CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Nursing a dark drink between his hands, Adelaide found Tommy in the Garrison. She'd slipped past John and the others easily, the shoes she'd stolen from her brother falling flatly against the floor, far quieter than her own. He only turned to her as she sat beside him, levelling him with a narrowed look.

"You're supposed to be at home."

"I thought you knew I didn't take orders from anyone," she said, fighting the urge to take the drink from him and spill it out over her shoulder. Kimber and his men were coming and it looked as if he was wallowing in his own self pity. He didn't suit the look.

"I thought you would understand that at a time like this maybe it's more of a warning than an order, Adelaide."

"Don't take your anger out on me," she said sharply, finally giving in to her urges and ripping the drink from his hands.

For a moment he only stared at her, eyes dark and unreadable.

"Polly thought it was you," he said with a quiet voice. "We were betrayed. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. There's four men for every one of ours, coming down that lane. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen."

"Polly thinks it was me?"

"Thought," Tommy corrected.

But it might've been, had they been given the chance, had she not changed her mind. Tommy's plans had lain in the balance of her own decisions without him even knowing. The knowledge of such made her feel dirty, sitting so calmly beside him.

"Why?"

"There's only one thing that blinds a man," he said, glancing to the clock on the wall.

The meaning of such words only sank in when he turned to her. Such rawness made her stop and look back. There's only one thing that blinds a man and Polly though tit was her. Slowly, she brought her hand upwards, to brush her fingers against his cheek. 

"I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving until you come back." He watched her with wonder, from behind his thick eyelashes. Her nose nuzzled closer to his. "I'll be beside you."

As Adelaide looked upon the mob of men that walked down the street towards the Blinders, it was not Kimber's face she saw, but her brother's.

Her feet were running before she could stop them, carrying her past the first of Tommy's men, pushing past John so she could stand between them. her body covering Harry's, her hands pushing him back, her eyes meeting Tommy's.

"Adelaide, what are you doing?"

"Don't do this."

But Tommy's gun hung in the air between them, pointed forward to the only face he recognised out of the new crowd of gangsters: Harry's. She felt her brother stiffen behind her and knew his hands were gripping harden onto his gun. They were supposed to have been subtle, but this was anything but.

"Move out of the way."

She shook her head, jaw tightened.

"They won't shoot," she said, watching as Tommy's eyes shone bright and dangerous. "I won't let them."

"We're here to help against Kimber and his men," Harry explained.

"And who the fuck are you?" John's voice burst through the ranks.

"You don't remember?"

"Mr Smith's representative," Tommy said, and then he was looking straight past her, to her brother, watching him with careful eyes.

Harry smiled, the glint in his eye dangerous and excited. She wondered where the cautiousness in him hand gone to, but a moment later, when Tommy's gun hand didn't move, she knew it had embedded within her.

"She sends her regards," Harry said. Adelaide could hear the smug grin in his voice.

"You're with Kimber," John said, ignoring his previous words. Tommy silenced him with a stare.

"You can trust him," Adelaide said finally. "You can trust him because he's my brother."

"Move in and spread out."

"I'm not leaving," she said, standing between Harry and Thomas.

"Weapons out, boys. Hold 'em up so they can see what we've got." Kimber's voice rang out through the street. She could see him even from a far, standing in the centre, his

"All guns and no balls, right, Billy boy?"

"So, what do we do now? Just give the order," Arthur hissed. He was avoiding looking at her, Adelaide realised. At her side, Harry scoffed.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Kimber."

"Too late for all that. You've bit off more than you can chew, you little toerag. And now I'm going to take over this shithole," Kimber shouted. His grin was mad and cruel. "But first, you have a traitor in your ranks. Come out, you traitorous cunt. Emilio Smith, you'll be the first with a bullet between your fat fucking eyes."

Adelaide stepped forward.

"You called?"

The man paused, eyes lazily scanning Tommy's ranks before they came to land on her. It took a moment for him to comprehend who he was seeing."

"What the fuck is this?"

"You called. You said something about my fat fucking eyes? Strange, since you rather liked my eyes a week ago."

"You bitch- Do you think this is funny?"

"Hilarious, actually," she said, then held her hand out, palm flat. "Harry."

He handed over her gun and she held it level with Kimber's eyes.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Kimber."

"You're outnumbered still. My guns-" Tommy cut him off before she could.

"If it's guns you want to fight with, Mr Kimber, let's use proper guns."

He turned to look towards the factory buildings. There, a man was descending amongst the black rubble, a large piece of equipment in his hands. The gun seemed more like a canon, so heavy and dark. But it was only one and Adelaide knew they had many more.

"Sergeant Thorne reporting for duty, sir."

She looked to Harry. While most of their plan had gone to ruin, they still should have had the guns. Her brother nodded discretely, eyes remaining on Kimber. Then, as if the slight movement had commanded it, she spotted Robert emerging from behind them, in his arms the same huge gun that had been dug from the grave of an alive man. The Shelbys only stared as their crowd absorbed the men with the guns, enlargening.

It was Harry's turn to make himself obvious, receiving a glare from Kimber. "You were saying something about being out-gunned?"

"No one has to die," Adelaide said, stepping forward once again. She lowered the gun, letting him see the face that had betrayed him. "There are too many men here. Too many men that will die because of your call Kimber. Think of the women wearing black. The children who will never know their fathers."

"The bitch is right, you know." Kimber smirked, his face morphed with wrinkles. "Why should all you men die? It should just be them who's caused it."

Screams and shouts echoed through the street as Kimber pulled out his gun and shot it blindly. All movement seemed to slow as she watched the grey bullet embed itself in Tommy's shoulder, pushing him to the ground. She dove for him, arms reaching out, the gun useless in her hands, but another pair pulled her backwards, crashing into someone's chest.

More shots rang out and it was Danny Owens, the dead man walking, who went down next into a pool of his own seeping blood.

"Come on," it was her brother's voice coming from behind her as she was pulled from the middle of the street. "It's a bloodbath."

Her men were shooting. Emilio Smith's men were shooting, taking down Kimber's soldiers easily. They were winning. But at what cost? Harry seemed to think the same thing, a pain written on his face that came from no built wound. Her brother dragged her backwards as they retreated.

"No," Adelaide said, voice cold and deep. She was Emilio Smith, this was her war. She would be the one to finish it. "This ends now."

The gun zipped through the air, held in front of her easily, just as she'd once been taught. It felt like second nature, almost too easy as her eyes landed on her target. Kimber was falling backwards, retreating with his lines, his eyes widened as he glanced at the line of guns that stood opposite him. The trigger felt hot under her finger. Adelaide pulled it and their enemy fell.

Edited