The young woman smiled knowingly. “You don’t have to play coy, sir. We’re dropping your spacecraft to kill people and protect your investments. It’s sad, but the honest truth. It would help me do my job if we didn’t pretend.”
He took a hard look at her. She’d been there for him in the worst period of his company’s existence. She’d heard things she shouldn’t. The girl had even suffered a visit from the very person he was preparing to ask about. Maybe she was owed some truth.
Maybe.
“I’m glad to hear you’ve got your situation well in hand. Keep me abreast of any changes in status. I especially want to know when we can expect the fireworks.”
She acknowledged him with a small nod.
“The reason I needed you in here at this moment is more personal than orbital spacecraft.”
She sat up in her chair. “Oh?”
“Mr. Stricker is coming to pay us a visit.”
“Oh, hell no! I’m not doing that again.”
“I normally wouldn’t ever ask so much of my employees—”
“I know we run things fast and loose here, but if you put me in a room with him again, I’m tempted to call HR and file for sexual harassment. The way he looks at me is not appropriate for the workplace.”
He had to dance around her discomfort.
“In business, sometimes we must make sacrifices for the greater good of the company. He represents a direct threat to everything we’re doing here. I need my best person on the inevitable negotiations.”
On hearing the words, she leaned far back in her chair. “What do you have over that asshole? How do you keep getting your way with him? When I talked to him, he definitely seemed scared of you.”
There was his opening. “It isn’t me. It’s you. You negotiated the hell out of him back in Denver. That’s what I want—”
“I’m not a little girl. You can’t play me. There’s something you have on him that makes him so pliable. Even I can see it.”
Petteri was willing to overlook the interruption. He wasn’t lying when he said he needed her. If he went into a room alone with the portly secretary, he was likely to get angry and act in a way he would later regret. Perhaps giving her all the facts would convince her how important she was. On the other hand, explaining it all to Dorothy would give her a piece of leverage he wasn’t quite ready to give up.
His unusual indecision was short-circuited when Mr. Aarons ran in.
“Sir, sorry for the intrusion. We’ve got word from Nerio’s task force they’ve come under fire from suspected militia infiltrators.”
“Is the attack happening at the railhead?” He’d assumed that’s where the enemy would strike.
“Negative. They’re ten miles north of it. They took out a checkpoint and have pinned down our convoy heading out to reinforce the southern boundary.”
Petteri clenched his jaw for a few moments. Ten miles north of the railhead meant they were ten miles closer to him. He’d already done everything in his power to take the pressure off his dig site. Dorothy was even dropping nuke-powered engines to back him up. All he had to do was let his military experts herd his civilian guards so they could head off the domestic terrorists coming to steal his ore. He’d expected the fight to start in a few days, when both sides were ready, but it appeared to be kicking off early. He needed to trust his experts’ defensive measures as well as the military-grade hardware at their disposal. He also had to trust his own master plan.
He relaxed his jaw. “Mr. Aarons, get the dump trucks ready to move.”
Chapter 11
Hoback Junction, WY
Grace decided to play it safe and stick to the side of the truck as if glued to it. As long as there was no shooting, her people were safe. As the seconds dragged by without the men at the roadblock shooting, she took it as a win.
Asher removed his hat and held it so it would be spotted above the hood. He flinched, expecting it to be shot out of his hand. However, no gunfire came down. After several more seconds of conspicuously waving it around, he lowered it, nodding to her.
She flashed him a sour look. “After the grief you gave me?”
He cocked his head. “I did? I don’t recall.” Sarcasm was paved over his words.
Grace reached for her fallen hat, playfully grumbling under her breath about her exchange with him. Picking it up and brushing it off, she almost admired the small new holes from where the bullet had punched through. It was now nearly as beat up as her truck, which seemed proper and fitting. By the time she’d slapped it back on her head, a man called out from the roadblock.
“You all can come out! We’re not going to shoot!”
“As if that’s going to make us come out,” Asher remarked to her. Despite their playful antics, she and Asher were deadly serious about staying hidden from danger.
The man huddling with them recognized the voice. “Carson, is that you?”
“Rocky? You okay?”
The man breathed out. “You two are fine now. You can trust Carson. He won’t shoot me.” He scrambled toward the front of the truck, ready to stand up.
“But what about us?” she pressed.
“Oh, he won’t shoot you, either.” Before getting clear of the vehicle, he seemed to think twice. He yelled toward the roadblock. “You won’t shoot the rangers, will you?”
Carson replied. “No, we just had to shoot Brock. He’s the one who put you in danger. I’ll meet you in front of the roadblock, all right?”
The next few minutes were a tense dance as both sides seemed unsure if they should trust the other. She and Asher took the lead, always staying close to Rocky, but eventually they reached the blockade of trucks. They were greeted by a hunched-over elderly gentleman who looked like a bearded mountain man unwillingly summoned from his remote cabin.
“Carson,” Rocky said to the new fellow.
Carson held up his hands to show they were empty. “I’m real sorry about all that. We didn’t know Brock was going to start shooting. He’s been here for days and never gave a clue he would come unhinged like he did.”
“Rocky said that guy was with TKM, right? Why do you think he was shooting at us?” Grace was unwilling to reveal she’d had run-ins with the mining company a few times in the past.
The mountain guy answered while he pulled at his long beard. “As soon as we saw park service trucks stop at the roundabout, he called in on his radio like he normally does. His company is doing some recovery work up in the burn zone and they apparently like to know who’s down here. Anyway, he stayed on the radio until you talked to Rocky for a while. I think he was sending video back using his cell phone, too. We heard a man talking on the other end, but then a woman came on. She said you two were to be shot on sight.” Carson pointed at her and Asher.
“We tried to talk him out of it, especially because Rocky was already downrange and talking peaceably with you. He seemed to agree, which is when the rest of us let our guard down. Once he started shooting, it took us some time to…take him out.”
“You shot him?” Rocky asked with surprise.
“He shot us,” the man answered, finally looking over to Rocky. “He shot at your brother—he’s fine—but he killed Mr. Finch. We had to shoot the bastard before he killed us all. Funny thing is, he had this tucked inside his shirt…” He held up a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills.
“Dang,” Rocky exclaimed. “How much do you think that is?”
Grace knew what the money was for. “He was supposed to pay you guys for your service here at the roadblock. TKM is shoving this kind of money at people all across the area. However, it looks like he planned on keeping most of it for himself.”
“He bought you off with beer,” Asher added, relaying what Rocky had mentioned earlier.
“I’m going to check on my bro.” Rocky jogged off, toward the roadblock.
“I’m so sorry you lost a man,” she said, truly meaning it.
Carson slung his rifle. “We’ll move the trucks and let y
ou through. We didn’t want none of this trouble. Brock said we were protecting people from wandering into the dangerous burn zone. I guess he lied.”
She offered a bit of what she knew. “There is trouble up there, but not how you think. TKM is doing all this so they can steal the ore from the asteroid which caused all the destruction around here. They tried to do the same thing in Denver.”
Carson seemed skeptical. “Denver, huh? We heard there was a big accident there.”
She chuckled. “Is that what they’re calling it? We were there. It was more like a war. TKM killed a bunch of people so they could escape with dump trucks of rock.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Yep. And that’s what’s going to happen here if we don’t do something about it.” She pointed back to the rangers, taking a moment to wave at Candy, who waved back. “They’re coming with me to see how we can help. I know you’ve been working with TKM, but we need all the help we can get.” She didn’t think they could be too happy with the company who’d shot up their friends.
Carson scratched under his chin, as if the beard was bothering him. “I don’t know about them others, but I’ve got nothing else going on. The fire took out my home. I’m living out of my truck. I guess I could help you, especially if there’s more money to be had.” He held up the wad of cash.
“Do you know the way up there?” She pointed behind the parked trucks blocking the road. She already had her ranger guide who knew the way, but it was a convenient excuse to give Carson a role.
“Sure. I live about ten miles in.”
Grace nodded. “We’ll line up the convoy and let you lead the way.”
“I’ll be ready,” Carson said, heading back toward his men.
When he was gone, she spoke quietly. “I have to admit I’m getting worried about all these people. I mean, watching over you was one thing…”
Asher jumped right in. “I gave you a few gray hairs, didn’t I?”
She was horrified to think about having gray hair at her age, but she tried not to let him see her fear. “Yeah, and if I have to manage twenty other Ashers, my whole head is going to turn white.”
Asher got serious. “No one is like me.”
She squinted, searching for the sarcasm. When he saw her processing in her brain, he let her off the hook. “I can be honest about it. I mean these people know which end of a gun to point at the bad guys. These rangers don’t trip over their own feet. That guy Carson looks like he could build his own wooden fort. Unlike me, you aren’t going to have any trouble at all with them.”
She smiled, thankful for the dose of reality, but her phone meowed a few seconds later. It was a number she didn’t recognize, though that was standard these days. “Hello?”
A man spoke. “Hello, Grace Anderson. A friend gave me this number when he heard you were spotted in Hoback Junction.”
She put her hand over the mic. “Holy shit! Someone knows we’re here!”
“Who?” he asked.
Grace shrugged. “Some guy.”
“Well, find out,” he insisted.
“Who is this? Are you with TKM?” They were the only people who could possibly have the resources to track her.
“I can’t say who this is. My position is too delicate to risk telling you. However, I am willing to admit I do work for TKM, but don’t hang up because of it. I’m here to help you link up with your friends.”
“And how do you know who my friends are?”
The man coughed. “I’ve got access to TKM’s surveillance reports. I’m looking at one right now. It says you engaged with TKM leadership in some town called Rawlins. Oh, and you killed the husband of a Nerio Torres. That put a nice target on your back.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, not liking the implication.
“I’m saying you need a friend on the inside. I have my reasons for helping, but don’t bother asking who I am. You can either listen to me or not. I’ll tell you we dispatched a surveillance drone to your location. I take it our operative at the roadblock is dead?”
“Does it matter?” she shot back.
“Not at all. As long as he’s gone, the way is clear for you to approach the Anticline dig site from the north. You should know, however, your friends have arranged passage over the mountains to the east. I believe they are part of the Crow Nation. I think the Wind River tribe is with them as well.”
“Shawn Runs Hard?” Grace said without thinking.
“Is that his name? He and his friends are going to come out near the town of Boulder. Perhaps I can make contact to warn them, though the mountains make it almost impossible to communicate via the cell network.”
“Warn them about what?” she said with frustration. The man was dangling information in front of her, but not explaining the context.
The guy paused for a few seconds. “They’re walking into a trap.”
Anticline Natural Gas Field, WY
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Ezra said slowly. “But we should back off this bridge to find some cover.”
Christian seemed to think it over. “If you get up, it will make you a target. Look at some of these other idiots.” He motioned to the blue shirts on the jagged bank of the stream. Every so often one would hop up and run back for the trucks. They’d get shot at, and often struck, by the enemy shooters. “Besides, do you hear that?”
Ezra strained to listen. There was a guttural thumping sound on the wind, like…
Christian answered himself. “A helicopter is inbound. Do you think we would travel ten feet in this desolate country without air cover?”
He had to hand it to the TKM organization. They came to play.
The shooting continued for a few more seconds until those men down the creek realized an aircraft was lurking above. When the shooting stopped, Christian pointed. “There they are!” He looked down his rifle’s scope, carefully aiming at two men far down the waterway.
Ezra looked toward the men too, wishing there were some way he could help them. He quickly deduced, however, any assistance on his part would immediately be met with hostility, possibly death. He couldn’t fight his way out of the group of fifty men already wary about being picked off from afar, but he did have one card to play.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!” he shouted at an obnoxious level of volume. Butch and Haley hopped off the ground, as he did, and they backtracked toward the truck.
Christian was startled. He looked up from his scope, then to Ezra. “Damn. You’re not military, are you?”
“No,” Ezra replied before Butch could answer. “Look, sorry about that. I hope you don’t go all Russian on me. We’re only dumb miners who hate getting shot at.” He was proud at how he’d distracted the man enough to stop him from shooting.
“Bah,” the man replied.
After their exchange, Christian again looked into the scope. “Crap. They’re going into some rocks. I’ll never pick them off at this range, but I don’t think they’ve got an ice cream cone’s chance in hell of escaping.”
A muted-green-colored military helicopter roared over their heads, going directly for the shooters downstream. Ezra rooted for them yet recognized there was no chance the men could get away. They did have some cover from ground-based shooters while among the rocks of the stream, but they had no protection from above. The rest of the land was so flat, they’d never be able to shield themselves from the aircraft. It was the reverse of what had been happening to Christian’s men.
The military chopper hovered for a few seconds, then the pair of guys clearly put up their hands in surrender. However, the person in the cargo area of the aircraft opened up on them with a machine gun. The incoming fire kicked up waterspouts as rounds fell around the two guys. The staccato rhythm of death drifted in on the wind a couple of seconds later.
“Turned ’em to paste,” Christian bragged.
“That was horrible,” Haley murmured.
The leader wasn’t the least disturbed by what happened. “Yea
h. It was. Serves the bastards right.”
Christian finally got to his feet. He looked briefly at Ezra, then strode around to his driver’s door. Before he got in, he admired the helicopter looping wide around his convoy.
“This is nuts,” Haley said as she got next to him.
He nodded. “We only have to stay alive until we can get out of here.”
“I have an idea, E-Z,” Butch said, also sidling beside him.
“Whatchya got?” he drawled.
Butch spoke quietly. “When we get in the truck, but before he starts us moving, we off this Christian guy, then we drive this entire convoy into the opposite direction. Before they realize their leader is toast, we’ll peel off and leave them behind.”
He blinked with surprise. “This might be the greatest plan I ever heard…but there is a problem with it.”
“Yeah?” Butch challenged.
After establishing where the helicopter had gone, he motioned for Butch to look there. “No matter how brilliant the plan is, we won’t be able to outrun that thing. Once they know we’re killers, they’d be on us like stink on a diaper.” He shuddered thinking about the dumpster filled with diapers.
The big guy tried to rally. “There has to be somewhere we can hide. We can’t go with these maniacs into battle against people who are supposed to be our allies.”
Ezra sighed in despair. They’d been victims of circumstance since the sun came up. He was anxious to take his fate back into his own hands. But he was right about the helicopter.
It wasn’t yet time to fight back.
Chapter 12
Hwy 191, WY
Grace called her rangers together at the roundabout. A few of the men from the roadblock came over, too, though they stayed toward the rear. She figured there was still some mutual wariness after the shooting incident.
“Thanks for sticking around. I know you heard me explain the dangerous things I’ve seen over the past week, but I can tell by the looks on your faces you never believed all of them could be true.” She waited for acknowledgment. Candy smiled at her, lending support, so she could go on. “This roadblock sums up what we’re fighting against. TKM uses lies and deception to get what they want. The man who shot at us tricked the rest of these folks into guarding this highway. I’m sure we’ll find more like him when we go over the pass and into the next valley. The head guy himself is over there, no doubt planning a suitable reception for anyone who might call him out on his bullshit.”
Impact | Book 6 | Dig Page 9