Lucas received an urgent call apprising him of the capture of the two men in Brookfield and that the children were no longer in Brookfield. That Bill Avery was aware of them and that Lucas' cover was blown. After hanging up, he went to tell Spurlock. Gustave walked in on the conversation as preparations to leave were made. Lucas looked at Spurlock, instructed him to handle cleanup, and went to gather his stuff."
Gabe was in his office when Ned ran over with the wire from Brookfield.
GABE,
THE ATTACK CAME FIRST THING THIS MORNING. ALL ARE OKAY, AND WE HAVE 2 OF 3 MEN IN CUSTODY WHILE THE OTHER REMAINS AT LARGE. EVERYTHING WENT EXACTLY AS PRACTICED.
CHUCK
Gabe thanked Ned and then headed to Bill's office, hoping to catch him. He was relieved when he arrived, just as the other man was locking up his office. Bill was due at Rosemary's house to be transformed into William Thatcher. Bill thought it was ironic that he was dressing up like Elizabeth's father when he considered her a daughter.
"We can't delay our journey, and we need you here, Gabe," Bill said, sensing Gabe's frustration and knowing he was torn. Bill couldn't blame him because he was just as worried about those ladies.
"Have Sam and Chuck take them to the jail and lock them in the cells. I'll arrange for some Mounties to come that can be trusted, then I'll go there later today. As long as Bouchard and Spurlock are here, I can't have both of us gone."
"I know that, Bill. I really do." Gabe said, "It's just that I hate that I wasn't there when they needed me to be. But at least we were ready for it."
"Exactly," Bill said, putting a hand on Gabe's shoulder. "Everyone is safe, and we have two prisoners, and I have a feeling that we are going to get a few more by the end of the day,"
"One of which will include the mole in Patrick's office. If Lucas Bouchard is involved, he will run for it after today." Gabe said with a smirk.
"Oh, he is involved, all right," Bill said. "There is no doubt in my mind which is why I need you to keep an extra close watch on him." Gabe just nodded and looked down again at the telegram,
"At least there's a bright side to all this," Bill said slyly.
"Oh, what is that?" Gabe asked, looking back up at Bill.
"Now you won't have to be Rapunzel," Bill said, smirking and heading towards the row houses.
"What are you talking about, Bill?" Gabe called out.
"Ask Nathan when you call him and give him an update," Bill said, winking.
Bill's winking was shocking enough, but he suspected by the smirk that a private joke was happening at his expense. He quickly went to the mercantile and sent a wire back to Chuck, letting them know what had been decided. Then he rushed over to call his soon-to-be former best friend, Nathan. He groaned because any joke Nathan tried was never a good one. They all knew that Nathan was horrible at jokes. They all knew that Elizabeth had been the only one who truly seemed to find Nathan funny.
"Good morning, O'Reilly residence!" Their housekeeper answered the phone.
"I need to speak to Nathan Grant, please," Gabe said. When Nathan got on the phone, Gabe got straight to the point. "Nathan, they attacked the orphanage and had some visitors this morning. Everything went just like we planned, though, and no one was hurt. Two of the three men that attempted it are now in custody."
"I'm glad we moved Allie and Jack when we did," Nathan said. "That was just a little too close for comfort, though."
"Especially since it came the day after I left Brookfield," Gabe said, "I don't even want to think about the syndicate getting their hands on Jack or Allie."
"Trust me, Gabe, it's bad enough knowing that Elizabeth is in their clutches, let alone either of our children there, too," Nathan said. The fear and worry were very evident in his voice.
Gabe smiled, noticing Nathan's use of our children when referring to Jack and Allie. He had been Nathan's confidante during all the ups and downs with Elizabeth. With Nathan's permission, Rosemary had even shared the contents of Elizabeth's letter.
"I can only imagine how hard it must be that the woman you love is in danger like this, Nathan, let alone your children. If this was Lillian…" Gabe said but never finished that sentence because the same emotions overcame him at the thought of what could have happened today.
"Bill is going to have Mounties that he trusts to come and watch over the two men. Then after everything is done in Union City, he will come and chat with the others," Gabe said.
"I wish I could be involved in that questioning," Nathan growled.
"Well, I think being able to deal with Lansing will be more satisfying for you, my friend," Gabe said. "Especially since he essentially handed her over to the Syndicate and Jack almost ended up there."
"I can hardly wait to hear what he has to say for himself," Nathan said with a glacial tone.
"But you need to let Patrick handle the questioning. You are too close personally, and you don't want to give them any reason to get off by losing your cool. They are going to try and bait you into messing up,"
"Don't worry Patrick and I already discussed it. He has Jameson working with me, and though I'll be in the room, I'm not actively working on the case. They have me working as a consultant and assisting as a backup."
"Does the use of 'our children' mean that you have decided to enter into courtship?" Gabe asked with a smile.
"What I have or have not decided needs to be heard by Elizabeth, my friend," Nathan said with a smirk. "I would hate for her to hear my reply from somebody else and blow the chance I'm given."
Gabe chuckled and said, "Well, for what it's worth, I hope you are. I can't see you finding anyone who finds your jokes funny as she does, especially that man of stone bit. Speaking of which, mind telling me what Bill meant about I won't have to be Rapunzel?"
Nathan burst out laughing. "What did he say about it?"
"He told me to ask you about it?" Gabe said. "I feel it's a private joke at my expense?"
Nathan considered not telling him but then said, "Well, when we were creating a code just in case, we decided to use books and the characters for those groups. The orphanage was going to be the castle, so we thought Rapunzel would be a good name for you."
Gabe was silent for a minute, and Nathan pictured the look on his face and started laughing all over again. "Really? You chose Rapunzel for me out of all books dealing with a castle."
"Yep!" Nathan said, chuckling.
"Then I guess Bill was right, and that is a bright side," Gabe said, seeing the humor in it. "At least I've got good hair, and I could see women wanting to scale a tower for me,"
"As much I would love to keep talking, I have a trap to spring," Nathan said. "I'll call later when it's all over and let you know how it went."
"I'm always here for you if you need to talk,"
"I know, and it means a lot that you are there in Hope Valley," Nathan said.
"No thanks needed because they are my people too. I'll talk to you soon," Gabe said,
"Bye," Nathan said, adding "Rapunzel," before disconnecting the call. He knew he would pay for that one.
Gabe was ready to answer with a comeback, but the line went dead before he could. "Oh, Nathan, you have started a war that you cannot win, my friend," Gabe said with a chuckle. But he was heartened that his friend could still find moments of levity during this difficult time. As Mounties, it was an essential part of doing the job. You had to allow downtime during intense situations to keep a clear head. He settled down to handle some of the paperwork that had begun to pile up in Nathan's absence.
MEANWHILE, IN SHADY GROVE…..
There has been a lot of activity going on in the last several hours with a lot of raised voices. As she listened, Elizabeth could swear she heard Helen's voice. This further cemented her belief that Lucas was involved. She also heard them talk about Nexus corporation, but she couldn't really make out what was said.
Thankfully now that the food was no longer drugged, the 5th man of their outfit began coming around. John's brother-in-law Ken was a nice man, but before they had a chance to explain everything, he managed to give Spurlock a reason to punish Elizabeth. Luckily, he also revealed he was armed and had been carrying a pistol in his boot.
Once Ken knew of the cost of causing trouble and that Elizabeth paid for their mistakes, he quickly fell in line. Drawing short breaths, Elizabeth said I think it's time to make a plan, John. I get the sense that things are getting ready to come to a head. They seem incredibly nervous about something. I also heard them once again talking about expecting someone to come.
I feel the same, Elizabeth, but we are limited because of your condition. You can barely draw a breath. How are you going to be able to travel?" John said.
"You don't worry about that because I will make it out of here when the time comes. Though I hate it, I think I have an idea." Elizabeth said. After briefly explaining it to them, and though they didn't like it, they reluctantly agreed it was the plan they could devise with the highest probability of working. It would also open Elizabeth up to further abuse.
BACK IN HOPE VALLEY
Gabe finally came up for air after a few hours of paperwork. He looked at the clock and realized it was time to do some rounds and check on the whereabouts of Bouchard and Spurlock. Going outside, he saw that Rosemary had made it into town. He approached her to see the report within the established network. He still couldn't believe this town's cohesion when they had to pull together. As he watched the meeting yesterday, he couldn't help wondering if he could achieve the same with Brookfield. But then, as he thought about how Elizabeth and Rosemary had worked with Jack and their Mountie Safety Protocols, he couldn't help thinking that might be a good thing for the orphanage.
"Good afternoon, Gabe," Rosemary said. "Everyone got off all right. William is resting, for now, poor man,"
"Afternoon Rosemary. Have you had a chance to talk to anyone?" he whispered.
"All but Faith, but I'm on my way there now. Bill told me what happened this morning. How are you handling that?" Rosemary asked as they headed to the infirmary.
"As well as you can imagine," Gabe replied. "I feel torn between wanting to be there and needing to be here."
"I know, Gabe," Rosemary said. "Bill said he would send Mounties there to watch over the town. But my instincts tell me things will come to a head soon."
"I think so, too," Gabe said. "Did anyone have anything to report?"
"Spurlock was spotted today though there was a lot of activity going on, and he seemed unhappy about something. Fiona said that Walden and Spurlock got into a fight. Then Spurlock was talking with Lucas when she dropped some papers off to him."
"I wanted to check with Faith about Lucas' health," Rosemary said. "I also haven't been feeling well, so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone."
"I'm sorry to hear you are under the weather Rosemary. With all the stress you are under combined with all that travel you have had to do recently, I'm not surprised. I have been wondering how you were handling it all. I think it's a good idea to check with Faith if for no other reason than ease your worry. If there is anything I can do for you or Lee, please don't hesitate to ask."
"Thank you for that, Gabe. I really appreciate your kind words and generous offer too. I think at this point, only getting Elizabeth home will help ease my stress. Have you heard anything?"
Gabe shook his head. "I'm going to go do afternoon rounds now so that when everything goes down, I can be near the phone," Gabe said. "I need to thank Jessie and Lee for helping do rounds, so I'm only doing the local ones."
"Bill swore them in as deputies in case they come across something," Rosemary added, "or if you are needed elsewhere."
"That's a big load off my mind," Gabe said, sighing in relief.
