Page 81 of Eco-Activist's Mountain Men
“I thought so.” He looks at me. “Jack—didn’t Pat say the guy who made the lowball offer was named Collier?”
“Yeah,” I admit slowly. “That’s right. But that’s just a coincidence, surely?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Easy to check.”
Eric pulls out his phone, types quickly. Finds the Collier Logging website. Clicks Management.
Up pops the photo of a man in his forties, average build, mousy hair, a scrubby beard. He’s dressed in a blue suit with an open shirt, trying hard to look approachable.
Eric hands his phone to Luna. “That him?”
She takes it, glances once, then freezes. Her hand trembles. She snatches the phone, staring hard at the image on the screen.
"Oh – My – Actual – Fucking – God," she breathes. "I don't believe it… It's him! That's Tim Collier—my Tim Collier, I mean. The leader of Kill Climate Change. No doubt about it. It's him, alright."
Luke lets out a low growl, his jaw tight. “Are you saying the CEO of Collier Logging is also the leader of Kill Climate Change?”
“Seems that way,” Eric says, voice grim.
“So, the guy who’s flying in with a helicopter in a couple of days to film Luna under a banner… is the same bastard who’s trying to buy Pat out for half the company’s worth.”
Luke’s face hardens. His skin goes pale, eyes cold. Then he turns to me.
“Jack. We have to do something.”
“Yeah,” I say. “We do.”
“Yeah… but there’s something else. Stay here. I’ll be right back. I’ve got something to show you all.”
We exchange puzzled looks as Luke disappears down the hallway. Less than a minute later, he’s back, something metallicin his right hand. He sits down heavily and places the object on the table.
It’s a pair of wire cutters. Slightly rusty, but otherwise new-looking.
We stare at them. Then all eyes swing back to Luke.
“Where did those come from?” Toby voices the question we’re all thinking.
“Remember the morning after Luna fell? When I went out searching? I found her backpack and brought it back.”
“Yeah.”
“Right.”
A couple of nods.
“Well, just a few paces from where she went down, I found these, half-hidden under grass and brambles. Looked like they’d been lying there maybe a week—long enough to get rusty. But they couldn’t have been there much longer, because otherwise they’d look a lot worse. These are practically new.”
We nod slowly.
“So, what does it mean?” Eric scratches his head, lost.
Luke leans forward. His tone is steady, deliberate. “I’ve been thinking about this for almost two weeks. I wasn’t sure before. But with what we just learned about Collier Logging? I think I know exactly what it means. And it ain’t pretty.”
“Well, go on then,” Luna presses, anxious now.
Luke pushes back his chair and drains his coffee mug, holding it out for Toby to refill. Then he sets it down and looks straight at Luna.
“For you to follow the full story, I need to tell you one more thing. And to do that, I’ve got to admit something. Luna, I knew nothing about you then. To me, you were just a stranger with a Kill Climate Change banner. So forgive me.”
