Making an escape was impossible. The intelligence they’d gathered about the configuration of the construction site must have come from an earlier date, because the lumber and equipment were in different arrangements. The only way out would mean she and Jack had to cross a huge, exposed stretch, making them easy targets. All she and the others could do was fight.

Ducking behind the crates, Eva took stock of the situation. Rockley had disappeared, but his hired muscle shot at Jack and Eva from their positions. There were two thugs plus Ballard closer to Jack, and two men nearer to Eva. She waited for the telltale muzzle flash of their weapons before shooting back. But she had to be judicious. She possessed a limited number of bullets. Each shot had to count.

One of the thugs closer to her made a break from his cover and ran right toward her. A high whine from a rifle’s bullet pierced the air, and the thug turned and ran back to his cover. Simon. She’d be sure to thank him later.

Eva heard grunts and more gunfire from Jack’s side of the construction site. Her heart lodged itself firmly in her throat. Jack was the one with the money. He’d be the primary target. Need to help him.

Rising up out of her crouch, she readied herself to break from behind her cover. As she did so, a large, dark shape loomed in front of her. She dove to the ground a moment before a pistol barked and a bullet slammed into the crate behind her. Had she been any slower, that bullet would’ve gone right through her skull.

Eva hit the ground and fired at the same time. The muzzle flash illuminated one of Rockley’s thugs lunging toward her. Then he groaned and fell heavily to the ground.

Getting to her feet, she warily approached the fallen man. He clutched his shoulder, blood dripping through his fingers.

She picked up the thug’s gun and shoved it into her handbag. A quick patting down of his body uncovered no other weapons. He wouldn’t be going anywhere.

More shots rang out from across the construction site. She heard Jack’s cursing and the thumps of fists meeting flesh. From the sound of things, he was outnumbered. After making certain that her gun was fully loaded, she ran toward him.


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The instant the first shot rang out, Jack’s only thought was for Eva. It didn’t matter that he knew she could take care of herself—he acted on instinct, and that instinct demanded he protect her. But the gunfire kept him from going to her. No choice but to find his own cover and hope like hell she did the same.

He threw himself behind a stack of wooden planks and immediately returned fire. Strange to fire a gun again after so long. It’d always been a last resort.

No sign of Rockley. The bastard had snuck off. His men stayed behind, though, trading shots with Jack and the other members of Nemesis. Jack’s only relief came when he saw the flash of Eva’s gun from the other side of the construction yard.

Firing guns in the middle of the night was a sure way to attract the coppers, and it didn’t surprise Jack when Rockley’s hired men stopped shooting. Tense silence fell. He crept forward, snaking his way between crates and piles of metal. The damned escape routes weren’t where they were supposed to be. A fight it had to be, then.

The thugs had to be taken out. They’d keep coming after him, trying to get the money back, unless he stopped them first.

He needed to lure them out into the open. Reaching down, he grabbed a heavy piece of metal and threw it. It landed with a loud clang in an open space between several crates. Two of the thugs rushed out of the shadows, thinking to ambush him. But they stood in confusion when they found only the wrench lying on the ground.

Wordlessly, Jack charged the men from behind. He rammed his elbow into the head of one of the men, and the bloke went sprawling. With a punch to the jaw, Jack knocked him out. That left the second chap. The thug raised his gun to fire, but Jack snatched up a piece of wood and flung it at him. The board smacked against the man’s forearm, throwing off his aim. As the shot went wild, Jack lunged.

He twisted the gun out of the bloke’s hand. As soon as the gun fell, he plowed his fist into the thug’s chest. As the man gasped, Jack grabbed his hair and rammed his head down onto Jack’s knee. Wasn’t a move he used often in the ring, being quick and not particularly showy, but he was after far more than prize money here. And he was fighting with only one hand, since he had to keep a good grip on the case full of money. The chap was out before he hit the ground.

Two blokes down. Got to get to Eva.

Ballard stepped into his path. “His lordship wants his blunt back.”

Jack stared at the younger version of himself. He may have been younger, but he was still as big as Jack, with arms as big around as pier pilings. There was experience in Ballard’s eyes, though he hadn’t yet seen the worst of life. Ballard still had the shine of possibility, as if he could face down whatever this world threw at him. Enough time with Rockley would change all that.

“Got the sound of Seven Dials in your voice,” Jack said. “That’s how Rockley likes it. Too poor to care that we’re being used.”

“If it ain’t me,” Ballard said, “it’ll be someone else.”

“Don’t make it right.”

The young bloke only shrugged. “Right don’t keep a roof over my head or pay for beer.”

“There’s more in the world than beer and keeping the rain out.” Jack didn’t know why he tried to talk to the chap, instead of simply laying into him. But he’d seen too many echoes of himself lately, too many roads he could’ve taken.

Eva’s influence. That words could mean as much as fists. What would she make of him now, trying to have a conversation with Ballard instead of just pummeling the bloke? Jack didn’t feel softer—he felt as sharp as ever, but with a more precise edge.

Ballard frowned. “Here now, don’t you go trying to confuse me. His lordship says to get the blunt back, and to kill you. And that’s what I aim to do.”

Without another word, Ballard attacked.

To hell with being nice.

They threw themselves at each other, trading punches. Ducking one of Ballard’s fists, Jack had to admit that the bloke knew his business. He’d trained, just as Jack had, his strength almost equal to his. Jack landed an upper cut, making Ballard’s head snap back, but the younger man came back quickly with a right hook that caught Jack square on the side of his jaw. His mind and vision fogged.

Carrying the case full of money hindered Jack, leaving him dependent on using just one hand to fight. But he had the use of both elbows, knees, and feet. He didn’t have a gentleman’s pretty rules about fighting. So after shaking his head to clear it, he countered Ballard’s attacks, kicking at the weakest points of the bloke’s body.

Ballard grabbed his collar, and threw him into a crate. The wood shattered around him. Thick splinters jabbed through his coat and into his back. Grimacing, Jack struggled to his feet. He could feel blood running down his skin as he leaped at Ballard. They locked together, grappling, careening from crate to piles of girders to stacks of lumber. All the while, they threw punches and rammed knees and elbows into each other, with Ballard fighting to get the case from Jack.

Jack swallowed a groan as Ballard slammed an elbow into his ribs. Something cracked, filling him with a red film of pain.

A damn good fighter, Ballard. Even the brawl with the bullies at Mrs. Arram’s hadn’t been this rough, and none of those blokes had held back.

If Jack could walk away from this fight, he’d consider it a damn miracle. But he had to keep going. He had to get to Eva. He shoved at Ballard, trying to break free.

A revolver barked. He turned just in time to see one of the other hired thugs fall to the ground, gripping his bleeding thigh. The gun he’d been holding now lay upon the ground. And standing over him, Webley in hand, was Eva. Jack saw it all in an instant: the thug had been drawing a bead on him while he fought with Ballard, and Eva had shot the bloke before he could pull the trigger.

She now picked up the thug’s dropped gun and stuck it in her handbag. From the sound of metal clanging on metal, she’d added the weapon to a growing collection.

Eva’s presence distracted Ballard long enough for Jack to land a punch right in the center of his face. Blood shot from the other man’s nose as the bone crunched beneath Jack’s fist. But the chap didn’t go down. He stayed standing and fought. If Jack wasn’t on the receiving end of Ballard’s punches, he’d be impressed by the bloke’s heart. No wonder Rockley had picked him out of all the other bruisers. Ballard took a lot of punishment, and dished out plenty of his own.

He should give the case to Eva, but that’d make her more of a target. He had to hang on to it. Drawing a breath, Jack steadied himself before launching into another round of blows. It was going to be a long fight.

*   *   *

Eva had never seen two men more determined to beat the hell out of each other. She’d witnessed Jack in some brutal fights before, but none of his opponents had been so much his equal. As he and Ballard continued to brawl, she had the mad notion that the whole of London would succumb to the ravages of time, collapsing around the two men as they fought.

If she tried to get in the middle of it, even to help, she’d only make Jack’s job that much more difficult. She’d be a liability.

Behind her, she heard the ping of Marco’s gun ricocheting off a metal plate, followed by someone returning gunfire. Was it Rockley? Another of his hired brutes? With the darkness heavy over the site, it was difficult to know who was where. Even an expert sniper like Simon would have trouble spotting his targets.