Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (4 page)

Dan sat down beside her, rubbing her back. “And that is why she can outwork and outrun you guys.”

“Really?” Sonny asked.

Tess shrugged.

Sonny started plucking out his cheese and putting it on the saucer that used to hold the bread.

Frank scooped the cheese up and stuffed it in his mouth.

Sonny grinned at Tess. “Will you teach me to eat healthy?”

She ran off a list of things to avoid. By the time she’d finished, Sonny had a furrowed brow and a decided pout.

Having finished her food, she stood and patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to convert all at once. Just drop white potatoes and potato chips, using yams in their place.”

His smile returned. “I can do that. I like yams.”

She returned to the living room, ran through the names of her hired workers again, then went to bed.

Next morning, Tess sat on a rock waiting for Team Two to arrive. Seven of the guys showed up early. She greeted six of them by name, which did seem to make them grow an inch taller. However, the seventh one she didn’t recognize. Nor were the other guys talking to him. In fact, several of them were watching him with caution. Finally, a guy named Malcolm asked her to come identify a plant for them. He was standing by a fern. Who couldn’t identify a fern? Still, she went over to him.

“Did you put a new guy on the team, because we don’t know the guy staring at the missing road?”

“No. Let me call Sheriff Cobbs,” she whispered.

“Mind if we contain him now? He’s starting to look a little nervous.”

“Okay, but don’t hurt him. He’ll probably sue.”

Instead of approaching the guy directly, the guys spread out as if looking for more plants for her to identify. Thus, when Malcolm moved toward him and the fellow took off, he was tackled in an instant by Greg. Oddly, Malcolm had large, black plastic ties on him and secured the guy’s hands and feet in less than a minute.

Malcolm then searched his pockets, pulling out a switchblade and a gun. “Joe, call the rest of our team and make sure they’re okay.”

Just then Sheriff Cobbs arrived, which was weird because Tess had failed to call him yet.

He went straight to Malcolm, listened to his explanation, bagged the weapons, and picked the guy up by the arm and put him in the trailer of his pickup truck. Using a pair of handcuffs, he attached one side around the fellow’s belt and the other to an iron loop on the truck bed. He then walked over to Tess. “That one’s an imposter.”

She nodded in agreement. “Can you find out what happened to the other four men? I’m worried my father’s behind this.”

“I guarantee it,” Sheriff Cobbs replied. “The boys said you took their pictures yesterday. Any chance you can familiarize yourself with them so this trick can’t work?”

“I did that last night. I knew he wasn’t one of my workers, but evidently so did the other workers, because they handled matters before I could call you.”

He smiled.

“Do all my guys know each other?”

“They do.”

“So this was destined to fail from the start.”

“True, but if someone comes up to you when none of the others are around, I need you to know if he’s a member of the crew or not.”

“Well, I have badges for them, but I’ll keep reviewing the pictures every night just to make sure.”

She passed out the badges for the six there then stared at the four remaining in her hand. She turned to Cobbs. “Any chance they decided the work was too hard?”

“None whatsoever,” he sighed. He glanced at his watch. “You should take these guys up and get to work. If I find the boys alive and able to work, I’ll send them up.”

His ‘if’ almost made her toss her breakfast. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. If I had known I was putting their lives at risk, I wouldn’t have hired anyone. In fact, I should let these guys go, as well.”

“No!” the sheriff snapped, gripping her arm. “That will only teach your father he can control you by hurting other people.”

“Well, the truth is, he can. I can’t let other people be harmed just because my father is angry at me.”

Sheriff Cobbs turned stern and hard. “You have to. Otherwise, he wins and you’ll end up like your mother, being battered nightly until the bastard he marries you to decides he wants a new wife.”

She leaned against a tree. “I will not marry into the mob, but I can’t just let innocents be hurt in my place.”

“What I’m about to tell you cannot be shared with anyone, not even Dan. These men aren’t innocents. They are here to protect you. Benito was scared of Helen. Every time he tried to get the best of her, she’d slam him down. The disposition of this land is a perfect example of that.”

He pulled her chin up, so she was forced to look at him. “Benito has yet to discover what a powerful young woman you’ve become. And I intend to keep you safe until he realizes you are untouchable, just as Helen was.”

His declaration stunned her. “But why…I mean I really appreciate this, but why do you care what happens to me?”

He shrugged. “Does it matter? Your enemy is my enemy. That makes me care very deeply about your well-being.”

She nodded, now understanding. The Campinelli monster had killed his wife and now a new Campinelli monster was growing in power. By saving her, he was weakening her father.

She gripped his hand. “Thank you, yet again. I’ll take these guys up. Can you call me tonight and tell me if you found the other four and if they’re okay?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“And if it’s bad news, do you think you can take it without bursting into tears and revealing the truth to those rangers in your house?”

“If that’s the price for the truth, I can do it.”

His face lightened. “You are so like Helen.” He patted her arm. “Get the boys up now or you’ll be late picking up the next batch.”

They traveled up the road as fast as possible, the guys handling all the plank crossings. When they reached the top, Malcolm asked if he could accompany her back down.

It would mean someone was going to be cramped, but honestly, she appreciated the company. Right this moment, she was terrified. Her father had just proven how far he was willing to go to get his way. He didn’t know these guys weren’t desperate men searching for jobs. He simply didn’t care if he harmed innocents.

God, please don’t let them be dead.

“Something wrong?” Malcolm asked.

“I’m just worried about the four missing men.”

He sighed heavily. “Me, too.”

Thankfully, all ten of Team One showed. She handed out their badges and they hurried to work. She could tell they had already learned of the missing four by their subdued demeanor. Not surprisingly, their hearts weren’t into barrier building today. She didn’t push them to work harder. How could she, when they were here, risking their lives to keep her safe, and they’d just lost four of their friends?

She hated that, but she was also grateful they were here. If her father would kill some poor, low-skilled laborer, he could do the same to Frank, Jack, or Sonny.

Or Dan or Steel.

For her, cutting down a giant white oak tree became almost therapeutic. It transferred her pain and misery into something she could reason away: To protect the mounds, this tree has to go, so the security cameras can do their job.

Once the tree thundered to the ground, the men came closer to marvel at its majesty. Malcolm came up. “If you have additional chainsaws, a few of us could help you cut it from here.”

“You have experience with a chainsaw?”

“Not with downing giant trees. I doubt there’s anyone in the state besides you who could bring down a monster this size with such precision. However, now that it’s down if you tell us where to slice, we’re capable of making a straight cut.”

She waved Andy to her. He ran up smiling…the only one of her crew smiling. “Will you take Malcolm up to the cabin? He can wait outside while you get the two spare cutting helmets, leg guards, and the 24 and 32 chainsaws. Then bring it all down here.”

No challenges from Andy. He just saluted and hurried up the hill with Malcolm following.

A high pierced whistle drew hers and all her workers’ attention. Dan motioned for her to come up. She climbed the hill at top speed and was thus out of breath when she arrived.

“Did you send Andy and one of your workers up to the cabin?”

“Yes. Some of the guys can use a chainsaw.”

He gripped the back of her neck like he wanted to squeeze it until she died. “And now this guy will tell everyone about the true size of the cabin.”

“I’ll ask him not to.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“I trust him.”

“Why?”

She sighed, wishing Sheriff Cobbs hadn’t insisted on secrecy. But she had to tell Dan something. He knew she never trusted anyone without strong cause.

“There was a new guy waiting down at the road. Before I could even challenge his right to be there, Malcolm did so and when he tried to run, Malcolm tackled him and kept him restrained until Sheriff Cobbs arrived. My father clearly sent the guy, and given Malcolm’s intervention, I’m positive he’s not working for my father.”

Dan groaned. “Have you never heard of double agents? They prove themselves loyal by turning in one of their own. Once trusted, they can do incredible damage. In this case, maybe plant a bomb that takes us all out.”

“He’s not going inside the house.”

Dan rapped her head with his knuckles. “Is this thing working today? A bomb on the side of the house will do the job.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” she muttered.

“What does that mean?”

“When I first came here, I was suffering nightmares where my father would break into the house and strangle me. Grams promised me that the house could withstand almost anything.”

“Emphasis on the word ‘almost’.”

She sighed. At least, she’d distracted him from Malcolm. “I think the place is bomb-proof, but I can’t prove it.”

“Well, I’m not willing to bet your life on it.”

“You mean Steel’s life.”

“Either,” he replied and watched the cabin through his binoculars.

***

By the end of the day, the giant white oak was ready for transport. The only question was whether Sam would do the work now…and if she wanted him to. Sam had always hauled out their trees by helicopter, processed them into lumber, and returned them by helicopter. But recently she had reason to suspect her father had turned him, like he had others. If so, she needed to find another way to remove and process trees.

That evening, she called Sam from her bedroom so she wouldn’t have to argue with Steel or Dan about her reasoning, because honestly, her reasoning was very bad. Sam had been a loyal trustworthy person for years. While all evidence indicated he’d flipped and now worked for her father, his years of loyalty still counted. She had to give him a chance to explain himself.

He answered on the first call.

He sounded relieved when he realized it was her. “Tess, did I screw things up by asking for that contract from your boss?”

“Some red flags went up, but I feel I owe you a chance to explain yourself.”

“Damn it! Drenner, my cousin, and my sorry wife played me. First of all, Nancy isn’t dead. She’s staying with the Drenners. Second, the helicopter that went on the market at such a great price was a hoax. My cousin, the banker, called me right after I heard about the great deal, so naturally I asked him if I could get a loan. ‘Absolutely’, he says, ‘only I’ll need a contract from you guys to prove I’ll have income in the future.’ Turns out he was in cahoots with Nancy and Drenner. All they wanted was for me to get a contract so Nancy could get half of it in the divorce.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, wishing this wasn’t just another lie.

“No, I’m the one who needs to apologize. I should have trusted you to handle matters. I should have never tried to push your boss for a contract. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the fellow very well and he was pissed before I even had a clue I was angering him. Can you tell me what I need to do to turn things around? I don’t want a contract. I just want your business. I
need
your business.”

She sighed heavily. He seemed so sincere. “Sam, you have to be honest. Has my father gotten his claws into you?”

“What? No!”

“Then who paid off your $600,000 plus mortgage?”

“My what? Have you seen my house? I’d be lucky to get a hundred grand for it. In fact, the bank wouldn’t even give me a mortgage on the damn thing unless I put thirty thousand in repairs.”

“My boss has a guy who checks stuff out. Until recently, you had a $600,000 mortgage.”

“No, I don’t! I own the house outright. It was my parents’ and they left it to me.”

He seemed really sincere and to be honest, his version made more sense. “Is it possible the bank could have made a mistake?”

“With my cousin there? Absolutely.”

“About that. You said you talked to your cousin right after you got the call about the helicopter sale.”

“Yeah, at the time I thought it a lucky coincidence, but now I know it was planned.”

“Did you call him?”

“No, he called me out of the blue.”

“Are you two close?”

“No. He’s a cousin on my wife’s side.”

“Is it possible he could have made that call from Drenner’s?”

“It’s not only possible, it’s probable.”

“Okay, except for the mortgage thing, I see how this went down. So…are you available to take out a five-footer tomorrow?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Well, it’s trimmed and ready to go. We’re building a fence to keep hikers from scaling the tall hill and falling. When you fly over you’ll see an ugly gap in the forest, the tree will be there.”