A note to readers:
This is a long story that unfolds chapter by chapter through the eyes of two protagonists β Mark and Elsa, and as in many of my other stories involves a growing spate of horny characters.
Every ten chapters or so I will provide a short summary at the start of that episode to bring new readers up to date (see start of Ch. 50).
This story could appear in a number of genres (Loving Wives, Incest, Lesbian, Fetish, and more) depending on the chapter, but the overall theme is Group, so I have applied this moniker to all chapters. The story is still being written, yet I intend to post a new chapter every couple of days. Enjoy.
Chapter 58 β Arson. Anti-Aircraft Fire. Airport Sex
Mark
I had Lucas ensure a twenty-four hour guard on The Meadows and Darwin Architectural Group, plus KC's gallery. He decided on a limited team of two at The Meadows during the day when workers were present, and six to eight guards circulating around the property and surrounding roads during the overnight hours. He also installed a series of security cameras and perimeter alarms in obvious and not so obvious places. All of it seemed like closing the barn door after the horses had left, but we did it any way.
Elsa learned that Darwin backed up all their computers four times an hour to an offsite server, so even if the building had burnt to the ground, they wouldn't have lost the plans for The Meadows.
The Arson Squad confirmed what was pretty well known the night of the fire. The place had been torched using gasoline as an accelerator. A few days later, the Fire Battalion Chief called me, they had located a gas station where Myron Tanner had filled up his gas cans and been videoed on their security cam. It was definitely him. He was driving a stolen van. The gas containers were exactly like those left behind at the site. They had enough of a case to prosecute and had a warrant issued atop the one already in existence.
The guards on the girls were doubled again on my orders. Elsa, Cindy, and KC were the most exposed, because they worked in somewhat public buildings. KC reduced the number of hours the gallery was open during the day, putting up 'By Appointment' hours otherwise. We put two guards on the property when she wasn't there with her full contingent of security.
Cindy carried on her normal work, only with a bevy of security guards paving the way ahead of her and covering her backside when she went anyplace.
Elsa's office building got a guard force reminiscent of Fort Knox when she was there, and three men during off hours. Fortunately, the attempted arson had failed to destroy anything except a door and rear office that housed new paper products and cleaning supplies. The computers, printers, plans, and archives of the firm were intact and undamaged.
For the next two weeks after the fire, I talked to Doug three or four times a day. He had an engineering firm come out after most of the debris had been cleared away. They tested the foundation and declared that it was still fit to be used for the house. That was great news for a change. Doug had the concrete power washed and processed to remove most of the soot and odor; he then had it sealed and painted to complete the process and make it odor free.
We also made some further changes through Elsa's architectural company in concert with our building permits from the county, and poured concrete or cinder block pillars, walls, and floors. We would have a three story concrete structure with post-tensioned flat plate floor slabs and both load and non-load bearing concrete walls throughout. This would make the resulting structure more fireproof and resistant than our original plans. We'd be way beyond the county fire code. The costs went up materially by not using wood, but I felt much better about what we'd be living in.
The changes resulted in further extensions of the estimated completion date. I upped my offer regarding the bonuses I'd pay if we made the July 1 move-in date to ten percent. Doug laughed at my foolish thinking, but I could see him renew his efforts on The Meadows. I could see the wheels in his brain working as to how he'd accomplish that impossible goal.
At my suggestion Doug had designed and gotten my approval to build a modern entryway to the property off the main road a half-mile away. The entrance included beautiful signage announcing
The Meadows
to arriving guests and deliveries. When the girls saw the new entranceway they cheered and made a huge fuss over the grand entrance. Eventually, it would also have some heavy iron gates on electric motors and coded entry to limit access to the property.
The pile of fire debris eventually left the site, and gradually the odor of burned house faded. New lumber, other supplies, new trailers, and a renewed effort got the ball rolling again on the construction process. With my insistence and money, Doug added a fourth crew. He also added another lift and a construction crane to speed up material delivery to the upper floors. He also brought in a catering crew to prepare snacks and serve free lunch and coffee to the crews; they worked through late afternoon to keep the workmen fueled for a push into the evening hours that now went to eleven o'clock. The crews were on site full-time six days a week. The men loved the extra overtime. Some of the crews even showed up on Sundays.
After the huge hiccup of the fire and the changeover from wood structure to concrete and cinder block, Doug figured the project had lost two months. With the extra help and equipment he hoped to regain some of those calendar days, weather permitting.
The weather did not cooperate. December 12th we had a foot of snow. Doug lost four hours but had the crews shoveling the snow out of the house and then using trucks and other equipment to move it further away. Doug added kerosene heaters to dry out the house and keep passable temperatures for the crews.
By Christmas the first two floors of the house had been poured, and the support walls and columns for the third were being prepared. We continued with concrete, cinder block, and metal studding throughout the holiday period except for Christmas day. Doug had the crews work New Year's Day at a premium rate. We had more snow, and lost more time to shovel hours by the crews, but not as many after the roof trusses got installed and covered with plywood, insulation, and tarpaper.
Tossing the construction plan out the window, Doug started putting windows in as soon as the exterior walls were up, floor by floor. This let him keep at least some of the heat in the structure while the HVAC, electricians, plumbers, and security people did their magic between rooms and floors. Generally, the crews were literally tripping over each other.
Things were crazy. Electrical wires were strung before some of the interior walls were put in place. Walls were put in place in certain locations because of how the plumbing had been placed. Lucas and a couple of his security staff personally wired part of the house because he didn't like part of the job the outside security outfit had done.