Thank you so much for the lovely and helpful reviews you left for the last chapter. They really do make my day. Let me know what you think about this next chapter. I was hoping to finish the season with this one, but it wasn't to be. The story won't let me rush it!
The car turned its lights off, pulled slowly round the corner and parked. The doors opened and four men stepped out. At the other end of the street, an identical car did the same. It was three o'clock in the morning. The men walked silently towards each other along the length of the street. It was a long street and although the two groups of men couldn't see each other, they could just about see the small red light of a cigarette about halfway along. It moved up and down as the person smoked it, glowing bright red as smoke was inhaled. The two groups of men stopped a few feet away from either side of the smoker. After a beat, a man from each group continued walking. One of them called out.
"Oi, mate. Got a light?"
The man smoking the cigarette turned towards him, watching the figure come into the light cast by the streetlamp above him. He took a step towards the stranger, a hand reaching towards the gun he had in a holster under his arm.
"No, move on."
"Aw, mate, just let me light mine from yours then."
"I said…"
But before he could continue, a hand clamped itself round his mouth and a knife was plunged into his back – once, twice, three times – angled upwards towards his heart. The smoker died quickly, his life blood draining away in seconds. The man with the knife let him slump to the floor. By now the two groups of men had joined the scene. One of them spoke up.
"Nice job, lads. Just the one on the door, then? Strange that. Maybe there's an army inside. Let's go and find out, shall we? Bring him with us, we don't want to leave our litter on the street. You two stay here in case he has mates nearby."
Two of the men stationed themselves where the dead man had stood whilst two others picked him up and followed their colleagues through the gate at the side of St. Mary's Home for Orphaned and Destitute Girls. The gate leading into the courtyard was locked, but that was soon dealt with, thanks to a crowbar. The six men gathered quietly in the courtyard where they dumped the body in a corner. After a few minutes to take in their surroundings and work out a way into the building, they approached the back door, looking stealthily into the windows on the way. The house inside was dark with no sign of movement. The back door proved a lot harder to deal with than the courtyard gate. It was clearly well-secured.
"Right, we're not going to shift this. Find a window."
A suitably large window was smashed and the group quickly climbed through, on high alert, guns in hands, knowing that the noise would have alerted anyone inside. Sure enough, they heard footsteps rushing towards the room they were in. The door burst open and the men were more than surprised to see two sisters appear, both holding a raised shotgun. The sisters stared at the men in front of them, all of whom were pointing handguns of various descriptions at them. One of the sisters gasped.
"They're Jews!"
Alfie grinned at her widely.
"That's right, sweetheart. Don't try and be a hero, now. Us Jews have history of winning battles"
One of the sisters, Mary Gabriel, lifted the shotgun to her sights and trained it on Alfie. Her expression dared him to make a move. He kept his gun on her and raised an eyebrow.
"Now, sisters, think about it – you may have time to release a bullet each, but there are still four bullets coming your way after that. Hmm? It's not really worth it, is it? This wasn't what you married the Lord for, was it?"
The sister with Mary Gabriel looked at him worriedly. She was plain-faced woman who was happy bullying young girls, but not as brave when faced with six armed Jews. She leaned over to her fellow sister.
"He's right, Mary Gabriel, we're outnumbered."
Mary Gabriel glanced at her colleague annoyed. "Shut up…"
But she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Alfie, taking advantage of her glancing away from him, deftly stepped forward and grabbed the barrel of the gun, pushing it upwards, away from him. Mary Gabriel put up a fight but the sisters were no match for Alfie's men who swiftly disarmed the women and had them tied up and gagged in minutes. Sat on the floor against a wall, Mary Gabriel glared at Alfie as he paced in front of them. There was a man on the door keeping watch for any more armed sister coming their way. Alfie stopped and looked down at his captives.
"Ladies, I'll get straight to the point, we don't have much time. You have, somewhere here in this depressing building, someone who means a lot to me. Her brother has asked me to return her to him and, normally, I wouldn't help someone who just a few hours ago tried to kill me, but in this case, I'm not doing this for him. Which is bad news for you, because I have a deep personal interest in making sure this child is safe and I will stop at nothing to make sure she is. All of which to say, it will behoove you to help me as required because, believe me, I can be very persuasive."
Mary Gabriel continued to glare at him, her feelings on the matter clear in her expression. The other sister, however, looked scared and it was on her that Alfie focused her attention. He crouched down in front of her and pulled the gag down from her mouth. He smiled at her.
"What's your name, sister?"
She answered nervously. "Mary Joan."
"Mary Joan? Lovely. Right, Mary Joan, I'd be grateful for your help. I'm looking for a girl who would have arrived here yesterday. She goes by the name of Rose Shelby. Is that name familiar to you?"
Mary Joan answered truthfully, "No."
Alfie frowned at her. He continued.
"Maybe you'll know her from a description then. She's thirteen but she looks about eleven – tiny, you know, looks likes she needs a good meal or two inside her. She's got these large, blue eyes which look right into you. Oh, and she has long, red hair – like the colour of leaves on a mid-autumn day. Sound familiar?"
It did indeed sound familiar to Mary Joan who looked worriedly at Mary Gabriel. The larger woman glared back at her, warning her not to say anything. But Mary Joan was not a woman of great courage and at that moment in time, she was more afraid of Alfie than she was of Mary Gabriel. She looked back at Alfie and nodded.
Alfie beamed.
"Excellent. Good girl. Now, all I need to know is where she is. She's asleep right now, I imagine, given that it's the middle of the night, so just tell us which dormitory she's in, we'll collect her and be on our way. Easy."
Mary Joan ducked her head and avoided Alfie's gaze. She began to sweat. Alfie noticed and tilted his head to the side in curiosity. He reached out and lifted her head up to make her look at him.
"Mary Joan? What's going on? It's not hard. Just tell me where she is."
Mary Joan swallowed and opened her mouth to speak. Mary Gabriel growled from behind her gag. The scared sister tried to turn her head to look at her but Alfie held her chin tight.
"Ignore her, Mary Joan, she's just jealous that she can't help me like you are. Look at me now – that's it. Just tell me which dormitory she's in."
"She's not in a dormitory."
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Where is she then?"
More growling from Mary Gabriel. Alfie gripped Mary Joan's chin even harder now, bringing tears to her eyes. She blinked. Alfie lost his patience. He was concerned about the suspicious behaviour of the sisters and worried for Rose. He pulled Mary Joan's face very close to his.
"Where is she?"
Five minutes later, Mary Joan was gagged again and Alfie and his men were hurrying through the building towards the room she'd told them about. They went cautiously, their guns in front of them, expecting more security then they were experiencing. Alfie was surprised at the lack of guards in the building; all he could imagine was that Hughes' arrogance at defeating Tommy had caused him to be over-confident, not knowing that Tommy's reach went beyond Birmingham into London, which is where St Mary's was. Tommy had been desperate when he'd met him in the warehouse earlier that day. He'd discovered Alfie's betrayal with the Fabergé egg, told him about his son being taken, almost killed him, and when that was done with, had told him about Rose being taken too. Alfie had been shocked. He hadn't realised the extent of Hughes' menace but could see how thoroughly he was crushing Tommy.
Tommy had asked him to help find Rose. He had no one else to turn to and was out of options. He knew how fond Alfie was of Rose and felt he could trust him. He had a sickening feeling the Patrick Jarvis was also involved in the kidnapping of Rose, so he passed his details to Alfie and asked him to find any connections to anywhere Hughes could have taken her. Alfie had friends in high places who were susceptible to bribes and had found out the names of places that Jarvis was connected with where Rose could have been taken. He also knew someone who knew someone who worked for Hughes, and had discovered from him that something highly valuable had been sent by Hughes to London the previous morning in a van. He put the two pieces of information together and narrowed it down to three girls' homes in London run by the church where Jarvis was a trustee. Sending men out to watch the three buildings, he'd discovered that St. Mary's had a guard at the door and gambled this was where Rose had been taken. He'd been glad to discover from Mary Joan that his gamble had paid off.
Before long, Alfie and his men had found the part of the building Mary Joan had described to them. The carpet on the floor, the painting on the walls, the large windows - all of them tallied with her description, as did the man who was sat on guard at the entrance to the corridor. He was armed with a revolver which was in his hand. The hand rested on his lap, barely gripping the gun. The hand was relaxed because the man was asleep, his head leaning back against the wall, his mouth wide open, snoring softly. Alfie shook his head when he saw him, the gangster in him appalled at the lack of security. He gestured with a tilt of his head and two of his men moved silently forward. One of them took the gun whilst the other slid a knife under the man's ribs upwards towards his heart. The guards eyes flew open, wide with horror, but he has dead in seconds, his heart damaged beyond repair. He remained slumped in his chair as Alfie moved past him with the rest of his men.
There was a door at the end of the corridor but Alfie headed towards a door on the right. There was a plaque on it announcing whose room it was – Mr. Patrick Jarvis, M.P. Trustee. As he reached for the handle, the door at the end of the corridor opened and Sister Mary Celeste emerged, a pistol in her hand pointing at them. Alfie quickly raised his gun at her as did the rest of his men
"Now then, sister, don't be hasty, there are more of us than…"
The gun went off and one of Alfie's men fell to the floor. He looked at the body on the floor in surprise, taken aback that she'd fired. The man closest to her didn't hesitate however, and hurled himself into the woman. They both fell to the floor in a heap, the gun falling out of her hand, the sister groaning at the blow. Alfie was mad now. He stood over her and glared at her.
"You killed one of my men. What kind of a nun are you?"
Mary Celeste answered, her voice strained from the fall.
"We're not nuns. We're sister. Nuns are cloistered."
"Do I look like I care? You're crazy, and evil, every last one of you. I don't have to see the girls in your care to know how you treat them. You're not fit to call yourselves religious." He turned to one of his men. "Get her up, make sure she doesn't do any more damage and stay with her. The rest of you come with me. Let's see if we can finally do what we came here for."
He walked out of the room towards the door with the plaque on it. Gun at the ready, he turned the handle and pushed it open. What he saw filled him with rage. The room was an office of some kind with a desk on one side and, disturbingly, a bed on the other. It was as opulently decorated as Mary Celeste's. A tall, bald man was stood in the centre of the room, his arm around Rose's shoulders, pinning her to him. In his other hand was a gun which he was pressing against her temple. He had no jacket on and his shirt was untucked. Rose looked very small against him. She was wearing a long, white nightgown which had been torn slightly at the collar. Her hands gripped the arm that was across her shoulders, her knuckles white. Her hair was short and tangled, and her face was covered in bruises and cuts. Her expression was one of terror and distress. She looked at Alfie, her eyes darting between him and the men who had followed him into the room and she was utterly confused, not seeming to recognise him. Alfie's heart broke when he saw her. She was very clearly traumatised. He looked at the man who held her and felt utter fury. The man spoke, his voice shaking a little.
"Don't come any closer. I'll shoot her, I will. She's who you're here for, isn't she? I told Hughes not to underestimate Shelby."
Alfie kept his gun raised, working hard not to let his arm shake with the anger he felt. He moved swiftly to Jarvis who pushed the gun harder into Rose's temple. She let out a gasp of pain and winced.
"I mean it. I'll kill her."
Alfie kept moving towards him, arm outstretched, finger on the trigger. He spoke in a voice hardened with anger.
"Go on then, shoot her. Pull the trigger. Go on then. GO ON"
By this time, Alfie had covered the distance between him and Jarvis and had shoved his gun hard into Jarvis' forehead. His eyes flashed with danger and although the Member of Parliament was a head taller than Alfie, he was visibly intimidated by him. He was sweating and breathing heavily. Alfie would have breathed fire if he could have. He moved a step closer still, so close that the edge of his coat brushed against Rose's face. He spat his words at Jarvis.
"You can't, can you? Men like you are nothing but cowards – spineless, perverted bastards. Let her go or I will crack that hairless skull of yours open and let your brain leak out all over this nice carpet."
Jarvis shifted nervously, his eyes scanning Alfie's face, wondering what to do. He kept a tight hold on Rose. He knew she was his only leverage but he wasn't sure he could see a way out of this situation. Alfie growled and jabbed his gun deeper into Jarvis' forehead.
"You're right – there is no way you can win here. If you shoot her, you'll die horribly and painfully, I promise you. If you let her go, maybe you'll have a chance." He shrugged. "But I'm running out of patience."
Jarvis blinked, considered his options, then dropped his gun, removed his arm from Rose and pushed her away. She dropped to the floor, her legs unable to hold her up, and instinctively moved away from the danger – half-crawling, half-dragging herself to the corner of the room.
Alfie watched as she moved herself to safety and then returned his attention to Jarvis who was holding his hands up in a gesture of submission as he spoke quickly.
"Ok, you have her now. No need for violence. Do you who I am? I can make life…"
Alfie squeezed the trigger and released a bullet into Jarvis' brain. The M.P. stood for a spilt second, his mouth still formed in the shape of his next word, then crumpled to the floor like a house of cards, landing heavily on his face. Alfie watched him fall, then spat on his body.
At the sound of the gunshot, Rose flinched violently and, bringing her knees up to her chest, put her head down with her hands over her ears. Why wasn't she waking up? She always woke up at the sound of the gunshot. Then the nightmare would be over and she'd sit on the window seat, smoking a cigarette and watching the sun rise. There would be birds singing to welcome the day and, if she was lucky, wild rabbits playing on the lawn. But she wasn't at the window, she was still in her nightmare, pressed against the wall, eyes squeezed shut, hands pushing hard against her ears to block out the sound of the gun which still reverberated inside her head. She couldn't process what was happening. A voice broke through her thoughts. It sounded far away and she could barely hear it over the noise of the gun shot which still rang in her ears. The voice came through again, this time more clearly.
"Petal?"
She frowned as she pushed her head against her knees. She recognised that name. She knew that voice. She heard it again.
"Petal? Can you hear me? It's me, it's Alfie."
Alfie was here? In her nightmare? His voice came again, softly, reassuringly.
"Rose? I'm here. It's alright. You're safe now. Can you open your eyes?"
Rose slowly took her hands from her ears and put her arms around her knees. She opened her eyes and raised her head slightly. She was still in that room. She recognised the carpet. Her stomach lurched. That voice again, guiding her to him.
"That's it, Petal. Look at me, come on."
She lifted her head all the way and turned it to look at Alfie. She stared at him. He was sat a couple of feet from her on the floor, smiling at her gently. Reality crashed back in. She wasn't dreaming. What had happened was real. She felt sick. Alfie looked at her pale, bruised face and wanted to take her and hold her tight. She was traumatised and broken and Alfie had to swallow to contain the emotion he felt. She frowned at him, as if only just recognising him. Her voice was a whisper.
"Alfie?"
"Yes, yes, Petal. It's me. Tommy sent me to bring you home. Yeah? Are you ready to go home?"
Her brow remained furrowed as she took in what he was saying. Her fingers moved to her throat. Another whisper.
"My necklace."
Alfie didn't catch what she'd said and leaned in, turning his ear to her.
"What's that, sweetheart?"
"My necklace. She took my necklace. It was my mum's. Tommy gave it to me for my birthday. It's a … a rose … 'cause roses were mum's favourite. But she took it. She broke it."
Alfie worked hard to hear what she was saying and watched her eyes fill with tears.
"You want your necklace?"
She nodded.
"And who took it?"
Rose's breath quickened as she thought of Mary Celeste. She shook her head, she couldn't say her name.
"She put it in her desk."
Alfie understood. "I will get your necklace, Petal, don't you fret."
Looking over to the door, he beckoned one of his men over.
"Dan, come here, come on. Sit down here, next to me."
He patted the floor next to him and the man sat down next to Alfie. He leant towards him and spoke urgently.
"Alfie, we have to leave. Anyone could find us at any minute. What if that old bag phoned for reinforcements before she came at us."
"Hush! We're not leaving without Rose's necklace. It's important to her. Now, Rose, this ugly mug here – this is Daniel. He's my cousin, on my mum's side yeah? And I would trust him with my life, ok? He's a dad – aren't you Dan? Three daughters…"
"Four now."
Alfie looked at him surprised. "Four? When did that happen?"
"Eight months ago. She's eating solids now. I told you."
"Did you? Anyway, Rose, my petal, Daniel is going to sit with you to keep you company whilst I go and get your necklace. He'll make sure you're safe. Is that alright?"
Rose looked at Daniel, then back at Alfie and nodded. Alfie nodded back at her and stood up. As he did so, Rose spotted the body of Jarvis on the floor behind him, face down in the carpet, blood and brain covering the back of his skull. Her eyes widened as she stared at the body. Alfie saw her looking and crouched down again in front of her, blocking her view, his eyes locked on hers. He spoke firmly.
"He's dead, Rose. I shot him. He's gone. Ok?"
Her face relaxing slightly, she nodded again. Alfie held her gaze for another second and then stood back up.
"Right then, we'll get this necklace and then we'll get out of here."
As he walked past his men, he gestured at the body.
"Cover that up."
One of the men pulled the cover off the bed and threw it over Jarvis. Rose watched Alfie leave through the door, then put her chin on her knees and stared at her feet. She frowned at them. They were covered in cuts and small bruises. Her nails still had dirt under them from the mud of the country lane she had stood in. She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to remember. She pulled her knees closer and waited for Alfie.
He, in the meantime, had entered Mary Celeste's office. She was sat in a chair by the wall, her hands tied, a gag in her mouth. She looked furiously at Alfie as he, ignoring her, strode across the room to her desk. Opening the top drawer, he found the necklace quickly and picked it up. Mary Celeste scoffed as he did so and he raised his head to look at her. His face hardened and he walked over to her, the necklace held firmly in his fist. Bending down to look the sister in the eye, he held up his hand and opened his fist in front of her, showing her the necklace.
"You stole this from a very good friend of mine. Ripped it from her neck. It is very precious to her and I'm going to return it to her. Then, I will take her away from this place back to her family. I only wish I could do the same for every girl here. But rest assured, Sister, I will make sure that this place is wiped clean of all the evil you have brought here and that those girls are looked after properly."
Mary Celeste snorted and rolled her eyes. Alfie's mouth twitched in anger.
"My old mum, she told me never to hurt a woman. That it wasn't pleasing to God for a man to hurt a woman. But what do you think God thinks about a woman hurting lots of little girls, eh? I don't think he'd be best pleased with that either, would he?"
He reached behind him and pulled a knife from a sheath on his belt. He lifted up the blade so that the sister could see it glinting in the firelight.
"Now, my friend - who is very dear to me - she's been hurt badly. She's only little and someone bigger than her has caused her wounds and bruises and – I don't want to think about what else. She has a nasty gash on her cheek, just about here…"
Alfie touched the blade to Mary Celeste's cheek, just above her cheekbone. She looked at him worriedly.
"That wound will leave a scar on her lovely face and every time she looks at it in the mirror she will remember what happened to her and who did those things to her. That's a terrible thing, don't you think? To have a visual reminder of evil left on your face."
He pushed the blade in deeper so that it broke the skin and blood began to trickle down Mary Celeste's face. She whimpered. Alfie wasn't done yet. He pulled the blade slowly across her cheek as he continued to speak, opening up a wound which bled freely.
"Imagine that, Sister, always having to see that scar on your face. It would make you wish that you could never see it again, wouldn't it? You'll have a scar there too now. But I'll do you a kindness and make sure you never have to see it and be reminded of what happened to you."
He lifted the knife off her cheek and held the blade steadily about half an inch from her eye. She looked at the weapon, then at Alfie's expression of hatred and her eyes widened in terror. He grinned.
In the room next door, Rose's head shot up at the blood-curdling scream which came through the open door. She looked at Daniel in panic. He held up a hand.
"It's ok, don't worry, just stay calm."
Rose wasn't calm and she looked back at the door, wishing Alfie would reappear. Suddenly, another pain-filled scream filled the air and Rose's hands flew up, back over her ears as she pressed her face into her knees. Daniel looked at the door, also worried. What was Alfie doing?
A few minutes later, Alfie reappeared. He crouched down by Rose and held up the necklace. Daniel saw blood on his cuff and frowned. Alfie spoke gently again.
"Petal? I have your necklace. Look."
Rose lifted her head, hands still on her ears and looked at Alfie, then at the necklace in his hand. She pulled her hands slowly down and reached out with one of them to touch the necklace. She laid a finger on the rose and studied it.
"Is it broken?"
"Only a bit, Petal. One of the links is pulled open, see? But the clasp is still fine. I can fix it easily for you, if you'd like?"
She looked at him and nodded. Alfie grinned at her and put the necklace carefully in the breast pocket of his jacket.
"Right then, I'll keep it safe for you, alright? You'll have it back in no time. Now, Petal, we really have to make a move. It's time to go home. Can you stand up, do you think?"
Rose thought about it. She didn't think she could. She hadn't eaten in hours and felt quite weak. She shook her head.
"Then it will be my pleasure to carry you, if that's ok with you? Hmm?"
She hesitated, then nodded. Alfie slowly moved carefully towards her, not wanting to startle her.
"Alright then, sweetheart. I'm going to put my arm under your knees and hold you round your waist, then pick you up. Ok? You're safe, you're safe. Do you think you can hold onto me? Put your arms round my neck, hmm?"
He talked her through everything he did so that she wasn't caught unawares in any way and lifted her carefully off the ground. Rose held on tightly round his neck, feeling safe for the first time in over twenty-four hours.
"Now listen, sweetheart, I want you to put your head down on my shoulder and squeeze your eyes shut, ok? There are things you don't need to see. That's it, good girl. Let's go then, let's get you home."
He headed out of the room and down the corridor. Rose kept her head down for a few seconds, but as they turned out of the room, she opened her eyes and looked over Alfie's shoulder. The bloody, sightless eyes of Mary Celeste looked back at her. The sister was barely conscious as blood poured down her face. Rose kept looking at her as Alfie walked down the corridor behind his men. She felt nothing as she stared at the gruesome sight, except that she wished she'd put the knife into the sister's eyes herself.
As the group of men and the small girl were making their way down the stairs, a flurry of gunshots suddenly rang out in the street outside. The men instinctively froze, assessing the situation. Alfie held Rose closer as she tightened her grip on him. Daniel whispered.
"I told you she phoned for reinforcements. What now?"
Alfie considered. "Jerry and Si should be holding them off outside. We'll head to the where we came in and hope they haven't made it round the back yet. Come on."
They quickly moved on their steps but hadn't gone far when a sister rounded a corner and stopped at the sight of them. Their weapons all turned on her.
"Out of the way, darling, we don't want to hurt you."
The sister, Mary Agnes, didn't move. Instead she smiled.
"You came for her! I knew you would. I prayed you would. I couldn't bear to see another girl brought in."
Alfie frowned. He didn't know what she was talking about. And didn't care.
"Move out of the way."
"You can't get out the way you came in. The men are already there. Follow me, I can get you out."
She looked at them desperately, pointing the way she wanted to take them. The men turned and looked at Alfie who made a split second decision.
"Lead the way, good sister."
Mary Agnes span round and hurried away, leading them through the building, along narrow corridors and through back rooms. She stopped suddenly, holding out a hand to stop them and putting a finger on her lips. The group stood still, listening. They could hear men's' voices not far away, lots of them. Mary Agnes looked around, worried. She whispered.
"We have to hide. They're very close. Follow me."
She led them round a corner and into a large room lit by a few candles. Alfie swore when he saw where he was.
"A church? You brought us to a church?"
"It's a chapel. Sshhh, they'll be here any minute. Quickly, in there."
She pointed to some booths along the side of the room with curtains across them.
Alfie looked at her incredulously. "The confessionals?"
They could hear footsteps walking along the corridor outside. Mary Agnes hissed at them.
"We're out of time. Get in now!"
The men quickly pushed themselves into the confessionals. Two to a booth closing the curtains behind them. Mary Agnes pulled the curtain across Alfie and Rose.
"Don't make a sound."
She ran across the room and knelt down quickly in front of the altar. She began to sing a psalm.
Inside the booth, Rose could feel Alfie's heart racing through his chest. She looked up at him and he winked at her. He tightened his arms around her and she put her head on his shoulder. They both listened as the doors to the chapel opened. Mary Agnes continued to sing.
"Oh, sorry, sister."
She stopped singing and stood up to face the men who had entered.
"Is something wrong, gentlemen?"
"There are intruders in the building. Dangerous ones. Have you seen anyone in here?"
"In the chapel? No, there's no one in here but me. I've been here for a while. Are they very dangerous? Will we need to evacuate the children?"
"Oh no, no, nothing to worry about. We'll find them, don't you worry. Now, you're sure you're alone in here?"
The man who had spoken walked down the aisle looking around the chapel, deciding whether to search it.
Rose could hear him walking further into the room and began to panic. Her breathing quickened and she squirmed a little in Alfie's arms. She felt trapped. Alfie put his head down and kissed her on the top of her head, keeping his face there, silently shushing her. She closed her eyes and leaned into him. She listened to his quiet breathing. She breathed in his scent of rum and dogs and thought about how sweet that apple was that she'd eaten in his office. She quieted.
The men looked slowly round the room. Mary Agnes, clasped her hands in front of her and cleared her throat.
"If that's all, gentlemen, I'll get back to my prayers. I'll pray that you'll find them quickly."
"Right, ok then. Thank you, sister. We'll leave you to it."
She smiled at them serenely and watched as they left. After a few seconds, she ran to the door to make sure they weren't in the corridor then turned round and called out quietly.
"It's alright, they've gone now. Let's go quickly before they come back."
Alfie, Rose and his men emerged from the booths and swiftly followed Mary Agnes out of the door. She lead them swiftly down to the basement where at the far end was a small door which lead out into the street round the corner from the entrance. It was originally used for deliveries back in Victorian times. Mary Agnes unlocked the door with a key that was hanging from her belt and opened it cautiously. She checked up and down the street before beckoning them outside. They filed out and the men headed quickly towards the main street to see what the situation was. Alfie stood and looked at Mary Agnes. Rose too regarded the face of the woman who had saved them.
"God bless you, sister."
"Just knowing that Susan will be safe now is blessing enough. Go in peace."
She turned and swiftly returned through the door, locking it behind her. Alfie watched her go, a frown on his face.
"Susan?"
A gun shot rang out in the air and Rose let out a small scream. Alfie crouched down, shielding Rose with his body. It was followed by another flurry of gunfire and a lot of shouting. A car squealed round the corner and stopped right by them. Daniel was driving.
"Alfie, get in the car. Come on!"
Alfie looked over his shoulder and then ran full pelt for the car, holding Rose tightly. Daniel had opened the back door for him and he bundled himself and Rose into the car. Daniel put his foot down and the car sped away, the momentum slamming the door shut. Gunfire followed them and Alfie covered Rose with his upper body, head down, trying not to fall off the seat as Daniel hurled the car round another corner. The whole thing took just a few seconds but Alfie stayed in position until Daniel gave the all clear. He sat up and looked down at Rose whose head was still buried in his chest, her arms clinging tightly to him. He let out a long breath.
"What happened?"
"Jerry and Si are dead. There were at least four of them out front. Abe and the others held them off long enough for me to get the car."
Alfie swore under his breath. He hoped his men would make it out but he wasn't hopeful. He sat back with Rose on his lap and looked wearily out of the window as Daniel drove away at speed. Rose leaned against Alfie and watched the streetlamps go by. She should have felt relieved, happy to have been rescued, but she didn't feel much of anything, just overwhelmingly tired. She was asleep in minutes and Alfie felt her relax against him. He sighed – he was glad she felt safe enough to sleep, but he was concerned about what lay ahead for her over the next few weeks. She'd been taken for just over twenty-four hours but the repercussions of her ordeal would be with her for a lifetime.