Chapter 17 - The Discovery In The Cellar
The following morning, Caleb was working in the storm cellar beneath the main house, clearing out old wooden crates that had sat untouched for twenty years.
Sarah walked down the stone steps holding a flashlight, her sneakers kicking up thin clouds of dust as she reached the bottom.
"Finding anything interesting down here, soldier?" she smiled, leaning against a support beam.
Caleb wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, pointing toward a heavy steel trunk sitting in the corner beneath an old tarp.
"My father kept this locked with a military combination pad," Caleb said, picking up a crowbar. "He told me never to open it unless the ranch was under direct threat."
He inserted the crowbar beneath the rusted latch, applying pressure until the old lock snapped with a loud metallic pop.
Caleb lifted the heavy steel lid, revealing stacks of old military journals, map blueprints, and an encrypted hard drive wrapped in oilskin paper.
Tucked inside the front cover of the primary journal was an official document stamped with the seal of the United States Department of the Interior, dated 1998.
Sarah stepped closer, holding the flashlight steady as Caleb unfolded the yellowed paper.
"What is it, Caleb?" Sarah asked, her smile fading as she saw the intense look on his face.
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"It's a federal geological survey," Caleb whispered, his eyes scanning the technical figures.
"My father knew about the shale oil reserve twenty-five years ago."
