Chapter 43 - The Siege from the Fog
Kane wasn't alone.
Flanking him on the narrow steel gantry were three private contractors in black tactical plate, their suppressed carbines leveled directly at our chest level the moment our flashlights breached the mist.
"I have to admit, Miss Rebecca," Kane’s voice echoed smoothly across the cavern, magnified by the stone walls. "Your persistence borders on the miraculous. Most people would have taken the insurance settlement and bought a nice condo in Denver. But you... you drag the whole county into a war you can't possibly win."
Cole immediately stepped in front of me, his rifle raised, his finger steady on the trigger. "Step away from the bridge charges, Kane. The county sheriff is holding Sector Seven. We have the logs. We know about the lithium reserve."
Kane let out a cold, amused chuckle. He casually rested his gloved hand on the transceiver housing. "The logs? My dear boy, do you honestly believe local property records mean anything when the Department of Energy executes a critical mineral defense mandate? The President signed the executive directive forty-eight hours ago. Blackwood Ridge is officially classified as a Strategic Energy Reserve."
"You forged the geotechnical survey," Jason spat, his shotgun aimed at the contractor on the left. "You manipulated the fault line readings to make it look like the mountain was going to collapse naturally!"
"Not forged, Mr. Sterling. Merely... expedited," Kane said calmly. "Nature was going to cause a catastrophic landslide here within the next century anyway. We’re simply accelerating the timeline so American industry can reap the benefits before foreign markets corner the battery supply. Now, put the weapons down. You're interfering with a classified federal stabilization protocol."
"You call blowing up the bedrock stabilization?" I yelled, taking a step forward until I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Cole. "You’re going to drown Hollow Creek in toxic runoff!"
"Collateral damage is factored into every major infrastructure expansion, Rebecca," Kane said, his voice dropping all pretense of bureaucratic courtesy. "The residents of this valley are impoverished loggers and retired miners. In exchange for their evacuation, they’ll receive generous federal vouchers. They should be thanking me."
"They don't want your vouchers," I said through gritted teeth. "They want their home. And I want mine."
Kane’s radio suddenly crackled with static. A frantic, panicked voice broke through the speaker: *“Director! Director Kane! We have a breach at the lower roadblock! The timber haulers... they didn't just park, they breached our perimeter! Three hundred civilians are marching up the service road with media crews! State troopers are refusing to engage! The governor just issued a stand-down order on local television!”*
Kane’s mask of absolute control fractured for the first time. His jaw tightened, his knuckles whitening against his sidearm.
"Frank," Cole muttered with a fierce grin. "He got the news vans past the pass."
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"Kill them," Kane hissed to his mercenaries, dropping behind the steel housing. "Arm the charges now! Detonate the bedrock and bury the whole damn mountain!"
The cavern erupted into deafening gunfire.
