Shelby's Bambi (Thomas Shelby's daughter)

Dangerous Strangers

Small Heath was almost exactly as Raelynn had imagined. The community seemed very close, and like they were always in each other's business. Also, they were physically very close. The houses were connected together in rows, which meant that on one street, there could be 100 or more homes. Most of the people that lived there, were middle-class. And as they were driving through the area, most of the town folk greeted the Shelbys.

Hard-working men that had dirt on their noses and sweat in their faces, bowed their head in greeting. Women and children quickly moved out of the way before uttering a quiet, "morning Mr Shelby." Even the men who wore suits and ties, tipped their hat in respect to Raelynn's father and his brothers.

Much like she had been told, the Shelby's really did own Small Heath. Which meant it would be extremely difficult to runaway to the countryside, which Raelynn had decided was the best option. Once the girl discovered that her father had associated with Billy Kimber, she no longer felt that it was safe to stay near him or his family. So, she started making a plan to escape to the countryside with her brother. Once they were there, Raelynn and Dorian would be able to establish a life where they wouldn't be at the mercy of others. And neither of the children would have to resort to crime again.

But, now that Raelynn had seen how many allies her father actually had in Small Heath, she wasn't sure if they were even going to be able to leave the house without being noticed. Surely, her father would have been told about their previous tendencies to run from orphanages. This would mean that he would probably already expect them to try and run at some point. So, the girl seriously doubted that there was ever gonna be a opportunity for them to slip away.

Minutes before their arrival at the Shelby's current place of operation, Raelynn turned to her brother and said, "Операция: полетать в курятнике." (Operation: fly the coop.)

He only smirked and nodded his head. However, after his response, he started grabbing his backpack.

This action confused the three Shelby around him. But, because the car ride had been going well for quite a while now, they assumed that he was just getting ready for their arrival. They were right... but he wasn't grabbing his things to exit the car when they got there, he was getting ready to jump out and run.

Which is exactly what he did about 10 minutes later, when Thomas Shelby finally pulled the car to a stop in front of one of the houses that seemed to fill all of Small Heath. He swung his legs over the back of the car, and as soon as he hit the ground, he started sprinting as fast as he could.

This caught all three Shelby's off-guard. And it took several seconds for Thomas to yell out, "Someone, grab that boy!"

However, this was all part of the plan. Because, as soon as everyone was focused on Dorian running away.. Raelynn grabbed her bag, and took off in the opposite direction. Both her and her brother were very fast runners, something that they had built up the stamina for, because of various reasons. So, after sprinting for a few minutes, Raelynn had out run and lost everyone who was chasing her. Which meant that it was now time for her to find her brother.

Which was made easy, because of their game of Operation: fly the coop. How it worked, was when Raelynn would say the phrase in Russian, the children would run away as soon as possible, and meet up where the phrase was said. This meant that after the children lost the Shelby's and their allies, they would meet back up at that spot eventually.

So, making sure she wasn't being followed as she went, Raelynn slowly backtracked until she made it to that location. It took an hour or so until she finally made it back to the park they had driven by previously. She had chosen that location because they would be able to hide in the large area of underbrush, until nightfall.