A heavy thud rang out, and the tremendous noise immediately stirred activity in several nearby rooms. Leonard was the first to rush in. "An attacker?" he asked Dunn.
But the moment Leonard entered, he saw strange expressions on all three faces in the room, their gazes directed toward the floor.
Puzzled, Leonard followed their gazes and saw a dark-skinned man lying on the floor. The man's eyes were almost vacant, and the window stood wide open, as though more danger might be lurking outside.
Was someone else preparing to attack us? Leonard glanced warily around, suspecting another ambusher, but found nothing. He quietly asked Pallez Zoroast in his mind, Old Man, this attacker is really well hidden. I can't find him anywhere.
After the battle with Ince Zangwill, I'm no longer the reckless, careless man I once was! Leonard drew a deep breath, hoping the Old Man could tell him who had dared attack this gathering place of Nighthawks.
But Pallez did not answer.
Feeling puzzled, Leonard quietly pressed him again. Old Man?
Just then, Klein put away his pendulum and gave a slightly embarrassed cough. "Well... Leonard, I just performed a divination. He's the only attacker."
Leonard's gaze froze. He thought he now knew why the Old Man was ignoring him.
He coughed twice to conceal his embarrassment, his voice full of disbelief. "There really was only one?"
Klein switched on the nearby desk lamp, crouched down, and deftly took a length of rope from his pocket to tie up the man on the floor. Then he began carefully checking the man's identity.
After a while, Klein looked up and reported calmly to Dunn, "He's the client who visited us earlier today. He had a blowpipe and some poison darts of the matching size hidden on him. He probably