1

M iss Elizabeth Wynchester lay in wait in the shadows of a purported hackney carriage. The handsome Black man at the reins was actually her brother Jacob. The brown-haired woman perched on the bench opposite Elizabeth was their sister Chloe.

A small frown creased Chloe's brow. "You remember the plan?"

"I always remember the plan."

"The real plan. Not your bloodthirsty agenda."

"It ought to be the real plan," Elizabeth muttered. At her sister's sharp glance, Elizabeth added, "I know, I know. Resorting to violence is a contingency."

"A distant one," Chloe said firmly. "And only if I tell you it's time for contingencies."

Today, Chloe was not dressed as the flamboyant Duchess of Faircliffe, but rather as the unassuming, practically invisible pickpocket she'd once been before falling in love and marrying a duke. Now she only used her past skills in the service of bringing justice to one of the Wynchesters' deserving clients.

Elizabeth preferred to mete out justice with the blade of a sword.

"I just want to poke him a little bit," she tried again. "When he bleeds, it'll be simple to snatch the key."

"It will already be simple to snatch the key. Having him slippery with blood makes things harder. Plus there's no room to swing a sword inside the carriage."

"Not a problem," Elizabeth assured her sister. "Kuni has been teaching me to throw knives."

Chloe covered her face with her hand. "God help us all."

"No murdering!" Jacob called through the sliding panel that separated the driver from passengers.

"Except as a last resort," Elizabeth reminded her pacifist brother. "Or if the perpetrator deserves to die."

"My carriage, my rules," Jacob shot back.

"Absolutely no bloodshed allowed," Chloe put in quickly, "because Tommy and Philippa need to use this carriage for their mission, as soon as we've finished with ours."

Elizabeth let out a long-suffering sigh. "I'm being oppressed."

"Places!" Jacob hissed through the sliding panel. "He's coming out of the bank now."

Elizabeth and Chloe both shot up ramrod straight, then arranged themselves in carefully casual positions.

"If he sits next to you…" Chloe whispered.

"I know, I know." Elizabeth gripped the handle of her sword stick. "Shove him in your direction."

" Subtly ," Chloe admonished.

The door cracked open. A male voice gave directions to an address on the opposite side of nearby Hyde Park.

Elizabeth tensed with delicious anticipation. Mr. Bunyan was a liar and a thief… and shortly to receive his comeuppance. The young ward he'd been stealing from would not only have her inheritance returned, but also need no longer fear the volatile temper of a knave who—

"I'll have you there at once," came Jacob's clear voice.

Almost time. Elizabeth was certain there was more than enough room in the carriage to unsheathe her sword. However, she didn't want to be the one who ruined good carpet before her siblings' next mission, so she heroically stifled her bloodlust and prepared to give the thief a nice, friendly shove instead.

Mr. Bunyan leapt into the carriage. The horses took off at top speed, causing the loose door to swing shut behind Mr. Bunyan. Off-balance and floundering, he fell heavily into the first available seat—which happened to be the bench next to Elizabeth.

"Who are you ?" asked Mr. Bunyan, visibly startled.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say "Your worst nightmare" before catching her sister's eye and remembering to stay on plan. Elizabeth was meant to appear even more afraid of this scoundrel than he was about to be of her, thus providing a reasonable cover for panicking and pushing a strange man away from her.

"Aaahh!" she screamed in faux hysteria, then gave him a mighty shove.

At that moment, the carriage jerked to one side, as Jacob presumably was forced to avoid some obstruction on the street. Rather than tumble across Chloe's lap as planned, Mr. Bunyan stumbled across the carriage to thump against the inside window.

The coach hurtled down the road even faster.

"What is this?" Mr. Bunyan sputtered, eyes wide. "Who are you people?"

Behind him, Chloe's hand reached up toward his coat.

Elizabeth gave a winning smile to distract him. He recoiled as if a cobra had just flashed its fangs at him. Which, to be fair, was often how people described Elizabeth's smiles.

Mr. Bunyan gasped in terror. "You're not… You're not Wynchesters ?"

Elizabeth blinked. "That was quick."

Usually it wasn't until well after any given maneuver that their villainous targets realized they'd been hoodwinked. But the Wynchester family had taken on so many new clients as of late, and developed such a following, that Elizabeth supposed it was only reasonable for a felonious blackguard to live in fear that he should one day find himself flat against a carriage window in the middle of—

With a scream, Mr. Bunyan leapt across the carriage, shouldered open the door, and threw himself onto the crowded pavement.

"Shite." Chloe shook her fist at the swinging door. "A runner."

Jacob stopped the horses at once. "Go."

Chloe clutched her chest. "I can't. Elizabeth?"

"I'll do my best."

Chloe was breastfeeding a baby every three hours like clockwork, which did not currently allow for sprints through the park to tackle miscreants.

Justice was up to Elizabeth.

Mindful of her sometimes rebellious joints, she scrambled out of the carriage and raked her gaze over the milling throngs. She stood in front of an entrance to Green Park. Now, where on earth was… There , trying his damnedest to disappear amongst the trees and picnickers, was Mr. Bunyan. She lifted the handle of her sword stick and took off after him.

"Stop, thief!" she called out.

Mr. Bunyan glanced over his shoulder, made an expression of pure fear, then dashed between two trees in an obvious attempt to lose her.

He was taller and narrower and no doubt faster than Elizabeth, with his long legs unencumbered by petticoats. But the park was packed with people. Mr. Bunyan kept getting jostled and tripping over tree roots, which gave Elizabeth an opening to follow and the opportunity to regain lost ground.

As her shadow fell across Mr. Bunyan's fleeing feet, Elizabeth twisted the handle of her walking stick.

"No swords!" came her brother Jacob's distant shout.

Curse her brother's squeamishness! He must have tied the horses and followed in pursuit.

Elizabeth sighed and secured the handle guarding her blade. She leapt over a patch of geraniums. Arm and cane outstretched, she poked the fleeing Mr. Bunyan in the back of the knee with her sword stick.

He crumpled like a puppet with cut strings.

Elizabeth threw herself on top of him, flopping about bonelessly to pin him in place. Help would arrive soon. For her, not him.

Chloe was catching up to them, one arm stretched tight across her bodice.

"What the devil is going on?" asked a confused bystander.

Right on cue, Chloe pretended to trip over a yellow geranium and conveniently fell right on top of Mr. Bunyan. Elizabeth rolled out of the way just in time.

" Oof ," emanated from Mr. Bunyan's lungs as the wind was knocked out of him. He did not seem to recognize Chloe.

"Can I help you, miss?" Elizabeth said loudly.

She pulled her sister up and off the villain. Chloe winked and melted into the crowd.

Mr. Bunyan scrambled to his feet and raced on, casting a triumphant look over his shoulder at Elizabeth, who trailed farther and farther behind as she pretended to chase him.

She gave up the act as soon as he disappeared from sight.

Overhead, a large brown hawk swooped down from the bright blue sky. The raptor had found them.

Chloe held up her palm as the bird dived toward her. The hawk's claws raked gently across her skin, scooping up a slender brass key. The trained raptor soared back into the sky, racing over the trees and across the road to a distant rooftop, where their brother Graham crouched, waiting.

He caught the key and bounded across the skyline, vanishing into the distance.

Elizabeth and her sister made their way toward Jacob's waiting carriage.

Chloe turned her head toward Elizabeth. "I must return to my baby. Come with me? We've got lemon ices."

Reflexively, Elizabeth took a cautionary step back. "Absolutely not. You know I'll have nothing to do with babies."

"Then you're letting the others have a head start at being ‘favorite aunt,'" Chloe warned.

"Pah." Elizabeth smiled her cobra smile. "I'll be his favorite aunt once he's big enough to hold a sword."