Similar reports were rolling in from Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, and Kentucky. He still kept full control of the more remote dig sites in Wyoming, Nebraska, and western Oklahoma, but pinprick attacks were common, even in those places. To speed things up at the sites near rail lines, he’d tried to up the flow of ore by commandeering every coal hopper in America. There was no genuine need to have them all, but it was all about control. As long as TKM had contracts on them, none of the other companies could use them. Rail companies were more than happy to take his money.
He was interrupted by a knock at his door.
“Who is it?” He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.
“Dorothy.”
Even she didn’t rise to his level at the moment. “I’m sorry, I’ve got—”
“Stricker called me on my phone. He wants to talk to you.” She sounded disgusted. It wasn’t tough to understand her reasons. She’d piqued his interest. He became intrigued as to why the government employee had called her.
“Come in,” he said tiredly.
She strode in and dumped her phone on his desk. “I do not want to talk to that man ever again. I’ve already paid my dues with him. He doesn’t get to keep tormenting me.”
He smiled, certain she was being dramatic in a passive-aggressive manner. Sure, he’d asked her to meet privately with the portly fellow, but they’d been in the conference room. Nothing untoward could have happened.
Petteri picked up the phone. “Mr. Stricker? This is Petteri Tikkanen. How can I be of service?” Though he saw the other man as working for him, he maintained the veneer of civility to keep things smooth between them.
“Ah, very good. She put me through to you. I was very pleased to hear your assistant’s voice, as you know.” The man sounded winded, even on the phone.
“Happy to hear it. What do you want?”
“Oh, my friend, I’ve been following what’s happening around the country with each of your impact sites. The ore is flowing out. Trucks, and now trains, are flowing in. Well, I guess that isn’t true everywhere, is it?”
He clamped his jaw tight. What was the man’s game?
“Anyway, there is one teensy-weensy clause in our contract I’d like to execute. Something Dorothy fought me on tooth and nail, but which I was surprised you left in there after the ink was dry.”
Petteri’s head spun. His usual army of lawyers hadn’t been around to inspect every line of the contract. He’d read it himself, but in the interest of time, he may have cut a few pages off the word count. It was all boring standard text. “Go on.”
“Right. The United States government is entitled to one of the ten biggest pieces of 586001 Tuonela as compensation for the damage done to the nation. I’m sure you would agree the nation has suffered from the accident caused by your asteroid, and I’m sure you would agree for the sake of publicity we can square up the costs involved with this minor inconvenience for TKM.”
He glared at Dorothy. At first, he was angry she’d given him the phone, then he was upset with himself for letting her come in, and finally he was mad at Stricker for getting him over a barrel.
There was also the issue of devaluation. One of the reasons he’d wanted to collect all his ore on the sly was to time its release on the markets. If a hundred companies collected a hundred different rocks worth billions of dollars in gold, it would make gold prices plummet. If he could parse out gold and other rare earth minerals in smaller doses, it would preserve the price point, and his fortune.
If there was one thing the government would fail at doing, it was conservation. Stricker and his people would gobble the minerals and sell them as fast as possible, even if it meant they received pennies on the dollar.
“Mr. Stricker. Don’t you think this discussion would be better as part of further negotiations? Perhaps another visit to discuss how this might work to both our advantages? I’m sure my assistant Dorothy would—”
Dorothy turned and stormed out.
“—be able to help you.”
The man blew his nose on the phone. “As much as I would love to talk with her some more, I’m afraid the president himself has asked this of me. You and I have our, uh, arrangement, but there are some situations where I cannot meet you halfway. This is one of them.”
He had to press the guy to the max. It was uncouth to discuss the elements of blackmail with the participant, but a curt reminder was sometimes unavoidable. “Even if it means those untidy photographs were to get out?”
The line went silent for several seconds.
“Mr. Stricker?”
“Let me see what I can do.” He sounded deflated, which suited Petteri fine.
“That’s what I wanted to hear!”
He slammed the phone, sure he’d made his point.
CHAPTER 7
Sidney, NE
Grace wasn’t sure what to think about her recent choices. Misha’s sudden arrival was fortunate, but their group decision to travel west, rather than toward her dad, caused hours of uncertainty for her. They’d crossed into Wyoming before Misha joined her and Asher on the back end of the rolling flatcar. He sat down and hung his legs off the deck, as they were doing.
“Thank you for giving gun back.” Misha patted his pistol. After much discussion about it, she’d decided it made no
