Donny and Lily arrived on their bikes at the site they’d Googled yesterday ten minutes after she did. It was in the hills above and to the northeast of Colter’s farm. They had started together, but Donny and Lily had quickly fallen behind.
“You’re only allowed to use one leg next time,” Donny said between gulps of air.
“It’s over here.”
Donny and Lily set their mountain bikes up against the same tree she used and followed her to the edge of a cliff. There were plenty of trees and bushes to provide cover for them.
She knelt behind a bush and pointed down. The part of Colter’s farm near where it met the forest and the lower slopes in the northeast were blocked by tree tops, but they had a good view of the approach to the farm, the main compound grounds, Colter’s house, most of the outbuildings and the greenhouses.
“Over there.” Donny pointed out smoke rising to the north. “Looks like a forest fire.”
“That’s at Cottage Country,” she said. “Mom called to let me know she might be late because of it.”
“Did anyone think to bring binoculars or something?” Lily shielded her eyes from the sun. “I can hardly see a thing.”
“Can we get closer?” Donny peaked over the cliff.
“It clears lower down, but then they might see us.”
“We’re just out for a bike ride. There’s nothing suspicious about that. Everyone comes up here.”
“Colter knows who I am. He’ll be suspicious.”
“Suit yourself.”
Lily still shielded her eyes. “At least they don’t look like ants from up here, more like hairless gerbils on steroids if I squint just right. Are you sure we can’t get closer?”
“We can if you want them to see us, too. Remember the message on your computer? Someone on the farm has to know you hacked into their cameras.”
“That was from the other hacker. Whoever it was stole Colter’s tattoo symbol to spoof his true origins. It was just a warning not to mess with his junk.”
“Do you know who the other hacker is?”
“Not directly, but I can look around if you want. I can try to make contact.”
“They could be an ally.”
“Or they could just be an internet cross-dresser looking to slag other basement-dwelling cosplay trolls.”
“It might be too dangerous if both of them are hostile. What if they come after you?”
“It may look like Godzilla versus Bambi, but this Bambi has fangs. I’ll bite those bitches in half.”
“I see trucks coming in.” Donny pointed. “Cement trucks.”
For the next hour, they watched trucks come and go. Eight cement trucks arrived and drove out of sight into the northeast sector of the farm. Donny and Lily got out their phones to record videos of them.
“I don’t think they will be clear enough from this far away to be considered conclusive evidence,” Donny said.
“Conclusive evidence of what?”
Two trucks arrived and unloaded more men.
“Farm labor?” Lily focused her camera on the men coming out of the trucks. “Not to be crude but there isn’t a single BUFF in the group. Statistically speaking, that’s odd, even for farm labor.”
“They’re not farm workers,” Donny said. “They’re all big, fit, white and military looking.”
“What does he need all that cement for? How much is that?”
“Each truck carries eight cubic yards of concrete. With eight trucks that would be sixty-four cubic yards. That could be the floor to a very large barn.”
“What does his farm grow?”
Lily said, “According to the website, they grow tomatoes, cucumbers and various decorative plants in greenhouses. He also grows pumpkins, squash, corn, wheat, alfalfa, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts in his fields. Except for the pumpkin, all the others are new in the last two years.”
“Cabbage and Brussels sprouts,” Donny said. “That clinches it. He is definitely evil.”
She said, “He’s, like, one-half farmer, one-half hunter and one-half militia screwball.”
Lily scowled at her. “You’re not good at fractions, are you?”
“Don’t believe in ‘em.”
“We’re not getting anything from up here. We should go lower.”
“Someone on his farm killed that elk. There has to be evidence somewhere down there, but I overheard mom and Craig talking about damaged veterans working for Colter. Those guys won’t be happy if they spot us trying to get that evidence.”
“No one’s going to see us. Don’t be such a wussy-pussy.”
“Who saved your skinny ass at the mall?”
“I didn’t need your—”
“Shush.” Donny stood up. “Did you hear that?”
She held her breath and listened.
“There it is again.”
“Shh.” Lily closed her eyes and cocked her head.
Amid what sounded like normal chirping and cawing of birds, rustling leaves and the whisper of a gentle breeze, a strange buzzing sound seemed to be swirling around them.
“A hummingbird?” She looked around. There were no flowers in bloom at this altitude that would attract a hummingbird. “Bees?”
“Colter has bees. That’s on his website, too.”
Donny, still standing, looked up. “I don’t think Colter sent a hive of bees after us.” He knelt back down beside them as the buzzing rose up and away. “There’s no more traffic.”
The new men had dispersed. She counted twenty men that were still visible. It was hard to make out what they were doing.
“Uh-oh, I was wrong.” Lily pulled down her phone. “Two of those damaged veterans just looked this way.”
She peaked over the bush. Six men of the twenty were now looking their way.
The strange buzzing noise zipped past overhead and left. The forest went preternaturally silent.
“What—”
Something snorted and growled to their right. What were the odds that Caesar had caught her scent and traipsed up here from the farm to be with her?
“Go, go, go!” She pushed both Lily and Donny to get them turned around and running back to their bikes.
They raced down the trail. Even she had trouble negotiating the twists, turns, logs and sudden drops at the speed she was trying to go. Donny fell once and had to help Lily up at the same spot before they caught up to her where she had stopped to wait for them. At the bottom of the overgrown trail, they emerged onto the gravel parking lot at the edge of Quarrelle Lake. All of them looked back for anything coming after them.
“A bear?” Lily said.
“It sounded more like a mountain lion,” Donny said.
“It wasn’t a mountain lion. We go again tomorrow.”
Donny and Lily looked back along the trail again.
Donny asked, “Don’t you have to work?”
“I’ll figure something out. We’ll find another spot closer next time.” She then said to Lily, “See if you can contact that other hacker. Tell him what we’ve seen and try to find out what he knows about Colter.”
Lily checked one more time for something coming after them. “I have a few cyber-friends I can recruit to help with that.”
Donny said, “I’ll bring dad’s high-def video camera. It has a telephoto lens. If we get anything good, I can post it on my blog.”
She remained at the parking lot to give them a ten minute head start. Her phone rang just after they disappeared around a curve in the road. “What’s happening with the fire?”
“It’s ugly up here, sweetheart. I’m going to be late. How are you doing?”
“Feeling better, I just went for a ride with Donny and Lily. We’re on our way home.”