Page 137 of A Dangerous Lord (Regency Spies & Secrets 3)

“There was a reason I left you to handle all the paperwork,” Lord Evan said. “After you broke your arm, I knew you couldn’t hack it in the field.”

“That isn’t true!” Sanders exclaimed.

“I’m afraid it is.”

Sanders took a commanding step towards Lord Evan. “I am a better agent than you are!” he shouted.

“Sanders…” Kerley warned.

Lord Evan swiftly jabbed a crippling blow into Sanders’ throat and retrieved the pistol tucked into his waistband. Sanders dropped to the ground, gasping for air, and Corbyn pointed the pistol at Kerley.

“It’s over,” Lord Evan declared. “You have lost.”

“Have I?” Kerley asked as he held his hands up. “There are three guards pointing their pistols at you and they were all instructed not to let you leave here alive.”

Jane watched as the guards approached them.

Lord Evan’s pistol didn’t waver. “The odds are still in my favor.”

Kerley gave him an amused look. “In what way?”

“Let Jane go free, and I won’t shoot you.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Kerley said. “She’s heard too much and is a part of this now.”

Lord Evan cocked his pistol. “Then you’ll die.”

“A part of me already died in that French prison,” Kerley confessed. “Now it’s your turn.” He turned towards the guards. “Shoot them.”

A shot echoed throughout the hall, and Jane watched a guard drop to the ground, dead. It was promptly followed by another shot and a second guard was hit.

“Blasted Runner,” Lord Evan muttered under his breath.

The lone guard pointed his pistol towards the doorway where the shots had come from, a panicked look on his face. Only a moment later, another shot was fired, killing him.

“Sorry!” a male’s voice shouted through the doorway.

Lord Evan stood tall. “Now it is over, Kerley!”

Rather than respond, Kerley spun on his heel and ran from the room. Lord Evan turned towards Jane. “Stay here. I need to go after him.”

“I want to go with you.”

He frowned as he glanced over his shoulder. “It’s dangerous.”

“I don’t care.”

He must have realized she would follow him anyway. He reached down to his boot, pulled out a muff pistol, and extended it towards her. Then, he reached for her other hand, muttering something about his stupidity in arming such stubbornness.

Together, they raced from the main hall and up the stairs after Kerley. They arrived on the roof and saw Kerley standing near the edge, the pistol tucked against his side.

“Step away from there,” Lord Evan ordered as he pointed his pistol at him.

Kerley looked at him blankly. “We both know my fate if you arrest me, and I refuse to have my hanging be a public spectacle.”

“You did murder Hannity and Miss Polly, and are guilty of forging banknotes,” Lord Evan said. “All of those crimes are punishable by death.”

“What of you?” Kerley asked. “You may as well have killed me the day you left me in France.”

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