Lord Day and Lady Night

58. Playing Whack-A-Cop

Lord Patrick Day was not in a good mood. During the last few weeks, his worldview had been turned completely upside down, and he did not like the ugly underside that was now facing upwards. He had seen nothing but slavery, suffering and bloody sex dungeons, except...

Her.

He liked her.

In fact, he liked her too dang much—which was the problem! He was a noble peer of the realm! He knew his responsibilities! He had a duty to his line, and that duty did not include spending his time thinking about a woman who was still happily accepting hourly pay for her services.

Repeat...he was not in a good mood. And he was aching for someone to take it out on. Ideally, he would get his hands on some of the disreputable persons behind this whole mess. But, lacking those, he would settle for the representative of Her Majesty's justice in front of him.

Wouldn't something like that be horribly dishonourable? a voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Well, ordinarily, yes.

Except for one thing: this fellow had volunteered. For a good cause. Wasn't he a nice man?

"Hands above your head!" the volunteer punching bag hollered. "Now!"

"Shit!" The fence behind Lord Patrick gave a low hiss. "Ye two blew me cover, ye idiots!"

Time to start. After all, I have to play my role well, right?

Whirling around, he punched the fence in the stomach and pushed him to the floor.

"Stay down!" he hissed to the stunned man. "I've got dis!"

Then, whirling to face Pritchard once again, he vaulted over the counter, holding the banknotes he'd gotten from Amy high into the air, clearly visible.

"I ain't surrendering nothin', copper!" he snarled, with a truly amazingly atrocious accent, if he said so himself. "If dat old 'unchback can't stop me from robbin' 'im blind, den neither can ye!"

"That's what you think, villain!" the inspector proclaimed. "I shall stop you no matter what it tak—umph!"

That was a rough approximation of the sound he made when Lord Patrick Day's fist drove into the inspector's gut and sent him stumbling backwards.

"Good job," His Lordship complimented under his breath. "Excellent acting!"

"Acting? Who says I was acti—argh!"

"Excuse me, you were saying?"

With a growl, the inspector, who truly was giving a magnificent performance in Lord Patrick's humble opinion, swung a punch at his face. Dodging with ease, Patrick closed the distance, grabbed hold of the bulky man and, trapping him in place, drove a rock-hard knee into his groin.

"Arghl!" The inspector exclaimed, collapsing forward. His acting was truly magnificent. Why, one might almost think it was all real. He would really have to thank Amy for those interesting fighting techniques she had taught him. They truly brought the inspector's acting talent to the forefront.

"Here, take dat! And dat!"

"Urgh! You bloody bastard!"

Really, amazing acting talent. Worthy of Shakespearean drama.

Casting a glance over his shoulder, he saw Amy kneel next to the downed hunchback, whispering to him about how he should stay down and play along if he wanted to keep his cover as an innocent robbery victim. He grinned. They did make quite a good team, didn't they?