Hannah (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #2) (10 page)

The cab ride back to the city was a longer drive than Dominic had initially thought, but minutes could draw out like hours when trapped in a car with your own thoughts. Eventually, the cab pulled up to the hotel where he and his group were staying for the week. It was a nice place near bricktown with a pool and sauna. Dominic tipped the driver, and meandered his way through the lobby and up to their rooms.

Lanky Kevin answered the sharp knocks Dominic delivered to the door of room 302.

“About time,” Kevin jeered.

“Shut up, and let him in!” Nathan hollered from somewhere within.

It was too early in the morning for Dominic to care about snarky remarks. He just shuffled past Kevin and took a seat on one of the queen-sized beds nearest Nathan.

They had gotten adjoining rooms, but everyone had piled into this one. Nathan, Nancy, and Kevin had their laptops opened while Monica was laying back on the bed, surfing through channels in boredom. Kevin closed the door, and took his seat at the small table with Nathan and Nancy.

“So, what’s the word?” Dominic said to no one in particular, as he rubbed his eyes. “I hope you didn’t call me here because you found a cheap, CEO infidelity scam.”

“Don’t you worry, loverboy,” Nancy said. “We got the goods on these assholes, big time.”

The surety in Nancy’s voice made Dominic perk up. He had hoped this job would have some kind of return, but they were in Oklahoma for God’s sake. What nefarious practices could possibly be happening in Oklahoma that would warrant his crew taking such risk?
Next to none,
he thought. The only saving grace in this whole equation was the fact that Oklahoma City was the base of operations for Dongle Gas and Oil—the hub of which the conglomerate’s many machinations were held. Or so Dominic had hoped. He got up, and walked across the room to look over Nathan’s shoulder. “Show me.”

Nathan pulled up several spreadsheets and another dozen documents that looked like internal emails. He leaned back in his chair. “We got a list of every drill site Dongle Gas and Oil has to date. This list is all the legal ones.” Nathan pointed to the screen. He then flipped to another spreadsheet. “We also got a list of subsidiary companies owned by our gas and oil friends with a corresponding list of ‘illegal’ drill sites.”

“Those email documents are approvals from their corporate office giving the go ahead on many of those illegal sites,” Nancy interjected.

Dominic laughed. “Bingo!” He slapped Nathan’s heavy shoulders. “We’re in business.”

“That ain’t the only thing, boss,” Monica added, sitting up. Her dark-red brows came together in a look of concern. “There’s more.”

Dominic frowned. “Okay…” He turned back to Nathan. “Spill.”

The stocky, ex-marine pulled up another file. “This is an email from one of the board members. It’s a removal order...”

Dominic shook his head, perplexed. “What does that mean?”

Nathan gave him a flat look.

“Bullshit,” Dominic said taking a step back. “Even if they were taking people out, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to put it into writing.”

“Governments do it all the time,” Kevin said. His long fingers continued to tap away on the keyboard, not skipping a beat. “Why not corporations?”

“Because it’s stupid,” Dominic replied, heat in his voice. “You don’t kill people when you can just buy them off.”

“It doesn’t always work that way, and you know it,” Nathan grumbled. “Remember Egypt?”

“This isn’t fucking Egypt, Nathan!” Dominic snapped. He knew that it didn’t matter, it should have mattered, but in reality it didn’t. America acted no differently than any other country, and sometimes even worse when it came certain things—money and oil being two of the big ones. Death was just a messy aftereffect of the games those in power played, a cost or tool that could be expensed.

The danger of their situation crept up on Dominic like a haunting specter. Someone at Dongle Tower would know by now that they’d been hit. It was only a matter of time before they found out by who, and sent out counter measures. “Pack up. We gotta get out of here. Now.”

“There’s more, Dominic,” Nancy said. The eagerness in her voice and the expression on her face spoke of an adrenaline high. She ate tension like candy, which made her a great asset at times, but, currently, it just made her annoying. “Your new girlfriend is on the list.”

Dominic stopped in his tracks. “What?”

Kevin turned his computer around so Dominic could see the screen. There were columns and columns of names displayed. “I broke into this file just before Nathan called you,” He pointed to Hannah Ward’s name. “We thought you should know.”

Dread filled Dominic. “How do you know that’s a list for removal?”

“It was an encrypted attachment, buried in a series of emails relating to this one,” Nathan answered as he gestured to the original removal order on his screen. “It’s pretty clear, man.”

Shock rolled over Dominic, and he mumbled, “Does it say when?”

Kevin shook his head. “No dates. Sorry.”

“Why her?” Dominic asked, more to himself than anyone in the room. Sure, Hannah spoke out against big corporations poisoning the environment and the use of fossil fuels, but thousands of people did that, and some much more vehemently.
Why single her out?

“We think it’s because of this,” Nathan answered. He navigated to what looked like some kind of geology report. “Apparently, she’s sitting on a goldmine. This says there’s a massive deposit of oil under her property... it’s weird. The thing goes straight down like a giant wedge. Never seen a formation like that before.”

Dominic and the others had seen enough satellite imagery on these kinds of wells to know that what they were looking at was an abnormality. Nathan hadn’t been exaggerating when he said the deposit was huge. The widest part of the wedge easily spanned the entire length of the property Hannah called home. “Who owns the land?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“A corporation called Coven’s Grove. They own the mineral rights, too,” Kevin answered.

“Witchy woman,” Nancy purred as she looked at Dominic. “She cast a spell on you?”

Dominic ignored her, though the jibe had a ring of truth to it. He’d become infatuated with Hannah, and there was nothing he could, or would, do to change that fact. She was bright, bullheaded, and beautiful. When they touched, it was like a jolt of life pulsing through his very being. He was addicted to her, and it made him feel alive.

Dominic rubbed his temple as he now looked at Kevin’s screen. He knew why Hannah hadn’t let big oil on her land, but how had she and her friends stopped them? “How is it that Dongle hasn’t drilled this yet?”

Kevin shrugged. “Who knows, man?”

“Somehow, your girlfriend’s group had a ban placed on drilling and fracking on their land, and several square miles in every direction around it,” Nathan interjected. “They must know some pretty powerful people.”

That wouldn’t stop big oil for long. If there were resources to be had, they would be taken. A thought clicked in Dominic’s tired brain. He leaned over Nathan’s shoulder and said, “Bring up that list of illegal drill sites.”

The ex-marine punched a few keys, and a spreadsheet popped up.

“See if any of those sites are close to the Coven’s Grove property,” Dominic said. “I’m going to catch some shut-eye next door. Everybody stay alert. This deal just got a lot more serious.”

Nancy smiled. “So, I guess we’re staying.”

“Yeah,” Dominic sighed. “For now.”

Kevin yelped after Nancy suddenly punched him in the arm. “Told you,” she said. “Pay up, sucker.”

“Later,” Kevin replied with narrowed eyes, rubbing his shoulder.

“Anybody who wants to go should do so, and quickly,” Dominic said to the room. “No hard feelings.”

Nathan grunted, but continued typing away at his computer. Nancy rolled her eyes, while Kevin shook his head. Monica acted as if she’d ignored the entire conversation, still surfing channels.

Pride flurried in Dominic’s chest. He could always depend on his crew. He didn’t like putting them in danger, but sometimes that’s what the job required.
This isn’t about the job
.
This is about Hannah
. He knew he should order them all to go, but found that he couldn’t. He was going to need their help with the coming storm, and there was no way around it. Dominic nodded. “Okay, then,” he said with a touch of regret. “Wake me in a few.” He didn’t wait for a reply before going into the adjoining room.

Dominic fell onto the bed, images of Hannah swaying amorously in his mind. Her broad smile, and smooth skin teased his imagination. He was never going to get any sleep while the impassioned woman danced in his head.

I’ve dug myself deep this time,
Dominic thought with a sigh. He’d been in situations like this before: a woman, the danger mixed with adrenaline. Everything about what was happening currently was no different than the previous dozen occurrences. Except that, this time, he found himself aching to be near her, yearning to touch her, hopelessly lost without her. Nancy was right—Hannah had bewitched him.

I’m going to have to tell her everything,
he thought, staring into the darkness.
But, when, and how?

Dominic’s cell rang. He knew the ringtone. It was the sound he’d hoped to hear day after day while still in Texas, but right now the sound brought a feeling of dread to his indecisive heart. Hannah was on the other end of that ringtone, and he had no idea what to say to her.

Hannah sat in the main room of the Mansion. She munched on a celery stick, watching Miranda adjust pillows on the furniture as they waited for Dominic to arrive. The two-story room housed a number of large sofas, chairs, and tables for entertaining. Miranda had tended to each one, fluffing the cushions and dusting the table tops. She currently wrestled with a chocolate brown sectional that faced a massive, rock fireplace. A wrought iron grate covered the opening that could fit several people inside. The stonework traveled all the way up to the ceiling, and mingled well with the accenting oak beams of the roof. The northern wall was made of floor-to-ceiling windows which filled the room with natural lighting. Usually, Hannah felt at peace in the great room, but, today, her mind was far too focused on what might have happened this morning to find any solace.

After the brief conversation with him on the phone, and the news reports that had aired off and on this morning, Hannah couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. Initially, she’d feared Dominic had found some evidence that she was a witch, causing him to leave so abruptly last night. In hindsight, the fear was truly farfetched and bordering impossible, but her mind liked to play tricks when stress was high. The more believable scenario was that he had left to be with someone else, or maybe he just went back to the hotel where his friends were. Hannah could think up a number of places he could have gone, all of which didn’t make her feel any better. He had been short during their discussion, fueling Hannah’s suspicions. She’d gotten dressed and headed up to the mansion after Dominic had said he would be there within the hour to talk about some things that needed to be said in person.

Miranda had already been awake when Hannah came in to tell her company was coming, so she had volunteered to help do some last minute tidying up. Hannah had flipped on the TV for background noise, and that’s when she saw that Dongle Tower had been robbed—yesterday.

The perky reporter on Channel 4 had interviewed a few Dongle executives about the incident, and they assured her that nothing of importance had been taken. A “low security breach” was the term they’d used, but Hannah felt a little freaked out just the same. She, Dominic and his pals had been down there when the burglary had gone down, effectively making them all suspects. The possibility of being a suspect wasn’t the part that had her on edge though. The
attention
that being a suspect would bring to her and the grove was what really had her out of sorts. It was the kind of attention she had persuaded Miranda not to worry about.

“I’m so sorry, Miranda,” Hannah repeated for what must have been the hundredth time.

Miranda straightened after moving one of the cherry end-tables back into place beside the dark leather sectional. She looked at Hannah with the patience of a wizened grandparent. “I’m glad you went. You were right to search for those who could help us, regardless of the risk.” She shrugged her shoulders, and gestured to the television. “And, most likely, nothing will come of this.”