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them over.”
    “So it’s all about money—” Peter started,
and Ben had to pull the phone away. Talking to Peter could be tough
sometimes when he started down a certain way of thinking.
    “No, Peter, it’s not just money. The man
here who was trying to talk sense to these people is pleading with
them to negotiate a better deal, but it’s also about their
community, the environment here, and an assurance of safety
measures. We need to show them we’re as good as our word and that
we’ll live up to what we say. We need to give them a guarantee that
we’ll succeed in safety where every other oil company has
failed.”
    “But we’ve already said in our report that
we’re using cutting-edge technology. We’ve laid it all out.” There
was a scraping on the other end and then quiet, as if Peter had
shut a door.
    “And so has every other oil company with a
history of lying, cheating, and falsifying reports. The paper’s
worthless. We won’t just be believed—we have to prove it to them.
We need the manufacturer’s report for all the equipment to show
them we’re actually going to do what we say.” Ben started pacing
the small cabin, listening to the sigh on the other end. “And then,
of course, there’s the safety issues that were disregarded. You
remember the misfiled report we never saw? That hurt us the worst.
It’s not one of our finest moments, that slip, and it did appear
that we buried it. I’m not surprised they don’t trust us.”
    “Rick is in charge of that now. My son will
make sure that kind of slip doesn’t ever happen again,” Peter
said.
    Ben had to hold his tongue, because the
decision to put Rick in such a delicate position was the one area
where Peter and Ben completely disagreed. “Fine, but it’s
imperative the people here are convinced that we’re telling the
truth.”
    “I’ll see that Rick gets you everything you
need,” Peter said. “This so-called troublemaker…how much influence
does he have in the community?”
    Ben knew what Peter was talking about:
paying off Jack so that he would keep his mouth shut and stop
stirring up the community with talk of renegotiations. That wasn’t
going to happen, because Jack Richardson was a good man, and Ben
wasn’t into playing dirty. He’d seen Peter do it a time or two, and
he wasn’t proud that he’d sat by and said nothing. There was
something about Jack and this community, though, that made him
unable to sit idly by and let Peter flex his muscles. He was pretty
sure Jack would stand up to him, maybe, and Carrie…he couldn’t help
thinking about her. A payoff would be something she’d never
understand. She would hate him.
    “He’s not a problem, he’s a voice of reason.
Honestly, he’s our best hope of getting this project to go
smoothly. We need him on our side. Look, you sent me here to do a
job. Let me do it,” he said. It had come out a little strongly, and
maybe Peter sensed something about where Ben was coming from.
    “Well, then, get the job done! This town is
our last holdout, and I want this project underway with no more
delays, no more problems. You understand?”
    Yeah, he understood, but sometimes he
wondered whether Peter had gone so far over to the other side that
he no longer understand that people weren’t chess pieces to be
pushed around. This situation wasn’t something Peter could hurry by
buying off a few people and using his almighty power to intimidate
the town. If he tried that this time, with this project and these
people, Ben realized it could be the company’s undoing.

Chapter Twelve
    Ben poured coffee in the oversized red mug
in the warm and cozy kitchen of the main house. It was good, strong
coffee, the kind you could only get from the darkest and freshest
roasted beans, freshly ground by someone who understood what good
coffee was. That was something he appreciated.
    “Ben, breakfast should be ready in about ten
minutes,” Alice said. “I hope you’re hungry! I made my