Train shrugged. “I don’t know. She was gone when I woke up fifteen minutes ago.”
Cash got out of bed, going to take a shower. He had wanted to make sure she was okay when she woke up; he was deathly afraid of what the harsh light of day might have her feeling. She hadn’t wanted to talk about last Friday night, had avoided him most of the week. If that had frightened her, last night would have her leaving town.
His stomach was clenched in fear at the thought of losing her. Dammit, he should have thought of that last night before letting Train join in. Train, of all his biker brothers, was the most caring of the women, and he had noticed Rachel’s eyes on him when he had been with the other women. Cash thought her gift allowed her to sense the pain hidden inside Train.#p#分页标题#e#
He had thought… Hell, he had fucked up. If he lost her now, he didn’t know what to do.
The numerous phone calls and pleas he had received from women now came back to haunt him. Rachel’s indecision over her feelings and the terror of possibly losing her made him want to call her and settle it. Only the need to see for himself made him wait the few minutes it would take to reach Mag’s house.
He was almost to the front door of the clubhouse when the phone rang.
“Yeah?”
“This Cash?”
“Yes. Who’s this?” He didn’t recognize the feminine voice on the other end of the line.
“Connie. You gave me a hundred to call if I heard anything.”
“I remember who you are. Got any news for me?”
“They came in last night. A couple of them hit the bottle pretty hard and started mouthing off that everyone would know who they were after today. Kind of creeped me out, you know?”
“Anything else?” Cash questioned, going back inside the house to find Viper.
“They kept talking about Molly’s Valley.”
“Molly’s Valley?”
“Yes. That’s all I heard.”
“Thanks. I’ll drop some more money off for the info,” Cash promised before hanging up.
Why would Scorpion be interested in Molly’s Valley? It was on the other side of Jamestown, close to where Lily had gone to college.
Cash called Viper, filling him in during the short time it took Viper to walk to the kitchen.
“Why in the fuck would they be interested in Molly’s Valley? From what I remember, it’s nothing but farmland,” Cash asked Viper.
They quit talking about it when Shade and Lily entered the kitchen. While Lily went for the refrigerator to pour herself some orange juice, Shade drank his coffee, ignoring his wife’s baleful glances.
“What has you two looking so serious?” Shade asked.
“We just got some information that Scorpion might have an interest in Molly’s Valley. It doesn’t make sense to buy property there. There’s no…” Cash tried to watch his words so Lily wouldn’t become alarmed.
“No one can buy property in Molly’s Valley,” Lily stated, sitting down at the table. All three pairs of eyes fixated on her. “Well, they can’t.” She shrugged. “Ask Rachel; she’s the one who wrote a huge paper on it in high school. She wanted to do her paper on the effects of mining on the water, but she was too afraid she would be run out of town.”
“Why can’t anyone buy property in Molly’s Valley?” Cash tried to keep her on track.
“Because it’s a depository for nuclear waste.” The men at the table paled. Lily nodded at their reaction. “I know. It’s frightening what happened. From what I remember from Rachel’s report, there was ground seepage. They have to monitor it forever.”
“Why aren’t there any signs? How didn’t I know this?” Cash asked, surprised something of that scale had been sitting practically in his front yard and he hadn’t had a clue it existed.
“I have no idea.” Lily shrugged. “Like I said, ask Rachel. She got an A on her paper. None of us could hardly understand a word of it, but she gave lists of the companies who stored their waste there. She’s writing her doctoral dissertation on it. She had to get special permission from the state and federal governments to take soil samples. She’s writing about some kind of isotopes.”
“Transuranic?” Cash asked sharply, remembering his chemistry.#p#分页标题#e#
“That’s it!” Lily exclaimed. “I would call her and ask to make sure, but there’s no cell reception there. She went there today to get some samples; her paper is due next week.”
“Holy fuck!” he said, getting out of his chair and running after Viper. “Shade, call Lucky. Tell him everything and to notify Homeland Security.”