Page 76 of The Ambiguous Enigma of the Hunted Lady
The light of his lantern bobbed with each uneven footfall, and the smoldering end of his cigar illuminated his grim face. She recognized him. They called him Gopher, and he was a mean bastard, but he was dumb as rocks.
Leah gripped a small pebble, said a short prayer to whatever was listening, and tossed it out of the shadows out of Gopher's view. It soared past him and skipped down the hall behind, clattering all the way.
“What was that?” Gopher exclaimed, twisting around to see what had made the racket behind him. “Who's there?” he held the lantern high, adjusting his stance. “Is that you, Leah?” he was fully turned around now, raising his lantern to peer deeper into the darkness.
Leah sprinted at him. The pain in her ankle faded away with the rush of adrenaline as she plowed into Gopher from behind, digging in her knee and shocking him off balance. He went down hard in the sloping trough of the sewer, and Leah swore she could hear the crunch of his elbow.
“Blast! Damn!” he screamed, clutching at his arm. “Christ! I'll kill you!”
Leah didn't waste any time. She blew past him and shot down the long hallway before her, past the junction back to White Chapel. The area above would likely be filled with Riphook's goons, based on what she had overheard. She had to find another exit.
“I'll kill you, Leah!”
A pistol shot rang through the tight tunnel, and the flash of its muzzle blazed out over her shoulders. For a moment she thought that she was dead, but then Riphook's disgusting face came to her mind.If you can hear the gunshot, then you ain't dead.So, she kept running as fast as her legs could carry her.
After hours of navigating the old sewers, Leah emerged at an exit she knew. Ultimately, she left through a family crypt in the grand graveyard of Westminster.
It was night, and the moon lit up the tombstones with an eerie radiance as she stepped out of the old, black stone crypt.How long has it been since I have set foot here?
Leah did not know where her parents were buried. Since she had been an orphan, she had often come to this graveyard, imagining that somewhere close by, her family lay beneath the ground.
She had ceased this practice when she had turned twelve, for Riphook had once teased her for being “soft.” That had put an end to it.
Stepping back into the graveyard, Leah felt strangely at ease, despite the fact that she could literally see the Devil's Acre from where she stood.
It loomed just two blocks to the south; a haphazardly stacked series of shanty buildings along a series of streets that began to overlap in crime, disease, and waste. Riphook was right there, at the top of that rat's nest, yet he seemed forever distant.
There was a strange superstition among low lifes like Riphook and his hit squads, and the cemetery in the evening was certainly out of their realm of possibility. It was one of the reasons she use to rely so heavily on the passage here that led to the sewers. When she had been a child thief, it had saved her on many occasions.
Leah walked steadily down the rows of headstones, pacing towards a nearby street. It was busy, she could tell, but just far enough away from the Devil's Acre that she could walk it undisturbed.
I must reach the pier.
“Leah?” Nash's voice cut through her like a bucket of cold water against a candle.
She whirled around to see her old enemy, standing two rows away from her. He had a rough hood over his face, but she recognized his voice and his shoulders.How did he find me? Did he follow me? How was I so careless? I am dead!She screamed at herself internally, tensing for a brawl to the death.
“Relax.” Nash said softly. “I ain't gonna hurt you.”
“What?” Leah was dumbstruck.This is a trap. Where are his thugs?She looked around nervously, trying to identify the ambush she knew to be waiting.
“I'm done with Riphook.” Nash said, taking down his hood. “I got no reason to come after you.”
“Christ.” Leah sucked in her breath at the sight of Nash's face. “Rip do that to you?”
“Yes.” Nash said after a moment's hesitation. “Because the doc didn't kill you.”
“Nash–” Leah didn't know what to say. “How did you find me?”
“I wasn't tryna' find you.” Nash confessed. “Ain't that funny? All this time I was huntin' you, and I just run into you blindly now that I ain't.”
“So, what are you doing here?” Leah was beginning to believe Nash's story, but she was still on edge.There could be a trap around any corner.
“Same as you I suppose.” Nash sighed, looking down to the headstone he stood before. “Saying goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Leah began to lower her guard.
“My brother's buried 'ere.” Nash gestured before him. “Just wanted to say goodbye I suppose before I went down to the wharfs.”
