𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

66

Three officers knocked on the door. Ada answered it. "Ada Shelby?" the woman asked. "No" she shook her head, closing the door, only for it to be pushed open.

Ada ran throughout the house.

-

Ada sat in the chair, fuming as a man walked in. "She was armed when we picked her up, sir, so we strip searched her"

"That will be all"

"Yes sir" The three officers walked out. "I apologise, Miss Shelby" Colonel Ben Younger said. "Territorials can be over zealous" he placed his cap on the table.

"Your men watched" she hissed.

"And they will be reprimanded." he nodded. "They won't see Saturday" she looked away from him.

"A naked woman alone making threats against the entire British Army. Significant indicator of character"

She shook her head.

"Ill turn my back while you dress and perhaps we can talk?" he said, turning. "I have a dossier on each member of your family, i know your family's extradition history"

Ada picked up her clothes. "Fuck you"

"And i also have a totally blank page on which together we can write your family's immediate future"

"You rehearsed your speech, significant indicator of a lack of confidence" she mocked. "What rank are you?"

"Colonel. May i turn?"

"Not unless you want to get blinded." she threatened.

"I'm sorry this has got off to a bad start" he said. "What is this?" she asked. "Three days ago you were seen at a meeting for the Stratford Communist Party. You were then seen talking to a woman called Jessie Eden"

Ada pulled her coat on. "Turn around"

He did so and looked at her. "I'm leaving" she said. "And you can burn this, it's history" she said.

"Ada Shelby, a person of interest and under the surveillance of the special branch since you joined the Birmingham Communist party in June 1919"

"I'm no longer a member of the Communist Party" she spoke. "I know. Irrelevant. Most of the more active subversives she'd their official allegiances to avoid detention"

She scoffed. "Look..okay. Let me explain it to you, i'm no longer a member of the Communist Party because i'm no longer a believer in the cause of socialism. Now open that door"

"So in the past you were blinded by love?" he suggested, holding up a picture of Freddie Thorne.

She scoffed. "No, blinded by faith"

"I believed people deserved justice. They don't. So you've arrested me because i had a drink with Jessie Eden?"

"Whiskey with ice for you, and a beer for her" he said. "I met Jessie Eden to settle an Industrial dispute" she handed him a card.

"Head of acquisitions? So you swapped sides?"

"If you know what i drink, you know what i do for a living."

"Miss Shelby, you must understand that these are extraordinary times. A general strike is certain. Attempted revolution perhaps. Soldiers on the streets very soon. They are already drilling. And here stands you, a woman with her foot in both camps. It's potentially very useful"

"Useful to who?"

"Maybe you should ask your brother, Thomas"

He stepped forward, unlocking the door.

-

"Why won't he stop crying?" Lottie sighed, getting frustrated. "Here, give him to me, go sit down" Polly held out her arms.

Lottie handed her the small boy and joined her daughter on the couch. "Where's dad?" she asked. "He's down by the Garrison with Finn" Lottie said, pushing the girls hair away from her face.

"Can we go see him?" she asked. "Not right now, he's busy. You'll see him later, yeah?"

The girl nodded and continued playing with the toy in her hand.

-

"Talk to me about Colonel Ben Younger" Ada said as Tommy walked into his office. He hung his jacket up. "What about him?"

"He has just made me a proposition" she looked up. "You're in my chair" Tommy said.

"He said you knew about it" she told him. "And remember i know when you are lying"

"Ben Younger was an officer in the Warwickshire Yeomanry in Flanders" he lit a cigarette. "The only cavalryman who could ride a fucking horse."

"I was strip searched" Ada said with a shaky voice. Tommy looked up. "Two soldiers watched."

"I'm sorry, Ada. That..the arrest was so the neighbours would see and word would go around. Younger is all right. He came to me for help" he said, sitting opposite her.

"He has been given Birmingham"

"Given Birmingham, by who?" she asked.

"By Churchill, by the fucking king, people who want to stop a revolution"

She scoffed.

"No one is laughing anymore, Ada. The home office is making provisions. This is part of those provisions."

"And how is Tommy Shelby, OBE, going to stop a revolution?"

"Jessie Eden has accepted my invitation to dinner" he shrugged. Ada laughed. "Of course, i'm sorry, Tommy Shelby is gonna stop the revolution with his cock"

"It's not her the military are interested in, Ada. It's the people around her. The people like you used to be, like Freddie used to be. People who want an armed revolution"

She shook her head.

"If i get Jessie Eden's trust, she gives me the names of the instigators. I give them up to the crown forces"

"Tommy, tommy, sweethearts. Why would a man whose medals rust at the bottom of the Saltley Canal want to help the British Military?"

"Because i have been offered three five year contracts to supply the military vehicles to the British forces in India, Ceylon, Singapore and Burma for a toltsl value of £2 million."

"Wouldn't be no strikes in your factory cause Jessie Eden would be in your bed. Tommy this can only happen if you're still alive"

"Planning on staying alive"