𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘 ➵ M. Gray

Chapter Twenty-Four.

"THEY'RE USING MY BOY" Tommy shouts, tears forming in his eyes. Alfie doesn't say anything. His lips part slightly but his head slowly starts to nod up and down.

"Did you fucking know?!"

"yeah... I knew ya know.." Alfies shoulders start move up and down as he tries to explain himself. "But damned as I am, it made no fucking difference to me mate"

Tommy launches himself at Alfie, pushing him to the floor. The pair start to fight, rolling around. Tommy has his hand gripped around Alfie's throat until the man with Alfie pulls Tommy off and holds a gun to his throat. Michael was out of the car in seconds.

"Michael no!" Liz calls, but he ignores her. She follows him, slamming the door shut after her and running towards Michael. She looks at his hand to see a gun, one that Tommy must of given him. He raises it in the air, it shaking slightly, chest going up and down with heavy breathing and he shoots. The bullet hit the back of the mans head. Liz gasps as blood speckles fly towards her face, cover her from the shoulders up. Tommy lets the man go, dropping to the floor as he was no dead weight, his face also covered in blood. Michael just stands and stares at the man, his limp body on the floor. 

Liz watches him closely. She knew this was the first person he had ever killed. The first time he shot a gun was the night at Tommy's house with Arthur and John. 

"What the fuck is going on?!" Alfie gets up, using his cane to help him. He walks towards Tommy who is still holding a gun to him. They start to shout, but Michael intervenes. 

"Tommy! I know this bastard deserves it! I fucking know! but if you kill him now, the truce with the fucking outfits will be blown to fucking pieces, alright?!" 

"The true fell apart, you got nothing to worry about when it comes to the old scary London boys" Alfie is staggering everywhere. 

"What fucking side are you on Alfie?!" Michael screams. Liz flinches, never seeing him this way before. The shock is still rattling inside of her, despite having heard gun shots before, she had never been this close range to a man who had been shot in the head, let alone his own blood all over her face. She ignores the others, turning on her heal as she walks back towards the car in silence. Opening the car door, she pulls out a little compact mirror and a hanker-chief, licking it and lightly starts to dap away at the blood on her face trying to remove it. 

***

"I was uh... this morning I was out on the road with Tommy" Michael looks between John and Arthur. Glancing towards Liz he corrects himself. "We, were out on the road... I killed a man. He needed cover, I was all he had" Liz could see the tears starting to form in Michael's eyes again, the flashbacks of the morning running through his head. 

"What did he give ya?" Arthur stands. Michael pulls a gun out from his jacket and shows them. 

"He said it was good for close range"

"You're better with my smith & Wesson" Arthur says, eyeing the boy. He could clearly see that this morning was a shock to him.

"No no.. this is mine now. feel parts of me hand" a single tears falls down Michael's face. Liz, who was staying quiet throughout the conversation, moves to be beside Michael and places his hand in her own, comforting him by giving it a squeeze, just like he had done for her that morning. They continue to ask Michael questions until they changed the subject to Charlie.

"This is where we think Charles is being held" John passes a small piece of paper to Liz, and opens it to see St Joseph's school scrawled across it. 

"They're not expecting nobody, so you should be alone" Arthur looks at Michael. 

"You're joking right? I'm going with him" Liz's eyebrows furrow, glaring at the man before her. 

"Now you're joking right?" John takes a toothpick out of his mouth and points it at the girl. 

"I'm not fucking joking. He is not going alone. I want to be there. Tommy said I could help" Liz pressures them. 

"FUCK. Fine. But as soon as the kid is safe, you call Finn. Understood?" Arthur points his finger at her, who nods. There were two other men that were coming with us to help. Michael nods in agreement. He didn't see to disagree with Liz coming but he could tell by the clench of his jaw he wasn't happy.

"Come on boys" he gestures to the two men who were waiting. The walk on ahead and get into a separate car, where as Michael stops Liz in her tracks. She raises her hand to wipe his tears away but he grabs her wrist and holds it.

"Any sign of you being in danger or getting hurt, ANY sign, GET OUT. Do you understand me?" he grits his teeth as he says this. 

"Of course" Liz's face showed no emotion. All of her concentration was on getting Charlie back rather than how annoyed Michael is right now. He kisses the back of her hand and grips it tightly as they make their way to their own car, preparing themselves for the evening ahead.