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you need is a rainy summer and it'll be in half the wells in the western suburbs." |
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"That would be a problem." |
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DeVoe's gum snapped. "Among your other talents, Julius, you're a genius for understatement. Let me remind you, in case the events of the week have colored your vision. We're sitting on a goddamn time bomb." |
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DeVoe's plan was to make the Hazzards an offer they couldn't refuse. Once the property was acquired by the Wicks, DeVoe's men would neutralize the substance that had leaked into the ground. The seclusion of the place was in their favor. Nobody, they figured, would notice the pumping equipment secreted in the backyard. Superheated steam and a detoxifying compound would be injected into the aquifer and the residue filtered out, the whole process taking no more than a week. As for the disposal barrels, they could be removed under the guise of redesigning the backyard, even removing the swimming pool. Fortunately, the place drew its water from its own well. And because the house was perched up on a lens of clay, the basin of underground water was small, isolated and easily containable. The Hazzard house alone drew from the contaminated water, the surrounding homes from still-clean contiguous wells. What bothered DeVoe was the instability of that polluted basin. Even if the animal problems were not related, a small flood, subsidence or even construction elsewhere in the neighborhood could open the contaminated water to public supplies. |
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"We offered an outrageous price for their house, we bought her husband a prestigious post at the institute," Julius said. "But we can't force them to sell." |
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"We may not have an option not to," DeVoe said. "If they don't accept the bait, we'll have to get in the hard way." |
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"I agree," Claire Manning said quietly. |
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Julius looked at her for an explanation. "The hard way?" |
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"Julius, you know better than I that we're not dealing with ordinary toxic waste. It attacks the rage centers of the brain. I've seen it turn an aquarium goldfish into a piranha. It's left dead animals all over Magog Woods. Need we speculate on the consequences should it spread to the human population?" |
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