Canary - Thomas Shelby

chapter 36

"What happened?" Polly asked softly.

"El, she is... " he started as he felt his throat close at the words. He had to remain focused, it would do Elena no good to succumb to his grief. Clearing his throat he continued, "Elena has been taken, by her father. For what ends I do not know, all I know is that now more than ever we must remain focused on Derby Day".

"Tommy that's over a week away," John exclaimed snapping his eyes to him. He knew exactly how long it was, 8 days and 7 hours to be precise. He wanted nothing more than to storm to London tonight and get Elena back. But he knew they would fail, Sabini had the upper hand in every way. No, they would have to wait until Derby day when he planned to dismantle Sabini and then they could get Elena back.

"I know how long it is John" he snipped back. "Now if we could- " he started.

"I know you and El have had your differences but you can't seriously plan to leave her with Sabini," John said interrupting him as he came to a stand.

Tommy clenched his jaw as he tried to remain in self-control.

"We have no choice, we will not win if we try-" he got out through clenched teeth.

"Sabini could be hurting her right now, do you not care?" John yelled, interrupting him again.

Tommy's self-control shattered as he stormed over to his brother pushing him harshly against the wall.

"I understand exactly what Elena could be going through. Do you not think it kills me? Do you not think I want nothing else than to get her out? She is everything to me and now she is in the grasp of the man who nearly destroyed her. I would trade a million years fighting in France to have her back. So do not question my motives. If you hadn't been so careless and let her walk alone we wouldn't even be in this situation" he roared slamming his brother's head to the wall again.

"Thomas!" Polly exclaimed as he gave John one last rough shake before releasing him.

"He's right, it's my fault," John said refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "If I could go back and do it differently, I would".

A heavy silence fell over the group. If Tommy could go back he would change everything. He wouldn't have left her side. He would have kept his promise of protecting her. But they had all failed her.

"We all know the price Elena is paying because of our careless actions," Tommy said finally to the group. "We must get everything perfect for Derby day because it is our one chance to bring Sabini to his knees and get her home. While his men are preoccupied with protecting him at the race we will send a small group to get her out. John, you and Arthur will be in charge of getting her home".

"But Tommy, Arthur's still in prison" Finn chimed in.

"Yes, that brings me to phase one. Getting Arthur out and dismantling Sabini's alliances" he responded. Tommy continued to share more details on phase one and what he could about Derby Day. His family still didn't know fully about the assassination and he planned to keep it that way until the race day. They had one chance to get this right, one chance to save Elena, he would not risk that information getting out.

Elena

"Oh good, you are waking up, I was getting bored," Elena's father's chipper voice broke through her budding consciousness.

"Perhaps if your men hadn't drugged me to oblivion you wouldn't have to wait so long" she coughed out as her eyes finally opened. As she took in her surrounding she found she was tied to a chair in a dark room. Her father sat a few meters across from her, lounging back while he enjoyed a sandwich and watched her with unnerving glee. In the corner stood two of her father's men at the ready to defend him. Not that she could reasonably do much but spit in his face, she was half-drugged and tied to a chair.