Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (2 page)

“When you get a chance, you should thank Tom. Did Dan leave with the guys?” Steel asked.

“Not unless they dragged my cold, dead body off,” Dan replied from the hall to upstairs. He looked at Tess. “I removed all the mics in the cabins as you requested.”

“Thank you,” Tess said. “If my father wishes to declare war, then so be it.”

The next day, Tess drove down the back side of the hill to La Motte. With the use of planks, she made it across most of the washed out sections of the road. She stopped at the giant hole that had unquestionably been eaten by large ground-moving equipment. Three hundred feet of the road was missing, stripped even of the large base rocks.

No way in hell a flash flood did that. If water had been responsible for lifting the one-ton rocks, then the trees beyond the road would have been ripped out as well. No…this required a crane and a large quantity of load-trucks to carry the rocks away, which had to cost a bloody fortune. Definitely, her father’s doing.

She trekked through the woods next to the giant pit and returned to the road on the other side. Someone, probably the sheriff, had placed a series of roadblocks warning the public of the road closure.

Beyond the roadblock, her favorite hardworking teenager, Andy, waited. He had borrowed a hay truck. She had thought he was going to take her to the guys, but the
back
of the vehicle was stuffed with men in their twenties and early thirties.

Upon seeing her, Andy jumped from the cab and ran to her. “I know you wanted me to take you to the potential workers, but over a thousand people showed up. Sheriff Cobbs selected these and sent the rest home. I really can’t stop the sheriff…”

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and hugged him. “This is a much better plan. Glad you didn’t argue with him.”

Andy chuckled. “I’m not stupid.” He then straightened and faced her. “Nor weak. I’d like to apply for this job, too.”

“It’s hard, miserable work,” she warned him.

That warning didn’t faze him. “I need the money.”

“But Grams…oh shit. I haven’t filed Grams’ will.” She was about to tell Andy that Grams had left him money so he could go to college, but Tess refrained in case her father had managed to file a fake will, or claim there wasn’t a will.

“Andy, I have a more important job for you to do, but consider yourself hired.”

***

Tess climbed onto the back of the hay truck. Twenty men stared at her.

“I’m Tess. Anyone who has doubts about taking orders from a woman should stay on the truck. The rest of you, follow me.”

To her surprise, they all got off the truck. “Due to the missing road, you’ll have to make this hike every day. You will be paid to hike up this hill. However, if you can’t keep up with me, then you don’t have the stamina this job needs, so I’ll have to let you go. If along the way you realize that you can’t or don’t want to do this trek every day, return to the truck.”

Again, no one quit.

She headed through the woods and not one person whined about snakes or chiggers.

When they got to the other side and her SUV, she turned to the group. “Now clearly, my vehicle can’t take you all at once. So we’ll do this in two trips. Those who aren’t on the first trip today will be first tomorrow. I’m going to split you into two teams. Those in Team Two will need to keep walking up this road. I’ll return as fast as I can and pick you up. Anyone who doesn’t want to do this everyday can head on down and wait in the hay truck for a ride back to La Motte.

She smiled when no one left. “I’m beginning to like you guys.” Using her cab as a temporary employment office, she had each man sit in the passenger seat and provide her his name, social security number, and home address, which she typed into her computer. Then she took their picture with her phone.

Once finished, she alphabetized the men and called off the first ten. They climbed into the SUV and she returned uphill as fast as she could. When she came to the first washout, she pointed to three guys to assist. They were so quick to learn that next time, she added another guy to the group and stayed in the vehicle, which sped up matters. When she got to the cabin, she led the men on a trail around the house and sent them down into the woods that Steel had given her responsibility to turn into a State Park. “Stop at the bottom of this hill and rest on the wooden platform.”

She and Andy entered her home. First, she called the sheriff. “Thank you for picking me such good workers,” she said.

“You are most welcome,” his deep, soft voice replied.

“I have a question since you are so good at reading people. Do you know a good lawyer close by?” She then explained her worry about the will and her plan to have Andy file it.

“I don’t think Andy should get between you and your father. Send the boy down with the will and I’ll get it filed within the hour. And if your father has filed an earlier or fake version, I’ll find you a lawyer.”

She breathed out in relief. She’d lost count of all the times Sheriff Cobbs had recently helped her out. “You have got to be the nicest man in the whole world. Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

She hung up and turned to Andy. “I’ve good news and bad.”

His body stiffened as if ready to take a blow. “Give me the bad first.”

“You lost your cushy job. Sheriff Cobbs is going to do it.”

“Do I still have an un-cushy job?”

“Yes, and it will pay $40 an hour. You are my crew chief.”

He smiled. “All right!”

“So carry my chainsaw down the hill and wait with the guys and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“You’ll go faster if I go with you and help with the planks.”

She ruffled his hair. “Way to go, crew chief. Already adding value. Let’s go.”

***

The wiry old sheriff, wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt, leaned against his ancient pickup truck. He probably had a thousand other things that he needed to do. She hated making the sheriff wait, so she ran through the woods as fast as she could.

When she handed Sheriff Cobbs the will, she grimaced. “Would you mind if I hug you? Because you really deserve a hug.”

He chuckled. “Then by all means.”

After a sincere hug, she hurried back to the SUV filled with all the guys they had picked up on the way down. She felt bad she’d made them walk for nothing. Yet, not one of them complained.

Once they arrived at the cabin and climbed out of the SUV, she congratulated them on their good attitudes. “The reason I drove all the way down was I had to give the sheriff a really important document that I’d forgotten about. Still, I didn’t hear a single gripe from any of you. For that, I’m adding a bonus of thirty dollars for everyone in this group. Keep up the good attitude.”

She sent the boys down the hill with Andy while she grabbed her climbing gear and chainsaw.

When she caught up to them, they all offered to carry her equipment. “I’m good,” she said and jogged past them, finding their pace too slow.

Soon the whole group was jogging down the hill. Once they had a moment to catch their breath, she introduced Andy as their crew chief and then led them to the section of the wooden barrier that she’d already built.

“This is what you’ll be doing. I’ll cut down limbs and you’ll continue building this barrier. What’s really important is that while I’m cutting, you remain safely out of the fall zone. If you ignore that rule, I’ll fire you.” She focused on the frowning men. “I know that seems extreme, but
no one is dying in my park.
Now study how I’ve built the barrier. I’ll want yours to be just the same.”

She then spoke to Andy. “I’m really bad at this. All these guys should have safety hats and leather gloves.” She handed him her credit card. “Could you take the truck back down and purchase twenty-one hats and gloves?”

“Yes ma’am,” he said and headed off at a run. Tess climbed the next tree by the perimeter then checked that her men were safely behind the barrier inspecting its construction before she dropped the first limb.

The explosion of the one-foot-wide branch hitting the ground brought a few of the men towards her, but she waved them back. She was pleased they stayed back the whole hour she severed large limbs from the two hundred-year-old oaks. Between cuts, she heard an odd clacking noise and climbed down to see what was causing it.

It was helmets flying down the zip-line and smacking the growing line of stopped helmets.

Andy followed down on the trail with a grain bag hung over his back, looking a bit like a skinny Santa in training. He whistled and waved the guys over. Soon they were grabbing gloves and a helmet.

Once properly geared, she led them to the giant tree branches and cut the branches down to more manageable size.

As it neared noon, she realized her guys had nothing to eat. She sent Andy up to the house to get four large jars of peanut butter, four loaves of bread, and five gallons of water.

She assigned a few of the guys to catch the flying sacks as they flew down the zip-line. Then she called her men to the platform. “I realized that none of you brought your lunch today. So I hope you like peanut butter on whole wheat and water. Starting tomorrow, you should bring your lunch in a metal lunch box or a backpack. No paper bags. Little critters
will
steal your food.”

Several chuckled at that.

As they ate, she checked their work. For the most part, she was pleased, except for one section, which would have to be torn down and rebuilt. When the guys had their half-hour of rest, she called them to the barrier and showed them the flawed section. “Even a child could go over this.” She went up and over it with ease. Everyone insisted they hadn’t done it.

“I’m not asking who did it. This is a day of learning. And hopefully, you all see why this is a bad idea.”

They all nodded.

“Great, now for the bad news. Everything beyond this point has to be taken apart and rebuilt. Otherwise, you’ll have a weak point here.”

She expected to hear groans and a few curses, but they just nodded.

“All right then. Tear it down and do it right.”

She figured she was hours ahead of them in cutting, so she climbed up to the mounds. Dan stood at the top, watching her crew. “You want to know who botched your fence?”

“Not unless they do it again.”

“I didn’t realize you planned to hire half the town,” he grumbled.

“According to Andy, over a thousand people showed, but Sheriff Cobbs selected these and sent the rest home. And so far, I like their attitudes.”

“He did, did he? Probably rejected anyone with any connection to your father.”

“And with bad work ethics. These guys are really great.”

“It’s their first day,” Frank warned from the bear mound. “They all sparkle on day one.”

She was sorry to hear that, but Frank had far more experience with workers than she did. These were her first.

“Who did you send into the cabin?” Dan asked.

“Andy…he’s rock solid. He’s the one who normally delivers our food.”

“Where’d you get the hard hats?”

“I sent Andy back down the hill. I’ve no idea where he got them. You just have to tell him what you need and he’ll find it.”

Dan watched her workers through his binoculars. “The guy who botched your fence is doing it right now.”

She patted Dan’s arm. “Glad to hear it.” She walked over to Steel. “I failed to prepare your lunches this morning. What would you like? And don’t say peanut butter; we’re out.”

Steel remained focused on the meter he was using. “Don’t worry about us. I want to work straight through today.”

His brusqueness kind of hurt her feelings. “Okay. I’ll head back down and check out my barrier.”

Frank, Jack, and Sonny called out goodbye, but Steel was so absorbed, she doubted he knew she was leaving. As she passed Dan, he patted her back. “Keep up the great work, Tiger.”

Dan’s words cheered her up. Her team was making great progress.

By the time she called an end to the work, they had created a barrier over a half a mile long with a six-foot opening for the trail going up to the mound. That would have to be protected with a gate.

She led her team back to the platform. “You guys did a great job today. I’m very pleased. We’ll always end by four so you can get off this hill while it’s still light. However, starting tomorrow, I need the team going up first to be at the road by six and the next team by six thirty. That means Team Two, tomorrow you’ll be there at six and get off at three-thirty. Team One, you’ll come at six-thirty and get off at four. Any questions?”

“When do we get paid?” someone asked.

Damn! She had no idea.

“I’m hoping to get the paperwork processed tomorrow and have you guys paid at the end of the week, but this is a state-run program, so I don’t actually know if that is possible. However, I understand you are all here because you need money, so rest assured I will have a confirmed answer to that question by tomorrow.”

She expected some griping about her ‘no answer’ response, but they said nothing.

When they reached the SUV, she suggested they leave their helmets on the porch. “Don’t put your gloves inside your helmet. Squirrels will steal them for nest linings.”

She opened a trunk on the porch, pleased to find room for the gloves. “Put them in here.”

“Can we take them home?” someone asked.