“Looks like there was a large crowd at the clubhouse last night.”
The front porch had a view of the parking lot where there were row after row of motorcycles lined up, ready to ride when Viper gave the word.
Viper had given his order, and the brothers from Ohio had arrived the day before after the Freedom Riders had beaten up Drake Hall when he had refused to sell a piece of property to them. Viper and Cash both shared the opinion that whatever attack the Freedom Riders had planned was imminent, and Shade agreed.
When it went down, Viper wanted him with the women instead of the brothers, which chaffed at Shade, but he also had to agree he was right. If the Freedom Riders couldn’t be stopped in time, the lives of the women were going to be left in the hands of the man who stayed behind, and Shade didn’t want Lily’s life in anyone’s hands but his.
Viper and Cash were in the kitchen when they opened the back door, but they quit talking when Shade and Lily entered.
Lily went for the refrigerator to pour herself some orange juice while Shade drank his coffee, ignoring his wife’s baleful glances. The woman loved coffee yet hadn’t drunk any since she had found out she was pregnant.
“What has you two looking so serious?” Shade asked.
“We just got some information that Scorpion might have an interest in Molly’s Valley. It doesn’t make sense to buy property there. There’s no…” Cash broke off, watching his words so Lily wouldn’t become alarmed.
“No one can buy property in Molly’s Valley,” Lily stated, sitting down at the table. All three pairs of eyes fixated on her. “Well, they can’t.” She shrugged. “Ask Rachel; she’s the one who wrote a huge paper on it in high school. She wanted to do her paper on the effects of mining on the water, but she was too afraid she would be run out of town.”
“Why can’t anyone buy property in Molly’s Valley?” Cash asked, trying to keep her on track so they could get the information they needed.
“Because it’s a depository for nuclear waste.” As the men at the table paled, Lily nodded. “I know. It’s frightening what happened. From what I remember from Rachel’s report, there was ground seepage. They have to monitor it forever.”
“Why aren’t there any signs? How didn’t I know this?” Cash asked, sounding surprised.
“I have no idea.” Lily shrugged. “Like I said, ask Rachel. She got an A on her paper. None of us could hardly understand a word of it, but she gave lists of the companies who stored their waste there. She’s writing her doctoral dissertation on it. She had to get special permission from the state and federal governments to take soil samples. She’s writing about some kind of isotopes.”
“Transuranic?” Cash asked sharply.
“That’s it!” Lily exclaimed. “I would call her and ask to make sure, but there’s no cell reception there. She went there today to get some samples; her paper is due next week.”
“Holy fuck!” Cash yelled, getting out of his chair to run after Viper. “Shade, call Lucky. Tell him everything and to notify Homeland Security.”
Inside the kitchen, Viper’s commands to the brothers could be heard with the sounds of the men hauling ass to leave.
Shade called Lucky.
“What in the fuck is going on?” Lucky asked. He had taken over the bedroom in the basement. “I’m getting dressed. Why’s Viper—”
Shade cut him off. “You need to call Homeland Security now. Tell them to get to Molly’s Valley ASAP. The Freedom Riders are going there, and Rachel’s there, too.”
“What’s wrong with that? There’s nothing there, and no one even lives there.”
“No one fucking lives there because it’s a nuclear waste dump, and one of the things they dumped there was isotopes.”
Lucky hung up on him before he could say another word.
Lily was staring at him with her eyes wide until the basement door was flung open as Lucky came running through, wearing only his jeans and boots. In one hand, he had his cell phone, which he was yelling into, and in the other hand, he held a T-shirt. He ran through the kitchen, slamming through the door to the front room.
“Is Rachel going to be okay?” Lily’s gaze was still on the door Lucky had gone out.
“Yes, Cash will take care of her.”
Lily nodded, turning back to him and looking stunned.
“What?” Shade asked.
“Pastor Dean has tattoos.”
Shade’s eyes narrowed on her. “He has as many as I do.”
“No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t have any on his neck and hands.”
“He has as many tattoos as I do,” Shade repeated.
“You mean…” Lily’s eyes dropped.
“Exactly.”
*
Shade sat at the kitchen table while the brothers were being patched up by the women. Even his wife was helping out, cleaning a cut on Lucky’s forehead. They were all watching their words, but the atmosphere was gloomy as they talked about the three who had been killed.