AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Honey, you know we can’t do that. We have a truce with them.”
“They’ve broken the truce. But look at what they’ve been doing all around town. The base has suffered too.”
Her father glanced at Tate and she turned her head to watch Tate’s reaction. “That’s why we’re here. We plan to secure the installation so they can make progress. They’d like to get back on track.”
“What are you, security guards?”
His cheeks tinted pink, and she changed her mind about how handsome he was. He was stunning.
“Not exactly, but sort of.”
“Well, that makes things clear as mud.”
Tate opened his mouth to say something, but her father interrupted. “I think things will settle down now. They’ll likely know we won’t tolerate them shooting at our citizens. But I have no choice except to leave this up to the town council. They have a town hall meeting scheduled for tomorrow night.”
Tate addressed her father. “Why do you think things have escalated?”
“The mayor has taken a hard line on locals exchanging with them. While some store owners still do, others have refused.” He shrugged. “It’s angered them. Along with the building of Fort Abraham, and the fact that their sixty-year tax deferment on the land isn’t being renewed this year, it’s set them off. Plus, you know how teens are. Those youngsters haven’t been reined in yet.”
Tate looked at her. “When did you first refuse to exchange with them?”
“A month ago. I’ll continue to as well.” She huffed out a breath and rotated her head. A headache was coming on for sure.
“Spencer is right behind me. We’ll get your security system set up today.”
“Really? We didn’t talk about cost.”
“I can eat a lot of cookies.”
“Only cookies? I think that security equipment may be expensive and cookies doesn’t pay for the equipment.”
“I’ll worry about the materials. You bake cookies.”
Chapter5
She was a spitfire. He certainly thought she was pretty too, but man, that spunk.
Her father’s phone rang, and he stepped out the back door.
Tate waited for the door to close. “Why do you think they won’t do anything to those kids?”
She turned to face him, then bit her bottom lip.
“I don’t know. It’s the strangest thing. And it’s been bothering the hell out of me. Last year when they came down, Dad was all hot and bothered about stopping them. He and the sheriff had dozens of meetings with the mayor. Then, one day, it was like a switch flipped.”
“But he said the mayor drew a hard line. It seems like the mayor would just tell them to go up there and arrest them.”
She shook her head. “They’d never do that. It would be an all-out war.”
His brows furrowed. “Weapons were drawn, it appears war has started.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
He looked out the window, which offered him a view of the base of Hickory Hill. “So last year they weren’t as bad as this year?”
“No. That’s when things got weird. The new kid came down. I’d never seen him before. My dad stopped him while he was speeding through town about two months ago. I thought it was about time. But Dad didn’t give him a ticket, and he did nothing else either. And, since then, he’s been quiet about it all.”
Tate chuckled. “Does he have some blackmail on your dad?”
