Rumours || Thomas Shelby [1]

s e v e n t e e n

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KAT DIDN'T CARE FOR IRISH BUSINESS MUCH BUT SHE COULD UNDERSTAND THEIR LONGING FOR INDEPENDENCE. However, when their business became her's, she did care. She wanted nothing more than to not hear their pronounced accents echo through her uncle's pub as she remained an unknown presence, crouched beneath the wooden bar. The accents from the IRA boys differed from Grace's, whose accent was more subtle and husky. The mens' voices echoed confidently around the four walls of the pub, their accents highlighting the cockiness of their nature.

Kat suspected that Tommy somewhat related to the Irish struggle for independence as that was all Tommy wished to achieve - independence from the stifling restraints of British society and their imposing will on his lifestyle. But when Irish business came into his path and slowed him down, all sympathy was thrown out the window and Tommy was going to rain hell on the IRA boys that dared slow him down.

Kat wondered why she had to stumble onto this, all she was hoping to achieve was finding her ring. It seemed silly now, Kat leaving the house to find her ring. She was part of something important now, something dangerous, something that was going to be a significant moment for all of them.

Kat felt her head spin and she gently leaned backwards so that her head was rested against the cold and hard wood of the bar behind her. She did her best to keep her breathing quiet but as her head continued to spin, the need to breath deeper intensified. But she didn't, Kat wasn't going to be the one who messes up Tommy's quickly put together plan. She would leave that possibility to Grace - though Kat hoped that wouldn't happen.

Kat closed her eyes as she heard the whiskey - she could only presume that was the chosen drink - being poured into a glass. She reopened them as the glass was passed backward and forth between the three men seated at the table.

"Lost your thirst, eh?" Tommy mused, the tone of his voice indicating that he was anything but amused by the Irish lads in front of him.

"Just show us where." One of the IRA men demanded, but so far everything was tame. Kat wanted to peek over the edge of the bar to look at them but refrained from doing so. She wondered what they were looking for. Something that Tommy had knowledge of and that didn't exactly narrow the possibilities down to much. Kat's gut, however, was telling her it was about the bloody guns. They were coming back to haunt Tommy now, she noted with bemusement.

"Give me the cash." Tommy bargained, after taking something from his jacket. Kat couldn't tell what he was holding, only that it was an important part of the IRA's mission. There was a rustling and the soft noise of something being moved across the table. Another soft thump indicated that Tommy thrown whatever was in his hand onto the table. "You're going to need a shovel."

Kat held her breath as she heard what sounded like paper being opened. There was a second when nothing happened, but then Kat heard the smug chuckles of one of the Irish men. "You thick fucking tinker. Did you think we'd let you live?"