Bound to Forever - Book ll

Bravo and Watcher

Simon's Point of View: 

Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana

Laswell and I walked the unsteady boardwalk of a particular stretch of the Missouri River, walking up to a native man who had been fishing alone, and had seemed to be throwing a bait several times throughout the last few hours. 

"Mind if we ask you some questions about the river?" I asked him, watching how uneasy he seemed to watch us approach him. 

"I don't have a license and I'm not paying a fine." He scoffed. 

"We don't care where you fish, mate."

"Really? You look like you're with the government." 

"Good instincts, though." 

He sighed heavily, finishing the rest of his cola before tossing the empty can into the river, earning a scoff from Laswell, "There's an empty drum right there." 

"The drum is cleaner than this stretch of the river, I can assure you of that." He scoffed. 

"That's why we're here. To find out what happened on the reservation; to the river." 

The native man hummed, "Clearwater Chemicals is what happened. How ironic, right? Big spill happened upstream, and it all washed downstream, leaving us nothing but dirty water." 

"Who were they?" 

"A bunch of men in ties. Tore through this side of the state like locusts, barely leaving bark on the trees and forage on the Earth." 

"Did they have anything to do with animal feed?" 

"No? I said Clearwater Chemicals, not Clearwater Grain and Seed. You're not the first man who came through asking about our stretch of the river. Our people at the reservation don't take too kindly to strangers asking about our resources. The E.P.A came through here years ago with the same questions." 

"And you know what happened to him?" 

"No." 

"He was killed." 

"Yeah, well, so was our spirit." He shrugged. 

"Thank you for your time." 

"Hopefully, one of you government agents will actually get this stretch of the river cleaned up. We can't fish anymore." 

"I'll keep that in mind." I nodded, surprised that the man reached out to shake my hand before we walked away from him, seeing a satisfied smirk on Laswell's face. "What's that look about?" 

"Clearwater Chemicals has been out of business for years. Not bankruptcy, though, just dissolved. But there was a parent corporation." 

"Legacy Investments?" 

Laswell nodded, "Looks like L.I. destroyed Clearwater and moved on to Belfry."

"Destroyed the company and had Wilson [E.P.A agent] killed before his polluting was uncovered. We just can't prove it." I sighed. 

"Says who?" Laswell hummed, looking down at her phone, "Just got a text from Hatcher. Said his C.I. is ready to meet." 

"Perfect timing considering it's getting dark." 

"Best time, Simon. Let's get this wrapped up so we can get back to Wyoming. Any word from Kiera?" 

"Yeah, she texted me saying that she and the kids are settling in at the safehouse in Red Lodge. Hopefully, she won't have to be there for longer than a week."