The other man wasn’t interested in pleasantries. “This isn’t your turf anymore,Vengeance. Pops banned you from the rookeries after your last rampage.”
“Hardly a rampage.” Percy sniffed and jerked his chin in the direction of the two unconscious men. “They’ll live.” His gazenarrowed on the cut on Danny’s arm like two slits in the curtain to hell. “Though I may remove a few appendages before their bodies arrive at the clinic.”
“Gonna chop up the bodies this time? The coroner will be thrilled,” the hooded man said mockingly. “Are you the one pilfering from the docks too?”
Percy quirked a brow, though the easy expression looked strained. “Someone steal the board up your arse, Syd?”
“Barrels of sand, stolen right off the ships.” Syd crossed his arms over his chest, the moleskin tightening over lean arm muscles. “Whatever agreement the Duke of Camine has with the harbormaster, it won’t be long before the captains take action to protect what’s theirs. Might want to remind your master of that.”
Danny’s head was spinning, attempting to keep up with the conversation. The Duke of Camine was stealing cargo? And Percy was part of it? But what would anyone want with a bunch of sand?
“It wasn’t us,” Percy said. “We can look into the situation if the Merrys are spread too thin?”
“‘We’?” Syd regarded Danny. “Quite a fine partner you’ve found.” Danny could feel those hidden eyes assessing. “She’s injured.”
“She’ll be fine,” Percy said too brightly. “Nothing my friend and I can’t handle.”
“Does your friend have a name?”
“Untitled, I’m afraid.” Percy shifted to block Danny’s view, and her from the others. “Call her whatever you will. Only fifty-fifty she’ll answer, anyway.” He glanced at her over his shoulder, his expression tight. “Isn’t that right, Betty? Belinda?”
Rampage, huh? She gratefully latched on to a spark of anger, anything to wash away the residual shame swirling inside. “Are you sure it’s notButcher?” Danny asked.
Percy winced and lowered his voice so only she could hear. “It’s a long story. Now is not the time.”
Jack the Ripper, the Demon of Whitechapel, Leather Apron, the Duke of Grandfellow: If terrorizing London was what he meant by following orders... “You killed prostitutes?” she whispered back. “What did they do, spit on the army?”
“Your lack of faith in me is insulting.” He threw a grin towards the two other figures before answering quietly, “They were foreign agents and quite skilled, I’ll have you know.”
“That’s...” Danny had nothing to say to that. “Unexpected.”
Percy clapped his hands together and maneuvered them towards the mouth of the alley without turning his back. “Thank you for your rescue efforts, lads, but as you see, we are well and should be going.”
Syd didn’t need to move to stop them in their tracks. “You shouldn’t bring proper ladies ’round these parts, Percy. Anything might happen to them when you’re not looking.”
The hulking man at Syd’s side cracked his knuckles and smiled viciously.
As Percy’s entire back muscles flexed, hard enough to break walnuts against, Danny came to the horrifying realization that Percy was afraid of these two and was doing his best to keep them from learning her name.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Percy said, never taking his eyes off the two men.
Syd snorted. “With that bustle and those earrings, every criminal from here to West End could pick her as an easy mark.”
Percy stepped forward, friendliness gone. “I’m a messenger for the duke, a man Markus respects. If it’s compensation you want for setting foot back on your turf, fine, but the girl stays out of this.”
“The Merrys don’t want your blunt. And the understanding between Pops and the duke is for him, and him alone.” Sydglanced the big man’s way, and a silent message passed between them. He turned on his heel, the big man in tow.
As they passed, Danny held herself perfectly still, taking her cue from Percy. When Syd spoke again from behind them, his voice was harder than steel.
“Stay out of St. Giles, Percy. Next time, we won’t hesitate to take you out like the rest of the trash. This is your last warning.”
Not ten seconds after the two men turned out of sight, Percy said, “Let’s get out of here.”
Danny didn’t argue. Pulling her fallen hair back into a rushed coif, she followed Percy through a maze of decreasingly dirty and narrow streets, saying nothing until they’d left the acidic smell and uneasy feelings behind and stepped onto a main thoroughfare teeming with carriages and the more familiar scent of soap and horse.
Her mind was abuzz. Those men in the alley were gang members; it was the only explanation. She was not so sheltered she was unaware of the rampant brawls over imagined territory in the worst of the slums, but to think they’d stumble upon not one gang but two, in the middle of the day, the last being a couple Percy knew, and more alarming, the two knew Percy.
“Say something,” Percy said at her side.
