She again sighed as she worried about any of them getting hurt by this war.So she didn’t respond to what he just said.Instead, she wanted them to win and so she tried to give them more ammunition to fight with.“I think he’ll wait for night to fall so he has more cover.Darkness hides monsters like him and his sons,” she whispered.“My dad and brothers like to work in the dark where they think no one will look for them.He also likes to distract from the actual plan he’s got running in his head.”Daisy paused then added, “I noticed you have a lot of trees around your compound.So if he can’t get in in any other way...look for someone to start a fire there.It's been dry in Texas for a while now.He might think if he can distract you long enough he’ll be able to sneak someone inside to rescue Digger.He’ll think your guys will run outside to fight the fire and leave the front door wide open.”
Torin swung her up into his arms and he boldly left the room.
Patch and Callum followed him.
When they came to the main room Pope looked up from the computer screen.“What’s going on?”he asked.
“Daisy just told us her dad might start a fire in the woods around us,” Torin explained to his father.“Hoping to distract us.At least enough for one of them to slip in and try to find her brother.Then end her before she can get the information to anyone who could try to stop them.”
Pope snapped his gaze over to stare at her.“Is this something he’s done before?The fire I mean?”
Daisy nodded.“Yeah, he’s done that and much worse.There was a farm house too close to his compound.He asked the farmer if he would sell the farm to him but the farmer didn’t want to sell.That wasn’t what my dad wanted to hear but the farmer stood his ground.About three weeks later my dad had his fields set on fire and when the farmer came running my dad shot him.The farmer went down and the fire took his farm.Three people died that day, the farmer, his wife and his two year old son.They all burned up in the fire while my dad, my brothers and the whole crew just stood there watching it.Two months later dad bought the farm from the bank.He expanded the club and no one said a word.”
Pope glanced at Torin then at Callum.He took a deep breath and replied, “ Yeah, I’ve met his kind before.Greedy and ruthless.Right now, we’re under a burn ban.It's really dry out there and it would be the perfect time for a fire.”Then he looked at Daisy.“Too bad we know something he doesn’t.”
“What does that mean?”Daisy frowned.
“We just happened to pick this place for more than one reason,” Pope told her.“I’ve got two brothers of my own and we grew up around this area.Before my brothers decided to branch out and start their own clubs, we turned this place around.We built it up and we made provisions for every scenario we could think of.One of the features around here was an underground lake.Not very many people know about it but my brother Cardinal found it thirty years ago. This being Texas and all we built a reservoir around it and we’ve protected it since then.When we need to we take some of the water off the reservoir and we feed it into the ground to keep the ground from cracking.When it gets dry the ground around here can crack about three inches wide.We also keep the floor of the forest clean so if it does catch fire it won’t burn out of control.”He shook his head.“But hey, now it’s getting dry again so maybe we should let the water run.What do you say boys?”he gazed all around.
Everyone had a grin on their face as they all gave him a nod.
Pope looked over at Callum and said, “It might be time to let the water run again.”
Callum nodded then left the main room.
Pope chuckled.
Daisy kept staring at him in confusion.
“You see, there’s a basin of above ground water sitting on top of the hill right behind the woods there.If we need to, we can use that against any intruders as well.”
“Will that flood the compound too?”she asked.
Pope shrugged.“It might yeah but we also have an underground safe room, if we ever need it.Most houses here have basements for a reason.Like for tornadoes and such.But we know trouble comes when you least expect it and we wanted to be careful.So when we built this place, we put it in an underground room.We’ve never had to use it before but your daddy is just not sane.I’d rather not waste a life on bat shit crazy, thank you very much.”
Daisy just stared at him, still unsure about safety.
“We got more people coming to deal with them, so we’ll have the numbers.”He reached out and patted her hand.“Don’t worry, the clubhouse is far enough away from all sides that if they start shooting at us, we can defend ourselves with minimal risk.”
Daisy nodded.“I did notice the clubhouse sits to the back of the property.”
Pope nodded.“Yeah, and that was also done with a purpose behind it.And even if they do set the woods on fire we have plenty of options before it burns.”
Daisy nodded.“Its too bad you can’t just drown them all.The world would never miss any of them.I wish they would just...”
Pope paused at her reply.He glanced at Torin who just shook his head.
Fox looked up from his computer and announced, “Ok, water is running from underground.”He stared at Pope and asked, “You want it wide open?”
Pope shook his head.“Nah...Just get it up enough to soak the ground.We don’t know for sure what they’re gonna do and if we get it too wet, that might end up working against us.Besides, we don't want to give them too many options before they actually do anything.If she’s right, it's gonna be a long day.We need to keep our heads on straight and start thinking like them.Come up with a plan to beat them at their games.”
Daisy scoffed.“I hope youneverhave to think like them.But just think of the worst case scenario and times it by ten.My father and brothers have nothing to lose and everything to gain or so they think.And from what I hear, Satan and his band of merry men are even worse than they are. That’s why I want nothing to do with any of them.”
Pope nodded.“I can’t blame you for that, but this is our home and we will defend it from the likes of them.We don’t run from trouble honey and if your family comes here looking for that...they will find it.But we have home advantage and nobody outside these walls knows what kind of protection we do have.That’s an advantage I won’t give up.You just wait until my brothers get here, you’ll see what I mean.”
Daisy nodded.“Well I hope they can get here safely then.My father might have people watching the roads, looking for others who come in.”
Pope just smiled at her concerns.“Where there’s a will there’s a way, little girl.And my brothers know the way.He looked around the room at every face there.“And we got the will to protect what’s ours.”
