“A third option would be to wait for his return and have him summoned, as we did with Hugo.” Brielle’s mouth settled into a firm line as she waited for input. He couldn’t readin her manner whether she preferred any of the suggestions over another.
“Do you think Gerald is likely to obey a summons? Or will he be suspicious?” Evan asked. From what he’d seen of the man, Gerald seemed the suspicious type, especially if he was in the middle of carrying out a traitorous plot.
Brielle raised her brows. “I suspect he’d try to avoid it, even if the command came from the council. He’d have little reason to pacify our leadership.”
Just as Evan had thought. It felt good to be of the same mind as her.
“Your second plan seems like the best way to ensure he doesn’t escape.” Maybe Evan should give one of the others the chance to offer an opinion, but neither man seemed eager to speak up. He turned to them. “Do you think it likely someone else could be injured if we took him captive in his chamber?”
Philip still seemed to be absorbing the entire situation, but Leonard drew his brows low. “Gerald lives in the smaller homes, where some of the unmarried men reside. I doubt any of them would get in the way. There’s a slight chance he would try to sway some of them to help him. I can’t imagine any would, once they saw he was resisting arrest. Most people see through Gerald’s bluster.”
Evan nodded. Leonard spoke like he knew the young men, possibly better than Brielle, which made sense. “So, there’s a good chance of success with that plan?”
Leonard’s nod came slowly. “That seems the best approach to me.”
Brielle turned to Philip. “What say you?”
The man gave a single nod. “I agree. The whole situationis unfortunate, but I think that’s the best way to do what has to be done.”
Brielle cast her gaze around the group. “We’re agreed? Any opposed?”
After receiving an affirming nod from each of them, Brielle laid out the specifics that she must have already plotted in her mind. He couldn’t help but admire her leadership skills. No wonder these men submitted to her authority so well. She gave each person a voice, even when she probably had already planned every detail. Her methods had likely been successful in the past, or they wouldn’t agree as easily as they did now.
When they’d discussed everything Evan could imagine needing to know, Brielle stood and moved to the door, then peered through a slot. “Dusk will be on us soon. We should take our places.”
Brielle was glad she’d assigned Evan to wait with her inside Gerald’s apartment. A few quiet moments to talk were certainly in order.
Yet they couldn’t do more than whisper, for they had to make sure Gerald didn’t hear anything until he entered the room. Philip was hidden outside, and Leonard in the chamber next door where he could watch for Gerald through a crack in that room’s door, then signal the man’s approach.
It would be up to her and Evan to capture Gerald while surprise still gave them the upper hand. Philip and Leonard would come behind as reinforcements, if needed.
She glanced at Evan, who stood on the other side of theentry door. He met her gaze, his eyes searching. The room was too dim to see if he found what he was looking for on her face.
She wanted to ask why he hadn’t come to her when he first overheard Gerald’s plot, but such a question shouldn’t be whispered across the space of the doorway. She needed the full volume of her voice to make her feelings clear on the topic. She wanted to see the truth in his eyes.
Yet she couldn’t let him see her hurt. He hadn’t trusted her with the truth, but she had to put this behind her. Or at least make sure she could keep her thoughts hidden. Hurt feelings didn’t belong in the mind of a warrior, especially not when she needed all her senses and instincts for the mission at hand.
She pulled her gaze from Evan, casting her focus around the small room. Gerald’s housekeeping skills were worse than she’d expected, with bits of clothing and weaponry scattered across the floor. The walls contained a host of nails that were likely intended for organization, but not one of them was being used as such.
Her little brother had left his garments and toys in haphazard piles like this in his younger years, but he’d finally started listening to her and Charlotte’s nagging. Now, he did a better job of hanging things up. It seemed Gerald’s habits had suffered from his lack of older sisters.
“Can we talk?” Evan’s voice drew her focus back to him. “After this is over?”
Yes. They desperately needed to talk. She had to know what he was thinking. Wanted to hear in his own words that he’d kept the secret from her for her good, and not because he didn’t trust her. Wanted to know there was nothing else he was hiding from her.
She worked hard to keep the desperate yearning from showing on her face as she nodded. “Yes.”
He returned the nod, and his Adam’s apple bobbed like he was preparing to say more. His mouth parted, but he didn’t speak. Did his heart ache as much as hers did?
A cough sounded from the chamber beside them, then another. Philip’s signal.
She crouched against the wall, knife poised. While keeping her gaze honed on the crack between the door and frame, the edge of her vision registered Evan with his gun at the ready. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to use that weapon, but it would stop Gerald if nothing else did.
The latch string raised the bar on the door, and the crack widened to reveal a sliver of dusky light.
Gerald’s body stepped in to block most of the light as he pushed the door open.
His gaze locked on her before he’d placed more than a single foot inside, and he reacted instantly, even before his face registered surprise.
