Author note: A long one here for you guys, I wanted to get this one up a little sooner than I have but fate transpired against me, hopefully the length will make up for that in some way. Enjoy :)
Chapter fourteen
Sherwood House
The atmosphere at Sherwood was more than just a little bit tense, as we waited for Joe and Jess to arrive. Every Tuesday at an unspecified time, the twins would show up at the office to share information and money with us that they couldn't under normal circumstances without raising suspicion, for example it would look pretty odd if we exchanged loot whilst at college, so the arraignment makes sense really. After that we would then go out to the drop offs, usually with Jess and Joe tagging along. Today would be different though, we all knew that, I was going to have to ask some very hard questions when they got here and that had all of us on edge.
"What time are they supposed to be here by?" Will, who had been pacing by the notice board for the past ten minutes, asked.
"Whenever they get here," I answered from where I sat at the head of the meeting table with my fingers curled around the warm mug of tea I was drinking more for something to do than to quench my thirst. "You know they show up whenever they want to, not at any particular time."
Will grunted in response and carried on pacing, meanwhile I shared a concerned glance with Jack, who was sat to my left and had been watching Will worriedly ever since he took up his pacing. This situation was affecting us all in different ways, Will's was perhaps the most obvious and he had been acting like he was now, twitching and asking questions, ever since we arrived here this evening. He appeared irritated and angry at Joe and Jess, but we all knew that he was really just frightened of what might be said. The issue with the imposters had been praying on our minds for days now and we had to sort this out. The fact of the matter was, Joe and Jess very much had their fingers on the pulse of this town, if they didn't know anything at all about these imposters then no one would and that would leave us right back at the beginning with no answers or direction to head in. But that wasn't the worst case scenario, not even by a long shot; Joe and Jess were the only people who knew enough about our style to pass it on to the imposters, even though not one of us wanted to believe that they would we couldn't just ignore this fact. If we left them to it, skirting around the issue for fear of insulting them or else losing two close friends and it turned out that they were betraying us whoever was pretending to be us there was no telling what could happen and what we could be taking the blame for, it could be a repeat of the Kennedy incident all over again and that was the last thing we needed right now. I hated that we were being suspicious of people we considered our friends, but it was my job to make sure that my gang were safe and I wasn't about to let someone selling our secrets jeopardise that.
From the kitchenette came the clanging sounds of Mark nervously washing our rarely used teapot. I knew he was doing it out of nervousness because he had been stood there for five minutes and I was sure that it had to be clean by now. This was the only sound in the office, aside from the beeping of Mark's various inventions and the noise of paper being ripped as John absentmindedly tore up sections from the newspaper (one that last nights burglary had made the front page of and was now pinned to our wall in pride of place) at the other end of the meeting table before balling them up and aiming to flick them into Will's untouched mug of tea. Like I said, we all handed stress and anxiety differently, Will worried and paced, Jack turned her concern onto something else such as Will's behaviour, Mark procrastinated, John messed around and I planned, trying to appear in control.
Right now I was sketching out a plan for tonight's drop off, one which I wouldn't be going on since I was planning on feigning sickness after we had interrogated Jess and Joe. I wanted to go, heck there wasn't a lot that I wouldn't sooner be doing than what I had lined up for after this evening, but sadly I had no choice. Stupid blackmail, I thought as I went over the last word I had written with unnecessary pressure and frowned deeply. After we were done here the others would go and distribute any money Joe and Jess gave us (if everything went well) and the money we had stolen from Baxter last night, a thought that gave me immense satisfaction. I on the other hand would be heading off to spend and hour of unimaginable torture somewhere I had sworn I would never set foot again, Adam's house. I had been trying not to think about it. I wasn't at all resigned to my fate but I knew that there was no way out of it, I had exhausted all possible loopholes and come up empty, I was going to have to go and put up with whatever he dished out because if not then George would be in serious danger. Stupid cheating ex boyfriend, I thought going over that one word yet again, he knew all my weaknesses.
"I think that word is clear enough now, Robin," George said softly from my right hand side, bring my attention to him. "It'll be all right you know." He added meaning our talk with Jess and Joe, and I nodded though I didn't believe it. We might experience some sort of miracle where Jess and Joe were concerned and this might all be some big misunderstanding and we might find that they aren't selling our secrets on to imposters, despite how the evidence suggests that they are. But there was absolutely no way out of my 'date' with Adam, but George of course didn't know about that and that was how it was going to stay.
George had been oddly calm all of day, well…maybe not all day, when he'd gotten back from college a few hours ago and we had had a chance to properly express how much we had missed each other last night and how frightened I had been and how sorry he was for doing that to me, he had been anything but calm. However that aside George had been very composed and very unruffled all day long, so much so that I would say that the thing with the imposters didn't bother him at all, or at least I would if I couldn't see the worry in his big blue eyes; the true emotion was hidden deep inside underneath years of Baxter conditioning. I set down the pen and reached for my mug again, taking a quick drink but hardly tasting the warm liquid as it rushed down my throat, when did my life turn into this? I wondered. Being suspicious of close friends and going to ex boyfriend's houses on a night behind my current boyfriend's back, this wasn't good. This wasn't how I thought things would turn out, but I knew full well couldn't change my life now, I was in a sticky situation and I was going to have to roll with it, as much as I hated the thought of doing so.
"They won't have told anyone anything, you know. They're not like that." John said suddenly not looking up as he flicked another tiny ball of paper, it landed in the mug this time but John's pleased smile was short lived as the gravity of our current situation hit him again.
"I know, John." I said as I set my mug back down, making no move to pick up my pen again, not because I didn't want to but because the route the others were going to take tonight was planned out already and I had nothing else to do. I honestly agreed with John, I had gotten to know Joe and Jess pretty darn well over the past few months and I knew loyalty was important to them, they would never betray us like this because they were good people, despite their pick pocketing habit turned toft robbing, which really had been nothing but useful to us. But still, I had to be sure.
"How do we know that though?" Will asked looking at us all as he walked "someone is telling people our secrets and they are the only ones who know enough to tell them our style, the imposters copy it almost exactly according to the papers. It's no wonder they think it's us doing all those things." Will told us as he gestured at the paper John was shredding for his own amusement, it was about as much as the wrag was worth in my opinion, you couldn't so much as trust the date on the Locksdale Enquirer.
"I know that, Will." I said looking meaningfully at my best friend, he was a born cynic but I knew that he didn't really believe what he was saying, the others might not though and I didn't want everyone even more wound up then they already were. We needed to be somewhat open minded when they got here, we couldn't convince ourselves that they were guilty before we even asked them anything, we owed them as much.
"But John's right, this is Joe and Jess we're talking about here and we need to give them the benefit of the doubt. All of us are bad for jumping the gun without giving someone a chance to explain, remember how you all jumped to conclusions about Josh when we broke into the Academy and I ended up in hospital? That turned out to be a huge misunderstanding and you assumed that just because he was the only one we told that he was the one that gave Conner the time and place we were meeting them. We owe it to Joe and Jess to give them chance to speak, we need to trust them." I said in an authoritative tone that I hadn't meant to use because it sounded almost as though I were telling my close friends off for being worried and sceptical, which I wasn't, I just didn't want them to lose faith in the twins just yet. We needed our friends and it would be a blow for us to lose them.
Will said nothing, he just looked anxious and carried on pacing, he knew that I was right and I knew that my hospitalisation was still a sore spot with them all, Vince had gotten what was coming to him for divulging our secrets to the Conner, but the others still weren't happy about what had happened and understandably so. However I knew that they regretted the quick accusation of Josh and hoped that it would remind them that we could be wrong, that Joe and Jess might be innocent.
"Gawd, Robin," John said a smile in his voice "when did you get all wise and calm then?"
I grinned at my friend, pleased by the shift in tempo but inside I was still on edge and only just resisting getting up and pacing with Will, so that I showed my friends that it wasn't as bad as we thought it was, even though it very well could be. My stillness was a show of control and a device to keep everyone else clam. I was far from calm and certainly not at all wise, but I would pretend to be for the benefit of my friends. In reality I wanted to know exactly what was going on, I wanted to be able to shout at whoever was selling our secrets and, most importantly, I wanted to be able to stop this before any of my friends got hurt since there was no telling what the imposters knew about us or what their intentions towards us were. Though I wasn't sure what my chances of being able to do all of this were.
"I haven't," I said still smiling though my worry was reaching fever pitch inside me.
"Thought not," John continued with a grin still in place, which I returned though I didn't say anything else. I was sure that that had been a crack at my usually headstrong and somewhat angry nature but for John and I it held a double meaning, he could tell that I wasn't as composed as I was making out and he was trying to soothe me, in his own John like way. I appreciated his attempts but I was still unsettled and Will was still pacing.
"He needs to stop that, he's going to work himself up before they even get here," Jack whispered to me, her concern evident in her tone and her expression, I nodded in agreement and she span in her chair to face Will "Will," she called, an authority all of her own ringing clear in her voice, brought on by worry. My troubled black haired friend looked up as his name was called but did not stop his pacing "sit down please." She said sternly, the please added on to make her sound less harsh but no less powerful. It was a mixture of a stern command and an upset plea which obviously summed up just how hurt and concerned Jack was, if Will didn't respond I would be surprised.
Will stopped and looked as though he might argue, but then he truly looked at Jack and spotted something in her expression that caused him to go still, whether that was the strength of her current serious demeanour or the intense worry I knew her eyes held for him, I wasn't sure since she had her back to the rest of us. However I do know that after that Will came, somewhat unwillingly, to sit with the rest of us at the table, taking up his usual seat next to Jack. The office was silent for a moment, each of us lost in our own thoughts, wishing that either Joe and Jess would show up or else one of us would say something. The latter happened and I watched as beside me a look of remembrance crossed George's face and he turned to me, a new urgency in his powerful blue gaze.
"Robin, did you tell them about what we saw in Baxter's diary?" George asked taking me aback slightly; I hadn't expected him to come out with that. Somewhat distracted by how John (as gleeful as ever) fought back a snigger at the thought of Baxter keeping a diary, clearly thinking about it in the traditional sense and not as a date book, I turned to face George.
"Er, no," I admitted ashamedly "I forgot." I told him though in truth, anything interesting that might have happened while in Baxter's home office had been forgotten that night in the wake of George's 'capture' and my fear for him. Not to mention my angry outbursts, which I was glad no one had brought up yet, because that had been bad even for me.
"Do you mean about his meeting with Richard Baxter?" Mark, who had been listening in on the headpieces yesterday, asked from the kitchenette his voice suddenly alert and after a nod of affirmation from George Mark added "I told them about it already, not much obviously since you didn't talk though it much and we had other things to be worrying about when I explained it. I told them though; Robin didn't look up to it."
Thanks Mark, I thought sarcastically as George's questioning gaze turned to me, sure, now he looked concerned. Wishing that my smart friend had used some common sense and not added that last little nugget of information there, I turned back to face the others, deliberately avoiding looking at George. He didn't know the full extent to my condition last night and it was going to stay that way, I didn't want to come across as unhinged or anything, also he'd ask questions and in order not to sound obsessed I would have to tell him that part of why I was so upset was because of the lengths I went to, to keep him safe and I didn't want him knowing about that either. Too many lies, I thought before addressing my friends.
"Yeah that's the one George meant, Mark," I said hitting the 'k' in Mark hard with emphasis of my irritation, hoping he would pick up on that and stop making me sound like an emotional wreak "how much do you all know then?" I asked turning back to the others, this new revelation about Baxter's plans was vital, it was a disaster and could ruin everything we had tried so hard to achieve, but before we acted to stop Baxter's plans we needed to know what everyone knew.
"That things are worse than we thought," a worried and obviously even more stressed Will told me and this time Jack nodded along with his concern.
"Mark told us that Baxter is meeting with the deputy PM and that he's his brother, is that true?" Jack asked anxiously, her gaze going to George, who I was trying to pretend wasn't looking at me suspiciously, as she asked her question. She looked intrigued, I was too, everyone knew who Richard Baxter was but not one of us had thought to make the connection between the two, aside for George who knew full well who his uncle was. It was odd to think that the soon to be Prime Minster was my boyfriend's uncle, not that it made any difference of course, it was just strange to think about.
Not realising straight away that Jack was talking to him George was silent for a moment before he spoke, stumbling a little as he tried to answer "Er, yes, it is. Richard Baxter is my father's brother, he just happens to be the deputy Prime Minster as well and my father's date book said that he was meeting with him yesterday."
"And didn't you say yesterday that they didn't speak any more?" Mark asked as he walked from the kitchenette to take his seat at the other end of the meeting table.
"Yes," George confirmed, his tone as sombre as if he were telling a family that the very worst had happened to their loved one, lending an understanding of how serious this conversation was before he had even started "I'm sure you all know by now that my father is a politician, not just a businessman, his grip on his town is proof of as much. He's got far too much power for just a local businessman and he obtained that with his business savvy." George said meeting each of our gazes as he told the story, his expression holding a look of slightly sarcastic mirth, telling us exactly what he thought of his father "I don't think he ever really wanted to be stuck here, running my granddads businesses; he wanted to go into politics and even joined a political party with my uncle. However my uncle was voted in during the local elections instead of him and my father couldn't progress any further, he resented him for it and the two haven't spoken in years." George explained and I nodded thinking that it made sense; I wouldn't have voted Baxter as my local MP either, the charismatic but obviously menacing Baxter had nothing on his older brother's charming and honest nature, even if it was only a show. "So my father is here running Baxter Industries and my uncle is in London about to be promoted to Prime Minster."
"The Prime Minister is stepping down next month, isn't he?" John asked and George nodded "so you think that because of what the legends say, Baxter is going to try and beat his brother to the job, by whatever means necessary, am I right?" John asked and George nodded in response, that had been our initial thought in Baxter's home office and I was sure that was what everyone else was thinking too. It made sense really. "What if that's not it though, what if Baxter has just accepted this and decided all he wants to do is torture Locksdale for the rest of his life? He might not want to be PM any more." John said though his voice was someone what sceptical. I wasn't surprised knowing as he did now, how along with the tragic circumstances of George's mum's death, why Baxter felt the need to be such an arse to this town, because in his eyes he should have moved on to bigger and better things.
"I don't think so, John," George said shaking his head somewhat sadly "he hates my uncle with a burning passion and would sooner apologise to the whole of Locksdale for robbing them blind than reconcile with Richard. I know it. My uncle is everything he's not, honest, loved by the public and about to become PM, of course he hates him."
"So you think the trip is a plot for Baxter to get in with Richard again, but only long enough to usurp his position?" Jack asked her dark eyes still hard with determination and worry.
George nodded "Either by making him look bad or by more serious means my father is going to try and take the Prime Minster spot away from my uncle, it'll be hard but he's got more than enough hate to fuel to job. My father resents him more than any other person, hating how my granddad always favoured him and encouraged Richard to excel while sitting him up in line to take over the family business. He told me once that it was why he never had any other kids, he said he was doing me a favour." George scoffed in disbelief before continuing with "The meeting couldn't possibly be anything other than a plan, and I'd be surprised if Richard didn't know as much already but maybe my uncle just wants to make up with my father and so is ignoring his brother's character. I know my father, there's no way on Heaven or Earth that he'd willingly resolve his differences with Richard, not unless there was something pretty big in it for him."
"Then we stop him," I said dread filling me up even as I vowed to prevent this, Robert Baxter in charge of the whole country would be nothing short of Hell, he was getting away with what he did to Locksdale purely because of his political and social influences but if (God forbid) he ever got into real power then it would be the beginning of very hard times for the whole county. "We warn your uncle, we stop Baxter from getting to his next meeting, take so much from him that he can't fund a political campaign; we do whatever it takes to stop him getting his revenge or whatever this is." I vowed and every outlaw in the room nodded in whole hearted agreement, even Will looked visibly less worried and more determined than he had before.
George met my gaze, his expression intense with purpose and making him look like the high class, powerful man that he was, that his time spent with us the working class grafters that had ruffed up his persona a little only added to the strength already there. He was glorious, a Baxter turned good and taught (by experience) to appreciate all he had been given and yet again I was glad that he was on our side and by mine.
"It will take some more observation and quite a bit of planning," George said his gaze leaving mine as he addressed the others in a similar manner to the one I had just been using, from where he sat beside me "according to the staff at the Mansion he's back tonight so I'll make more of an effort to see where my father goes and to keep tabs on what he's up to while I'm at the Mansion and maybe stay there for a few more hours a week. Just to confirm our suspicions, we don't want to be wrong about this."
I didn't like the sound of that, I selfishly thought. My time alone with George was rare as it stood now anyway and the thought of losing even more time with him didn't exactly thrill me. George looked at me almost apologetically, as though reading my mind; I shrugged in response and in acceptance. I understood George's desire to do more, he had the opportunity to find out some real information about Baxter's plans and it was something we couldn't pass up on, I wasn't selfish enough to jeopardise the economic state of the country just so that I could spend more time with my boyfriend. I had tomorrow to spend some quality time with him anyway, probably the last day we would have alone for a while but time nonetheless. The gravity of the situation we had found ourselves in, trying to get between Baxter and ultimate power was sinking in fast and the responsibility of keeping him from reaching his goal was already lying heavy on my shoulders, but this was hardly the sort of thing that we could just walk away from. I'd give it my all to stop Baxter from usurping his more peaceful and less extortionate brother and getting into power but the pressure was more than we had ever had to deal with, and I could see sombre expressions and frightened glances up and down the meeting table as my friends digested this situation.
"I can see about installing a camera at the end of the street," Mark suggested looking paler and even more exhausted than I had ever seen him "just in case you miss something, George. I've been wanting to do it for ages and now seems to be the best time to do it."
I nodded, agreeing with Mark's words and contemplating keeping an outlaw watching the surveillance camera's we had whenever possible "Could you have that done tonight?" I asked and Mark looked to his corner of the room where all his components and half finished inventions sat, I was sure he had another camera stashed in there somewhere.
"I should be able to." Mark told me, spinning back round to face me.
"Good," I said looking at all the worried faces of my friends and deciding that a bit of optimism was needed, it was too bad that I really didn't feel like giving it though.
"This is really serious, isn't it?" John asked though from the grave look he wore, something that didn't suit my jolly friend, I could tell that he already knew the answer "It's make or break time, if Baxter gets what he wants then everything we've done will have been for nothing, we cant help the whole of the country suffer this kind of stuff. We've got to stop him or else everyone is done for." I nodded solemnly when John finished speaking, though I wished it wasn't so, we were in a very serious situation now with very few clear roads to take, the most we could do for now was observe and see how far Baxter had gotten in his quest and obstruct him when we could. It wasn't the best plan ever but it was all we had.
"This could have really bad consequences for Locksdale, you know, if he doesn't get in" Will said and I felt myself frown as I thought about that "he's going to take it out on the whole town if we stop him."
"Don't be so bloody negative, Will," Jack chastised in a small but stern voice, though by the volume she spoke at and the frightened look on her face I knew that she was thinking along the same lines as Will and that she agreed with him.
"We can look after Locksdale," I told my oldest friend even though the thought of Baxter's revenge upon us, should he fail, scared the crap out of me since we were already stretched to breaking point "but we cant for the whole country, anyway, either way Locksdale is going to cop for it, whether or not Baxter gets into parliament is irrelevant here, he's always going to rule this town but at least if we can stop him getting any more power than he already has, then we ought to be able to handle everything else."
Under the table George took my hand in his and I drew even more strength from that, hardly realising that my shoulders had been slumped until I rightened them. Giving George a small appreciative smile, I turned back to the others, head held high and my expression stern as I said, "This is where it gets serious guys."
My five friends and I sat there, in perfect silence, contemplating that thought and sharing worried but no less determined looks for the longest of seconds that seemed to draw us all together, united once more in a seemingly impossible task, just like it had been in the very beginning. Then the door to the office burst open and in walked Joe and Jess.
"You lot don't do serious," Joe said a massive grin on his face as he waltzed into the room and dropped a plastic bag on the meeting table, which clunked as it hit the wood, before stepping back, folding his arms and beaming at us all "it's biological impossible."
"You sure you don't mean yourself?" Jess asked bitingly as she walked around her brother and stood to his left, smiling at John and then the rest of us.
"Nah, I'm as serious as they come, I am." Joe joked as I inspected the plastic bag on the table, it was full of money, both notes and coins and was obviously Joe and Jess's takings for this week. Someone, most likely Joe, had written 'swag' on the bag in block capitals in black pertinent marker and suddenly I was fighting a smile. "Gawd," Joe said taking in the sombre looks on all of our faces "who died?"
At that Jess smacked his arm and as Joe 'owed' in complaint she hissed "Joe. What kind of question is that, what if someone had died?"
"Then I'd have apologised," Joe told her with a shrug and she rolled her eyes, ignoring his sister's obvious annoyance Joe looked at us all and asked "so, did someone die?"
In cannon, every outlaw at the meeting table turned to look at me questioningly, not sure how best to broach the subject and as if telling me to go on then and get on with the interrogation. Feeling uncomfortable I shifted in my seat and looked at Joe and Jess, two people who I classed as close friends and two people that ordinarily, I would trust with my life. I really wished that I didn't have to talk about this with them or to accuse them of betraying us in any way, but I knew that I had to; the safety of the gang was at risk here.
"No," I said in answer to Joe's question "we're just worried and fast getting sick of those stories in the Enquirer about us, you've seen them haven't you, the ones about how we're stealing from the high ranking business officials when that isn't us? We would have done if given the chance, but that wasn't us that stole from them, not this time." I said gesturing to the newspaper, with it's torn up pages, in front of John.
Jess looked confused and frowned as her gaze went from the ripped newspaper to my face "So that wasn't you lot who stole from the Baxter mansion last night?" I met her gaze, not sure what to make of the question, did it mean that she was guilty or innocent that she had asked that? I wasn't sure.
"No, that was us." I told them, angry that I couldn't tell them any more because I wanted so much to tell them about the meeting between the future PM and Baxter and our suspicions about it, but I couldn't for fear that they would pass on what we knew to the imposters.
"Nice one," Joe said in approval as he pulled the swivel chair away from Mark's separate desk, as he always did, and sat down "From the papers it sounded like a good job, too bad you almost got caught though. They said that you interrupted the burglary and chased them off, George, quick thinking there pal."
"Thanks," George replied though the smile he wore was tainted with regret for our suspicions.
I don't think that Joe noticed anything but Jess was quicker, years of putting up with her brother and having to be one step ahead of him making her an expert in male body language and she sensed George's worry and regret, leaking out from behind the Baxter mask, and the tense atmosphere in the room.
"These stories have you all really bothered, don't they?" Jess asked, her tone and expression unreadable though I could hear a hint of concern there in her voice, once again I didn't know what to make of that question.
"Yes," I answered looking at the others sat around me as I struggled with how best to ask them what I needed to ask them, normally I couldn't shut everyone up and now when I'm stuck for something to say they all decide to let me deal with this alone. Why were none of them answering any questions? I didn't want to get this wrong and say something that I shouldn't, ordinarily I'd just come out with it or better yet, demand to know the truth, but I couldn't do that now though, I didn't want to offend Joe and Jess and lose them as friends. If I accused them of betraying us then they would think that we didn't trust them and they might not want anything more to do with us, and frankly their friendship meant too much for me to risk that.
Jess and Joe shared a look, a quick one that I wasn't meant to see and in noticing that I knew that they both knew something and that something was being hidden from us. "Sorry to hear that, Robin, I know that it was bad for you guys the last time this sort of thing happened." Joe said, sounding genuinely apologetic, his absence of a cocky joke or comment alerting me to the fact that something was off. I didn't want this to mean that they really were betraying us but my gut feeling was telling me that they knew more than they were letting on.
"We're going to deal with it," I said the strong tone very audible in my voice "but before we go on the drop offs, are you sure that you haven't heard anything or that you don't know anyone who knows something about the imposters?"
My friends shifted, recognising the direction that I was taking and bracing themselves. Joe and Jess shared another look before Joe said "No, love, no one around town knows anything about them, we've asked." His voice fluctuated, changing pitch before the last statement, telling me that half was a lie; I just couldn't tell which half.
As if seeing my disbelief on my face and sensing that this was becoming an interrogation Jess added "we did ask, Robin." In an honest and urgent tone, as though hoping that we would understand and believe them, my heart rate picked up then as I realised that that was important and decided I didn't like the direction this was headed in. She had answered my question for me then, in that one statement, but oddly enough didn't look to be taking offense at the accusation. That sparked my interest.
"You asked around town if anyone knew anyone copying our style and mimicking it so as to get us into trouble again?" I asked and Joe's eyes went wide as the tension in the room rose and Jess looked at me, guilt clear as day in her warm brown eyes.
"Not to get you into trouble." Jess said and Joe quickly elbowed her from where he sat next to her.
"And you say that I don't think before I speak!" he hissed urgently and Jess turned to glare at him.
"I am thinking." She said and feeling that the truth was almost out, but frightened about what I might hear even as I wanted so desperately to know the truth, I asked,
"Then what Jess, why is someone copying us if not to turn the town against us like last time?" my calm façade was fast slipping and the outlaws sat around me were eyeing me strangely as the panic and worry underneath my surface became increasingly more evident. I was reaching my wits end here, with each passing second it looked like Jess and Joe had been betraying us and I felt my hurt and anger build right alongside the passing time. They wouldn't do this to us, I told myself, there is an explanation for this no matter how bad it looks. It was getting harder and harder to believe that though and the others were starting to look just as wound up as I was, Joe and Jess seemed to sense that.
"You can't Jess, we're sworn to secrecy, on both sides." Joe said, adding emphasis on the last bit for us to hear. It placated no one though.
"So you are betraying us then." Will accused with no room for question in his tone, his chair scraping loudly on the floor as he jumped to his feet and turned to face Joe and Jess, hurt and anger evident on his face.
Next to Will Jack stood as well, her own pain and irritation clear on her face as she readied herself to either hold Will back or back him up depending on what the situation called for. Across from them John looked lost and wounded, he only looked at the scene unfolding before us seeing betrayal just as Will had but not sure what to do, his conflicting feelings stopping him from taking action. Mark looked twice as ill has he had before, lips parted as he regarded our friends though his eyes held an allegation. George was watching me, a deep and secret expression on his face as he took in the emotions that played across mine as I felt the falling sensation of being let down hit me, his own hurt was once again clear in his eyes as he silently urged me to do something.
"You're accusing us of telling the 'imposters' all you're secrets?" Joe demanded as he got to his feet as abruptly as Will had, anger that we could say that to them obvious in his expression. Unlike Jack, Jess didn't hesitate in grabbing hold of Joe's arm to pull him back as he took a step towards Will. "Are you serious, don't you trust us at all?"
"Joe," Jess hissed "stop this; it's time that we told them, remember what the Rebels said?"
"Told us what?" Jack asked though her voice was stern it was considerably less hostile than Will's had been. Will seemed to be struggling with his anger right now, it seemed that despite what he had said, Will had never really thought that Joe and Jess would so this to us and so it had hit him very hard right now. I knew how he felt.
Sat in my chair at the head of the meeting table I was furious, my hands balled up into fists and pressing against my knees, my breaths were shallow as I tried to get a handle on my emotions and the hurt welling up inside. I was mad at them all, at Joe and Jess for keeping this from us, whatever it was they had been hiding when they were supposed to be our friends. I was angry at the other outlaws as well, Will especially for snapping like that and shouting at Jess and Joe, couldn't he have just restrained himself until they had told us everything? Everyone was exploding in hurt rage and here I was, the most volatile and heart ruled person in the room and I was having to keep it together so that I could rein them all in. Being in charge was crap.
"Stop it," I said, having enough of their bickering and slowly rising from my chair, not almost throwing it over like Will and Joe had, but still commanding the attention of the room "I'm not going to sit here and listen to you all shout at each other, we're friends so we're gunna sort this out." I turned to face Will, Jack, Joe and Jess "I want you to sit down." Oddly enough everyone did as asked, with only a few grudging or else worried glances in my direction before they complied. I turned to face Jess and Joe "tell me everything, I don't want to think that you've betrayed us, so explain what you meant when you said that you need to tell us something."
"We wanted to tell you, Robin," Jess said looking at me and then the floor as she said "but we didn't have a choice, we weren't allowed to say anything to you."
The falling feeling worsened then and just as slowly as I had risen, I sat back down again. It was true then, Jess had just confirmed as much, they had been betraying us all this time even when we trusted them as whole heartedly as we did, and Joe had the gall to have a go at us for even suggesting that he had. I felt sick, but blinked once and focused in on George's face for comfort before saying,
"You betrayed us?"
"No, Robin," Jess said softly but earnestly, as though she honestly didn't believe that she had done anything wrong.
"We never betrayed you," Joe added his voice just as soft as his sisters and no where near as harsh as it had been "we never would."
"You told the imposters our secrets, you're the reason that they can copy us so perfectly and make it seem like we were the ones doing the robberies. It might not seem like a big deal now while they're doing the sort of things that we normally do, but how do you know that they aren't going to frame us for bigger things soon, like murder? The town won't accept money from us if they think that we're murderers, just like they didn't last time. I'm sorry, but selling our secrets like that sure sounds like betrayal to me." I told them, my emotions fluctuating between numb and sick, I should have been angry then but strangely I wasn't, just deflated. George grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently, I appreciated that.
"I know that it looks bad, Robin," Jess said and someone, most likely Will, let out a humourless laugh "but we didn't betray you and they aren't imposters."
"Then what are they then?" Mark asked from the other end of the meeting table, his hurt mingling with his confusion as he spoke "what are they if they're not imposters? They've got our style down to a tee and they're hitting the headlines while using it."
"That was accidental," Jess said her voice becoming less apologetic and more meaningful "we never thought they'd copy it so exactly, but they were struggling."
"Who?" I asked them "who did you tell all this stuff to?" please don't say Baxter, I thought, clinging onto the hope that even if they had betrayed us that they hadn't done so to our worst enemy. Stealing from him would be so much harder if he knew our workings and if they had told him more than just how we went about stealing from the rich then we could all be in grave danger.
Joe and Jess shared a look, as though deciding what they should tell us and then I remembered that Joe had said, that they were sworn to secrecy and suddenly I was mad again. So they could tell some imposters all our secrets but they couldn't tell us who they sold them to out of some twisted sense of loyalty?
"The Rebellion," Joe answered, shocking us all completely, we had not expected that response.
"Who?" George asked, speaking without hurt or accusation in his voice, just interest and confusion.
"The Rebellion," Jess repeated before clarifying "they're an organisation set up in Locksdale decades ago to appose the Baxter regime." Why did that sound familiar? I wondered as I frowned deeply and tried to recall where I had heard something about that before. Forgetting my former hurt and rage in wake of what Jess had just said, they hadn't sold our secrets to Baxter after all.
"Where have I heard that before?" I asked not aware that I had spoken aloud until Mark replied.
"The Kennedy's," Mark answered after a moment and beside me George looked up in understanding, his lips parted and eyes wide. He looked at Mark in question and our smart friend nodded "Stephanie said that her father was a rebel, don't you remember? It was the first time we went to see them and she was just starting to believe what we said."
I did remember, though I had thought nothing of it at the time it made sense now, did that mean that Kennedy had been part of this Rebellion and was that the real reason that Baxter had him killed?
"Was Kennedy a part of the Rebellion?" I asked Joe and Jess and they both nodded sadly, apparently their secrecy didn't apply when the man concerned was dead so Jess added,
"Yes, he was a new member this year according to the others, he'd finally had enough of Baxter's sick treatment and he wanted him gone. Baxter found out that he was betraying him though and had him killed, the only bright side is that Baxter never knew who Kennedy was betraying him to. The Rebellion's existence is still a secret." She looked genuinely upset and I nodded in sympathy, Kennedy's death had hit us all hard too and I wondered about this Rebellion, all thoughts of betrayal forgotten.
"Hey," I said as a thought dawned on me "do you think that's what Kennedy meant in his letter?" I asked and the others looked at me in confusion, clearly not remembering. Too intrigued not to find out for sure I sprang up from my chair and headed for our filling cabinets and hunted through them until I found Kennedy's final letter, a plea for us to protect his daughters from Baxter's wrath.
"There," I said as I set it down on the table "the 'R'."
Mark lent into the middle of the meeting table and adjusting his glasses he read aloud the last sentence "I offer you this advice, you are not alone, there R others. Yours faithfully, Andrew Kennedy."
"The 'are' is written as a letter isn't it?" I asked intending to jog everyones memory with that statement, it worked and suddenly everyone was wide eyed in understanding and remembrance "is that a reference to the Rebellion then?" I asked Joe and Jess from where I stood with my hands pressed against the meeting table to support me as I lent over towards the letter.
"We think that it is," Jess said with a nod "we think that he wanted you to get in touch with the Rebellion and for us all to work together."
"We half expected you to figure out what it meant right then," Joe said and I suddenly remembered that they had been there too when I first showed them the letter; listening to our conversation and analysis of the letter via a web cam and mic link, unable to say anything "you were on the right lines and it was so hard not to just tell you what we thought, but we had to run it by the Rebellion first, to see if they were ready to meet you or not."
I frowned slightly, considering the risk to my gang by sending them into unknown territory but also the potential positives of joining forces with another rebel group, they could help us with this latest problem and surely that was a good thing. "Are they ready to meet us?" I asked and Joe nodded.
"They are now, which is why we can tell you all this." he said.
"So what exactly is this Rebellion?" Jack asked not just addressing Joe and Jess but us all, clearly thinking that just because she was new to town she was the only one who had ever heard of these Rebels. This wasn't the case and I didn't have the foggiest idea who they were, and as far as I was aware no one else did. I shrugged at her and we all turned to face the twins.
"Yeah, who are they as well?" John asked just as confused and interested as the rest of us.
"We can't tell you who they are, not their names or anything like that, just like we never told them your real identities," Jess explained and I sat down, sensing a story coming on "but we can tell you what they are. The Rebellion is an anti-Baxter organisation, set up years ago to defy Baxter whenever possible and put an end to his rein."
"They were good at what they did, everyone in town knew about them about twenty years ago, but in the last decade they hit some problems, mutinies and betrayals, that sort of thing, and not to mention that the people they opposed seriously upped their game, meaning that it was harder to stop all the injustices. In the end they had to drop their cause because they couldn't do it any more. That is until you guys came into the picture and they decided to reform, hoping that with your help they could stop Baxter." Joe carried on, speaking animatedly and loving the role of story teller.
"Before they came back they never robbed money, they just protested and apposed Baxter where they could. They got the idea of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor from you but they weren't sure how to go about it, never having done anything like that before." Jess continued tossing her jet black plats from her shoulder.
"We'd heard some stuff about them around town but nothing much, it was just after we got in with you guys that we first met them and they convinced us to join up. They knew that we knew you but we wouldn't tell them anything, not your names, not where you were based, nothing. But then they asked for our help in showing them how to steal money efficiently and we agreed, teaching them the same tricks we'd taught you and we'd seen you use. It's not like with pick pocketing, big scale theft, all the stuff we know would have been useless if we hadn't told them your techniques." Joe admitted looking guilty but still not thinking that he had done anything wrong and right now I didn't think that he had either, all they had done was tell these rebels how to help people and there was nothing wrong with that.
"We're sorry that we told them your style," Jess said apologetically "we never thought that you'd get the blame for what they did."
"It's okay, Jess," I said looking around my fellow outlaws to see that they were all nodding in agreement with my words, even Will. I think that we were all just relieved that it wasn't anything more serious and that they betrayal really wasn't one at all "have they handed out the money they took?" I asked, wanting an answer to a question I had been contemplating ever since this started.
"Not yet," Jess told us with a slight grimace as though she didn't agree with this "they want build up a stash large enough to help everyone at once. We told them not to do it that way, that if something goes wrong then they're screwed but they won't listen."
"How many are they?" Will asked, his voice infinitely gentler and completely absent of accusation now, for which I was glad.
"A few dozen," Joe answered looking Will in the eyes and shrugging in an off hand male display that meant that there was no hard feelings between them, in response to which Will simply nodded.
"Their numbers change quite a bit and they are made up mostly of the people that were in the Rebellion originally, which only a few additions." Jess told us and as I digested this information, that there was a group of people dedicated to the same cause as us and who might be able to help us, I looked at my fellow outlaws, all of who looked considerably lighter now, like they were less troubled and interested in what was happening. John broke off into a conversation with Mark, from the excited looks on their faces I guessed that they were discussing what had just been said.
"And they want to meet with us, right?" I asked Joe and Jess and instantly the office fell silent and everyone looked at me again, this wasn't my attention but I wasn't complaining.
"If you want to," Jess confirmed "they want you're help."
"Good," I said sitting back in my chair "because we want theirs as well, we've found out some stuff and it doesn't look too good, we're going to need all the help we can get."
Jess and Joe looked at me in question and I nodded to George, who smiled at me slightly (in that secretive way that was almost as if he was checking me out) before explaining to the twins what we had been talking about before they got here. I wanted George to tell the story because he knew the details and could tell it best, but also because it was good to hear his voice right now. We had reached what I was sure was a turning point, maybe the start of something important and it comforted me just to ignore the words coming out of George's mouth and just listen to his clear, confident voice as he spoke.
"Chuffing hell," Joe breathed as George's words sunk in and he looked positively green "they always said that he wanted to move onto bigger things, but I never thought…"
"What are you going to do to stop him?" Jess asked us looking equally as sick and frightened as her brother, the seriousness of this situation was not lost on her, they both knew well enough what this meant.
"Whatever it takes," I answered and the others made noises of agreement around me and Jess nodded.
"We'll help you," Joe told and Jess nodded swiftly at his words "just let us know when you need us and we'll be there to help, we wont let this shit go nation wide, we wont let Baxter have the satisfaction."
"Will you tell the Rebellion?" Jess asked us "they could be useful."
I looked to the others, I wanted to tell the rebels what we knew, the more people we had working on this the better chance we would have of stopping Baxter, but I wanted to know that they felt the same way.
"I don't have a problem with that." Jack said a small smile of hope blossoming on her face as she undoubtedly thought of the help they could give us, maybe with them our task wouldn't be so impossible.
"It's like Jess says, they could help us." John agreed and all around the meeting table outlaws were nodding in accord.
"Look's like it's settled then," George said leaning forwards to rest his elbows on the table "we're going to meet the Rebellion."
"Can you sort out a meeting?" I asked Joe and Jess "the sooner we get together the sooner we can take action."
"Ah there's no need to sort anything out," Joe said with a dismissive hand wave "they want to meet you, so there won't be a problem."
Jess rolled her eyes at her brothers lax manner towards this, clearly thinking that he wasn't realising how important this was "How about we just take you to meet them tomorrow, we can meet here and we'll take you to them, we'll run it by them first of course but I don't think they'll mind."
"Sounds good," I said smiling at Jess and Joe, relief and maybe just a little bit of hope flowing through me in the wake of what we had found out today. Jess and Joe weren't selling our secrets on, they were just trying to help people and they were sorry for any stress caused to us. There was another anti-Baxter society in town and they wanted our help to remove the dictator and we were going to meet them tomorrow, hopefully meaning that they would assist us in keeping Baxter out of the Downing Street. The stress of what responsibility rested on our shoulders was lessened somewhat with just the idea of someone else to share the weight with, our task was still going to be difficult, there was no denying that, but maybe now with a bit of assistance we wouldn't be trying to do the impossible. Just that thought alone forced some of the stress from my shoulders and had me sitting more comfortably, now if only someone would wave a magic wand and make Adam forget that he was blackmailing me and everything would have looked that much brighter.
Author note: there it was, my chapter with some resolutions and revelations, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Also, I'd like to wish you a very happy (five days belated) St GEORGE'S Day, in a bout of national pride and George love. The theme of St George is also pretty relevant for a few chapters on, so yeah, take from that what you will ;)