CHAPTER SIX
“What the fuck?” muttered Chief staring at the flattened crops.
Running toward the team was the group that had stayed at Pat’s farm. Trevon and Rachel stared at the flattened ground, frowning, feeling the pain felt by Ernie and Tara.
“We have nothing now,” said Tara. “We’ve got nothing.”
“You’re wrong,” said Chief. “The document you signed had a disaster clause in it. Should the farm be hit by natural disasters, floods, fires, tornadoes, hail, anything, we pay for the replanting of the crops if the season is right. If it’s not, we pay fair price for what would have been harvested.”
“You can’t be serious,” said Ernie.
“Fucking dead serious,” said Chief. “Sorry, ma’am.” She laughed, hugging the big man and stepping back.
“You can curse all you like,” she smiled.
“It’s not too late to plant something else,” said Trevon. “We’ll spend today trying to figure out what happened to this section.”
“What do you mean, this section?” asked Pat staring at them.
“They only got the sections furthest from house. The other crops are okay for now but these, well, these look as if they were rolled over by a steamroller.”
“Or a pavement roller,” frowned Bone. “Like something they would use in construction.”
“What are we going to do?” sniffed Tara.
“It’s not too late to plant different crops,” said Trevon. “This section of corn is gone but the other sections are good. We’ll plant something new. For now, we’ll tear up this section today, examine the soil and the crop itself, and plant tomorrow.”
“Today? I’m not sure we can get that done today,” said Ernie.
“Trust me,” smirked Trevon. “We’re going to get it done.”
“He’s right,” said Chief. “I need you to gather your neighbors. We’ve got to meet. Christian? Call for back up. It’s time to set up some perimeters that they won’t breach.”
To Pat and Ernie, it felt as though they were at war. In fact, they knew they were at war but these men were totally in charge of the fight. Two hours later, after speaking to all of their neighbors and getting the thumbs up, fifty more men showed up, laying the foundations of what would be the most fierce security defenses ever laid out for a farming community.
By seven p.m., unseen electrical fencing was in place, cameras on every tree, fence post, sign post, or road signage were placed to trap the culprits. The field of corn was now bare and new crops were being readied to plant the next day.
At eight p.m., the entire team left the farms and headed into town for another town meeting. As they filtered through the door, all eyes turned to see a massive crowd of faces they didn’t recognize. Other than the farmers, no one knew who they were.
“Uh, gentlemen, this is a town hall for towns folk only,” said Mayor Carter.
“They’re with us,” said Ernie proudly. The mayor nodded, turning to look at Grant and Morgan.
“Well, we know that when we left you all last time you were still considering our proposal,” smiled Theo Grant.
“We weren’t considering anything,” said Pat. “We told you. Our land isn’t for sale. We’re not leaving.”
“Well, it seems you all have some problems,” smirked June Morgan. “I heard that some strange anomaly happened at Ernie’s farm. The crops were flattened by something.” She tried to frown but the smirk at the corner of her mouth gave her away.
“It’s not a problem,” said Ernie. “We’ve already cleared the field and readied for a new crop.”
“A new crop?” frowned Morgan. “How can you do that when you owe the bank money.”
“Actually,” said Chief standing to address the room, “no one owes the bank money. No one. Our company has invested in all of the farms. They are under our protection and even if they wanted to sell, you’d have to go through us.”
“That’s not legal!” yelled June.
“I’m afraid it is,” smirked Georgie coming into the room. “Sorry I’m late boys.”
