in a slashing arc aimed at the Bone Man’s knife arm. He did not have the leverage he needed for a bone-breaking blow but he did have the element of surprise. The assassin was not expecting the cane to be employed as a weapon.
The stick struck the assassin’s forearm with considerable force. He grunted, dropped the knife and leaped backward with the fluid grace of a dancer.
In an instant he whirled and swept forward again, intending to retrieve the blade.
Joshua kept one hand flattened against the wall and used the cane to sweep the knife aside into the bushes, out of the Bone Man’s reach.
The assassin retreated a second time. Joshua expected him to produce another knife. Instead, he grabbed the pack, dragged it out into the street and reached inside.
Joshua started forward again.
The assassin removed an object from the pack and hurled it to the ground at Joshua’s feet. Glass shattered. A smoky mist erupted. Joshua instinctively held his breath and retreated out of range of the vapors. But he could not avoid all of the effects. His eyes burned and his throat tightened. He could only hope that he had not breathed in some lethal poison.
The sound of a window being yanked open somewhere above the street reverberated in the night.
“You down there,” Beatrice shouted. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”
Another window slammed open. “Sound the alarm. There’s a villain in the street.”
Joshua pushed through the vapors into untainted air but the sound of running footsteps told him that his quarry was escaping. There was no chance of overtaking him. A lame bastard had to accept his physical limitations.
In that moment it was all he could do not to slam the damned stick against the nearest wall. But he knew even as the searing anger and frustration threatened to overwhelm him that such a blow would likely destroy the cane. If that happened he would be even less able to protect Beatrice.
And protecting her was all that mattered.
More windows opened. Joshua looked up and saw the innkeeper, garbed in nightshirt and cap, peering down into the street. Beatrice and several other guests were watching from their windows.
“What’s going on down there?” the innkeeper demanded. “Shall I summon the constable?”
“Feel free to do so,” Joshua said. “But I doubt if he’ll find the villain.”
“A burglar, eh?”
“A would-be burglar,” Joshua said. “I spotted him in time to send him running off.”
“I thank you for the effort, sir, but you shouldn’t have tried to go after him on your own,” the innkeeper admonished. “You should have alerted me. What chance does a man with a cane have of stopping a member of the criminal class?”
“An excellent question,” Joshua said.
He grabbed the pack, slung it over his shoulder and limped back toward the inn.
Thirty-One
This is more of Lancing’s work,” Joshua said. “The plan was to smoke us out—literally.”
He was in his shirtsleeves, the cuffs rolled up on his forearms, the collar undone. His coat and boots were once again warming in front of the rekindled fire. The edgy sensation that always followed in the wake of violence was heating his blood. The knowledge that Beatrice was anxious and concerned about him added fuel to the fires inside. Lame bastard. You’re not much good to her but you’re all she’s got.
He forced himself to concentrate on the three unexploded canisters that he had removed from the pack. He positioned them on the small table and turned up the gas lamp. The smoke devices were made of heavily tinted glass. Each was fitted with a rubber stopper.
“No wonder he handled the pack with such care,” he said. “The gas is released when the glass is shattered.”
“He meant to burn down the inn in an attempt to grab me?” Beatrice asked. She looked and sounded horrified. “So many people could have been killed, including us. That makes no sense unless the person who is after me wants me dead. Maybe we were wrong to assume that he needs me for some crazed reason.”
“No.” Joshua held one of the glass balls up to the light. “I’m sure he intended to kidnap you tonight. These devices generate unpleasant fumes and a thick vapor that resembles smoke. The effect simulates a fire but there are no flames. If he had been able to smash all four of these things inside the inn, there would have been a great deal of panic. Everyone would have run out into the street, thinking the place was on fire. He planned to take advantage