Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (19 page)

His hand caressed her cheek, his eyes full of love. “Anytime.”

She gripped his hand and led him to his bed, sitting on the side. He sat beside her and his arm slid behind her, pulling her closer. “What’s happened?”

“I called Tom to ask him to let me know if Steel tells him about anything I might be considering, but haven’t mentioned yet because I don’t have the facts to make a decision if it’s feasible.”

Dan kissed her temple. “Brilliant.”

“Sean had already told him about the bridge.”

Dan breathed in and sighed. “Sorry to hear that.”

“So in the future when Sean comes, we won’t speak about anything in front of him.”

“Was Tom pissed?”

“No. He said he was waiting for me to bring him the details. He seems to like that I won’t bring things to him before I have the facts.”

“That’s a sign of a good manager of people.”

“I’m very lucky to have him for a boss. Learning that Steel showed our plan around to others was the last straw. Tom wants him fired, but since only I can fire him, he’ll wait not so patiently for me to do so.”

“You still love Steel?” he asked softly.

“No. I don’t think I ever did. Certainly not the real Steel, which I think is what we’ve got now.”

“Then why are you putting up with his shit?”

“Because I feel guilty.”

“Tess, no! Steel refused to leave and he made it very clear that you weren’t the reason. He and I had several long discussions on the dangers he faced. I provided him a profile of Benito that guaranteed the man would come after him. He didn’t care. He honestly believed no one would ever touch a hair on his head. What happened to him was the result of his own arrogance.”

“I should have told you about the workers,” she muttered.

He sighed and pressed his lips to her temple. His action shocked her. She’d expected he resented her lack of trust in this matter.

“It wouldn’t have moved Steel. He’s used to having his own way and has consistently ignored good advice. In fact, if you look at all the negative outcomes in his life, in every one of them he was advised of the dangers in advance.”

“Are you talking about the helicopter incident in the Middle-East?”

“That’s an excellent example. The CIA and the British Intelligence had warned him that the area was rife with insurgents and to attempt entry would be suicidal—advice that he kept from the school and the kids traveling with him.

“Three weeks into their trip, their campsite was raided. The insurgents tied up the men and made them watch as they gang-raped the two women. Then they gathered up all the gear, food, and water and left them there to die.”

Tess was shocked. This was nothing like the story that Steel had told her.

“Their driver returned in the morning and found the men bound and the women unconscious. Steel called the American embassy on the man’s phone and demanded they send him new equipment and better protection at once. They told him he was in a war zone and to get out. Steel told them to fuck off and hung up.”

“Dear God!”

“Fortunately, his students had no intention of staying and called the American Embassy back, begging for rescue. So the driver was given firm orders upon where to take them to await pickup. Steel was furious when he’d learned what they’d done and he promised to ruin all their careers if they didn’t stay. They all believed being alive was more important than staying to work on his site. Given Steel had no food, water, shelter or equipment, he went along as well, condemning his students the entire drive there.”

Steel had made it seem like he was the victim and that the deaths were other people’s fault, which was exactly what he was doing now as well.

“The driver warned everyone to the house, but the girls were in too much pain to be removed from the jeep. So the men ignored the driver and hung around the jeep.”

“Which made it a target for the enemy helicopter,” Tess said.

“Yes. The jeep blew up, killing the girls instantly. The young men ignored Steel who was yelling to hide behind a small fence. Two ran to the house and the other two ran for the hills. They survived. Amazingly, Steel did as well. They found him hiding against the fence with the driver’s body protecting him.”

“That is nothing like Steel’s version.”

“Well, that’s the four students’ version and why Steel was fired at once. And the reason he was fired from his most recent position was because, once again, he withheld the warnings he’d received from the CIA, but this time, they called the head of the university and relayed what had happened the last time Steel took students into a war zone. They fired him and the woman who was responsible for ensuring all university travel locations were properly cleared. He’d evidently convinced her he knew better than the CIA.”

“Was he sleeping with her?”

Dan nodded.

“So the nice Steel doesn’t actually exist? I just made him up?”

Dan stroked her hair. “You didn’t make him up. Around you, he was Prince Charming.”

She recalled the jerk he was at the airport and how he almost refused to get in her car. He’d only changed because he desperately needed the job. And when he realized the valuable mounds, he needed her to do the job he signed up for, so he could do the job he loved.

“You okay?” Dan asked.

“Yes. Everything makes sense now. Except the picture I found on the web of Steel and the kids. He said it was taken right before the helicopter arrived.”

“The picture with them all smiling? That was taken on their arrival, not their departure.”

She released a long sigh. “Well, you’ve cured me of guiltiness.”

He kissed her forehead. “Then my work is done.”

“Ha! Not so fast. I’ve got a very big challenge for you.” She explained her fears about ATVs tearing away the fragile soil on these hills.

He leaned back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She joined him but rolled to her side so she watched him rather than the ceiling.

“The CIA has an electromagnetic pulse gun that can knock out a car’s electrical system. Not sure if it’ll work on an ATV. Any chance we can buy a used ATV and sacrifice it to a test?”

“Let me call Tom and ask.” She crawled to the other side of the bed and picked up his phone.

Tom picked up at once. “I was just about to call you. Steel just alerted me to your—and I quote—‘deranged plan of a suspension bridge’. So I took you at your word and fired him.”

She opened her mouth to object. He had said only she could fire him. But on second thought, she had no reason to complain. He’d just done her a favor.

“Thank you. You did it in my name I hope.”

“I did.”

She then told him about Dan’s idea. “We need an old ATV to test it on.”

“Well, how about this. If you’d like to meet me at Harpers Ferry in an hour, we can test it on real live ATVs. They tear that place up every night.”

She relayed the message to Dan.

“I have to get the equipment first. Can we do it this weekend?”

Tom had evidently heard him. “Even better. I look forward to this experiment. I would dearly love to stop them in their tracks, because legally, we can take possession of any ATV caught in a state park. We’ve just never been able to catch them.”

He then chuckled. “Tell Dan he is by far the best security head of any park I’ve ever seen.”

She hung up and relayed the compliment with a kiss. “You are the best security head Tom’s ever had and my very best friend.” She wished it could be more than that.

He smiled up at her, his dark eyes sparkling.

His happiness gave her the courage to kiss him again. This time, she nibbled his bottom lip. His arms slid around her back and the next instant, he’d rolled them over so he was on top.

Liking the change in both position and intimacy, she grinned. He kissed her, his tongue delving and conquering her. She learned from him and gave as good as she got.

Or not. A moment later, he pushed off and disappeared into the bathroom.

She sat up and stared at the bathroom door, both wishing and fearing he’d come out. A part of her, the shamed and humiliated part, wanted to leave. No, damn it! She loved him, and she was positive he loved her. She opened the bathroom door.

Dan leaned forward over the sink, his strong arms bracing him. He was breathing hard as if he’d just run a marathon.

“Dan, please talk to me and tell me what I did wrong?”

Her plea seemed to snap him out of his anguish. He stood and pulled her into his arms.

“I’ve never kissed like that before. That was a French kiss, right? I was trying to follow your lead. If you’ll tell me what I did wrong, I promise not to do it anymore.” She pressed her head against his chest. “God, I hate being so stupid and pathetic!”

“Stop,” he said and relaxed his tight grip, so he could step back and look into her eyes. “You did nothing wrong.”

She sighed, disappointed he wasn’t going to tell her the truth. She tried to leave, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“Tess, that was the most passionate, toe-curling kiss I’ve ever had.”

“Then what happened?”

“I was mere seconds from losing my mind and making love to you.”

“I wanted you to. I love you, and this time, I’m sure it’s the real thing.”

“I’m leaving in October,” he reminded her.

She stared up at him. “Then why are we wasting time? I love you and I’ll miss you terribly when you leave, but I understand you have to return to what your heart wants to do. I would never ask you to do otherwise. But while you’re here, why can’t I experience love with a man who truly loves me?”

He stared at her and shook his head. “If there’s a good answer to that, it’s escaping me.” He leaned down and kissed her. It started out gentle but soon turned to hungry and conquering. She was trying to lead him slowly back to his bed, but he lost patience and lifted her up and carried her to his bed. There, he removed her clothes while he showered her with kisses.

A half-hour later, he still tortured her with teasing pleasure. She ached for something. She finally pushed him back and glared at him. “Dan, I don’t know exactly what you are supposed to do, but whatever it is, you need to do it now. I’m about to lose my mind!”

He laughed with such warmth and happiness, that she lost all the angst and laughed with him.

“Sorry, I got carried away with how easily I can make your body sing with foreplay.”

She covered his face with butterfly kisses. “You’re forgiven. Now get the job done!”

“Yes’um boss.”

Tess woke in Dan’s arms. She glanced at her watch and squeaked. When she tried to crawl over him and off the bed, his hands tightened like a snare.

“I’m late! I’ve got to get the guys up.”

“They left the house about an hour ago.”

“Left? Why?” she panicked. Had the fact she and Dan made love made them all quit?

He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I believe they plan to supervise gravel laying and begin using all bramble from the road to make barriers wherever there is a potential entry point from the road.”

“How did they know to do that? I hadn’t spoken to Malcolm yet.”

“When you didn’t wake to cook breakfast, he went looking for you. He first tried your room and then mine.”

She remembered how angry the guys from Harpers Ferry had been at Steel when they thought something was going on. “Oh. How’d he take it?”

Dan kissed her nose. “He seemed quite happy for us.”

“Are you sure this happened?  Because I’m normally a very light sleeper.”

“True, but normally you don’t spend half the night learning all the ins and outs of making love.”

She chuckled and nipped his chest. “You are a very good teacher. Do you have anymore lessons?”

His eyes rounded at her question. “I do, and you’ll have to be retested every night to ensure you remember your previous lessons.”

She squirmed against him. “Can you teach me more now?”

He grimaced. “Sadly, I need to shower before I go pick up Silas Mariner.”

“I should take a shower, too.”

“Normally, I’d suggest we take one together, but today, we seriously need to get moving. Tomorrow, if we get up earlier, I can show you the pleasures that can be found in a shower.”

***

By the time Tess showered and dressed, Dan had already left to pick up Mr. Mariner. She pondered why any parent would name their kid a name guaranteed to get them tortured at school. Sometimes, parents could be horrible.

She sighed with relief at the thought Benito was not her parent. Uncle Jeffrey had been a jerk, but at least not a murdering psycho jerk.

Tess was just about to leave when the light came on, alerting her someone had just driven up. She rushed upstairs to meet the bridge man.

Only it wasn’t a man and Dan wasn’t anywhere to be seen. A young woman around twenty, with glasses and black hair pulled in a ponytail was standing in the parking area, gazing at the very tall white oaks.

Tess stepped off the porch and approached her. “Can I help you?”

“Those are white oaks,” she stated, “in fabulous condition.”

“Thank you. I’m Tess, by the way.” She held out her hand.

The girl had a firm, strong grip. “Alice. I’m here to interview for a position with Dr. Castile.”

Tess grimaced. Damn it, she’d forgotten about the kids. Not that she could have called and canceled the appointments because Steel had never given her a list of names and phone numbers.

Worse yet, she liked this girl. “Dr. Castile was recently injured and last night he made the decision to return to England.”

A more crestfallen face Tess had never seen. “However, we will be hiring a new archeologist very soon and as his boss, I am doing first interviews so he only needs to meet the best of the lot.”

Alice was smiling again. “Tess…Tess Campbell. The first female Forest Manager ever in the state of Iowa? I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you meant
that
Tess when you introduced yourself. I thought you’d be a whole lot older.”

Yes, she liked this girl.

“Are you interested in Forest Management?”

“I’m double majoring in Archeology and Forest Management. My father declares them both worthless majors.”

“Fathers don’t always know best. Let me show you around the park while we have our interview.”

They had barely taken two steps out the back when Alice admired her path down the hill. “This is much better than the procedure Dr. Collins describes in his book. Why wasn’t I taught this?” She then looked up. “May I tell my professors about this technique?”

“There will be a great deal you cannot speak of about your visit today, but this you can share.”

She took Alice first to the meadows, handed her binoculars, and asked her to look around and tell her what she saw. The girl promptly listed a great deal of wildlife and fauna.

When her binoculars moved to the cliff, however, there was dead silence. After two minutes, Tess spoke. “Alice, you need to think out loud.”

“I think I must be in bed dreaming this interview because I’m looking at a narrow trail with…can we get closer?”

“Absolutely. So tell me what you think you see.”

“I’d rather first get closer,” she said.

Tess liked the fact Alice resisted being pressured into giving a response before she had the facts. As they walked up the ridge trail, she stopped and studied the woods where the village had been. “May I return to this place later?”

“Of course.”

Satisfied, the girl went to the section of the wall that showed the tool markings. “This trail was made by humans,” she declared.

“Settlers?” Tess asked.

“No.” She turned to Tess. “The cut markings look very much like pictures I’ve seen associated with Paleo-Indians. And that section I asked if I could return to…that might be where their village was.”

Tess smiled. “It is.”

“Wow!”

“And that has to remain a secret.”

“No wonder you put that giant fence around this place! No one has ever found a village site before. I so want to work here!”

When she showed Alice the mounds, instead of declaring them fake, Alice knelt between them, exactly where her grams had laid and taken her last breath. After a moment, Alice looked up at Tess. “These are much smaller and better defined than Harpers Ferry’s. I’m thinking the ones at Harpers Ferry were mimics of these by less skilled artisans. And while they couldn’t make them as nice, they had more space to make them giant. I gather you’ve already carbon dated them or you wouldn’t have them so well protected.”

“Yes, and they precede Harpers Ferry.”

“Have they been GPR’d? Given their size, they might be the burial sites of some great leader and his female.”

Tess smiled. “There are two skeletons, one placed like the bear and the other with hands over the head.”

“The latter would be the female,” she said. She stood and stared at the stand within the fence. “What’s that?”

Tess shared her plans for the archeological site. “In fact, I see the man I need to talk to about putting a suspension bridge to the platform.”

“That is so cool…and it keeps people from messing up the site. Oh, please put me through to the next round!”

Tess laughed. “You are definitely through to the next round. I’ll have one of my staff lead you back to the cabin.”

“Seriously, if I can’t find my way directly back to my car, you should write me off.”

Tess got her contact material and gave her hers. “Please send me a copy of your resume.”

“I already sent one to Dr. Castile.”

“Yes, well he failed to leave them when he left.”

“You’ll have it within the hour,” she promised.

Tess called Ben over. “Alice wants to prove she can find her way back to her car. Could you just shadow her to make sure she can?”

Ben nodded and headed after the girl.

Tess walked up to Dan and Mr. Mariner, who studied the six-foot diameter tree.

Dan introduced them and said, “Silas is concerned a tree this large may die soon.”

“That’s actually a good issue. I’m guessing it’s got about fifty years left.”

“I’ve been putting up suspension bridges for fifty years, and when I get a call to redo a bridge someone else put up, it’s either because the wooden bridge is rotting, a tree used to hold it has fallen over, or some tree nearby has taken the walking bridge out.” He sighed as he stared at the magnificent tree.

“Shame really. It seems born to have one attached to it. That arm is in perfect position to secure the suspension bridge.”

“And how would you secure it?” she asked.

“I won’t. I stopped attaching bridges to real trees thirty years ago.” He pulled off his backpack and pulled out a two-inch thick strand of cable and a gray plastic board plus steel clamps. “My preference is to attach to a steel beam placed next to the tree. We’d loop the cable around the beam and secure both cables with these clamps. When installed correctly, this will last 500 years.”

He looked back at the tree. “But if I attached to that tree when the tree goes, these cables won’t break. So the tree will pull down your lovely platform on the other side.”

Malcolm stepped up. “Actually, the platform will remain, but the deck out the back will snap off.”

Tess introduced her grounds crew chief.

“So what would you suggest?” she asked Silas.

“Cut down that tree and build a platform with steel girders.”

Tess shook her head. “We only use white oak lumber; it doesn’t rot.”

He smiled. “Dan said you wouldn’t go for steel girders.”

“Or cutting down this tree,” Dan added.

“Oh that, no. There’s no need to cut the tree down. We can build a platform further uphill,” Tess assured him.

“But what happens when the tree falls?” Silas asked.

“It will fall downhill.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Trees don’t die overnight. I’ll have a ten-year warning before this guy falls. In this case, I won’t wait. I’ll bring it down myself at the first signs of dying and it will go precisely where I want it to fall.”

“But you agree that the platform will in no way be attached to the tree?”

“Yes, that will last a hundred years, which will make those above me happier since it will never be their problem.”

Silas chuckled. “Well, a hundred years is in my tolerance level as well. When I began this business, I allowed people to deviate and use trees for their bases. I don’t anymore, so thank you for agreeing to this change.”

“Can we use white oak for the planks?” she asked. “I’m not keen about plastic.”

“Not if you choose me to install. These planks never rot, never break, and attach properly to my cables. In addition, their rough top surface prevents people from slipping on rainy days. If you incur sleet or snow, someone may slip, but they will not fall over the sides.”

He presented pictures of the siding, also plastic. “I can see you hate the panel, but they are teen-proof. Kids cannot break these no matter how hard they kick and push at them.”

Tess frowned.
What the hell was she opening her woods to? Wild gorillas?

He placed a wire netting in her hand. “This is used from the top of the panel over the top cables and down the other side. It will not tear or cut unless they bring serious cable cutters.”

Dan rubbed her back. “You’ll have security on both ends. They aren’t cutting or kicking your bridge,” he promised.

Silas frowned. “They don’t do it during the day. How do you plan to stop them at night?”

“By proofing it against human squirrels,” Dan replied. “We can build a gated circular ramp around the big tree and then attach it to the platform using a drawbridge that can be pulled up at night. Before they have any shot of getting around those impediments, security would arrive and arrest them.”

“How will security know?” Silas asked.

“Full night and day vision cameras for twenty-four-hour surveillance.”

The man smiled. “Doubt my other customers could afford that.” He then pulled out color chips. “These are the colors that the plastic can come in. I recommend gray for the floor panels. Otherwise, they just look dirty all the time.”

Tess found a color chip the color of naturally aged white oak. “This would be good for the side panels.”

He nodded. “So let me make some measurements.”

Fifteen minutes later, he returned to Dan and Tess. “Okay then, here is my estimate.” He held it out, not sure which to hand it to.

Tess nodded to Dan. He looked at the price, frowned, and handed it to Tess.

“Two hundred and eighty thousand. That’s more than I expected,” she admitted.

“That’s insured for fifty years. If anyone is hurt by my work, you are fully covered by a well-known national company. So when you get cheaper quotes for lesser quality products, call your insurance company and get a quote, then multiply it by fifty years and your eyes will pop out. To be honest, while people love suspension bridges, insurance companies don’t. And the only reason I can offer this is that no one has ever been hurt on any of my bridges. For example, my bridges are hung by six strands. Two up, four down. Let’s say one of the bottom strands break.” He picked up the plastic floorboard. “Besides the main cables that run through each panel, two thinner safety cables connect to the top cable. Thus, even if both bottom cables broke, people walking across probably won’t even notice.”