Page 48 of South of Nowhere (Colter Shaw #5)

48.

Time Elapsed from Initial Collapse: 16 Hours

Lithium.

The new silver, the new gold…

That was what the levee destruction was about. And why Gerard Redding had been so horribly murdered.

In the command post once more, where the team was assembled, Shaw watched Han Tolifson, wearing latex gloves that were a size too large, reviewing the documents that had been recovered from the bombed mine office.

Shaw was explaining to Dorion, TC McGuire and Sergeant Tamara Olsen, “Redding had some new machine that could detect different types of ores below the surface of the earth. He was testing it and he found Hinowah was sitting on top of a bed of lithium.”

Tolifson gestured to the documents in his hand. “This’s paperwork for mineral assays.” He handed them to Starr, who tucked them into an oversize Ziplock bag. The mayor added, “Looks like the deposits are pure enough for electric vehicles.”

McGuire said, “I thought lithium was only found in South America and Africa. Not here.”

Starr said, “I just looked it up online. There’s a caldera—a depression left over after a volcano—not far away. On the Oregon- Nevada border. It’s got the biggest lithium deposits in the world—thirty to forty million metric tons.”

Tolifson was frowning. “Never knew. Why haven’t we heard about it?”

She explained, “Looks like there’re prohibitions on mining up there. A lot of it’s under Indigenous land. In Olechu County? No restrictions at all.” She looked toward Dorion. “So. The reason for the flooding was exactly what you said at first: Vultures. Redding was sabotaging the land to drive people out, then he’d buy it up cheap.” She glanced at the baggie. “There’re also drafts of letters to people who might not be inclined to sell. Very subtle. They say if they want to stay, that’s great, Redding Mining will sell discounted respirators and water-testing kits.”

She shook her head. “Lithium extraction isn’t like deep-shaft copper mining. It’s pumped into big ponds on the surface. Then as the water evaporates the lithium is skimmed off.”

Tolifson said, “What a mess.”

Tamara Olsen said, “He blows the top of the levee to scare everybody into evacuating. Then, when they’ve left, he blows the rest. Minimizes injury and death. When the dust—well, the water—settles, he starts buying up the property. Which means there are more explosives inside.” She looked to Shaw. “On a timer, you think?”

“Probably not. He’d need to control when it happens.”

Shaw was not surprised to hear Starr’s trademarked “Got a question.”

Tolifson nodded her way. “Go ahead, Debi.”

“So. Why was he killed?”

The very inquiry that had been in the forefront of Shaw’s mind. He suggested, “A lithium-mining cartel doesn’t want any competition.”

Dorion was nodding. “The assay company is offshore. In the British West Indies, I saw.” A glance at the baggie docs. “Less than reputable, maybe. They’re being paid by a cartel to report any big finds.”

Then Colter picked up on the theme. “They like Redding’s plan to buy up land in Hinowah—but they want to cut him out. Bear wasn’t working for Redding. He was hired by them , whoever they are. Or, possibly, he was originally hired by Redding but he turned. People like that, it’s usually a question of the highest bidder.”

Dorion sighed. “All of which means the levee’s still at risk.”

True, Maybe Redding wouldn’t push the button. But his new “partners” would.

TC McGuire looked up from his laptop. “I got the video of the security camera from the mine. The drive you collected, Debi? That our boy?”

He spun the Dell around. The camera mounted on the outside wall of the building that contained the workshop that had proved to be Redding’s death chamber revealed a man, head down, baseball cap on, in a dark jacket and slacks. He wore a backpack. On his hands were leather gloves. He was walking toward the fence surrounding the mine.

“That’s him,” Shaw said. The build and beard were giveaways. “Bear.”

The next shot showed him throwing a rope with a grappling hook on the end over the sandbagged fence surrounding the mine entrance and climbing it.

He vanished from view. Fifteen minutes later he returned, used the rope to climb the fence and walked to the road, disappearing into the woods on the other side of the highway.

“Any car?” Shaw asked.

McGuire scrubbed through the video. “No, sir.”

Shaw asked, “That forest. It’s on Annie Coyne’s farm?”

Tolifson said, “That’s right.”

“I’ll follow up on that.”

Tolifson asked Sergeant Olsen, “It’s too late for the bomb curtains?”

“Right. Under other circumstances maybe, but not with the overcast and mist.”

The mayor asked the others, “Plans now?”

Dorion said, “I think the town’s pretty well evacuated. But I can drive through and see if any lights are on. That’ll mean remainers. I’ll pry them out.”

After that, she said, she would get a few hours’ sleep at the motel outside of town.

After his “crime scene” work at Annie Coyne’s, Shaw would return to the camper and rest up briefly.

Shaw’s phone sounded. He glanced at the number on the screen and told his sister, “It’s Tony.”

Together they walked outside, away from the others.

“Tony. I’m here with Dorion.”

“Is Mary Dove there yet?”

Dorion explained that she’d left the Compound but was spending the night at a motel on Route 44, until a mudslide was cleared.

The lawyer then said, “Good, so she’s safe.”

His tone was one of relief. It was curious and Shaw looked to his sister.

Tony continued, “Now, I found something you should know.”

“Go on.”

“In another letter I found, Sarah’s sounding more and more unhinged. I’ll read some of it. ‘They’re after me. They want to put me in the hospital. They want to erase my mind, cut off my tongue. And people are helping them. People I thought I could trust. But you can’t trust anybody, only fools trust. And what do they get? They get betrayed. But I’m ready. Yes, Eddy Street. You told me not to, but I had to go there—and buy a gun. I heard all your arguments against it. But there has to be a reckoning for betrayal. There has to be justice.”

Tony said, “Eddy Street? Gangs?”

“That’s right,” Shaw said.

So Sarah had been armed.

From now on, they would have to assume that mother had passed down to her daughter not only a searing resentment of the Shaw family.

But a firearm as well.