"It just seems far away from our research facilities," I told him. "It's an hour and a half by car. It's difficult to collaborate."
"But it has a large amount of land," Liam said.
"The city will let us build it here eventually," Garrett said. "Especially if Hunter stays out of those meetings with Meg."
"It's been years," Greg stated. "And she hasn't let up on him. Just locking him in a closet doesn't mean she won't try and block the project at every turn. It would be simplest and quickest to buy this land and build it there."
We heard what sounded like gunfire coming from outside.
"What if that's Payslee?" I yelled and raced to the window. "She's still loose! She could have kidnapped one of our brothers, and there could be a hostage situation outside."
"You are literally the most useless person," Garrett said, pushing me aside and looking down into the parking lot. He sniffed. "It's just a school bus."
"Did you have a school group coming here?" Liam asked.
I stared at the bus. It was painted a familiar green. "It's Remy."
"And it looks like he brought half the town with him," Archer quipped as the doors jerked open and several senior citizens, including Judge Edna, filed out.
"Are they protesting?" Greg demanded as we hurried downstairs. "This is why I want to put the factory somewhere else. You can't have protests going on during business hours."
"This isn't a protest," Josie called out as she scooted around an older woman with a walker and came up to hug me around the waist. "These are all members of the new Harrogate Trust."
"Trust what?" Archer asked.
Josie laughed. "They want you to put the money you're going to pay them in a trust, so they will sell their land on the block with the five-story brick warehouse building by the old rail spur across from the park."
"Remember?" Adrian asked me. He was still a little gun-shy and looked at me slightly worriedly. "We had thought about buying land downtown for factories and facilities."
"It was too expensive," I countered.
"How does this number sound?" The judge handed me a slip of paper.
I handed it to Greg, and he and Garrett mumbled over it. Garrett nodded, and Greg extended his hand.
"Deal," he said, shaking Judge Edna's hand.
"Wonderful. I'm sure us lawyers can figure this all out." Edna looked between Meg and Hunter.
"And the city is okay with selling your parcels?" I asked Meg. She nodded.
"Why are you helping me, I mean us?" Hunter demanded.
"We can lock him back in a closet if you prefer," Garrett said, scooting between Meg and Hunter.
"Because the trust will be a nonprofit for the benefit of the city," Judge Edna said. "It would also be a nice gesture for your company to make up the difference in the tax write-off you get by paying the money to a nonprofit."
"I think that's perfectly reasonable," Greg said.
I was still a bit shocked that Josie had managed to organize all of this.
"The foundation will obviously be reviewing the design choices. We have a board member who is very particular about design," Edna continued.
"You?" I asked. The judge pointed at Josie.
"I'm not on the board," she exclaimed.
"There are three people with sense in this room," Edna stated. "You, me, and the lieutenant mayor, and no, Ida, I was absolutely not talking about you."
