Chapter 6

Dot loaded up Carl in her Jeep, while John and the rest headed back to the firing line. Jose first performed, and then signed off on the visuals, before the pair continued. John estimated what he thought Pixy could get done, then advanced up the line by that number of weld locations where he set up once again and got to work. He lost himself in the relaxing work, and only raised his head again after he heard his name.

Pixy was staring down at him, calling to him, along side Dot and Carl with the evening sun silhouetting the trio.

“Are we working through the night?” she asked.

John stood and said “No. We are on a good enough pace to be caught up on schedule by tomorrow evening. We need to clear out and let the Al clear the exams. They’ll be a while tonight getting that done.”

Jose walked up, jumping in the ditch to visual John’s weld. Jose said “I’ll get this segment wrapped as soon as Al clears it, we’ll be on schedule then.”

John thought to himself that’s a lot of welds for a short time, we must have busted our travel speeds to get that done, I hope they all pass inspection. Crawling out of the ditch, he began wrapping his leads up, with Pixy jumping in to help. Al and Mary showed up about then.

From west of their position came the thunder of a loud explosion accompanied by a plume of dust and debris raising into the air.

Carl said “Shit, that’s the pumping station. I warned those idiots it wasn’t ready.”

John could see a glowing fire worm in the distance dancing about in a swirl. “Call it in, I’m going to run over there and check on the people.” John said to the crowd. After securing everything, he got in his rig, while Pixy got in uninvited with Dot and Carl doing the same thing in the back.

When they got to the operating engineers, they saw Ben headed the same direction. A bumpy ten-minute ride later, they were at the station. The gas company must have shut off the feed by this time as the fire was weakening rapidly. John got out and began searching the grounds along with the others. Pixy shrieked drawing everyone to her position where they saw a decapitated head laying on the ground. John pulled Pixy away taking note of the location while saying “There’s nothing we can do for him now. Go back to the rig and sit!” he said in a command voice which she followed.

Dot yelled, “A live one over here.”

John grabbed his med kit after settling Pixy. He ran in Dot’s direction where he found a young man laying on the ground with a piece of shrapnel sticking out of his leg. He didn’t like this at all. This kid was no pipeline hand. He looked barely old enough to be getting laid, much less out here working. He was obviously in shock and kept mumbling “It wasn’t time for the bomb, it wasn’t time for the bomb.”

While performing the first aid he could, he asked the kid “What bomb?” He then took note of the head band the kid was wearing that had ELF printed on it. John knew what that meant, and was damn glad he’d been wearing his cam all this time. ELF was Earth Liberation Front, a group known for eco-terrorism. They’d taken shots at him a few years back on a different project. John said “I’ve done all I can do for him.” As he stood up, he heard sirens coming up the trail.

“Dot, can you watch him? I need to download this before the Feds arrive” he said as he fingered his cam. She just nodded.

John ran back to his truck, digging out his laptop. Pixy was starring blankly out into space crying, so he touched her arm and asked “You OK?” as he watched the download meter. She nodded her head, “I’m OK, but this shit’s getting old. Maybe I should have been a nurse like my mamma wanted.”

John looked at her and said “What do you think ER nurses see every day? It’s much worse for them.” She just nodded at which her hair fell back revealing her ear studs and catching the light on her brow piercing. This caused John to wave Carl and Ben over. He looked at Ben and said “It was ELF, they bombed the station. Get her back to her rig, the Feds will take one look at her and assume she was with them.”

John looked at Pixy and said, “ Go with Ben, you need to get out of here.” She had heard the previous conversation so just nodded her head. After that, the pair took off.

John returned to where Dot was standing over the kid, who by now had passed out. She was following Ben’s rig with her eyes, so John answered the unasked question “With her look, the Feds will assume she’s with them. She doesn’t need that shit, so I sent her back with Ben.”

“Did this asswipe say anything else before passing out?” Dot shook her head.

John pocketed the body cam after a moment. “We’ll have to verbally report what this little turd said. If they hear the cam, they will want to know who and where she is” John said as he pointed his chin in the job site direction.

Dot shook her head no. “That’s asking for trouble. Just show the damn thing. She has her TWIC card* along with work and witnesses to back her up. It’s enough that she’ll have a buffer after getting back to the site.”

John nodded his head, “You’re probably right.”

Dot looked at John and said “You realize that girl is infatuated with you, don’t you?” Dot just shook her head at his deer in the headlights look.

“John Ravenclaw, you better unplug your head from your ass. She’d do anything for you. Do not hurt that girl or you’ll be answering to me. I’ll kick your ass all the way back to Oklahoma, you hear me?”

John might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night. He knew she was right, his gut feeling now confirmed.

“Dot, you know me, I wouldn’t do such a thing, but she’s three decades younger than me. What am I supposed to do with that?”