The voice behind him made the middle-aged man freeze.
He was certain there was a wall behind him.
He had surveyed the surroundings before intercepting Didian.
Doubt and alarm churned in his heart.
His body, however, moved swiftly.
Without hesitation, the middle-aged man sidestepped twice, then darted diagonally toward the alley's exit.
He moved so fast that Garcia had no time to react.
Didian raised her hand and hurled the bolt she held.
But the middle-aged man knocked it down with a backhand strike.
At the same time, he glanced back at Didian and Garcia, his eyes vicious as a wolf's.
Didian raised her hand, taking another bolt.
She knew she absolutely could not let this man escape.
Otherwise, neither she nor Garcia nor their loved ones at the Lotus Leaf Inn would ever know peace again.
At last, Garcia snapped out of his daze.
The Cloak Society newcomer, a part-time information broker whose manuscripts had been rejected a hundred times, hurled the half bottle in his hand like a grenade.
The broken bottle spun through the air in an arc.
The middle-aged man saw it but paid it no mind.
He could dodge an attack of that caliber with his eyes closed.
What concerned him was the person who had spoken.
Where?
Where are they?
Though he appeared to be fleeing, he was actually using every means at his disposal to search.
With a shift of his feet, he dodged the broken bottle.
What he failed to see, however, was that the broken bottle that had brushed past his shoulder came back!
Thud!
The sharp end of the broken bottle plunged viciously into the middle-aged man's back.
Surprise and disbelief crossed his face.
Then the second crossbow bolt Didian had thrown arrived.
Unlike Garcia's utterly haphazard throw, hers was