Tales of the Red Panda, the Crime Cabal by Greg Taylor.

Chapter 1

The last sliver of the moon hung above the great teeming city and its million souls

like the flickering remnants of a guttering candle.

Its few feeble rays reached into the thousand dark places the gaslight could never penetrate,

the alleyways, the long quiet industrial ruins, the waterfront.

Silver fingertips bruised themselves against the creeping darkness of the badlands

"'and found themselves buried in its lifeless chill.

"'The moon retired and was seen no more.

"'Those of the city that could do so

"'made their way to warmth and safety behind locked doors.

"'Those that could not whisper to prayer to the morning

"'and let the waves of darkness wash over them.

"'Night came to the city.

"'Mitch Raynard stared out into the blackness and blinked hard.

"'Four hours of this. It was too much.

"'He shook his head a little to persuade his eyes to stay focused and

stamped his feet to fight the chill of the damp spring air. He felt inside his coat for a cigarette.

As he fumbled with the lining of his torn pocket, his fingers brushed against the cold steel of the

38 revolver he wore in his shoulder. For a moment, he remembered that he had a job to do.

Like a truant schoolboy,

his eyes turned back to the weary blackness that surrounded him. He pressed the cigarette between thin, dry lips and felt for his matches. Nothing. He was sure that he had half a book.

...