Ed Villein's Arc

Chapter 2 of 12

Ed waits until the third shift starts before he slips back into the executive wing. The files he's been copying sit in stacks behind the chemical drums, but knowing what they did isn't enough. He needs to know where they keep it. The storage office sits at the end of a hallway he's mopped a hundred times. He uses his copied key on the third try. Inside, metal file cabinets line the wall, each drawer labeled with codes and inventory sheets. He pulls open the one marked POISON and flips through the records. Most are pickup orders, disposal certificates, safety inspections that someone signed without reading. Then he finds it. The same chemical formula from the memo, cross-referenced with a tank number and grid location. Building C, south fence line. The exact compound that twisted his corn and killed his tomatoes sits less than two hundred yards from where he stands. He memorizes the tank number and closes the drawer. Outside, he follows the fence line until he sees it. The storage tank looms against the night sky, rust streaking down its sides like old blood. Warning signs cover the lower panels, yellow and black stripes with red skulls that would make anyone with sense turn around. He walks closer. The access ladder is locked, but he doesn't need to climb it. He just needs to know it's real, that the poison isn't some abstract thing in a file but something he can touch, measure, and pour. He stands there for a long minute, close enough to read the warning labels. This is what they fed his land for three years. This is what they said didn't exist when he brought them his soil tests. His hand rests against the cold metal. The executives think this tank is secured, catalogued, forgotten. They don't know he's found their records. They don't know he's standing here now, planning how to take what's inside and put it in their coffee. He walks back to the maintenance shed and adds the tank number to the documents. The file is complete now. He knows what they used, where they keep it, and exactly how much he'll need.