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Ryder slowed to a stop, positioning the ATV's headlamp to illuminate the odd scene.
Leaving the ancient ATV idling, its engine humming in the background, Ryder swung his leg over the weathered seat and stood on the uneven ground. The morning dew clung to the tall, dead stalks and licked against his pantalets, dampening them.
Kneeling in the grass, he pulled off a glove and touched the cold metal where the bars bulged. He slid his fingers down into the grass that looked like it had been carefully arranged to hide the breach.
His fingers found the off-center cut, the jagged ridges toward the inside of the property, while the outside of the bars were more smooth.
He bent closer to examine the cuts. A hacksaw or a reciprocating saw definitely made them. A reciprocating saw would be faster, but would be loud. If it was a manual hacksaw, it would be a testament to the effort someone had put into breaching the fence. The worn ridges told a story of determination and patience.
He dug through the grass, finding a few metal shavings at the base of the bars on the other side of the fence.
He leaned back to look at it as a whole.
They had cut the bars from the outside, pushed in to allow someone entrance, then pushed back to hide it.
As he examined the damage, a mixture of frustration and concern welled up within Ryder.
The breach wasn't a mere act of vandalism; it was a deliberate attempt to gain unauthorized access to the property. The weight of responsibility pressed upon him, reminding him of his role in safeguarding the security of Cavendish and its clients.
He stood up and pulled out his phone. Someone had gone to great lengths to compromise the perimeter, and he didn’t think it was kids fucking around.
He took several photos from every angle, capturing the evidence of the tampering. Then he stood closer to capture the details—the ridges, the bends, the damaged edges. He sent them to his metalworking buddy to see if there was anything peculiar about his own determination.
Then he texted Nita.
Is there a maintenance shed that might have welding equipment? he asked.
After a moment, she replied.
The stables at the manor might have something like that. But honestly, every property has different equipment. I’m not sure if our inventory list of that is up to date after all this time. Why?she replied.
He filled her in on what he found, and she called him immediately.
“Are you serious? Another breach?” she asked, frustration in her voice.
“There’s been others?”
“Ever since the sorority sisters took over, there’s been randomly cut bars,” she replied.
He thought about the shaving in the wet grass, free from any rust.
“This was done recently. I don’t want to freak you out, but whoever did it might have left, or might still be on the property,” he said, and another thought came to him. “Are you at the testing place alone, or is the facilitator with you?”
“Fontana’s here. Hang on,” she said, and he heard her mumble to someone else. Then a high-pitched voice replied, and Nita got back on the phone. “She said everything looked normal to her when she got here.”
“That’s exactly what someone would want you to think,” he replied. “I’m going to have to skip watching the testing and run a full check, starting with where you are and working out from there. Nobody else should be on the property right now, should they?”
“Not for another hour,” she replied. “They’ll all have passes and you should be able to access security swipes back on the computer in the apartment. This is going to screw up my practice tonight, isn’t it?”
“I’ll do my best to make sure everything’s secure and all your testing gets done, but it might mess with your plans, yeah,” he said.
“Ah, fuck my life,” she groaned, making him laugh.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” he said, and ended the call.
Getting on the ATV and turning the key, he cast a last glance at the cut bars, the weight of the situation sucking all the humor out of him. He made a note to track down equipment to make the fix, wondering if acetylene torches might be anywhere on the property.
He turned the ATV in a wide circle and mentally determined the quickest way to the testing facility. Fifty acres was a fuck-ton of property to secure on his own. But if someone was still set on sabotaging the company, the testing facility and the bio-haptics suits would be the most likely target. That’s where the most financial damage could be inflicted, either by vandalism or theft.
