Love and Lies • 𝑇𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑦 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑏𝑦

Chapter Twenty-Two

When Tommy got back from Ada's house, he didn't look any less tense. She sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do about it now - they had to play the long game.

"Should I drive?" She asked as Tommy got inside.

"I can take directions."

She couldn't help her sarcasm. "I'm sure you can Sergeant Major." He didn't look amused, he didn't look anything except deep in thought. It stayed that way the entire drive out of London. It was her turn to worry, but she kept it herself, unsure whether asking would start another fight. Instead, she brought up the job and they talked, trying to figure out a way to make sure things played out with as little risk as possible.

When they got to the safe house she was staying at - built underground in the middle of grass field - the talk continued until it bled into more.

She had a riffle in her hands and was shooting at aligned metal targets stapled to a stone wall across the field. While Tommy sat one of the two metal chairs at her back, with his suit jacket off. A small stool stood in front of his feet, piled with open folders.

"This government you work for, they taught you how to shoot like this?"

"My father taught me actually. He was general in the second opium war." Ann lowered the gun from against her shoulder. She was nine when she first touched the weapon. "When he came back, he spent most of his time with his gun collection. I built an interest so we'd have something to talk about again."

"He was always hesitant about it, but after my brother died, I think he appreciated my interest. Then he died, and my mother fell into this space where she was present but never there - over a few years she taught me everything and anything. It was....gruelling, but I always understood that she was just preparing me for the day she left me alone in the world."

"When I told her I planned on leaving China, the only thing she did was hand me this." She pulled the skirt of her dress high enough to take her knife out of her thigh holster. She spun the weapon in her hand with delicate ease that came from years of practice.

"Zhishi fuyu shoubi liliang." She read the inscription on the hilt.

"Knowledge Gives-"

"Strength to the Arm." Tommy finished, and Ann's eyes snapped to him, regarding him with surprise.

"You learned Chinese?"

Tommy slowly fixed her with a look that could be translated into a shrug, and she bit her lip again, this time to keep her smile away.

"Did your mother pass?" He asked softly, his voice tinged with curiosity. She took her time putting the gun on the ground, propped up against an old oil barrow.

"...No. I ended up leaving her when I was recruited."

"Does she think you're dead?"

"The last I wrote to her was years ago. I told her I was okay, that I was happy. The longer I do this job, the more dangerous it gets to keep sending letters...so I stopped." She hadn't realised she was running her thumb along the length of her knife until the blade broke skin. She barely winced, only put the digit in her mouth, but Tommy stood up. She put her hand behind her back before he could take it. "It's fine."

While her fingers pressed on the wound to stop the bleeding, he placed a gentle hand on her arm, and the warmth that spread made her relent. He took her hand and watched as another small line of blood pooled to the surface of her skin. His eyes darkened, and for a second she thought he would clean it with his mouth - but instead, he let his thumb trace a line across her thumb to the tip of the bleeding digit. Then froze as if he'd been caught committing a crime.