Black Market Merchant

Chapter 124: Cleared (2)
Hanna and Clair hurried urgently towards the Powerhouse building along with the other girls following closely behind. They had gotten into a dangerous situation without even realizing how. Seeing the guns and their friends threatened rattled their young minds. All they could think of and do was follow Lisa’s instructions and hope for the best. As for the boys outside, they had no idea what might have happened to them.

It was Hanna that spotted Sadie first. Hanna pointed in Sadie’s direction as she spoke to Clair. ”Look, Sadie is over there! Let’s tell her what happened, get her to hide the others and find that tall older guy.”

”Good idea.” Clair replied seeing Sadie.

Sadie and an exhausted Zane were at this moment doing some exercises in the building’s shade. Zane apparently was asking for another break when the group of girls swarmed the unsuspecting Sadie. They all started talking at once, completely overwhelming Sadie by the sudden barrage of nervous girls. Seeing this, Zane immediately sat down to lean against the wall with a thankful expression.

”Calm down! One at a time please.” Sadie shouted and waving her arms about to calm them. The girls, still anxious, stopped talking altogether though Rachel remained a bit fidgety.

Rachel ignored Sadie’s plea and continued blabbing about what had happened to them. ”There were these gangsters that showed up from nowhere just now outside and they scared us with guns. One of the gangsters pointed theirs at Derick and we thought he was going to shoot! But Lisa came, let us in, and she told us to find you and a tall older guy! Lisa said we need to hide inside somewhere, and you would tell us where to go.”

Hearing all this and still trying to comprehend what exactly was going on, Sadie replied hesitantly. ”Let’s get inside and sit down. You can tell me what happened then.”

”Hanna and I still need to find the tall old guy. Where is he?” Clair asked as the girls were all following Sadie inside.

”Gillian, I think is the one? He’s right over there at the dam.” Sadie said pointing.

The two girls immediately spotted him. He was surely was the eldest looking of the other people chatting around him. They then quickly ran off to speak to him, leaving the other girls in Sadie’s care.

By this point Lisa had already started to come in with the three gangsters and was finishing up pointing out the area. Lisa could see that the girls were at least going in the right direction and only needed to stall for a few moments.

”As you all can see the area is only fortified to keep thieves and unwanted people. Not only for me, and my employees protection, but for theirs as well. Electricity is not something to take overly lightly. I don’t have all the protective gear or solutions to have the area kept safe.” Lisa explained.

”Hmpf, if you say so.” Jackson grumbled. He hadn’t seen anything that might be seen as a threat to the gang so far. There were no armed guards or weapons insight. Also, the number of people here was relatively low. The main issue still remained, the Mover Mechs and the construction company people. Were they really who Lisa said they were?

Jackson didn’t want to wait any longer, ”Let me speak with the leader of the construction group over there. I want to be sure of their intentions and what really might have happened to the Black Rats. After that, you must prove to me that you truly have electricity.”

Lisa let out a sigh. ”Very well. Not sure of what it is you hope to gain from this pointless investigation, but I’ll indulge you.”

As Lisa turned around to lead the way to Gillian, she could see the two young girls speaking with Gillian and the others. Hopefully, everything was being explained properly. Otherwise, Jackson would catch on about the ERM and the Mad Dogs would likely become an unavoidable problem.

…

Gillian was the first to notice the two unknown girls running their direction. He though it odd that Lisa would have children in the area and didn’t quite pin her as a mother either. Yet seeing them running and looking directly at him with expectant expressions, told him that what they had to say was important.

”Hey girls, what’s the hurry?” Gillian called out towards them. The others, Willis, Henry Tayvon, Ava and Wayne, all turned in unison to see whom he was speaking to.

Clair and Hanna nervously slowed down from their running but continued to walk quickly towards them. ”We, uh, were told by Lisa to let you know that you need to pretend to be a construction worker.” Clair answered first while puffing lightly from the panicked run.

”Ya, the Mad Dogs are here, and they are curious about what is going on here.” Hanna replied quickly after Clair.

”Is that so?” Gillian said cautiously looking up and past the girls to see that Lisa was indeed coming their way with three rough looking men. Lisa didn’t have her normal passive happy face either. ”That will be all girls, I’ll take it from here.”

Hanna and Clair nodded and hurriedly started back towards the Powerhouse building. They passed by Lisa and the gangsters, who paid them no attention. Just before the two groups met together, Gillian murmured to the volunteers around him. ”Hey, go ahead and pretend you’re going back to work. I’ll speak to them.”

The others silently agreed and dispersed to go work on something. Gillian stepping forward addressed Lisa. ”So far the first of the Mechs is charging with no issue. I sure am glade to finally have a place to recharge them. Who are these gentlemen you have with you?”

”These are some locals that are looking around. I think they have some questions to ask?” Lisa replied. So far it seemed that Gillian had caught on to the situation.

”Yes, what are you doing with those Mineral Mover Mechs?” Jackson immediately asked. He couldn’t think up anything clever to ask and figured he’d get right to the point.

”I am a construction worker and as a pilot of that Mech I need to make sure it’s charged up for work. Why, is there something the matter?” Gillian asked trying to look innocent.

”I never heard of any construction groups working around this town. Why is there now and apparently on the Black Rats territory?” Jackson continued to ask. ”It seems rather odd that an out of the way area such as this, suddenly has the means or funding to begin rebuilding. Who is funding this?”

”Well, I am just a simple employee, but I assure you we are building a road from the eastern area of town up to this dam. It’s the only area that could connect the two sides by land after all.” Gillian replied casually putting his hands into his pants pockets. ”I only heard of that gang, the Black Rats, from the locals there. The locals say that they rebelled and drove them away and reclaimed the town. My construction company was hired to build for the local government. They seem to be struggling for food and supplies. So, they want to open trade.”

”That doesn’t explain why you took the job, or how they could afford it.” Jackson pressed again. Though his voice now sounded a bit less suspicious. Then thinking to himself he wondered, “Local government? This is the first I’ve heard of any government influence in town. Could the Moab City government be starting to interfere with this town?”

”Some rich humanitarians are funding the job, I assume.” Gillian replied giving a shoulder shrug. ”This town is not all that far away from Moab City, where we are from, and they probably want to look good helping the unfortunate. I am just here to get paid. I don’t care about the details.”

“Is that so.” Jackson replied not sounding fully convinced and then he turned to look at Lisa. ”How did you get this place making electricity and find a way to sell it to them?”

”I found this place not long before I met you.” Lisa replied. ”I offered you a chance to partner up in this, but you turned me down. I just was around the eastern area and heard about the opportunity. The solar cells they had to charge the mechs malfunctioned, and I happened to offer them a solution. Besides, they will be working near the dam anyway.”

Jackson felt perplexed. They did seem to sound legitimate despite the lack of information they gave him. There was some other stuff he felt he needed to ask and follow up on, yet now was not the best time. He had to report this incident to Martinez right away. He already had more than enough information to explain to the Boss. However, he still didn’t do what he was sent here to do in the first place; to find a weakness of Queen’s to exploit.

”Well, I guess that answers my concerns, for now.” Jackson finally answered. ”I also see that you are charging the mech with that power line too. I’ll be keeping any eye on this place though. I still don’t fully trust you, Lisa, or those Mechs being here. If I find one thing out of line, you will have to face the power of the Mad Dogs. I assure you; we will win.”

”Don’t be so hasty now.” Lisa replied calmly. ”We are just simply doing business. I am happy to explain things as they go on around here.”

”That changes nothing.” Jackson replied turning around. ”Come on men, let’s get going. I think we are done here.” The two silent men followed quickly behind Jackson.

”Let me just follow you out.” Lisa replied also following them. She did, however, secretly give Gillian a thumbs up. He replied giving a smug, quick wink.

Lisa waited as the three of them walked through the metal door too lock it behind them. Jackson, however, turned to say one more thing. As he did, he spoke just soft enough that the rest of the gangsters couldn’t overhear them. ”Let us make a wager, Martinez is going to set you up against three opponents and Saul will explain the details later. If you win against the Triplets, I’ll reconsider your offer. Originally, I assumed you wanted power, as in ruling power. Now that I see you really have electricity, it’s possible that I could help make some money. Though it doesn’t seem like it, but this town has potential. The Mad Dogs just haven’t bother to exploited it yet.”

”I’ll take you up on that offer.” Lisa replied with a tad bit of surprise at the sudden turn of his mood. ”However, what if the Triplets beat me? Not that they will. What are your reasons to gain something from this bet?”

”Simple. I get this dam and all the income from it, at your expense.” Jackson said giving a sly smile. ”You already agreed, so no take backs!”

Lisa let out a hardy bit of laughter. ”Very well. That will never get to happen though. I will definitely win.”

After Jackson and the entire gang with him left, Lisa returned to Gillian. ”Well, that was definitely unexpected.”

”It seemed that way.” Gillian replied. ”Good thing those little girls warned me. Otherwise, they would have caught on and we don’t want the ERM put into danger needlessly.”

”That would’ve been bad indeed.” Lisa replied. ”Well, we are in the clear for now. So how about we let the others know everything is alright for now.”

”Sounds good. I was getting tired of standing around anyway.” Gillian replied as the two adults headed for the Powerhouse building.