His gaze flicking to Eva, Toby confirmed that she was, indeed, carrying a muff and was gripping something inside the roll of fur, presumably a muff pistol. He hadn’t known whether to believe Heinrik’s tale of Eva being a junior agent, but given the determined look on her face, he decided it would be prudent to assume she truly was.
That she might, indeed, shoot someone.
The boys were inching away, backing into Diana and Helga, who frowned but reluctantly stepped back.
Heinrik spoke over his shoulder. “Miss Locke, please oblige us by not moving farther while we transact our business.”
Eva, whose attention had shifted to Toby and Heinrik’s interaction, jerked her gaze back to the others, and they froze.
Inwardly, Toby grimaced. He hadn’t allowed for Eva.
Heinrik’s eyes narrowed on his face, obviously considering what tack to take next.
Toby was rapidly recalculating, trying to foresee several moves ahead, when a rush of heavy footsteps swept toward them from the wharf.
All eyes swung in that direction as the Prussians, both with guns drawn, barrels pointed, came marching up.
To Toby’s infinite relief, Diana and Helga protectively swept the boys to them, and his family formed a tight huddle in the center of the alley, and the Prussians strode past without sparing them so much as a glance.
In the lead, Jager had his pistol and his entire focus trained on Heinrik, while Koch, a yard behind, had Eva in his sights.
Both pistols remained unwaveringly and menacingly aimed at their targets as Jager and Koch halted, with Jager facing Heinrik and Koch facing Eva across the narrow alley.
Understandably, Heinrik and Eva both froze.
Toby’s fingers fluttered, the impulse to react and seize one of his knives spiking through him, but he wasn’t about to wager that the pistols the Prussians were holding weren’t examples of the new revolvers, capable of shooting five or six bullets without reloading. And there were two Prussians to disable, not just one.
Obviously, distraction was required. He sighed loudly. “Really, Heinrik? Youstillhaven’t lost them?”
“I thought we had,” Heinrik drawled back, a definite hint of frustration in his tone, “but clearly, our traitor is more deeply embedded than I’d thought.”
Sadly, Jager was difficult to distract.
Heinrik continued, “Perhaps?—”
“Shut up!” Jager ordered, his focus unrelenting. “We don’t need you anymore.”
Toby saw Jager’s finger tighten on the trigger.
To hell with this.He couldn’t stand there and watch Heinrik killed in cold blood.
Toby bent, gripped the hilt of the throwing dagger concealed in his boot, and sent it flying, the move so swift that, although Jager caught the action from the corner of his eye, he didn’t have time to react before the dagger buried itself in his throat.
Jager’s shot went wild, into the sky, and he clutched his throat, gurgling, then like a puppet whose strings had been released, he gradually crumpled and fell.
Less experienced, Koch gasped and stared, momentarily shocked into immobility, then he blinked and, plainly panicking, aimed his pistol not at Toby but, again, at Eva.
An ear-splitting screech ripped through the night.
Everyone startled.
“Bad man!”Evelyn screamed and flung Rupert the Bear at Koch’s head.
Instinctively, Koch jerked back.
And Eva freed her pistol from her muff and shot him.
Even as Koch fell, Toby noted that, despite the furor, Eva had put a single bullet through Koch’s heart.
