But just before he could—

Bam!

One of the goons had finally remembered the gun in his holster. With his hands trembling like aspens, he only managed a glancing shot. Yet that distracted Karim long enough for the other men to dogpile him again, pummeling him with fists, cudgels and brass knuckles. Under the continuous bombardment of blows, the bodyguard finally went down.

"You...!" Pushing himself up from the ground, Dalgliesh wiped the blood off his nose. His face was a rictus of anger. "You worthless, savage piece of scum! If it weren't a far too easy end for you, I would kill you here and now."

"Agh...ng...you...!" With a herculean effort, Karim forced one of his hands out from under the tangle of people trying to restrain him—only to have it ruthlessly stomped on by Dalgliesh. I watched the bastard step on one of my husband's employees...no, one of my friends, unable to do anything. In my imagination, though, I had already torn Dalgliesh apart a hundred times.

"Teach him a good lesson and tie him up with the others," the blasted son of a bachelor ordered. "But make sure he doesn't lose consciousness. I want him to be awake for what comes next."

"Yes, My Lord!"

At the command from their master, the black-clad doppelgangers didn't hesitate. They dragged Karim over to the rest of us and tied him in place.

"So..." Captain Carter spoke up in a voice that was far too nonchalant for the situation. "What exactly is going to happen next?"

"You can't guess?" Dalgliesh enquired, one corner of his mouth crooked. "Then let me give you a hint."

He gestured at his men, and they brought over a long, black fuse, and several crates marked "DANGEROUS!"

"Dear Lord...!" The captain widened his eyes. "That warning! You...you actually..."

Dalgliesh's smile widened.

"...you actually brought crates of chocolate here? That stuff is horrible! Only one bite, and you're addicted!"

The smile on Lord Dalgliesh's face disappeared.

"Why haven't you gagged that one yet?" he demanded.

"Apologies, My Lord! It shall be done immediately, My Lord!"

Moments later, Captain Carter was just as gagged as the rest of us. I wanted to curse at the ones responsible for all of this—but a certain piece of cloth in my mouth prevented that. I wanted to punch them, but the ropes bound me tightly. Dammit, how did things come to this? We were so close! So close!

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Mr Rikkard Ambrose. Surely, he had a plan to get out of this mess, right?

"Well now..." A pair of boots appeared in front of me and my husband. Glancing up, I saw Lord Dalgliesh's smug face. "Isn't this an interesting scene?"

If looks could kill, Dalgliesh would already have died a hundred times.

"But don't you worry." The smarmy bastard reached out to pat Mr Ambrose's shoulder. "The really interesting part is still coming. Men?"

"All is ready, My Lord." One of the men stepped forward, a box of matches in his hand. I felt a shiver travel down my spine.

"Then let's do this, shall we?" Dalgliesh smiled. "We live in such dark times. Death, strife, destruction... The shadow of war has descended over India. It's time to ignite a light in the darkness."

At a gesture from Dalgliesh, the match sparked to life and fell to the ground, igniting the fuse.

"Good bye, everyone. I wish you a bright future."

And with those words, Dalgliesh turned and stalked out of the room.

---------------------------------------------

My dear Readers,

In case anyone is interested what Karim said to Dalgliesh, it's this:

You rotten spawn of a dog's carcass! I am going to rip out your throat and let the rats eat your innards!

He really has a way with words, doesn't he?

Yours Truly

Sir Rob