Black Market Merchant

Chapter 202: A Completed Pathway
As the trio on the dam watched the seemingly normal couple leave, Dan had a puzzled looked on his face. “Were we supposed to overhear all that? Smuggling is a shady business to be involved in.”

Lisa gave a passive glance at him before looking back at the Mad Dogs loading the barge. “Its fine. I am not exactly trying to hide what I plan on doing. In fact, you’ll probably see or hear me do a lot of sketchy stuff.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Dan said lowering his gaze.

Lisa gaze drifted over to watch Mr. and Mrs. Ulster leaving the dam’s perimeter and head towards the docks. She then asked Dan a question. “Then how would you feel about getting a job of your own from me? A legitimate one.”

Dan looked up at her puzzled. “A job? What do you mean?”

“Well, Bell oversees the perimeter and ladies here. Zane is busy with training the other men to fight, and his own tasks that I’ve already given him. Then Sadie and Eva are overseeing the storage units clearing, and even Hector has the task of getting this place’s pluming fixed.” Lisa answered before looking at him. “Wouldn’t you want to have something like that to do, instead of following me around all day?”

“I guess.” Dan said. “That depends on what it is though. I don’t have any particularly useful skills that I can think of.”

“Can you do basic math’s, write neatly, and carry stuff around?” Lisa asked and Dan nodded slowly in reply. “Alright then, I want you to oversee all my inventory and the supplies that we will collect over time.”

“Huh? Are you sure you want me to oversee something important as that?” Dan remarked. “Shouldn’t someone with skills similar, like Miss Sadie or Bell, do that?”

“They are possibly skilled in that aspect, but they will not be suitable for the job.” Lisa said shaking her head. “Those two already have their hands full and I have other plans for them. As for the other ladies or men here, they all have ties to others outside of this place, but you and Kayla have no such ties. That make you more likely to stay working for me without distractions and that’s something I need right now; a man of focus.”

“I-is that so?” Dan said scratching the back of his head.

“Come on, lets head back to the locker rooms and check on the water. The gangsters don’t seem to be doing much more than what we see.” Lisa said to the two of them before turning to leave the dam wall. “Once we are done checking the water, I’ll show you what needs doing, Dan, and then you can give me an answer.”

When they returned to the locker rooms, they were pleased to see that the rust brown waters had turned clear, yet the nasty smell remain, if only faintly. The smell wasn’t going to be an issue in the long run. Hector assured that the pipes were just old, and it would take some time for the smell to leech out into the water. He also stated that for now it would be ok to shower or use the toilets but drinking the water might not be a good idea. The amount of rust that was likely to be still loose and floating in the water could be dangerous.

“How long do you think it might take for the rust to leave the pipes?” Lisa asked as they left the locker rooms. They also decided to let the water keep running and speed up the process.

“Maybe a week?” Hector said giving a shrug. “Perhaps longer. Those pipes are undoubtedly old and replacing them would be the best thing to do. However, …”

“What is it?” Lisa asked.

Hector had trailed of and was now looking all around him at the walls and flooring. After a few moments, Hector replied.

“If I had to guess, you would probably spend a fortune on replacing the pipes for the facilities here. I was just curious how much it might cost to replace the ones in the dam itself.” Hector then pointed towards the entranceway leading to the dam tunnel. “The electricity is produced by water falling down pipes and hitting a turbine, correct? I hope those pipes aren’t leaking or rusting out. I’d assume they might be in bad shape considering they have been exposed to water for so long.”

Lisa raised a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, I hadn’t considered that about the pipes yet. I had been focusing on the generators and transformers mostly. I wonder if the control room has anything to monitor that kind of situation?”

“Perhaps we should go check.” Dan offered. He was feeling a bit left out of the conversation.

“Later.” Lisa replied. “There’s a lot more stuff that needs to be don first. Besides, even if we did discover an issue with the pipes, there is nothing I could do about it now, both financially and physically.”

Just then Bell appeared at the large entrance to the powerhouse building. Lisa saw her and called out, “Is everything alright? The gangsters aren’t coming here, are they?”

Bell looked up at the trio and shook her head. “No, its not the gangsters, but you sure do get a lot of visitors around here. A man and a little girl just showed up at the gate.”

“Oh, that must be John and Hanna. Let them in right away, they have work to do on the other side of the dam.” Lisa called down as she headed for the stairs. Dan and Hector followed in toe.

“I see.” Bell replied. “Zane and Henry told me about them already. I just wanted to be sure.”

“Its good to see you are being cautious. I like that.” Lisa said coming over to her at the entrance. “Now let’s go let them in.”

“Aunt Lisa!” Hanna cheered as she jumped through the gate’s secret entrance and into Lisa’s arms. “I am so excited about today! Let’s hurry to the work site.”

“What is so special about today?” Lisa asked setting the excited girl down.

“Don’t you remember?” Hanna replied cocking her head to one side. “Terisa said that today we would be completing the slope pathway enough to make it passible for people and small carts.”

“Oh, that’s right. I have been so busy lately that I forgot she mentioned that.” Lisa replied nodding thoughtfully.

“I would say you have been busy.” John remarked as he entered the dam grounds. He was looking around at the numerous people moving all about doing their tasks. “Where did all these people suddenly come from and what are you planning on doing with them?”

“I just got them all hired yesterday.” Lisa replied dismissively. “I made a move on the Mad Dogs and thought it would be best to be prepared. It might be best to not come here after today until Martinez is dealt with.”

“You are finally going to take him on?” John said looking back at Lisa. “It’s about time.”

Hanna nodded likewise showing her agreement to his statement. “Y-you are finally going to avenge my parents?”

“Soon, Hanna. It won’t be much longer, so keep your chin up.” Lisa replied patting her on her muddy red hair softly.

“You are going to have to tell me about some more details on the way to the work site. There isn’t a single person I recognize here, and I know a lot of the towns people.” John said crossing his arms.

“Yes, yes. I’ll tell you what I can.” Lisa said turning towards the dam. “But first I need to get a few others to come with us.” Lisa then turned back to the powerhouse building where Dan and Hector were watching them from afar. “Dan, you come with us. I need you see why I’ll need an inventory manager soon. Hector, can you stay here and give me a list of what plumbing needs repairs or replacements?”

“Ok.” The two men replied in unison.

Lisa then turned to where Zane was talking with some of the men about gun and some tactics he had learned from his time in the Black Rats. “Zane, I am going to be needing to take Jacob from you.”

“You got it boss!” Zane shouted back.

“Well, that’s that. We are good to go.” Lisa said turning back to John and Bell. “Bell keep up the good work and let Sadie know that this evening we are going to have one big meal, so have her organize the cooking plans. There’s not much that we have left but it should be enough for today.”

“You got it.” Bell answered with a thumbs up.

Lisa and the four others arrived at the pathway site where Gillian, Terisa and the others were already hard at work. Meanwhile, Lisa had done her best to explain to John how everyone came to be with her at the dam and how it would give her the chance to get Martinez mad enough to fight with her. John seemed concerned but he couldn’t deny that her stunt would work.

“Gillian.” Lisa called out to the big guy that was standing at what looked to be the edge of the cliff. “We came to see how the path was coming along.”

Gillian turned to see the group coming his way and his face spread into a wide grin. “Ah, there you all are, just the people I needed to see. The path is nearing the end and I think it will be most pleasing.”

When the group arrived to stand next to Gillian near the cliffs edge, they found that this area had completely changed. Directly below them was a sandy pathway, as wide as a Mech was, that hugged the cliffs wall and spread out widely one third of the way towards the road beyond. The sand that sloped away from the path was currently being lined, from bottom to top, with large rocks and stones by the ERM crew and two of the Mechs.

“Hanna, your Mech is waiting down at the bottom of the path.” Gillian said pointing in the Mechs direction. “Go ahead and get to it and find Terisa for your instructions.”

“Ok!” Hanna shouted happily as she dashed down the sandy slope for her Mech. John following close behind.

Gillian then spoke to Lisa. “Mr. Hans says that the path will be sturdy enough for use once the rocks are in place. Getting the Mechs down without the rocks being there was not the safest of tasks by far. I though I was going to fall off multiple times when digging off the area for the path. Sand erosion is no joke!”

“Well, it looks great.” Lisa beamed as she patted him soundly on the back. “Now that that is nearly done, I need you to speak with this man here, Jacob. He has somethings to inform you about concerning the Raiders. Meanwhile I will be explaining some stuff to Dan here.”

“Very well.” Gillian said extending a hand to Jacob. “I will see what help I can offer.”

Lisa and Dan started to walk down the pathway and look over the slopes progress in the meantime. Lisa was minutes into her explaining to Dan what kinds of stuff she was going to be needing to take inventory of when someone running, coming from the eastern part of town, caught her attention.

The person running looked like Nathan’s assistant, Anthony. His size was easy to distinguish from most others. Yet before Lisa could wonder why he was running towards them, she heard him shouting.

“The town is under attack! Monsters are inside the town!”