“Do not become a lawyer.”
“No danger.”
Luke arrived carrying a cardboard box.
Inside were Logan’s personal wrenches.
And something else.
A small plastic bag of electrical components.
Luke set it down.
“Found under his bench.”
Maya looked.
Bypass resistors.
Weatherproof connectors.
Heat-shrink tubing.
Tiny adjustable potentiometers.
Exactly what someone would use to create intermittent sensor faults.
Clayton stared.
“Call sheriff.”
Maya said:
“Photograph first.”
He looked at her.
She already had her phone out.
The sheriff’s deputy arrived an hour later.
Collected the items.
Took statements.
No immediate arrest.
Clayton hated that.
“He sabotaged half my ranch.”
The deputy said:
“Looks that way.”
“So arrest him.”
“For what exact charge based on what exact evidence?”
Clayton stared.
The deputy glanced toward Maya.
She almost smiled.
Clayton noticed.
“Don’t.”
The deputy said:
“We’ll talk to him.”
“Talk?”
“And obtain records.”
“Maybe warrants.”
“Maybe not.”
Clayton looked ready to explode.
Maya said:
“Let them do it right.”
He turned.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I think you’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“Angry people like shortcuts.”
That shut him up.
He walked away.
The deputy looked at Maya.
“You always talk to him like that?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting employment strategy.”
“I’m not employed.”
“Yet.”
Maya frowned.
The deputy smiled.
“Half the county already knows about the hundred cows.”
Small towns.
Day four ended with five machines running.
The fifth passed its load test at 11:18 p.m.
Maya slept three hours.
Day five nearly destroyed the bet.
The sixth tractor had a genuine transmission problem.
Not sabotage.
Real wear.
Clutch-pack pressure dropping under load.
The previous technicians had focused on electronic codes caused by a bypass module and never reached the mechanical failure beneath it.
Maya stared at the pressure readings.
“No.”
Clayton stood behind her.
“What?”
“Actual problem.”
“I thought we had actual problems.”
“Actual expensive problem.”
“How expensive?”
“If we replace assembly, too expensive and too slow.”
“Rebuild?”
“Maybe.”
“How long?”
“Normally two days.”
“You have—”
“I know.”
She pulled the service manual.
The damaged section could potentially be repaired without full transmission removal if the housing surfaces were intact.
Potentially.
She called three suppliers.
No kit nearby.
Closest full component in Idaho.
Nine-hour round trip.
Clayton said:
“I’ll send plane.”
“You have a plane?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you do.”
“It’s a ranch.”
“That is not standard ranch equipment.”
“It is at this ranch.”
The part would not arrive until evening.
Maya used the delay to work on machines seven and eight.