Alex’s excitement was contagious, but Bill kept his feet on the ground. On the fourth day, Dr. Henderson called. His voice had lost its academic chill; he sounded genuinely stunned. He asked Bill to come to the lab immediately. When Bill arrived, the doctor laid out a series of charts and chemical breakdowns.
He told Bill the sample was “Sweet Crude”—the highest quality oil, low in sulfur and easy to refine. More importantly, the pressure readings Bill had described suggested a massive “anticline” formation under his property. If the pocket was as big as Henderson suspected, Bill was sitting on millions of barrels of oil. The estimated value was in the tens of millions of dollars.
Bill felt a wave of vertigo. He was a man who worried about the price of diesel and hay, and now he was being told he was a multi-millionaire. Henderson warned him that the legal process would be a nightmare. He’d need to secure mineral rights, deal with state regulators, and find a drilling partner who wouldn’t rob him blind.
Bill thanked the doctor and headed home, but when he pulled into his driveway, his heart sank. A sleek, black SUV was parked near his porch. Two men in expensive-looking outdoor gear were standing by his gate, looking at the well. One of them, a man with a polished smile who introduced himself as Mr. Sterling, handed Bill a business card for a major regional energy firm.
Sterling’s partner, a silent, burly man named Rick, didn’t smile. Sterling said they were “scouting for a new pipeline route” and wanted to make Bill a generous offer for his back forty acres. Bill played dumb, asking why they wanted his rocky hillside. Sterling gave a canned speech about “infrastructure and progress.”
Bill told them the land wasn’t for sale. Sterling’s smile didn’t falter, but his eyes turned cold. He offered Bill $100,000 on the spot—way above market value for the acreage. Bill refused again. Rick, the silent partner, made a comment about how “accidents happen on old farms” and how it would be a shame if Bill’s luck ran out. It was a blatant threat.
After they left, Bill realized the leak was out. Someone at the lab or the county office had talked. He gathered Mary and Alex and told them they were in for a fight. He bought a security system and a dashcam, and he started carrying his old hunting rifle in the truck. He wasn’t going to be bullied off his own dirt.
