Founding
The Tatton River rushed along. The husband and wife on Riverbank Street, their faces covered in black cloth, did not continue forward. Instead, they confronted the five people blocking their path. Mr. Feringa and Miss Brown both held pistols, while the five people before them were clearly city gangsters.
"Are they people you know this time?"
Mr. Albert, standing beside a mailbox at the street corner where another road intersected the riverside street, asked Shade. Shade narrowed his eyes and looked them over.
"I know a group of dockside gangsters, but I don't know these people. It's impossible for me to know everyone in this city."
The coroner made a small joke.
"I thought you had connections you could use anytime, anywhere. Shall we go, then? Pistols only. How's your shooting?"
"You may call me a sharpshooter."
Although the revolver issued by Military Intelligence Section Six was a single-shot pistol, Shade still used only that. After counting down from three, the two of them charged out of the fog together—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Three gunshots rang out. They came from Shade, Mr. Albert, and Miss Brown, who had fired upon hearing the shots. As three gangsters fell, the other two immediately returned fire. But with their numbers no longer an advantage, their retaliatory shots had no effect at all, aside from one bullet that Mr. Albert dodged.
Bang! Bang!
After another two shots, only one of the five was killed outright by Miss Brown. The other four were seriously wounded and collapsed to the ground, one of them clearly on the verge of death.
Shade and Mr. Albert emerged from the fog. Looking at the five people on the ground, the latter took a whistle from his pocket and blew it sharply. Its piercing sound immediately echoed through the