We considered postponing it, but the group consensus is to proceed.”
“And?”
“And you’ll come with us. If you follow through on this and still want to be part of Green Rage, then I think you’ll be in for the long haul. More to the point, if you’ve participated in an illegal act, then you have as much to lose as the rest of us-if someone talks to the cops or the Freddies.”
“I understand. Security in shared risk.”
“That’s exactly right. Will you do it?”
Tess never let her eyes break from his. “I will.”
Al rose abruptly and threw his hat onto the ground. “Not again! This is insane!”
“I’ve made my decision,” Rick said.
Al muttered a few words Tess didn’t understand, then stomped off into the forest.
“First, I’ll fill you in,” Rick said. “Then I’ll take you back into town so you can get whatever gear you’ll need to spend the night in the forest. If you have to make some excuses to John, you can do it. At any rate, you need to meet me at Bunyan’s by nine. I’ll pick you up and bring you back out here.”
“Got it,” Tess said, trying to suppress her excitement. “Can you tell me the plan?”
It looked like she’d succeeded. He was going to take her into his confidence.
“Yeah,” Rick said, leaning close to her and lowering his voice. “You’ll need to know. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Chapter 14
They placed tess in the middle of the chain of four, with Maureen and Rick in front of her and Al behind her. She preferred to think it was so they could make sure she didn’t get lost. But she suspected that at least part of it was that they still simply didn’t trust her.
It was the dead of night, well after three A.M. She was reminded how forbidding the forest could be at this time of night. Every other step she tripped over something she couldn’t see and felt something brush against her she couldn’t identify. A voice deep inside her told her to run, to flee, to get the hell out of Dodge. But she had to fight her panic down, to suppress those natural instincts.
This was a test. They were trying to determine whether she had what it took to be part of their group. She couldn’t fail the test, not if she hoped to become a member and get the inside scoop she needed to crack the murder. She had to persevere.
“We wait here,” Rick whispered. They hunkered down in a grove of trees on the crest of a small hill. Maureen and Al both sat, propping themselves against large tree trunks. They at least seemed to know what they were doing.
“Where are we?” Tess asked timidly.
“Near Northwest 14,” Rick said. He pointed toward a large section of tall trees on the opposite side of the clearing-NW14, on the surveyors’ maps.
“I thought we were going to spike the trees,” Tess said. “It’s already after three.”
“We wait,” Rick said firmly, and he rested himself on a large rock beside Maureen.
Tess didn’t understand, but she saw no point in arguing. She found a soft spot in a pile of leaves, sat down, and waited.
It was more than half an hour later when Rick rose to his feet, brushing the dirt off the back of his jeans. “I think that’s long enough.”
Tess was startled by the sound of his voice. There had been no conversation during the waiting period-for security reasons, she assumed. And given the lateness of the hour and the length of time she’d been hiking, she had all but fallen asleep.
Tess pushed herself up, wiping her eyes. “Mind telling me what’s going on? You told me we were going to spike trees. Said we would start around three. Wasn’t that the plan?”
“That’s what we told you,” Rick said. “But that wasn’t the plan.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Maureen said gently. “But we had to be sure we could trust you.”
“So you
“We gave you false information about our plans,” Al explained. “Then we took you back to town and made sure you had a chance to report, if that was your intent.”
“You thought I was working for the cops?”
“Or worse, the Cabal.” Maureen laid her hand gently on Tess’s shoulder. “You have to understand-we know the Cabal has tried to infiltrate our group. And we feel certain they’ll try again. We had to be cautious.”
“So you fed me false information.”
Rick nodded. “And then we came out here, near the place where we told you we would spike, and waited. There’s really only one practical way into Northwest 14, and I could watch it perfectly from here. If there had been any cops or loggers or Cabal thugs coming to catch us in the act, I would’ve seen them.”
Tess’s lips parted. “You laid a trap.”
“Correction. I waited to see if there was a trap. There wasn’t. You didn’t talk.”
“I could’ve told you I wouldn’t.” She frowned. “But I guess you had to see it for yourselves. You had to be cautious.”
“But no longer,” Maureen said. “You’ve passed this test, and there won’t be any more. You’re a member of Green Rage now.” She squeezed Tess’s shoulder affectionately. “Welcome to the club.”
“Swell,” Tess said. “Do I get the secret decoder ring now?”
They laughed.
“Even better,” Al said. “You get to be a real-life terrorist.”
Maureen slapped his shoulder. “Stop that. You’re worse than the press. We are not terrorists.”
“I’m not interested in semantic games,” Al said. “We blow things up for political reasons. You choose your own label.”
“So,” Tess asked, “are we going to spike those trees now?”
“Nah,” Rick answered. “That was never on the agenda. Those trees in Northwest 14 aren’t old growth, and besides, we spike only before clear-cutting begins, when there’s still time to back the loggers off. No, we have a different plan. We need to walk a little more.”
“Not as much as before, I hope,” Tess said.
“Just about ten minutes.”
Tess followed Rick as he led them on another hike through the dense dark forestland. When he finally stopped, she could see they had reached the site of an ongoing logging operation. Fallen trees lined the perimeter. Heavy machinery dotted the landscape.
“I thought the current logging was taking place south of here,” Tess said. “Near the river.”
“It’s supposed to be,” Rick said. “These are old-growth trees, four and five hundred years old. The trees lining the perimeter have been marked by the Freddies with a blue X-that means do not cut.”
“So why is all this equipment out here?”
“Why do you think? They’re cutting the trees, anyway-even though it’s against the law and contrary to their own press-release BS. Al found out about it last night while he was scouting. It’s a renegade operation. They send a small team out here while the main team stays where they’re supposed to be. Acting as cover.”
“But why? When they have the other trees?”
“Because they want them all,” Al answered.
“It’s more than that,” Maureen added. “When loggers work the smaller trees, they may have to cut all day before they make their quota. When they work these huge old-growth trees, one tree alone may be sufficient to fill a huge eighteen-wheel transport truck. They get more done in less time. Which translates to higher profits.”
“You should call the police,” Tess said. “Or maybe the Forest Service.”
“We’ve tried that route before,” Al said. “By the time any of those so-called officials take action, this forest will be leveled. The logging company will be fined-maybe-and perhaps reprimanded. But they won’t care, because
