𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧, Finn Shelby

- 37

- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN -

- IN WHICH ARTHUR ENTERS A TRAP

. . .

"RIGHT, THERE ARE TWO ways into Artillery Square." Thomas stood over a small wooden table in the middle of Charlie's Yard, a map spread across it and everyone crowded around him as he spoke. "One here, on the towpath." He pointed to one lane, Charlie flipping the lid of a box off and revealed a group of rifles. "And here, Navigation Street." He pointed to a road between a factory and Brew House.

He looked up from the map, almost everyone holding one of the guns apart from a few. "Finn, take a rifle." Thomas pointed from the teenage boy towards the box, Charlie grabbing one and handing it to him. "You'll be here, Finn. Covering the towpath."

As of a few days ago, Arthur had received an invitation to the celebration of a dead boxer's birthday - a boxer he'd managed to kill during their match. Mrs Ross, the mother, had bought the invite up with Thomas, but the Shelby man suspected that the invite was worth more than just to celebrate a dead man's birthday, so he planned to send Arthur into what he believed was a trap.

"Most likely they will come down Navigation Street." He used his finger to drag around the routes of which he believed Luca Changretta would appear to attack them. "Johnny, Isaiah and Nancy will set up here as hawkers selling salted pork." He said, pointing to the front of Navigation Street. "When you get the signal from me, they can open fire."

"From you, eh?" Arthur asked, looking up from the map to stare at his brother.

"Yep." Thomas replied, moving around the table to point to another part of it. "Yeah, I'll be here in the window overlooking."

"You still know what end the bullets come out of, Tom?" Johnny spoke up, emitting chuckles from the Blinders around them.

"He knows." Arthur said when they'd all stopped, the Shelby man looking unaffected as he stuck a lit cigarette between his lips.

He took a drag. "These men are coming for my brother." Thomas placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "We're leaving him to be unarmed and unprotected." He began to point his cigarette about. "So this is my fucking business. "And then he filled his rifle up and walked away from the table. "Arthur, let's go."

The eldest Shelby brother stood up from where his knee had been resting against a chair. "Look alive, soldier." He grinned, slapping an unenthusiastic Finn on the chest a few times.

Nancy slipped a smaller gun into her pocket, reaching out to the table to collect a few bullets and smiling over to the Shelby boy.

"Promise you won't get hurt?" He asked as she tucked the bullets in her pocket.

Nancy walked around the table, putting a hand on Finn's shoulder and reaching up to kiss his cheek. "Yeah, of course." She smiled reassuringly, ignoring the redness on both of their cheeks as she turned to catch up with Johnny and Isaiah.

. . .

Nancy stood beside Isaiah, chocolate eyes running across the fairly busy street as Johnny walked up and down past their table that they'd set up a variety of salted pork on. She wasn't the biggest fan of the meat, finding the sent of it rather repulsive but resisting the urge to disappear.