“Keep fighting,” she shouted. “But be careful. His blades are dipped in poison!”
Le Triton’s laughter echoed into the night. “You know so much about me, MissPenny,” he shouted, parrying a blow from the Inspector’s man. “Why don’t you come a little closer?”
In that moment, Mina stared into the face of the man who had murdered her parents. Was this the last image her mother had seen before she died? The flat planes of his face, rust-colored hair, pale blue eyes. Had her mother asked for mercy and found none?
Le Triton threw another knife, narrowly missing Drew, who ducked just in time.
The two men circled each other. Mina trained her pistol on Le Triton’s heart, but the man wouldn’t stand still—he danced and leapt, always moving.
She’d have to move closer, distract him somehow.
Her uncle’s voice echoed in her mind, the words he’d used when he trained agents and she’d spied on the training.
Keep your target talking. Identify weakness, hesitation, and use it to your advantage.
“Le Triton,” Mina shouted. “How is Claudette? How old is she now, nineteen?” She’d read the name of his daughter in one of her uncle’s secret reports.
Her enemy faltered for a second and Drew darted toward him and landed a blow on his jaw.
Le Triton staggered for a moment but regained his balance swiftly. The knife in his hand glittered wickedly in the moonlight. He slashed at Drew, who was forced to retreat.
Where was Langley? Mina caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye. He was engaging more of the smugglers, keeping them from rushing to their leader’s aid.
“Claudette is the same age as you, MissPenny,” said Le Triton. “She’s twenty.”
“The same age Sir Malcolm’s daughter Rebecca would have been if you hadn’t killed her.”
Le Triton paused, panting for breath, his poisoned knife extended like a shield in front of his chest. “I don’t kill girls. She wasn’t supposed to drink that poison. It was meant for Malcolm.”
“You killed his wife and his daughter.”
“By accident.”
“What does Claudette like to eat for breakfast? Does she have a beau?” She kept talking about his daughter, she could see it was enraging him. Drew moved closer.
Mina advanced in step with him.
If they could move close enough, Drew could kick the knife out of Le Triton’s hand and Mina could shoot him.
Without warning, a knife flew through the air, but it was aimed at Le Triton. It struck home, the long, sharp blade piercing his shoulder and flinging his arm back. Le Triton’s knife clattered to the deck.
“I told you I’ve been practicing with a knife, Thorny,” Lord Rafe shouted from his slouched position on the deck.
It was the opening she and Drew had been waiting for. Drew lunged for the hilt of Le Triton’s knife and flung it off the ship. In the next movement, he slammed his foot into Le Triton’s kneecap.
Attacked from all sides, Le Triton fell to his knees.
Mina was on him in seconds. She pressed her pistol to his forehead. “You murdered my parents, you bastard.”
Le Triton laughed, spitting blood on the deck. “Your mother was quite a woman. It was a shame to have to kill such a beauty.”
Mina’s hand trembled. She could take his life.
His life for the lives of her parents.
“Mina,” said Drew in a low, steady voice. “He’s not worth it. Let the Inspector arrest him. This isn’t who you are.”
A cold-blooded killer. A spy with no heart to lose.