Ada raised her pistol toward him. “Move,” she said, but he only advanced on them, brandishing a knife in one hand.
Ada lifted her pistol slightly, aiming just over his shoulder as she pulled the trigger, shattering the window behind the man. Glass rained over the top of him as, at her warning shot, chaos erupted, men scattering, shouts echoing off the metal walls.
She and Jonny ran together, blood roaring in her ears. Jonny urged her on as he gripped her hand tightly in his. They burst out of the door and into the night, sprinting along the docks. Ada’s lungs burned, but she didn’t dare slow down, not with the thunder of pursuit following them, sounding far too close for her liking.
They careened around a corner, and Ada's heart seized. A dead end. Jonny shoved her behindhim, squaring off as their pursuers caught up, leering. Ada clutched the papers, the evidence of Sharpe's misdeeds, to her chest with her left hand, the pistol still in her right.
Then a voice cut through the night, achingly familiar. Will. "Let them go, boys. I'll deal with my brother.”
Ada could barely catch her breath as she looked at Jonny, who appeared calm and collected.
Will wouldn’t hurt them.
Would he?
“Well, well, Jonny and his little lovebird,” Will said, loud enough so that the retreating men could hear him. “Why have you come and offered yourself to be caught in Sharpe’s nest?”
He approached now, his voice low.
“The shipment was late. They should have all been on the ship. I had no way to get word to you.”
“I see that,” Jonny said grimly.
“Were you able to plant what we needed?”
“I was,” Jonny confirmed. Ada said nothing about what she had found. Jonny might trust Will implicitly, but she liked having a secondary option — just in case.
“Sharpe will know you are here by now,” Will said. “You have to go. And quickly.”
“What are you going to say?”
“That your little lady here held me at gunpoint. He knows the kind of shot she is.”
Ada quirked a brow. She hadn’t known that word of her prowess was so widespread.
Will stepped forward. “Better give me a blow to the head, Jon, show that I put up a fight.”
“No.”
“You have to,” Will insisted.
“Then get your own in first,” Jonny challenged him, crossing his arms over his chest as Ada rolled her eyes. Men.
Will nodded grimly, stepped back, and then lunged towardJonny, hitting him across the face, sending his head snapping back and causing Ada to cringe.
She had a feeling there was some pent-up anger behind the blow, but she hoped that would be it — that they could move on from it now.
Jonny got his hit in, but it didn’t have nearly as much force behind it, and the two stepped back, shaking their firsts.
“Go now,” Will said. “But remember. Sharpe knows. He’ll be coming for you.”
“Unless we can bring him down first.”
“Maybe so,” Will said, before Jonny took Ada’s hand and they took off, back toward home.
He was silent as they prepared for bed, and she didn’t bother showing him the papers she had found. They could wait until morning. He had far too much on his mind now.
When they finally slid under the covers, he still hadn’t said anything, and she reached for him, wrapping her arm over him, holding him close.
