Page 63 of Tempest

Ken thumped him on the back. “Got it, man. I suggest you put a baby in her. It’s the only thing that gave me enough peace to have a regular breath.”

Ryan pointed at him and smiled. “It’s interesting that you said that. I recently heard a story about the man who started the company I work for, Max Bishop.”

Rick slapped the table and laughed. “That crazy son of a bitch commanded a platoon I was on right before I retired. He was fearless.”

“Rumor has it that he knocked up his then-girlfriend so that she couldn’t get away from him. He had a plan from the start, and damn if he didn’t execute. They have twins with a third on the way. He figured that if she was pregnant, she was stuck with him. Seems to have worked.” Ryan laughed.

“Solid plan,” Ken replied as he ate his potato salad.

“I would never do that,” Mac said as he looked at the guys. “Not in a million years.”

Ryan and Ken looked at one another and laughed. “Guess who’s next?” Ryan said to Ken and then fist-bumped him.

“No way,” Mac said with absolute conviction.

After they finished eating, Ken began to outline the challenges that the company faced in securing the wells. “There are several steps that can easily be taken,” Ken said as he pushed his plate away. “Well automation is the first step. It’s easily implemented, and it comes in at a fairly low cost. Consider that the initial cost of the well and then consider each item I’m suggesting. It’s simple math. The second thing we can do is upgrade the actual security at each site. We are paying someone around twelve dollars an hour to sit in a shack and keep an eye on things. There are no cameras, no backup if someone comes in, and no drones flying overhead, collecting data. There’s a company outside Houston that has an excellent reputation call Butchko Security. They provide risk assessment and security personnel for wells all over the state. They are retired spec ops guys, and they have off-duty police guys on their teams. I’ve suggested them several times and I never got anyone interested.”

“What did old Bill have to say about all of this?” Rick asked. A gust of wind flew across the scrubby plains and made the plates dance across the table. Nothing like a late afternoon in September. Wind and heat were the only things that were guaranteed. “Bill couldn’t have succeeded for as long as he had without knowing what he was doing.”

Ken piled the plates and looked across the table. “I told Ryan earlier that I thought Bill had a series of ministrokes over the last year. He’d want to see the wells every month. I took him out, and I had his full attention for most of the day. I told him what I was thinking and he’d agree. Then, the next month, I would tell him again and it was like new information. I tried the COO and never got anywhere.”

“Call Butchko and let’s see when they can meet us. We’ll see what they have to offer and then go from there. I can’t see Ivy and Colin objecting to any of this. Let’s look at each well site tomorrow and see if anyone planted any more explosives. I want to have all the facts when we sit down with Butchko,” Ryan said. He looked at the group. “What do you guys think?”

“Sounds good,” Mac responded. “I’d suggest one of my dogs for each location. I can train them for protecting the site and explosives detection. No one ever suspects a dog is capable of doing those things, so it makes everyone relax enough to screw up.”

“A twisted mind.” Rick laughed. Slapping Mac on the back, he grinned. “I always loved that about you, man.”

Ryan’s phone beeped and he checked it. The guys looked at each other and grinned. “Shut up,” he said as he texted Ivy back. “She’s in town and heading over to her daddy’s house. She brought a friend from home to help with the personnel issues. Her name is Grace.”

Rick leaned back and stabbed his friend with a look. “Mac, since you were so confident that you’re never going to make an idiot of yourself, I’d guess that Ms. Grace is about to prove you wrong. It’s God’s way of showing us that we’re never in charge.”

Mac shoved his friend and almost made him fall off the bench. “Maybe she’s the only girl in the world who’s not going to be impressed by the Blakely Ranch. Who knows? You may be going down.”

“I doubt she’s going to be interested in either one of you. She may be married with a bunch of kids,” Ryan said.

“Sure.” Ken laughed. “I’d never let my wife go out of town to hang out with a bunch of retired spec ops guys.”

“True,” Ryan said as he collected their trash. “I like to keep Ivy where I can see her.”

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