Peaky Blinders (short stories)

Part 2

I was driven back to small heath were I was found. I was staying at an abandoned building with two Italian men watching over me. I lied in the corner, towards the window. I held on to the coat for warmth.

I watched the two men sleeping by the door. I could simply pull out my gun and shoot them both. But the mafia had much more power over me.

It had been two days since I last saw Thomas Shelby. The two men held the phone out for me to take. The boss wanted an update.

"How are things in Birmingham?" He asked.

"I've only introduced myself to Mr. Shelby" I begin, knowing that the moment I saw Thomas, I was to shoot.

"I didn't send you to make friends" his hard accent growled at me from the other line. "You do the job or I will have your boy killed"

My heart dropped. Many times the man had used my son against me. He knew I would do anything to keep him alive and back in my arms.

"Think about your freedom, and the money you'll leave to America with"

He knew me. He knew my weakness and how to use it against me. And with a simple "I understand" I was off back on the street looking for Thomas Shelby.

I walked by the canal, under the bridge hoping to cut my way back into town. I pulled my fur coat closer to my body. I inhaled the smell of smoke and coal. The sounds of a separate set of footsteps distracted me. I looked back and saw a man holding a whiskey bottle, with the same hand he wiped the filth off his mouth.

I turned back and walked faster. As the steps approached I tried making a run for it. I yelled in surprise when his hands reached my waist. His heavy body slammed my own against the brick bridge. I pushed at his chest in hope of release.

I struggled to take the gun out of my purse.
"Fuck!" I yelled in desperation when I felt my dress being lifted. "No!" I groaned.

It was a loud bang that made the man on top of me stop his actions. He looked into my eyes, his body limp. I felt the blood ooze out and onto my own chest.

His body dropped to the ground, smearing his blood onto my hands and body. I stared at the man standing across the canal. The man who saved me. The man I was to kill.

He held my fragile body as he walked through the rain and into his automobile. It wasn't the first time I'd seen a man die in front of me. I just never got used to the aura of death. It was as if it followed me.

"Drink something" he offered pushing the cup of tea towards me.

I took it between my blood stained hands and sipped. I close my eyes. "It's been so long since I've had tea" I said.

"You came in here two nights ago, offering me sex" he began to say. "Yet you refused that man under the bridge, why?" He sat back on his chair, his legs open wide as he waited for me to explain.

"He didn't ask nicely" I made up a quick excuse.

"Didn't ask nicely eh?" He cocker his brow and shook his head in laughter. "Do you want to know what I think of you? Mrs?" He questioned my name.

"Ms. Brooks, Eva" I said my last name first but still emphasizing that I wasn't married.

"Eva, you have a son back at home. Little Agnus" he said lighting his cigarette.

My expression stiffened. If he knew who I was, he surely knew I was a spy.

"But you're not married" he continued to speak. "You carry a gun home for safety, yet you didn't pull the trigger on that fucker" he sat up straight and examined me.

"Tell me what you want with me Mr. Shelby, obviously you know who I am" I set the cup of tea down and watched his features harden.

We were soaking wet from the rain. I no longer wore my coat and he no longer wore his suit.

"I'll tell you what I want when you tell me the name that is engraved in that bullet you carry in your gun" he set his glass of whiskey down and inhaled from his cigarette.

"The bullet is for you Mr. Shelby" I finally say setting the firearm on the coffee table.

He nods and tosses his cigarette bud in the ash dispenser. "So why I haven't you used it?" He questioned.

"Good questions Mr. Shelby" I say with an insecure smile.

"So fire it then," he sits back on his chair.

I take the gun in my hands and take a stand.
"I have a son, if I don't do this he dies, and I'll be held prisoner forever" I point the gun to his forehead and wait. This was it, I had to pull the trigger. This was it. I needed to end it once and for all.

"Shoot." His voice added pressure to my conscious. "Shoot, Eva" he used my name, a name I hadn't been called in so long. "Shoot!" His scream startled me witch pushed me to pull the trigger.

I dropped the gun with a cry of agony. There had been no bullet in the gun. I had failed.

"I removed the bullet" he says. I fall to my knees and cry out onto his lap. He holds my head, lifting it up to make me face him.

"I failed to recognize your beauty the first time you walked into my study" he whispers looking down at my lips and into my eyes. "I want one night, with a woman who knows what it is like to feel grief" he said looking up and to the portrait of none other than his dead wife.