Sorry it's been so long since I've last updated regularly, but I now have
access to a computer that has a Word program on it. Regularly, actually I
own it! Yay! I hope you all enjoyed and thank you all for reading, a new
chapter to follow soon I promise. I know everyone hates the general
S.O.'s, but I hope you'll forgive me. Thank you to all my fans, and I
promise, I really am back, and S.O's with the next chapter!
Warning, I was in such a hurry to get this out I did not even have this edited first. Again forgive me and I hope you'll enjoy!
Julia ran her hands up her arms at the brief breeze that caressed her arms and brought goose bumps to the flesh that was exposed by the rolled up sleeves of her shirt. Alex had left but moments before and she had felt the change in him. The sense of unease that had hung about him like a shroud.
She shivered at the thought that had come to her mind. They all knew the risk they took, they all knew that they courted death, and ruin with every heist. Someone in most of the households of the wealthy owned a gun and were not afraid to use it to protect what was deemed valuable. She prayed tonight would not fulfill the dark and morbid thought.
The idea of Alex dead was more than Julia could take, it made her breath stop and her heart pause. Her wardrobe door stood open, a pale dress in the opening dark where bits of dirt and green stains marred the dove gray satin. She smiled remembering the night she had spent with Alex roaming through Central Park, as free as they had been as children. Climbing trees, chasing each other through the grass, a moonlit picnic. It had been all she could have ever asked for. It seemed miles away.
She sighed and reached toward the door to push the dress back into hiding praying as she did her stepmother never found it for there would be hell to pay. It would be like her stepmother to find it as she slept in from the night's excursions.
On a sudden whim she reached for the small canvas bag she kept at the bottom of her wardrobe, it came in handy when trying to climb down trellises to escape into the night. Stuffing the dress into the bag she smiled grimly to herself and turned to yet another trellis to climb praying as she always did that they would remain safe and return victorious. This time however, it felt as though it was all in vain. She was being pulled into the events of tonight like a puppet, she could feel fate pulling the strings. She hated being the puppet, but there are times you can not run, and you can not resist, you can only pray the out come would be in your favor.
Julia arrived at the town house that Alex called home. The lights were all out making the windows almost moan in their emptiness. She felt a chill worm it's way up her spine and closed her eyes shaking her head to make the feeling disappear. There was something very wrong with this night she could smell it on the wind and feel it worming its way through her senses. She trusted those senses explicitly, but for the first time in years she tried to ignore them.
She took a deep breath and started up the stairs where she had paused only to be met at the top by Alex. His face was pale in the darkness, his eyes dark and fathomless. Again she ignored the signs that were all about here. The warnings that were whispering along her skin. His hair was free and freshly washed, his breeches and shirt homespun, his face softened in the darkness. For a moment she saw Alex, the Alex she had as a young child, the Alex she had loved and trusted. For a moment all the hurt and anguish of the past few years slipped away and she was free, free of constraint, free of her father, free of the expectations of a society she hated. S
he smiled softly at him and he returned it as under the spell as she was. For a moment it lasted and that was all they were granted before the shadow fell over Alex's face and he gestured roughly for her to follow.
She did, the silence between them as deep as a cavern, a cavern that was rapidly growing, creating a chasm she feared soon neither would be able to cross, and the fragile happiness of the past few weeks would end.
Neither spoke on the walk, the silence reigned until they reached the meeting place at Central Park. Julia found the rest of the group gathered each looking determined and worried. All looking almost like soldiers on their way to war. Again Julia shivered, her mind whispering things that threatened to become full-blown visions. She shook her head again praying that she would not get one, praying that they would not interfere with this heist.
" Are you all right Jul?" Alex asked worry marking his words, worry she did not want him to feel, but he knew her too well and she knew he had seen the faraway gleam in her eye that always marked the visions. He stopped short of the people that waited for them, his hand going to her arm detaining her non-too gently. She wondered what was going through his mind. His eyes were hooded and distant. She could not read him for the first time in the entire time she had known him. She knew that look, that brooding look that held a note of danger that often made men cower. Never had he turned it on her, with her he had always been open the only person he shared everything with. He had always told her more than he had ever told me. It hurt her, but not to be out done she raised her head, her own eyes shielding her emotions as effectively as his did.
"I'm fine Alex, perfectly fine," she replied firmly and breezily as if she didn't have a care in the world. She turned on her heel and entered the clearing ignoring the protests of Alex.
Tension was crackling in the air like the moments just before lightning strikes. Something was going to happen and she could not ignore it forever. Something was in the air tonight and Julia knew if they gave up tonight something would be righted and their lives could be normal. Though if they ignored it she sensed it would rip their lives apart. She could feel it in the wind that ran it's icy hands up her arms sending chills through her body. For a moment Julia had the urge to turn and run away, an urge she had to fight from following.
"Perhaps we should let them have this heist." she whispered haltingly as they all gathered together, her voice becoming far off. Still the visions that threatened to crowd her brain she fought. Alex looked at her as if she was crazy.
"You aren't loosing your edge are you?" David sneered and Julia stiffened her spine. For the first time Alex only watched her waiting to see what her answer would be, too intent on vanquishing his enemy to hear the tone in her voice that would have told him she knew what she said. That she was receiving warnings he was ignoring, warnings that were bearly of interest to him, but were screaming at her.
"Careful." Julia snapped pulling on her pride, though she had seen the fear in David's eyes. She knew he had laid his words as bait and she was foolish enough to rise to it. She cursed her temper and pride, but it did not keep her from her next words. Words that set in stone what would happen, which would seal her fate. " The edge of a knife can so easily fool you into thinking it is not sharp. I wouldn't test me David."
She wondered what David had to gain from this, why he wanted so badly for them to do this heist. She shook her head again, if she had only listened to her instincts.
Alex spoke briefly, but they all knew what they were to do. The chief responsibility of Julia and Deirdre was to get inside and then let the men in. It was simple enough at least if everything went according as planned.
As they approached the home the sense of dread only grew. She found Alex as cold and cool as a knife, the knife she had spoken of. She hoped he had not fooled her into believing he was not dangerous. So intent on what he deemed his that he would wound those that tried to stop him. He was shutting her out completely, something he had never done and she didn't like it at all. She smiled grimly at Deirdre as they circled the house looking for open windows trying to replace the hurricane of emotions with impassioned calm.
"Jackpot." Deirdre breathed as she tested the library window. She deftly hooked her foot over the opened ledge and swung herself up balancing for a moment making Julia long to pull on the leg left on the side of freedom. If she pulled down now they could make a run for it, if she didn't they would be stuck. It was the final choice and she willed herself to watch as Deirdre's blonde braid disappeared into the open mouth of the window.
Closing her eyes she reached for the sill and repeated the process. She was mildly disconcerted to find the canvas bag still on her shoulder. Surprised no one had asked about it and surprised she had forgotten to leave it at Alex's, she mentally scolded herself for her lack of attention to details. It was a trait she needed right now, she could not afford to become flighty.
She felt someone grab her leg causing her to jump nearly knocking her head against the opened windowpane. She had hesitated too long. Looking down at her capture she was relieved to find Alex looking up at her, his face hidden by the shadows. She calmed her pounding heart as he squeezed her leg in comfort, for a moment the warmth of the feelings they shared blocking out all the fear and tension of the night.
"Be careful." he whispered and she nodded, before she heeded Deirdre's tugs on her sleeve and slipped into the window.
The library was on the main floor, the ball room lay at the other end of the house where a set of stairs rose gracefully to the edge of a glass paned wall. In the middle of the wall they would find a set of French doors that opened onto the patio. Just past the glass Alex and the other boys would wait hidden by the shadows until the girls opened the doors to give them access.
Silent as spirits they floated across the marble floors to the ballroom. It was the safest room in the house to enter through, as it was not used unless there was to be a party.
From experience Julia knew that the ballroom while very busy at night during the season would often, be neglected until an upcoming event. The Worthington's, Julia knew would not be hosting another party for a few weeks. Mrs. Worthington had been a little under the weather and did not have the "strength" for such an undertaking. Julia snorted softly, as though ordering the servants about took much strength. It wasn't as if she would clean or cook for the event.
The house was like a tomb and it took a matter of minutes for Julia and Deirdre to run through the shadows their destination. The boys entered as silently, the sleeping occupants of the house none the wiser. David made as though to join them, but Alex made a slashing motion with his hand telling him silently that he was not to go. Julia watched closely as David slid into the shadows his eyes burning with a hatred that made her shudder.
Julia took her place at Alex's side, Deirdre and Jack just behind them. The safe was in the library, rare Roman coins locked within its depths. The fear that had haunted her started to fade replaced by the rush of her adrenaline. Like the Wolves they had named themselves for they hid in the shadows moving as a pack stalking their prey. Everyone knew their role, everyone knew their job, and everyone was prepared to protect the other. The boys turned toward the library and the safe within the girls were to wait outside keeping watch. Julia could see Deirdre chafing against the orders, muttering all the while about what a better job she could do.
"Be still De, you'll get us caught." Julia whispered. She could see Deirdre relax against the wall more in a huff than in acquiescence. The fear was back and she found herself tugging on her dress nervously as the voice whispered within her head. A voice whispering for her to put it on, she pushed it away. The shear craziness of the idea making her shake her head at herself. It became more insistent her hand already pulling the dress from the bag before she could stop herself.
"Oh God not now." Deirdre hissed as Julia felt her eyes cloud over, her head falling limply against the wall. She felt Deirdre's arms wrap around her, she felt herself being dragged away.
"Julia, Julia not now stop it, for God's sake stop it." Deirdre was hissing, the frantic tone beginning to rise.
"I can't" Julia whispered. " I can't."
"I'll get Alex." Deirdre said making a decision the words more for herself than for Julia. Which was better as Julia's eyes saw nothing more than the vision that had over come her.
Blue uniformed officers spilled into the library. Guns raised and pointed at the two men that were within, the safe open, coins in their hands. Deirdre stood by the window her eyes wide with fear and the knowledge that at last she had been caught. Jack pushed her behind him protectively, Alex looked with burning eyes at the man who stood with them, his pious look marred for a moment with a sneer.
"Don't think you can get away with this Bull." Alex growled his voice deadly as his muscles bunched like a panther ready to spring at his prey. Julia looked down seeing her hand on the door knob, her wrists bound with rope, then her wrists free, the stained dress from her bag falling in a graceful folds from her hips to her warn gray pants.
"Your choice." A female voice whispered in her head, sagacious and heavy like that of a wise woman. Looking she saw an old woman in the corner, the connection she felt telling Julia she was related to this person in some way. Her thick accent telling Julia she was a gypsy. " Make it now, you can save him, though it might jeopardize all you have built."
"There is no choice." Julia whispered back." I would give my life to save him."
"It may come to that." the old woman responded before Julia felt herself being pushed back with an urgency that told her she did not have much time.
With a will that would force her to survive the upcoming trials in her life she pulled back from oblivion. Back from the future, her head spinning with the effort. She blinked, it had taken mere minutes, and precious minutes she could not waste. Glancing at her lap she saw the dress spread out, shivering with the knowledge that it had not been coincidence that had prompted her to bring it, it had not been a mistake. Something was guiding her, something had given her the vision, the power to pull back, and the knowledge of how to save those she cared about from disaster.
Acting quickly she slipped her suspenders from her shoulders, and pulled off her hat. Her hands trembled on the buttons, but she forced herself on until she stood only in her pantaloons and corset. Quickly she pulled the dress over her head ignoring the rending of fabric as the fitted bodice protested being pulled over her shoulders without being unbuttoned. It would look better for the role she was going to have to play she told herself.
She pulled her hair from its braid and let it cascade down her back. Reaching for the sleeve of her shirt she ripped it away.
A small bit of rope lay at the bottom of her bag and she pulled it out as she placed her other clothes and the sleeve of her dress inside.
"Freeze." a voice bellowed making Julia jump and drop the rope. Quickly and with deftness she did not know she possessed she tied her wrists with her teeth and her hands. The moment that was done she took the handle of the bag in her hands and make for the door trying to school her features into a mask of fear. Given the circumstances it was not hard to do. Her hands paused for a moment on the knob, before she quickly wrenched the door open sending it crashing into the wall with a crash.
Deirdre stood by the window her eyes wide with fear and the knowledge that at last she had been caught. Jack pushed her behind him protectively, Alex looked with burning eyes at the man who stood with them, his pious look marred for a moment with a sneer.
"Don't think you can get away with this Bull." Alex growled deadly as his muscles bunched like a panther ready to spring at his prey. His eyes glittering, the only part of his face that was fully visible and the danger in them telling most that they did not want to see the rest of that look.
"What is this?" The nearest policeman cried his eyes wide on the disheveled woman before him, her face telling him of her fear and hope. She did not look at Alex, she knew he would understand what she meant to do. Babbling as if she were near incoherent with hysteria Julia stumbled into the man, his gun sliding across the floor. Alex pounced on it, his hand wrapping around her waist, and pulling her to him. Before the other men in the room could react.
It had taken moments, and Julia prayed that the old woman was right that her rash moves had saved them all. Surely the others had scattered by now, but even if not Alex was safe. She could not believe it had worked. However, she thought to herself, it was not over yet.
"Make one move an' I'll kill 'er." Alex snapped. Jack was already pushing Deirdre to the window the policemen frozen as they looked at they mayor's daughter knowing that they could be taking their careers in their hands if Julia was hurt. He was pulling her to the window, the police officers watched helplessly. In one move he ripped the bag from her hands and jumped for the window pushing her toward the policemen as he did. She heard a shot fired as she stumbled and fell. She prayed Alex had not been hit as she hit the floor turning in the air to fall on her shoulder rather than her face.
"He was going to kill me!" She shrieked quaking with fear for the men that had left. Still it was fear and the officers took it for what they were meant to. She could hear the sounds of pursuit and prayed that they would survive and escape.
"You're all right now lass." One told her, she could hear the sounds of pursuit and prayed that they would survive and escape. Quietly she slumped back, her eyes closing as though in a faint.
Warning, I was in such a hurry to get this out I did not even have this edited first. Again forgive me and I hope you'll enjoy!
Julia ran her hands up her arms at the brief breeze that caressed her arms and brought goose bumps to the flesh that was exposed by the rolled up sleeves of her shirt. Alex had left but moments before and she had felt the change in him. The sense of unease that had hung about him like a shroud.
She shivered at the thought that had come to her mind. They all knew the risk they took, they all knew that they courted death, and ruin with every heist. Someone in most of the households of the wealthy owned a gun and were not afraid to use it to protect what was deemed valuable. She prayed tonight would not fulfill the dark and morbid thought.
The idea of Alex dead was more than Julia could take, it made her breath stop and her heart pause. Her wardrobe door stood open, a pale dress in the opening dark where bits of dirt and green stains marred the dove gray satin. She smiled remembering the night she had spent with Alex roaming through Central Park, as free as they had been as children. Climbing trees, chasing each other through the grass, a moonlit picnic. It had been all she could have ever asked for. It seemed miles away.
She sighed and reached toward the door to push the dress back into hiding praying as she did her stepmother never found it for there would be hell to pay. It would be like her stepmother to find it as she slept in from the night's excursions.
On a sudden whim she reached for the small canvas bag she kept at the bottom of her wardrobe, it came in handy when trying to climb down trellises to escape into the night. Stuffing the dress into the bag she smiled grimly to herself and turned to yet another trellis to climb praying as she always did that they would remain safe and return victorious. This time however, it felt as though it was all in vain. She was being pulled into the events of tonight like a puppet, she could feel fate pulling the strings. She hated being the puppet, but there are times you can not run, and you can not resist, you can only pray the out come would be in your favor.
Julia arrived at the town house that Alex called home. The lights were all out making the windows almost moan in their emptiness. She felt a chill worm it's way up her spine and closed her eyes shaking her head to make the feeling disappear. There was something very wrong with this night she could smell it on the wind and feel it worming its way through her senses. She trusted those senses explicitly, but for the first time in years she tried to ignore them.
She took a deep breath and started up the stairs where she had paused only to be met at the top by Alex. His face was pale in the darkness, his eyes dark and fathomless. Again she ignored the signs that were all about here. The warnings that were whispering along her skin. His hair was free and freshly washed, his breeches and shirt homespun, his face softened in the darkness. For a moment she saw Alex, the Alex she had as a young child, the Alex she had loved and trusted. For a moment all the hurt and anguish of the past few years slipped away and she was free, free of constraint, free of her father, free of the expectations of a society she hated. S
he smiled softly at him and he returned it as under the spell as she was. For a moment it lasted and that was all they were granted before the shadow fell over Alex's face and he gestured roughly for her to follow.
She did, the silence between them as deep as a cavern, a cavern that was rapidly growing, creating a chasm she feared soon neither would be able to cross, and the fragile happiness of the past few weeks would end.
Neither spoke on the walk, the silence reigned until they reached the meeting place at Central Park. Julia found the rest of the group gathered each looking determined and worried. All looking almost like soldiers on their way to war. Again Julia shivered, her mind whispering things that threatened to become full-blown visions. She shook her head again praying that she would not get one, praying that they would not interfere with this heist.
" Are you all right Jul?" Alex asked worry marking his words, worry she did not want him to feel, but he knew her too well and she knew he had seen the faraway gleam in her eye that always marked the visions. He stopped short of the people that waited for them, his hand going to her arm detaining her non-too gently. She wondered what was going through his mind. His eyes were hooded and distant. She could not read him for the first time in the entire time she had known him. She knew that look, that brooding look that held a note of danger that often made men cower. Never had he turned it on her, with her he had always been open the only person he shared everything with. He had always told her more than he had ever told me. It hurt her, but not to be out done she raised her head, her own eyes shielding her emotions as effectively as his did.
"I'm fine Alex, perfectly fine," she replied firmly and breezily as if she didn't have a care in the world. She turned on her heel and entered the clearing ignoring the protests of Alex.
Tension was crackling in the air like the moments just before lightning strikes. Something was going to happen and she could not ignore it forever. Something was in the air tonight and Julia knew if they gave up tonight something would be righted and their lives could be normal. Though if they ignored it she sensed it would rip their lives apart. She could feel it in the wind that ran it's icy hands up her arms sending chills through her body. For a moment Julia had the urge to turn and run away, an urge she had to fight from following.
"Perhaps we should let them have this heist." she whispered haltingly as they all gathered together, her voice becoming far off. Still the visions that threatened to crowd her brain she fought. Alex looked at her as if she was crazy.
"You aren't loosing your edge are you?" David sneered and Julia stiffened her spine. For the first time Alex only watched her waiting to see what her answer would be, too intent on vanquishing his enemy to hear the tone in her voice that would have told him she knew what she said. That she was receiving warnings he was ignoring, warnings that were bearly of interest to him, but were screaming at her.
"Careful." Julia snapped pulling on her pride, though she had seen the fear in David's eyes. She knew he had laid his words as bait and she was foolish enough to rise to it. She cursed her temper and pride, but it did not keep her from her next words. Words that set in stone what would happen, which would seal her fate. " The edge of a knife can so easily fool you into thinking it is not sharp. I wouldn't test me David."
She wondered what David had to gain from this, why he wanted so badly for them to do this heist. She shook her head again, if she had only listened to her instincts.
Alex spoke briefly, but they all knew what they were to do. The chief responsibility of Julia and Deirdre was to get inside and then let the men in. It was simple enough at least if everything went according as planned.
As they approached the home the sense of dread only grew. She found Alex as cold and cool as a knife, the knife she had spoken of. She hoped he had not fooled her into believing he was not dangerous. So intent on what he deemed his that he would wound those that tried to stop him. He was shutting her out completely, something he had never done and she didn't like it at all. She smiled grimly at Deirdre as they circled the house looking for open windows trying to replace the hurricane of emotions with impassioned calm.
"Jackpot." Deirdre breathed as she tested the library window. She deftly hooked her foot over the opened ledge and swung herself up balancing for a moment making Julia long to pull on the leg left on the side of freedom. If she pulled down now they could make a run for it, if she didn't they would be stuck. It was the final choice and she willed herself to watch as Deirdre's blonde braid disappeared into the open mouth of the window.
Closing her eyes she reached for the sill and repeated the process. She was mildly disconcerted to find the canvas bag still on her shoulder. Surprised no one had asked about it and surprised she had forgotten to leave it at Alex's, she mentally scolded herself for her lack of attention to details. It was a trait she needed right now, she could not afford to become flighty.
She felt someone grab her leg causing her to jump nearly knocking her head against the opened windowpane. She had hesitated too long. Looking down at her capture she was relieved to find Alex looking up at her, his face hidden by the shadows. She calmed her pounding heart as he squeezed her leg in comfort, for a moment the warmth of the feelings they shared blocking out all the fear and tension of the night.
"Be careful." he whispered and she nodded, before she heeded Deirdre's tugs on her sleeve and slipped into the window.
The library was on the main floor, the ball room lay at the other end of the house where a set of stairs rose gracefully to the edge of a glass paned wall. In the middle of the wall they would find a set of French doors that opened onto the patio. Just past the glass Alex and the other boys would wait hidden by the shadows until the girls opened the doors to give them access.
Silent as spirits they floated across the marble floors to the ballroom. It was the safest room in the house to enter through, as it was not used unless there was to be a party.
From experience Julia knew that the ballroom while very busy at night during the season would often, be neglected until an upcoming event. The Worthington's, Julia knew would not be hosting another party for a few weeks. Mrs. Worthington had been a little under the weather and did not have the "strength" for such an undertaking. Julia snorted softly, as though ordering the servants about took much strength. It wasn't as if she would clean or cook for the event.
The house was like a tomb and it took a matter of minutes for Julia and Deirdre to run through the shadows their destination. The boys entered as silently, the sleeping occupants of the house none the wiser. David made as though to join them, but Alex made a slashing motion with his hand telling him silently that he was not to go. Julia watched closely as David slid into the shadows his eyes burning with a hatred that made her shudder.
Julia took her place at Alex's side, Deirdre and Jack just behind them. The safe was in the library, rare Roman coins locked within its depths. The fear that had haunted her started to fade replaced by the rush of her adrenaline. Like the Wolves they had named themselves for they hid in the shadows moving as a pack stalking their prey. Everyone knew their role, everyone knew their job, and everyone was prepared to protect the other. The boys turned toward the library and the safe within the girls were to wait outside keeping watch. Julia could see Deirdre chafing against the orders, muttering all the while about what a better job she could do.
"Be still De, you'll get us caught." Julia whispered. She could see Deirdre relax against the wall more in a huff than in acquiescence. The fear was back and she found herself tugging on her dress nervously as the voice whispered within her head. A voice whispering for her to put it on, she pushed it away. The shear craziness of the idea making her shake her head at herself. It became more insistent her hand already pulling the dress from the bag before she could stop herself.
"Oh God not now." Deirdre hissed as Julia felt her eyes cloud over, her head falling limply against the wall. She felt Deirdre's arms wrap around her, she felt herself being dragged away.
"Julia, Julia not now stop it, for God's sake stop it." Deirdre was hissing, the frantic tone beginning to rise.
"I can't" Julia whispered. " I can't."
"I'll get Alex." Deirdre said making a decision the words more for herself than for Julia. Which was better as Julia's eyes saw nothing more than the vision that had over come her.
Blue uniformed officers spilled into the library. Guns raised and pointed at the two men that were within, the safe open, coins in their hands. Deirdre stood by the window her eyes wide with fear and the knowledge that at last she had been caught. Jack pushed her behind him protectively, Alex looked with burning eyes at the man who stood with them, his pious look marred for a moment with a sneer.
"Don't think you can get away with this Bull." Alex growled his voice deadly as his muscles bunched like a panther ready to spring at his prey. Julia looked down seeing her hand on the door knob, her wrists bound with rope, then her wrists free, the stained dress from her bag falling in a graceful folds from her hips to her warn gray pants.
"Your choice." A female voice whispered in her head, sagacious and heavy like that of a wise woman. Looking she saw an old woman in the corner, the connection she felt telling Julia she was related to this person in some way. Her thick accent telling Julia she was a gypsy. " Make it now, you can save him, though it might jeopardize all you have built."
"There is no choice." Julia whispered back." I would give my life to save him."
"It may come to that." the old woman responded before Julia felt herself being pushed back with an urgency that told her she did not have much time.
With a will that would force her to survive the upcoming trials in her life she pulled back from oblivion. Back from the future, her head spinning with the effort. She blinked, it had taken mere minutes, and precious minutes she could not waste. Glancing at her lap she saw the dress spread out, shivering with the knowledge that it had not been coincidence that had prompted her to bring it, it had not been a mistake. Something was guiding her, something had given her the vision, the power to pull back, and the knowledge of how to save those she cared about from disaster.
Acting quickly she slipped her suspenders from her shoulders, and pulled off her hat. Her hands trembled on the buttons, but she forced herself on until she stood only in her pantaloons and corset. Quickly she pulled the dress over her head ignoring the rending of fabric as the fitted bodice protested being pulled over her shoulders without being unbuttoned. It would look better for the role she was going to have to play she told herself.
She pulled her hair from its braid and let it cascade down her back. Reaching for the sleeve of her shirt she ripped it away.
A small bit of rope lay at the bottom of her bag and she pulled it out as she placed her other clothes and the sleeve of her dress inside.
"Freeze." a voice bellowed making Julia jump and drop the rope. Quickly and with deftness she did not know she possessed she tied her wrists with her teeth and her hands. The moment that was done she took the handle of the bag in her hands and make for the door trying to school her features into a mask of fear. Given the circumstances it was not hard to do. Her hands paused for a moment on the knob, before she quickly wrenched the door open sending it crashing into the wall with a crash.
Deirdre stood by the window her eyes wide with fear and the knowledge that at last she had been caught. Jack pushed her behind him protectively, Alex looked with burning eyes at the man who stood with them, his pious look marred for a moment with a sneer.
"Don't think you can get away with this Bull." Alex growled deadly as his muscles bunched like a panther ready to spring at his prey. His eyes glittering, the only part of his face that was fully visible and the danger in them telling most that they did not want to see the rest of that look.
"What is this?" The nearest policeman cried his eyes wide on the disheveled woman before him, her face telling him of her fear and hope. She did not look at Alex, she knew he would understand what she meant to do. Babbling as if she were near incoherent with hysteria Julia stumbled into the man, his gun sliding across the floor. Alex pounced on it, his hand wrapping around her waist, and pulling her to him. Before the other men in the room could react.
It had taken moments, and Julia prayed that the old woman was right that her rash moves had saved them all. Surely the others had scattered by now, but even if not Alex was safe. She could not believe it had worked. However, she thought to herself, it was not over yet.
"Make one move an' I'll kill 'er." Alex snapped. Jack was already pushing Deirdre to the window the policemen frozen as they looked at they mayor's daughter knowing that they could be taking their careers in their hands if Julia was hurt. He was pulling her to the window, the police officers watched helplessly. In one move he ripped the bag from her hands and jumped for the window pushing her toward the policemen as he did. She heard a shot fired as she stumbled and fell. She prayed Alex had not been hit as she hit the floor turning in the air to fall on her shoulder rather than her face.
"He was going to kill me!" She shrieked quaking with fear for the men that had left. Still it was fear and the officers took it for what they were meant to. She could hear the sounds of pursuit and prayed that they would survive and escape.
"You're all right now lass." One told her, she could hear the sounds of pursuit and prayed that they would survive and escape. Quietly she slumped back, her eyes closing as though in a faint.