Bumping Into You

Part 20

"You did WHAT?!" Cora's voice echoed in Killian Jones' ear through the phone, he had braced himself for the shout, but the shrill piercing blast still managed to set his eye drum ringing.

Killian sighed, trying to explain his actions to Cora was going to be difficult. "I had to get rid of him last night, I had no other choice. He was talking to the FBI agent in the bloody station!"

Cora went quiet for a moment, things were accelerating far too rapidly. "The FBI was there?" He heard the trepidation in her voice and was taken aback, normally Cora Mills-Gold was unflappable, her cold calmness had never wavered before and Killian imagined that she was finally beginning to realize how dire the situation was that they now faced.

"Yes, agent Booth was there brazenly offering Neal immunity. I couldn't let him get away with playing me like that." Killian realized his error right away, he had just slipped and hinted to the former mayor that he too had made a deal with the FBI. There was an even longer pause on the line and Killian imagined the calculating woman was already contemplating her next move after this new bit of information.

"I see." She only said the two words but Killian knew the deeper meaning behind those four letters. Their partnership was now over. Killian and Cora would now be working separately, each for their own survival. "You had no choice I suppose. But your actions have pushed our hand. We must move ahead with our plans tonight."

Our plans? Killian smirked, knowing that what she really meant was her plan. "The delivery of the shipment is scheduled to be here around eleven tonight, that's zero hour love. If we are still flailing about by then we're both as good as dead."

"Yes, Robert had planned on using the ship to get his son out of the country. It will be very awkward when Neal doesn't show up. Also the FBI will want to know where their agent is today so we can plan on them flooding the whole town to look for him." Cora wasn't telling him what he didn't already know, she had truly cut him off then, he was no longer privy to her inner thoughts.

"Thankfully Gold will be busy getting everything ready for the shipment and won't find out about his son until tonight." Killian offered.

"We have to move during the ball, that will be our best chance." Cora mused. "The entire town will be occupied with my daughter's costume party." He heard the contempt in her voice. "There will never be a better time."

"I agree love." He sighed, he had a lot to get down before eleven tonight if he was going to survive to see tomorrow. "We better get to work then."

"Of course. Good luck sheriff." Killian knew the subtext behind her well wishes. She was saying 'Fuck off Jones, you're on your own and if I have to step on you to save my own arse I will.'

"The same to you Cora." He grinned, knowing that she recognized his true meaning as well.

Her mother had given the same long, dull speech ever since the Mayoral Ball fell under her purview. Cora had felt that it helped add to the elegance and significance of the ball if the mayor gave a proclamation of sorts to the invited dignitaries. It had always been laced with subtle compliments to herself, mentioning how it was the mayor's duty to remind the upper class of Storybrooke of their importance and influence, and of course Cora was the most important and influential person in town. A lot of the speech consisted of generalizations about the wonderful town, lightly touching on the history of Storybrooke and hopeful words for the future. It made her ill. But as much as it pained her to do so, she continued the tradition during her term as mayor, because the people of Storybrooke prized tradition almost as much as they prized keeping the status quo. Although she felt she was a talented actress and had no problem memorizing lines, for some reason she could never seem to recall the words of Cora's speech. Perhaps it was a subconscious mental block that kept her from knowing the speech by heart, a way for her brain to rebel against her mother. Thanks to Cora's vanity and pompousness she didn't need to worry about attempting to muddle through the long speech on her own. Her mother had deemed it necessary to transcribe her words onto an ornate scroll. It was laughable and the very epitome of why Regina detested the whole farce in the first place.