Bluest of Grey Skies

Chapter Seventeen

Regina paced the floor in her office several hours after finding Felix trying to gain entry into Emma's house. After wrapping things up for the night with the federal agents, Regina had returned to Emma's and managed to slip in a few hours of sleep before the alarm went off and she slipped out of bed, whispering to Emma to take the day off and rest. She had met up with Kathryn just outside the station, returned the keys that Logan had given her hours before, and headed inside.

The station was quiet as Ruby had been given the morning off to catch up on some sleep and it wasn't as if Regina couldn't handle things down there at the station on her own. The quiet wasn't helping the anxious feeling that was bubbling up inside of her. She had resisted the urge to call the house, to check up on Emma to make sure no one else had decided to pay her a visit in the few hours since she had been gone.

The federal agents had assured her they would have a warrant for Robert Gold's arrest by the end of that day and were pressing for one for Bobby despite the fact that he was recovering in the hospital after his amputation surgery. Other warrants would follow in the days and weeks to come for those closely connected to Gold. They had gotten all the evidence they needed at the cannery and Logan had located some hidden files in Gold's office that Kathryn had been unable to find before. Everything was slowly coming to a close and Regina just wanted for it to be over so she could keep her promise she had made to Emma early that morning.

It wouldn't be over with the arrests made. There would be a trial, one that Chapman assured her would go quickly for Robert Gold and he would be transferred to max security within two weeks. Bobby's trial would be progressively longer, months and even up to a year if he didn't confess to the murder of the former sheriff. It wouldn't be over then either, not with the amount of people who were nothing but loyal to Gold and his family, and there was no telling to what extremes some of them would go just to exact revenge over their boss being charged with hundreds of charges and imprisoned for life.

"Hey," Kathryn said and cleared her throat as she stood in the doorway of the sheriff's office. "Are you busy, Sheriff?"

"No. What can I do for you, Kathryn?"

"To be honest, I am absolutely terrified," she said in a hushed whisper. "Gold has at least a dozen of the men who usually are down at the cannery in his office right now. They have guns, Sheriff, and I'm not talking about handguns. I'm talking about rifles. Big guns."

"Shit," Regina murmured and made a move to grab the phone and dialed a number. "How many men are in his office, Kathryn?"

"A—at least a dozen."

"Chapman."

"Agent, I've just been informed that Gold has at least a dozen men in his office and they are armed," Regina said quickly into the phone. "Are you still waiting on that warrant?"

"Judge in Portland is working on it, but it has to go through the state. There's a judge in Augusta, but it could take a few hours."

"How many is a few, Chapman?"

"Several," he replied tightly. "We have a window of about six hours from now."

"And if Gold and his men try something before that warrant arrives?" Regina pressed and Kathryn's face dropped all color, white as a ghost. "Chapman, he killed a man last night. This man is a murderer and he's out there right now planning god knows what and we're going to sit here with our fucking thumbs up our asses and wait for some goddamn warrant?"

"Mills, I've got a team on the way as we speak. They'll be arriving before noon—"

"How many men?"