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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3254071" data-attributes="member: 8530"> Chapter One-hundred-twenty-four, “Rescue at the Palace“, Sunday June 11th, 1882, 8:30 A.M. Ginnie nodded to Kate and ran off toward the El Parador, and Kate ran back inside for the bag where she kept all her first aid supplies. The Flys as well as the Seawells and Morands had likely been in church. The only place that would have bee occupied would have been the Palace. She ran down the street toward the saloon still hoping to find Jake but ready to help anyone she could.Flames are leaping out of the spaces in the bricks where windows and doors used to be on the south and east walls of the Palace. Jake reaches the intersection of Fremont and Sierra and sees that most of the north wall is now lying in the street along with a body that has already been covered over by a blanket, the hand sticking out from under the blanket looking to be that of a female. A dozen first responders are already on the scene. Six are from the Morand complex's bunkhouse namely Zack Morand, Julio O'Grady, Bud Newkirk, Liam Murphy, Doug Manson and Heck Lustig. Another four are from the Double Eagle across the street, namely Clay Milford, Al Brower, Warren Watson and Hatcher Meeks. The final two are Alton Boyd and Nutley Bester, both of whom live nearby. They have already managed to put up a ladder to the second floor and are in the process of helping the wounded down, four women and a man already down on the street. Jake sees large craters in the floor of the burning first floor near where the hooded men had been tossed the dynamite through the windows. Lying in the center of the room is the burning body of a man that is fully on fire so beyond anybody's help. Jake now sees Pierre Jaquet and Tempel Morand are also on the scene, having already gone up the ladder to the second floor where they are each an unconscious or dead person, one being a man another a woman. Four blocks west the horse drawn fire wagon pulls up onto Sierra Street, the bell atop the wagon now ringing. Six people wearing metal fireman's helmets are with it. Austin Blake is guiding the horses and Jake makes out three of the others to be Jeff Mills, Judge Lacey and Kay Kaufman. Instead of turn east though the fire wagon turns west, heading away from the fires. Bud Newkirk exclaims, "Where in Hades are they going?" Zack Morand replies, "They're going to the foot bridge at Pine Creek a block further west, that's where the pump is installed. They need to hook up the hoses and get the pump started to draw water."Jake nervously looks around for his friend, or for a spot that the rescuers have overlooked. If he finds none, he will assist the other in bringing out victims.  The injuries he sustained when the dynamite exploded inside Fly’s begin to individually make themselves known while he stands there looking at the burning Palace Saloon. What must be a bruise on his upper right shoulder when part of the flying building struck him is the first to speak up, followed by a tender rib on his left side undoubtedly created when he was thrown to the ground. He glances down and notices his left hand and wrist is lightly scraped, he guesses also due to his sudden encounter with the street. Lastly, there is a slight sharp pain in the back of his head when he turns it. Reaching back into his hair he removes a nail sized splinter of wood which seems to eliminate the sharpness of the pain. The blood that has come off his head onto his hand is already partly dried. Flicking the offending splinter to the ground he glances back to the woman’s hand that is visible from under the blanket, “It could have been worse.”The men use a blanket to catch the two unconscious people who Pierre and Tempel drop down. Temple Morand yells down to Zack Morand, "That's it for the second floor, the stairs are gone, we'll need to use this to check the third, go get another ladder." They then pull up the ladder and position it to climb from the broken section of the second to third floors. The smoke in the building is getting thicker as they climb. Towards the west the firefighters are down at the bridge hooking up their hoses. Jake then sees Evan Adair, Bob Scull and Kitty Trent causally emerge from a building on the west end of town not far from the firefighters. They stop to ask firefighter Kay Kaufman something and upon hearing the answer turn east. Jake sees a shocked look on Adair's face, as the three then begin running east together in the direction of the Palace. Kate arrives on the scene and concludes that it is horrific. Kate looked around the now destroyed Palace Saloon and quickly averted her eyes from the blanket covered mound that had been a living, breathing person only a few minutes ago. She tried very hard not to think that this could have been the school and Ginnie, she needed to be steady now and that thought would only have her shaking. Instead Kate took firmer hold on her bag and waded in toward the obvious victims, looking for anyone she could help until the doctor arrived while keeping an eye on Jake. Something here had been important enough for him to leave her standing outside her house and she wanted to know what it was.Minerva and Nakomo arrive and begin making the rounds. Working as a team they pull people a safe distance from the fires and administer first aid where necessary. Minerva turns to Nakomo, surprised not only by how adept and efficient he is but also that he is apparently healing people.Jake then hears a "thunk" sound and peers around the corner by the western wall. He sees that a suitcase has been tossed out of a third floor window and he recognizes the case as a piece of the luggage that the Wells Fargo man was carrying for Van Horne.  "Here! Over here," Jake yells out. "Someone is at that window. The ladder is needed right there."Out the window goes a makeshift rope tied with bed sheets. A man emerges who Jake immediately recognizes as the features of his mentor Patrick O'Brien. He is wearing an oversized nightshirt with a belt used as a makeshift sling, supporting a broken arm. He looks to be otherwise uninjured. Despite the bad arm he still manages to make his way out the window and down the sheets to the ground.   "Uh, never mind," Jake calls off the men with the ladder. Glancing around and seeing Katherine with her ubiquitous bandages, he waves her over. "Can you go help that man?" Jake points at the man in the night shirt and then says in a lower voice. "Ask him if he needs some of those bandages for the wounds on his face." Jake gives her a wink and then continues to watch the burning building, keeping an eye out for anyone paying any attention to the man in the long night shirt."Is that why you left me standing outside my house?" she said, sounding curious. "I'll take care of it Jake, but I hope I get to know why at some point." Kate hurried over to where the man stood, trying to collect his bag with his one good hand. "My friend from the Lady thought you might need some medical attention. Obviously for your arm, and perhaps your face?"   The man says in an accent that Kate places as New York or New Jersey, "That you Miss, appreciate it." He helps her cover his face, which as far as she can see doesn't have a scratch on it."Now let me have a look at that arm," Kate said as they moved away from the burning building. Once clear, she gently moved the sling so she could get a look at the broken limb. "If there was no one else I could try this, but there are others more qualified to fix this and do it well." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Do you have the means to make your face presentable again?"  He replies, "Yes, I'll be moving on now. Thanks for your help." He picks up a suitcase and heads off through the alleyway to the west. Back at the fire, the firefighters are hauling the wagon east to the fire, unrolling spools with four firehoses as they go. While it is taking longer to get to the actual fire in Tombstone Jeff is ensuring that they will have enough water to fight it when they arrive. Evan Adair and his two sidekicks arrive on the street outside of the half-destroyed and burning Palace Saloon. Kitty Trent gasps when she sees the draped body on the street. Adair glances that way too but acts indifferent, the only emotion showing when he looks back at the building and exclaims "My beautiful Palace, all ruined!" Bob Scull puts a hand on his employer's shoulder and says, "We'll find out who did this. They'll be sorry, mark my words."With the arrivals of the priests from the church and Doctor Eaton, Kate's poor services became superfluous. She took a deep breath and approached the doctor, saying, "I'll get out of the way of the professionals. I can leave my clean bandages if you think you'll need them."  Eaton replies, "Please stay and help Katherine, you've proven before that you have the talents for nursing and are not panicked by the sight of physical injuries and risks. I know from experience that a competent untrained nurse is worth more than a dozen well-educated physicians who freeze up in the face of danger."  "Alright," Kate said with a bit of surprise plain on her face. "Call me if you need an extra set of hands anywhere, otherwise I'll keep up with the minor injuries."The five initial firefighters, Jeff Mills, Judge Lacey, Sampson Hill, Boston Harker and Kay Kaufman arrive at the scene of the fire and are now joined by the remaining volunteer firemen, Gem Calhoun, Mathias Danboy, Coolie Fagan, Peter Lovelace, Burton Lumley, Sam Slade and Josiah Young each of whom dons their metal helmets. The only firemen not present yet are Don Hudson, Rudy Baines and Neil Cassidy, with Neil now away on Deputy duties. Jeff does a quick evaluation of the five burning buildings and says, "Get three of the hoses onto the Palace, one on the first floor, one on the second and the third on the back wall. Get the fourth hose over to Fremont and spray down the fire at Fly's photo studio before it spreads to either the boarding house or the school." Deputy Fire Marshall Judge Lacey takes charge of the Fremont Street detail, bringing Coolie Fagan and Josiah Young with him. As they head right past the burning remains of the Papago Cash Store owner Ike Sherman grabs Lacey by the lapel and yells "What in Hades are you doing? You're just going to let my place burn to the ground to help your own business?" Lacey pushes the man off of him and says, "You're place is beyond saving, we're trying to save the school and boarding house while we still can." "You're a selfish bastard! You want me to fail!" a distraught Sherman exclaims. Lacey replies, "I don't have time for this."  He turns his back and walks away, helping the other two firefighters with the hose. An irate Ike Sherman then pulls a small revolver from his jacket pocket and takes aim at the back of Lacey's head.Kate's attention had been drawn when she heard Jeff direct some of the firefighters to get the fire at the photo studio under control. She had been trying not to think about her home going up in flames, but a fire wasn't something she could fight herself and Ginnie was safe at the El Parador. She happened to be looking over when Ike Sherman started his ranting and pulled his revolver. "Judge, look out!" she shouted as she picked up a piece of the rubble to throw at Sherman, hoping to knock his aim off.Kate's rubble toss doesn't cover the distance but the same cannot be said for Deputy Eduardo Rodriguez's knife. From a distance of forty-five feet away his aim is true, with the knife skewering the palm of Ike Sherman right hand, causing him to drop the gun. Upon striking the ground the gun goes off, the bullet hitting Sherman in the leg and he drops to the ground. This catches the attention of the firefighters, with Lacey realizing what almost happened. The Marshal and his Deputy hurry over to Sherman and confiscate the gun. Berg tells Lacey, "I'll deal with him, go back to your jobs."   Ike Sherman is now holding his leg and howling in pain. Father Barnes comes over to assist, helping the men remove the knife from the hand and then casting a healing spell to deal with both wounds. Afterwards Berg says, "Let's get him locked up in jail, we can deal with him later. The two lawmen and the priest pick the man up and carry him. Some people have gathered around the body of the dead hooded rider who is still lying on the street in front of Fly's Boarding House. Berg points to three of the men and orders them to pick up the body and bring it along with them to the jail. He adds, "Keep that hood over his head, emotions are too high to have a public unveiling. We'll deal with who he was after the emergency as past."  Jake looks back to where the second dead man with the hood should be, with the intent of getting someone to call the Marshall's attention to it.Jake sees that the second body is still in the alleyway just off from the Palace's south wall but is covered in dirt from the dynamite explosions that had gone off on the ground nearby as well as ash, fallen bricks and other debris from the Palace, essentially making it blend in to the mess so that you wouldn't know it was even there unless you knew to look.  Jake hobbles over to Jeff Mills. "There is another body laying in the alley over there, looks to be dead." Jake points in the direction. "I need to go find my boots before I step on something and hurt my feet too. I will be back in a bit." Jeff says, "Okay," he stops the priestess Hilldi and gestures to where Jake indicated and says. "There's a body in that alley, probably dead. Check and see." Gingerly testing his head wound with his fingers for bleeding, Jake shuffles back home.   Kate felt rather silly as her bit of rubble fell without getting hear Sherman, but with so many others around there wasn't much else she could do. She took a quick moment to be thankful for the Deputy's skills as Mr. Berg took Ike Sherman away. Back at the Palace, Temple Morand and Pierre Jacquet escort four people, two men and two women, to the ladders and hold them steady when they climb down to the second floor with Zack Morand helping them from there. Kate hurried over to where the four had just descended from the second floor. "Mr. Morand," she said and nodded to the younger man of that family. That they were walking was a good sign. She helped get them away from the burning building and began checking them over for injuries.  Temple says, "We need more help up here. We think the only one still left up here is that fighter Finnegan but he's unconscious and too big for just the two of us to carry."  Adair has just been staring in shock. He snaps out of it upon hearing what Morand says. He orders Bob Scull to head up the ladder to help them, adding "And check Van Horne's room, he should still be up there too."The fires on the back wall and second floor appear extinguished so Jeff Mills redirects one hose to help with the first floor blaze. He orders the other hose to be brought to the former Tannery building on East Street as while the southern part of that structure is clearly gone but the northern end might still be salvageable.  Hilldi returns and says the man is dead. Jeff says, "Thanks, tell the Marshal when he returns and try to keep people away from there until then." Up on the second floor Skull, Morand and Jaquet are using a tarp to half-carry, half-drag the unconscious body of the large pugilist Finnegan over to the north part of the building by the ladders. Several men gather below holding a blanket and the three above lower the body as far as they can and drop it the remainder of the way. The Bishop heads over and casts a spell to check the man's status. He says "He's swallowed a lot of smoke. If he were human he would probably be dead, but half-ogres have a much greater lung capacity." Adair exclaims "HALF-OGRE! Get that filthy thing out of my sight!" Firefighter Burton Lumley sarcastically says out loud to nobody in particular "A fine way to treat an injured employee after you've made thousands of dollars from him."Kate looked up from stitching closed a long cut in one of the working girl's arms. Burton Lumley kept surprising her, and at the moment she felt more respect for him than she had before. Even as she kept stitching she called out, "If he doesn't need to go to the doctor's office, take him over to the Lady. Once I'm not needed here anymore I'll go over and keep an eye on him."The Bishop says, "Let me try a healing spell to stabilize him first." He casts the spell which emits a golden-colored glow with him placing his hands over the fighter's chest and neck. Bud Newkirk rides up with a wagon from Morand Cartage to load him in.   Back in his house, Jake hangs the duster on a peg and puts the Vetterli back in its spot in the cabinet. He quickly cleans the cut on the back of his head in the wash basin before donning a shirt. His rib complains a little again while he is pulling on his boots, but he decides it is more important to be out and about. Something else interesting may happen and he does not wish to miss Adair's public misery. Finishing by placing his knife into his right boot, derringer inside the back of his belt, hat on his head and a quick wiggle of the Colt in its holster he returns to the action in the streets.Jake returns to the scene on Fremont Street just as Marshal Berg and Deputy Rodriguez are returning and Hilldi points out the other body to the two of them. They head over in that direction.  The firefighters aren't even attempting to extinguish the fires at the Papago Cash Store and Morand-Seawell Mining, both of those buildings almost completely destroyed. Instead they are focused on the Palace and the northern half of the building behind Morand-Seawell, both of which might be repairable but will take a considerable amount of work to do so.Jake helps here or there if someone REALLY needs it. Mostly he just wanders, keeping an eye and ear open, while nursing his tender rib.  Berg and Eduardo begin to dig the body out when the Marshal says, "This one has a hood on two!" He drafts three more passersby to help and has them accompany Eduardo back to the jail with the body. Jake is within earshot when Berg then goes over to the Morand Cartage group and starts to ask them questions about what transpired. Zackary explains "Me and my men were sleeping in the bunkhouse when we were woken up with the shots began followed by the Papago store being blown up. We then saw the hooded riders, one of them exchanging fire with bartender Dave Carleen who was in the doorway of the Place. Carleen got a few good shots into one of them before taking a few in the chest and falling back into the room. They then tossed in the dynamite. By that time we had grabbed a few rifles and started firing back." Berg asks, "So you shot down these two bodies we found?" Zack Morand says, "No, we focused on the guys near the Palace, Papago and Tannery building, they were closer. We wounded a few which is what I think prompted them to ride off. I think somebody at Fly's Boarding House got those others."   Jake does not join the conversation about who killed the hooded men, preferring to keep that to himself for now. Kate noted when Jake returned, but didn't approach him right away. After she was sure the four who had climbed down were taken care of she packed up her bag and found her friend.  "Has anyone taken a look at you?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the small cuts and scrapes decorating her own face and hands.   Jake replies, “No, I figured I could wait.” Nodding around him, “It appeared to me there are others who had greater need. I might even have milked a little more sympathy since I looked hurt longer.” He gives her a slight smirk. "Mostly it is just bumps and bruises. I washed the cut on the back of my head some," he winces when his arm raises to point at that cut. "Heh, and maybe a cracked rib."Kate walked behind him and looked at the cut on the back of his head. "Well, I can't say about the rib, but as far as the head goes you can talk to Minerva and have the easy way; otherwise I have a needle with your name on it."  She came around in front of him again, and made a show of testing the rib without really disturbing it much and spoke quietly. "Adair just found out his prize fighter is a half-ogre and tossed him out. He's unconscious right now from smoke; I told them to take him over to the Lady. It seemed like an opportunity moment, you'll have to figure out what the opportunity might be."Jake chuckles. "Now you are thinking like me. Have a care there Katherine, you never know where that kind of behavior might lead."  "Finnegan is half ogre? Should have figured that out. He was too big and tough to be anything else." Jake rubs his chin. "Good thinking. Not sure what I will do with that but I am certain it will be interesting. Speaking of the Lucky Lady, I will have Maria get some food going for the firefighters. If you see any of your school children about, those men could likely use some water for themselves fairly soon." He lightly touches the back of his head again. "Needs stitches, huh?" He sighs and says, "Alright, I will attempt to be a good patient."  "Only two or three. It's not really that deep but cuts on the head tend to bleed a lot and they're hard to keep clean. As for Finnegan, I doubt you'll start having fights at the Lady, but he'd be intimidating security for your tournament." She got out a clean needle and a razor, which she didn't let Jake see. As long as she was careful no one would even be able to tell that she'd had to take a bit of hair off. No one but Jake's barber, at least. "I doubt we'll see the children; their parents will keep them close today. I sent Ginnie back to the El Parador after she threw that lit stick of dynamite out of our house." She swallowed against the lump in her throat. "I wish I knew whether the school was a target or only a target of opportunity. It was an odd combination of targets. The Palace, Sherman's store, Fly's photo studio..."“I have been wondering the same thing. Was it just convenience and coincidence, did someone plan it for buildings that would cause the most damage to the town, or were certain individuals singled out? Perhaps it was some of each. Makes me mighty glad we got Hoover's liquor out of the Lady and stored in a secure brick shed out back. Um.... Rote's liquor.”Kate laid her hand on his shoulder for a second but didn't otherwise acknowledge his slip of the tongue. "Well, I was standing outside my house and firing at one of them, so unless we find one alive I won't know if I was targeted. I got a peek at one of them, the junior teller from the national bank. So hopefully he'll come back thinking no one's the wiser and Mr. Berg can pick him up. If this is connected to everything else we've been following it would put Fisk in a suspicious light. But that doesn't sit right with me. Just yesterday Conrad was saying he thought the split between Fisk and Adair might just be a ploy.""Clever of them to throw us off by blowing up the Palace." Jake makes a sharp intake of breath when she pushes the needle through, but does not otherwise say anything. "Just knowing it was the teller is another lead, even if he does not come back. That and the two hooded men who did not leave town alive will yield some clues for our diligent lawmen. Who knows, Conrad could be right. I do not see it though. I think there really was a falling out between those two. However unlikely it may seem, it may not be Fisk behind this particular raid either." He stiffens only slightly as she finishes the knot. "I am either overlooking some important clue that ties this all together, or it really is very simple and we are looking for subtle connections that do not exist."Kate answers, "His observation came from the rallies last night. A lot of the same people where at the rallies for the Liberty and Freedom parties, but he said himself they might just be floating around for the free drinks. I tend to agree with the second idea. Maybe we are trying to connect things that have no connection, but I'll admit I'm lost in all this. It's like the answer is right in front of me, but so many other things are as well that I can't see what's plain. Ever since I found out Thayer's men were watching the ranch I've been trying to put everything together." She tied off the second stitch. "All finished. Whatever's going on, we have to figure it out. I don't want the next stick of dynamite flying into my school when Ginnie and I are both upstairs asleep."  Jake nods his agreement and then stifles a yawn. "It will not do to have my morning rest interrupted so abruptly again. Thank you for the ministrations. I think I will accidentally overhear some additional conversations out here for a short time and then head back to the saloon to check on Finnegan and set Maria to work." He carefully sets his hat upon his head tilted slightly forward. "I will be around if you have need of me."   Kate sighed softly as Jake wandered away. Sometimes her need was just to not be alone. There was little left for her to do here. Healing magic made quick work of the seriously injured, and Doctor Eaton had quick hands as well. There were still those gathered and watching, and those who seemed uncertain where to go. Finally she decided to get a peek at her school and stop by the El Parador before going back to the Lady to tend to Finnegan.  Jake goes back to wandering for a short time, eyes and ears alert to whatever he can learn.  When he thinks there is nothing more to learn he walks to the Lucky Lady.</blockquote>

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