Chapter twenty-eight: Houdini


Kate stares at the man in absolute shock. "What do you-

"Move!" He gives her a shove towards an alley. Kate drops her purse, purposefully stalling for time. Thomas had to be close by. "Pick it up."

She does that and as she straightens, she sees Thomas exiting another building. As if sensing her eyes, he turns towards her. She glances towards her captor before shouting. "Thomas!"

He immediately starts running towards her. "Kate!"

"Bitch." The man swore and gave her a shove towards an alley. "Move it!" She stumbles, but manages to stay upright as he drags her towards a along the road and headed to the alley. There's a dark blue car, with a running engine. The man wrenches the door open and shoves her. "Get inside!"

"No!" Kate shouts. "I won't!"

The man draws his hand back and hits her hard across the face with the back of his hand. Kate drops her basket. Fortunately, the weight takes it straight down to the ground, without falling over. She grabs her cheek, as he spins her around and shoves her onto her back in the car! Kate brings her legs up and kicks him hard in the stomach, sending him backwards. She rolls out of the car, going for her purse.

"Get her in!" the driver shouts. "Quickly!"

"Oi!" Thomas shouts. "Get your f**king hands off her!"

Kate looks up to see him entering the alley, his gun. She instantly freezes as a gun cocks directly behind her head. "Freeze or I blow her head off!" the man grabs her by her hair and pulls her up from the ground. "Get up."

Kate grips her purse tightly and carefully gets up from the ground. Thomas has a gun out and it's pointed at the man's head. He looks directly at her. "Kate? He hurt you?"

"No."

"Shut up." the man barks. "I've no quarrel with you Shelby!"

"Really? Then get your hands off my wife." Thomas warns darkly. "Now."

"Wife?" The man sounds genuinely confused.

"Did whomever hired you forget to mention," she inhales sharply as the man pushed the gun against her temple. "that I married Thomas Shelby?"

The man stiffened and pointed his gun at Tommy instead. "All I know, is there's a big reward for this girl, dead or alive. You, don't fit into the puzzle at all."

"That's too bad." She carefully reaches into her purse and draws her derringer. Tommy's face remained impassive, but he gave her the slightest brow arch. "My wife's not going anywhere."

Kate turns and shoots the man in his elbow. The man howled and she pulled free, throwing herself to the ground as the blue car takes off, nearly tearing the door off! Thomas fires his gun multiple times, causing the man to sink down to the ground. Kate fires her gun several times, blowing out the back window of the blue car. The driver turns sharply, out of her line of vision. She groans as she gets up into a sitting position.

"Kate?" Thomas hurries towards her, his hand still on his gun. "You alright? Are you shot?"

"I'm alright."

"Don't move!" He requests, his eyes scanning her body rapidly for any signs of injury. Kate wants to object, but she remembers that his first wife, Grace, had been shot. Thomas kneels, running his hand over her, she reaches for his hand and holds his gaze. "Kate."

"I'm unharmed Thomas." She assures him, lowering her voice to calm him. "I'm alright, I'm safe because of you." He exhales as he pulls her up. He carefully studies her, top to bottom, looking for signs of injury. "My cake probably is destroyed."

"Sod the f**king cake." He says as he pulls towards him. She exhales and holds onto him. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Positive." The man on the ground lets out a groan, causing her to pull away from him. "Any idea who he is?"

"No idea." He shrugged. "He won't be alive for much longer, so, no way to find out."

She straightened up and turned to the man as he let out a death rattle. She nods in agreement, as she picks up her hat and dusts it off. "Well, has your opinion on me carrying 2 guns changed?"

"Carry as many as you want. I'm glad you're a good shot." He turns and puts his gun inside his holster. He picks up her basket and heads towards his car. "Let's get you out of here."

Kate nods. "Let's go home."

Thomas wraps an arm around her waist and guides her towards the alley entrance, there's a forming crowd there. Unfortunately, there are two police officers approaching them. "Hold it!" one shouts. "Hold it right there!"

Kate groans. "Great."

"Get inspector Moss on the phone." Thomas orders before either man gets a chance to ask him a single question.

The man snorts. "I don't care who you think you are. I'm not calling up the inspector. He's a busy man."

"As am I. The name's Shelby. Thomas Shelby." The other officer recognizes the name and steps towards them.

"And what's your name, Miss?" the ignorant officer inquires.

"Mrs. Katherine Kovach," that catches the officer's attention and he straightens up. "Shelby."

"Kovach?" he swallowed nervously. "Any relation to-

"Gilbert Kovach is my father." She nods towards Tommy. "Thomas Shelby is my husband." By now, both police officers' faces have gone a shade of pasty gray. "This man was attempting to kidnap me and my husband shot him."

"I see." The officer swallows and exhales. "My apologies."

"There's a blue car driving around Birmingham, with a shot out window." She says. "You should find the driver was complicit in my kidnapping. The plates were removed."

"Rest assured Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, we will launch a thorough investigation into this." The second officer speaks hastily. "You're free to go." Kate arches a brow. "This was clearly self defense, no reason for an inquiry."

"Thank you. Tell Moss to call me at 4:00. I'll be awaiting his call." Tommy takes her by the elbow and guides her through the growing crowd to his car. "Well Kate, how's it feel to be such a powerful woman?"

"Tedious." She exhaled. "I only wanted to have a simple life with my husband. Now, I shall have to make do with what fate's handed me."

"Oh, speaking of handing." He reached into his pocket and handed her a pair of pale blue gloves, which she noted, closely matched her coat and dress. "I got you these."

She smiled. "I really didn't need-

"A simple thanks would be sufficient Kate." He states as he holds the car door open for her.

"I was going to say thank you, had you not cut me off." She smiled up at him, patting his cheek, even though he was glowering down at her. "Thank you Thomas."

"Get in the car." He orders, shrugging her hand off his cheek.

She rolls her eyes, but does as he asks. He takes the basket and puts it in the front seat, causing her to sigh. "I just know everything in there is ruined."

"Don't worry Mrs. Shelby," the driver says kindly. "I'm certain that they'd rather have you home in one piece."

Thomas gets in the car and slams the door shut. "Home."

"As you wish Sir."

Thomas grips her chin and turns her towards him. Kate inhales sharply as he leans forward, his gaze deep and penetrating. The intensity in his cold blue eyes causes her to blush violently. He stills for a moment; in that second, she thinks that he's going to kiss her and that caused her to jump slightly in her seat and drop her gaze.

"Look at me." he ordered, his tone brisk. She did so, her heart pounding in her throat. He brought his hand up and strokes her cheek with his thumb. "You've got some blood there."

"Oh!" her voice came out as a croak, causing her to be vexed. She cleared her throat. "Thank you."

He exhales roughly and swipes away the few bits of blood on her face before sitting back into his seat. Certain that he's not looking at her, she trembles as she touches her mouth with a trembling hand. While they hadn't kiss, the moment had been so intense it was if they had. Feeling his eyes on her, she yawns and covers her mouth. "I'm sorry. It's just the stress."

"No worries. Did you recognize the men?"

"No."

"Moss should get back to me with who owns the car soon, then, I'll know more from there."

"I've a sneaking suspicion that my father or brother is into something. And whatever it is, someone has no idea I'm married to you, otherwise they wouldn't have tried something like this."

He nods in agreement. "Yeah, no one would be that stupid to try to abduct my wife while I'm mere feet away from her. But don't worry, no one's going to harm you while I'm around." She appreciates this protective side of him. Her father watched out for her, but only Thomas had been straight in making it clear that nothing would ever happen to her. He studies her closely for a moment. "How'd it go with Emmett's parents?"

She sighs and leans back in her seat. "They'd rather I not darken their doors again."

He frowns. "Why?"

"As I thought, they view my marrying you as a betrayal to their son." She sighs. "They're still missing him terribly."

"They, like you, will have to move on. Staying in the past helps no one." She nods in agreement. "And as I said before Kate, you were way too young to be single for long. Someone, in time, would have eventually started to pursue you."

She chuckles. "Yes, but I've yet to meet a man more blatant and determined than you. It is…rather an attractive quality."

"When I know what I want," her smile fades slightly at the tone in his voice. "I go after it."

Kate holds his gaze before admitting softly. "Well, it's nice to be wanted by someone."

He said nothing, but she can see it in his eyes that her words have moved him. He holds out his arm towards her and beckons for her to draw closer. She didn't hesitate in scooting closer towards him. He drew her into his embrace and kept an arm around her waist. "Rest." He ordered her, in as gentle a tone as he could muster. "I'll wake you when we get home."

She nodded silently and shifted closer, Thomas drew her blanket around them both. He exhaled as she wiggled about until she was finally comfortable with her head on his chest and one hand on his knee. Just before she dropped into a stress-induced nap, she felt him slide his hand down her shoulder to her hand. She smiled as he gripped her hand firmly, she kept her eyes closed and imagined that he loved her as much as she loved him.