When Riley entered the betting den she wasn't sure what to expect. The place was completely trashed with upturned furniture and broken glass. Scudboat held his bleeding head as Arthur poured him some whiskey.
"Jesus Christ!" John yelled as he kicked a pot on the floor.
"What the bloody hell happened here?" Arthur questioned.
"The Lees. All of them. Cousins, nephews, even the bastards." Scudboat explained.
"They've taken anything they can lay their hands on." Aunt Pol said as she looked at the mess left behind, "Four cash boxes."
Riley picked up some random wire cutters she found on the floor. "Erm are these ours?" Riley asked confused holding them in the air. She saw her brother's all stiffen.
"Wire cutters.Why would they leave wire cutters?" Aunt Pol asked.
"Nobody move." Arthur said urgently.
"I think our friends are playing the game." Tommy said. Riley furrowed her brows at her brother's strange behaviour.
"What game?" Aunt Pol asked moving forward, just as confused as Riley.
"Aunt Pol. Don't touch anything." John said as he grabbed her arm.
"Erasmus Lee was in France."Tommy said, eyes moving round the room critically.
"Shit." Scudboat whispered as he stood up. "Tommy? What's happening?" Riley nervously asked. Tommy looked at her.
"When we gave up ground to the Germans. We'd leave behind booby traps, set up with wires. And we'd leave wire cutters as part of the joke."
Oh god, Riley thought as her heart raced.
"Somewhere in here there's a hand grenade attached to a wire." John said. "Holy jesus" Aunt Pol breathed. Arthur and John slowly began to sweep the room.
"Don't move any chairs or open any doors. Go easy, John boy. Easy."
Tommy shook his head. "Boys, no. It's not in here. If it was in here, it would have blown by now. It was my name on that bullet Erasmus sent. He's set a trap all right." Riley eyes widen in realisation of what he's getting at. His car!, Riley thought already moving towards the door.
"But he's set it up just for me."
Riley was out the door before he could finish his sentence. She ran as fast as she could ignoring Tommy shouts for her to stop. When she arrived at her destination what she'd feared was correct. Finn liked to play in the family car because he said he wanted to be like Tommy. Riley was the only one who knew as he'd never been caught by anyone but her when doing it. Riley approached the car window where Finn sat playing with the wheel. "Finn. I need you to listen to me. Finn. How did you get in there?" Finn looked at his sister smiling. "I climbed in."
"I need you to climb out the exact way you got in ok?" Riley wished for once her little brother would listen to her. Finn giggled as he ignored his sister and pushed the door open. "Finn!" Riley screamed. Luckily Tommy had arrived in time. As Riley grabbed Finn, Tommy grabbed the grenade shouting "Clear!" Before throwing it down the street. The grenade exploded as Tommy grabbed his younger siblings to shelter them. Riley already had her arms wrapped around Finn, feeling her breath escape her as Tommy's body collided with hers. Frozen in place Riley watched as Tommy assessed the damage of the explosion. She looked down at her shivering little brother and grabbed his face. "Are you ok?" Riley asked him with a tremor in her voice. Hearing Riley's trembling voice Tommy turned back to the two and bent down to look at their faces. He grabbed the backs of their heads as he examined there body for any harm, fortunately finding none. "What were you doing Finn?"
"I was pretending to be you"
Riley watched as Tommy sighed.
"That's why you should never pretend to be me ok?ok?"
Finn nodded his head. Tommy turned his eyes to Riley, cupping her cheek. "Are you ok?"
"No I'm not ok Tommy. What the hell just happened?"
Tommy shook his head with a fierce protectiveness in his gaze, ignoring her question. "Why didn't you stop Riley? I told you to stop. If I didn't turn up...." Tommy closed his eyes as he brought both children into his embrace. He didn't even want to think about what could of happened if he didn't show up when he did.
Aunt Pol was furious when she found out what happened. She was even more annoyed at Riley for running off when she could of 'unnecessarily gotten hurt'. Riley had argued that she didn't think, she just acted, as she knew Finn liked to play in the car. Aunt Pol had softened slightly when she saw how much the day had affected her niece, although the same couldn't be said for Tommy. He had stormed off in the car saying he would deal with it after Aunt Pol had screamed at him. The next evening Riley was with her Aunt Pol chatting about Ada when Tommy called them into the betting den.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. I have in my hand a legal betting licence. Issued by the board of control.The Shelby family has its first legal racetrack pitch." Everyone erupted into cheers as they clapped hearing the good news. Riley grinned as she looked at the happy smile on Tommy's face. She hadn't seen such happiness in a long time. Riley ran to Tommy and hugged him which he gladly returned. "Are you serious Tom?" She asked excited. Tommy smiled at her and their Aunt who had grabbed the papers. "We're a business."
Aunt Pol laughed with excitement as she too joined the hug, kissing Riley's cheek. Riley was still upset about the bomb but she was proud of Tommy. She couldn't wait to see what the future held for the Peaky Blinders.