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“If they were reasonable, sure. However, these are not reasonable people. They’ve lived up on the mountain for over sixty years. They have their own set of laws and their own values. None of which are our laws or values.”
“What does it hurt to try?”
“It gives them the power to say no. It makes them think they have the upper hand. I know you’re new to town, but these animals don’t think the way we do.”
“So, you won’t help me?”
“No, Mr. Vickers, I won’t help you.”
The call ended and Tate was more irritated than he’d been before. By the time he arrived at the construction site, he was in a mood. A dark mood.
He stalked into the construction trailer and noted Aidyn wasn’t around. He poured a cup of coffee and as he lifted it to his lips, the sharp odor of construction coffee, as they’d coined it, made his stomach lurch.
Setting the cup aside, he pulled his phone out and called Aidyn.
“Hey, are you back?”
“Yeah. Where are you?”
“I’m out back where we saw those BRR kids the other day. Come on back here so I can show you what I’ve found.”
Tate stalked out the door and strode across the construction site. Workers were in the basement of the main building working. Some waved as he passed, others were hauling or working and didn’t notice him.
He found Aidyn near the fence, kicking at the ground.
“What have you found?”
Aidyn pointed up to the tree on the outside of the fence.
“If you look up there, you’ll see wires.” He walked a few steps to the fence where it had been cut then re-hooked together.
“Right here is where they entered the grounds.” He moved a few feet over to the pipe they’d broken, which had since been repaired.
“So we figured out they’d patched into the base’s power; here’s where they did it.”
Tate looked at the ground where Aidyn pointed with his toe. “They patched into the power not by cutting the wires—that was a distraction. They ran a wire through a separate pipe.”
Aidyn dug with his fingers. The loose dirt moved easily as he uncovered a smaller white PVC pipe laid in the ground. He pushed the dirt away from the end of it and fully exposed the pipe with wires protruding from it.
“We saw that smaller pipe yesterday when we assessed the damage. That skinny guy helping the electrician told me it was nothing connected to the BRR damage.” Aidyn looked him in the eye. “What do you make of that?”
Tate looked toward the basement where the workers assembled. “I think we have someone who either doesn’t know what he’s doing or is involved with the BRR.”
“That’s what I thought at first too.” He walked down the fence line a few feet. He squeezed between the fence and the storage containers which were being lined up along the fence to secure the area. “Then I saw this.” He bent and tugged on a wire laying in the brush, partially covered with leaves and weeds. “This wire is connected to the large generator that supplies the base. I think they’ve patched in, just in case they lose power from their own worm.”
“Well, I hate to give them credit, but that’s fucking clever.”
“It sure is.”
“So, why fuck with the town’s power? Why mess with the local businesses?”
Aidyn shrugged. “I only have theories. They’re mad at businesses for not trading with them, number one. A second is they’re testing the power scramblers and whether it interrupts their power. And third. And this is far-reaching, but they just like keeping the townies on their toes. A sort of terrorism, never knowing what or when something will happen.”
Tate nodded. “Then why Lara? When I took her in today, there was a note on her register that said, ‘Fuck You’. They’d come in through the front door by picking the lock.”
Aidyn straightened his shoulders. “There’s still something fishy with Keaton and the BRR. Kent is obviously mad at Keaton and targeting Lara. It’s more than Lara deciding not to trade with them. There are other businesses that have refused to trade with them who haven’t been targeted.”
“Or, my theory is Kent is Keaton’s son.”
