"Whose fucking idea was it that I go on holiday, eh?" Tommy strutted into the Shelby betting shop and it was the first time Anna heard something resembling lightness in his voice.
A tall man with a mustache and the signature Blinders haircut said something about golf and how it was boring and easy while clapping Tommy's shoulder on the way to his office. He almost closed the door on her face.
"And who are you, love?" He said when Anna stopped the door with her hand.
"This is Ms. Anna Strauss, Arthur." Tommy cut in almost before Arthur finished his sentence. "She has a business proposition for me."
"Oh, well, I'm sorry Ms. Strauss." Arthur said after a pause. He moved out of her way with no further issues and extended his right hand to shake hers. "It is nice to meet you!"
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Shelby." She shook his hand back and moved into the spartan room.
The wordless kind of encrypted communication siblings usually have passed between the Shelby brothers and a second later Arthur left with a mere "welcome back" thrown over his shoulder before he closed the door.
"Drink Ms. Strauss?" Tommy said motioning her to the empty chair, while sitting down himself and pulling out a bottle of whiskey from the bottom drawer of his sturdy desk.
"No, thank you, Mr. Shelby." Anna sat down.
"Tommy."
"I'm sorry?"
"If we are to plan an assassination in the near future, Anna, formalities can be forgotten, don't you think?" He took a sip of his whiskey.
"Yes, you're quite right… Tommy. The thing is… we can't have Hitler killed yet."
"Why?" His posture didn't change, but his eyebrows went up a fraction.
"You see, Hitler is an awful man with awful ideas and plans. But right now, the German people don't know that. They either chose not to see it, or are fooled by his nationalistic rhetoric to think that he is right. If he dies now, before people can't see where his ideas are taking the country and the world to, somebody else will just take his place."
"Sure, maybe, if somebody else takes his place a war doesn't happen, or if it does, isn't as horrific, but we can't know for sure. The man is a monster, but he is not the only one and his motivations are certainly not unique to we need to do is undermine his authority, his message, his propaganda and then end him when everyone else will kinda be wishing for his death anyway." She stopped talking then, watching the still, and yet never calm, man before her.
He said nothing. He either guessed what she would be saying next, or was rethinking his decision to help her. Anna gave him no more room to decide by saying,
"I came to you because I know you are very, very close to putting yourself in the House of Lords as the head of the Worker's Party, Mr. Thomas Shelby. I also suspect you will be doing that, not because you want more power, but because you want to win the game people have made you a pawn of. My only suggestion is that you do that on a slightly larger scale than you once predicted." Her chin had unconsciously gone up while her voice acquired an almost preaching quality. She probably would be embarrassed by that later, but right now, Anna allowed her passionate desperation to flow free into her features in hopes of maybe warming him.
If it did, she had no way of knowing by his expression. All she knew was that he was considering her words carefully, while taking another deliberate sip of his amber drink. Had she said too much? The Academy was adamant about the "Need to Know" rule, and Anna's necessity for honest communication had always clashed with that ideal. That was, after all, the reason why she had come alone, to a time period very different to the one her assignment had prescribed.
"We should talk about your role in my company from now on, Ms. Strauss." Tommy said. For a second, his words made no sense to her, so she didn't answer in time to stop his next sentence. "If you are to be my political adviser, I should think we will need an excuse for our frequent meetings, eh? Somehow I think such a distinguished lady like yourself will take offense at being undercover as my whore." Humor shaded by some memory crossed his face for a second. "I am in need of a new secretary."
"Is it not customary to negotiate the details of a deal, Mr. Shelby?" Her voice had some menace in it, but they both knew how relieved she was by his compliance so the poison didn't take.
"This is not a deal, Anna. This is a gamble. And the best way to profit off a gamble is to go all in." He stood and offered her his hand to shake. Anna stood herself and took his hand in hers.
"Thank you Mr. Shelby."
"Come to my office when I get elected. And when you do, Anna, call me Tommy."
A month later, Anna was leaving her newly rented apartment in the chilly morning when a rolled up copy of the Birmingham Daily Post hit her chest, not without some force. Automatically, she grabbed it from the well manicured hand that held it. The slight heartburn she had been experiencing in the last few weeks finally left her body accompanied by a long sigh.
Picture of the Birmingham Daily Post: /vBy48Hr
"Damn me, Arthur can be right sometimes." Polly Gray said. Anna raised her eyes towards the Shelby matriarch and couldn't help but feeling a little starstruck. "Tommy is following a woman again, God help us all."
"Would you like to come in Ms. Gray?" Anna said, taking a step back into her small abode. With a delicate eyebrow raised, Polly followed her in, and closed the door.
Anna dropped the paper on the table and occupied herself with the soothing activity of warming water for tea. 'One can always trust British people to wait for a good brew', her Foreign Culture 101 teacher used to say. How much had Tommy told Polly? Or Arthur for that matter. She was under the impression that Tommy Shelby wasn't the most chatty of men, couldn't he keep a damn secret? On the other hand, if he had told his family about their endeavors, maybe that meant that he was committed to it. It would be a relief to know that for sure.
Polly Gray had the eyes of a hawk and the poise of a queen. She took her first sip of Earl Grey and, instead of asking more questions, just looked at Anna. It felt like an oral exam that she was not ready for. Looking for something to excuse her from that piercing gaze, Anna got up and reached for the cookie jar on the top shelf and laid it in front of them. The older woman picked up a cookie, took a bite, and when she spoke, Anna's brain took a second to puzzle out the words.
"You are not a lovesick girl." It was not a question. More like a disappointed statement.
"Hum… no." Anna downed all of her scalding hot tea after answering.
"You are not an ambitious whore either." Her head tipped slightly to the right and snatched Anna's teacup from her stunned hands. She was never going to get used to the casual way people asked that in this decade.
"No. In fact, as of today, I imagine I'm nothing more than your nephew's secretary." She tried to smile.
"Don't lie to me girl. Tommy has not hired a secretary without hidden intentions ever before. Especially not one with enough money to rent a place like this." Polly said with her eyes cast down; still studying Anna's tea leaves. What could she see there?
The one bedroom apartment in Small Heath was hardly what Anna would call luxurious, but it did have hot water and furniture that was not half-eaten by rats. It wasn't rented in her name though, she had taken precautions. The only other person aware of where she lived was Tommy himself, via a hand delivered note. Did the man have any secrets at all?
"Look, Ms. Gray. I don't intend on doing nothing more than my job-"
"Shut up!" Polly made the table tremble with the force of Anna's teacup hitting it. "I'll tell you what I know. I know that Tommy's housemaids have been gossiping about a mysterious woman in trousers going in and out of his house while he was in one of his moods. I know, that shortly after he came out of holiday, he got himself elected MP of the fucking Worker's Party and I know that his son now has a registered medical condition, when I have never seen a more healthy child in my life…" She trailed off, intently evaluating Anna's stunned look.
"I have nothing…" Anna tried, but her wonder at his preparation cut her off before Polly could.
"Tommy has also bought property in Charlie's name, in America, and he wrote a will… giving Grace's son to Lizzie fucking Stark if he comes to pass. And what I know, Ms. Anna Strauss, is that the last time he made so many war preparations I ended up with a rope around my neck." Her voice trembled at the end of that sentence, and the information finally clicked inside Anna's mind. Of course Polly Gray would fucking notice if her beloved nephew started to make preparations. Of course she would wonder.
"So what I am asking you to tell me is: exactly how much is it going to cost me to get you, and whatever war you bring, out of his way?"
Anna took a deep breath against the overbearing pressure of her heart filling up with guilt. She could lie. She should lie. Time only could tell how big of a Wave this particular Ripple would end up becoming. But what was the point? Polly would know if she lied and then she would've bought herself a very capable enemy. She had always preferred to deal with the devil she knew anyway.
Anna leaned forward on the table and allowed the fear in her eyes to find its twin in Polly's.
"There is no escape from this war, Polly. I'm sorry."
Silence enveloped them along with the smell of tea for a few moments. Disbelieving realization and horror settled in Polly's expression without further explanation, and yet, somehow Anna thought she understood. She made no further inquiries anyway. Polly merely gathered her coat and bag and moved towards the door, shoulders squared in a way that made her look taller.
"I'll see you tomorrow to go over his agenda." Polly threw over her shoulder and closed the door.
I'm so sorry for the wait ya'll, but the holidays demand me to pay attention to my family lol
and also, I have been doing a lot of research about World War II (apparently that is something one has to do when they are trying to write historical fiction lol) to get my time line right.
You didn't see a lot of that in this chapter, but you will.
thank you to Stephanie, my beautiful beta-reader. And to Gigi and Juh my beautiful proofreaders!
Picture of the Birmingham Daily Post: /vBy48Hr
Hope you enjoy this!
PS:from now on, spoilers for a few plot points of season 5