"Curly, you left the gate open" Charlie told him as they heard a disturbance. "No i locked it, i pinched myself when i did it"

"Get this stuff under cover" Charlie instructed, looking out at the gates. "Who goes there?" he asked, holding a gun.

"Tommy?" Curly asked, looking at the limping man. "Curly, get that oil you put on when they go lame,"

"Are you fucking mad" Charlie asked.

"They yellow stuff, go on"

"they said you'd be in for another three weeks" Uncle charlie leaned on the wall. "I need to get on a boat to London, tonight"

"You discharge yourself?"

"I'm a sitting duck in there Charlie" he whispered, "Sabini could send a man in at any time. I need to get some things done"

"Your burning up" Charlie touched Tommy's face.

"Oh Tommy that stuffs for rubbing into fucking horses" he tilted his head as Curly held the oil.

"I am a horse"

"If you were a horse, they'd shoot you with these many broken bones"

"Get the black powder curly. Go, the black powder" Tommy told the bald man. "You pay for a bloody hospital and your using witchcraft" Charlie asked.

"I need to sleep in the open air and feel the boat under me Charlie"

"Oh Tommy, you're just like your mother" he whispered. "Do you have a boat here?" Tom asked.

"Only the January , she's heavy, London would take four days"

"That'll do, can you spare Curly? He'll be my doctor"

"I saw Delilah the other day, she came by the stables" Charlie changed the topic as Curly laughed. "And hows she doing" Thomas asked.

"Seems a lot more like herself" he nodded.

-
3 days later

"Fucking hell lads, calm down" Alfie scolded as the fire burnt high whilst he walked down the corridor. "Put him down, Ollie," he said, "put him down mate he's only little"

Tommy turned to him. "You on your own?"

"Seems so" Tommy nodded. "Well, you're a brave lad ain't you" Alfie laughed. "You want to take a look at my bakery?" he offered, walking back the way he came.

"We bake all sorts here, mate, yeah. Did you know we bake over 10,000 loaves a week" he asked Thomas. "Can you believe it. We bake the white bread, we bake the brown bread, we bake all sorts. You want to try something?"

Tommy stayed quiet, looking at him. "Bread? Yeah?" Alfie said. "All right," Tommy agreed.

"Well what would you like, brown or white" he asked. "Try the brown"

"Brown, right" he picked up a bottle of the drink and poured some. Tommy sipped it, looking at the glass.

"Not bad"

"Not bad, eh?" Alfie asked, "Not bad?" he repeated, "it's fucking awful, that stuff. The fucking brown stuff is awful, it's for the workers. Yeah" he told Tommy.

"The white stuff, now that is for the Bosses, come look"

Tommy cautiously looked behind him before following the man into his office. Alfie sat down.

"Well i've heard very bad, bad things about you Birmingham people." he tutted. "You're Gypsies, right"

"So what do you live in a fucking tent or a caravan" he mocked.

"I came here to discuss business with you Mr Solomons"

"Well," Alfie leaned forward, clapping his hands together, "rum is for fun and fucking isn't it. So, whiskey, now that is for business"

He grabbed a bottle, opening it.

"Let's talk first, eh?" Tommy suggested. Alfie stared at him blankly. "Suit yourself"

"They say you had your life saved by a police man"

"I have police men on my payroll" Tom nodded. "Well i don't like policemen because policemen, they can't be trusted"

"Mr, Sabini uses policemen all the time" He said to Alfie. "That's why he's winning the war in London and your losing it"

"A war ain't over till it's over, mate" Alfie rubbed his hands together. "You were in the war?" he opened a drawer. "I once carried out my own personal form of stigmata on an Italian" Alfie nodded, "I pushed his face up against the trench and shoved a six inch nail up his fucking nose"

"And i hammered it home with a duckboard. It was fucking biblical mate. So don't come in here and sit there in my chair, and tell me i am losing my war to a fucking wop" he hissed.

"That war was a long time ago Alfie. You need to be, more realistic"

He slammed the drawer closed, leaning forward. "Realistic, yeah?" he asked. "Realistic."

"Well if you weren't losing the war you wouldn't have sent me the telegram" Tommy said, lighting his cigarette.

"Really? You forget your fucking telegram, the telegram just said 'hello'" he waved his hand slightly. "Face it, you want to sell me something Mr Shelby, what?"

"We join forces" Tommy said.

"Fuck off"

"No! Categorical. Fucking ridiculous."

"Mr Solomons" Tommy took a deep breath, "your distillery provides one tenth of your income, protection is another 10% and the rest you make from the race tracks"

He opened the drawer again.

"I know you keep a gun in the drawer beside the whiskey" Tommy leaned back. "I know you offer a deal or death"

"I know what i'm saying makes you angry, but i'm offering you a solution. You see, Mr Sabini is running all your bookies off your courses"

Alfie cleared his throat.

"And he is closing down the premises that take your rum. And people don't trust your protection anymore"

Alfie pointed at him, "your the bloke that shot Billy Kimber, right?"

Silence.

"You did, you fucking shot him, that's you"

"He shot my daughter" Tommy tried to lie, although it was true, he was lying about why he did it.

"You fucking betrayed him, mate. So it'll be appropriate to do what i'm thinking in my head to do to you right now"

"I can offer you 100 good men" Thomas said. "All with weapons, and a new relationship with the police"

"Intelligence" Alfie spoke. "Intelligence is a very valuable thing ain't it, my friend"

"And usually it comes far too fucking late"

He pulled the gun, cocking it and pointing it at Tommys face.

"Let's say that i shot you already, right, in the fucking face" he began. "And the bullet goes bone,mush,bone, cabinet over there"

"Which is a shame isn't it, because that cabinet is fucked now i gotta get shot of it" he paused. "So what i do is this, it's fucking simple mate,"

Blood fell from Tommy's nose as silence fell between them.

He put the gun down.

"I cut that cabinet in half dont i. I do, i let rally just cut the cabinet, i cut" he threw a tissue as Tommy. "I cut the cabinet literally in half mate"

"And i take one half of the cabinet, and i put it into a barrel and take the other half of the cabinet, and all it's pieces and put that into a barrel"

"And i send this barrel off to Mandalay, and this one of to somewhere like, i dunno, Timbuktu" he suggested.

"Have you ever been?"

Tommy shook his head, "no"

"Would you like to go" Alfie asked, staring him in the eyes. "No"

"I always thought you'd have a great fucking gold ring in your nose" Alfie shouted, " i am sorry, go on"

-

Ada walked toward her block of apartments, stopping when Tommy called her name. "How the fuck did you find me" she asked. "Are you reading Polly's letters?"

"Polly showed me the letter, you think you're safe because you moved flat but you're not, Polly thinks the same"

"When will you understand, i want you all out of my life" she pleaded.

"Ada, look at us, eh? And it'll happen again"

"Yeah, well, next time i'll be ready. In fact i want them to try again,i'll shoot their balls off" she pulled the pistol from her bag.

"Ada put the gun away"

"Get away from me i'm late for work" she argued. "All right fine" he put his hands up in defence. "Just take this, take it"

"Where your living now is right on the edge of Sabini's territory, all the coppers there work for him"

She opened the envelope, looking at the keys.

"I've got a lot of money coming in and i can't put it through the banks" he told her. "My accountant says to buy property for cash, and put it in the name of a family member"

She sighed, smiling.

"A house? A whole house?"

"It's all yours. Four stories, eight bedrooms. Kitchens, scullery and rooms for a maid if your political conscience will allow"

She scoffed.

"At least go an have a look" he suggested. She nodded, walking away