Author's Note: I'm back! SO SORRY for this delay. I was dealing with an unbelievably stressful schedule and working my way through a few tricky things in this story. I'm happy to report that both the schedule and the story are better under control now. Thanks for being patient.
Chapter 18: Two Heads Are Better
Madge follows Gale into the kitchen, where they find Perri dividing her attention between a pair of tea cups on the counter and a television at half-volume on the small table. Perri smiles slightly as her eyes drift toward their linked hands, but thankfully she limits her comments to offering them tea.
Gale ignores the tea and launches straight into his questions. "What can we do to help Madge?"
"I'm looking into it," Perri says calmly. "No one has been available this afternoon. All these stories about spying, secret trials, and the sudden ban on surveillance are probably causing quite a stir within the government. Calling me back isn't anyone's top priority right now."
"I say we go to the media ourselves and start broadcasting the truth instead of all this garbage," Gale says. "I know all the major outlets, I can call one and—"
"That won't work." Madge puts her hand on his chest to calm him. "It will just get me in more trouble if I break confidentiality. And I don't have any real evidence and don't want to tip off anyone that they're being investigated if there's still a chance to catch them."
Perri passes one of the tea cups to Gale and waits until he takes it. "It's still possible the internal review of Madge's actions will be fair."
"So the plan is to do nothing?" Gale roughly sets his tea on the table, dark liquid sloshing over cup's rim. "We need to make a move, not just sit here and let people throw all these bombs at us. We fight back."
Madge flinches at Gale's vehemence, remembering too vividly what it felt like that final night in District 12 when they really did just have to try to dodge the bombs being dropped on them.
"We have certain tools we can use," he continues. "Public opinion can be swayed. I can sway it. Without giving away anything confidential."
Perri shakes her head. "To what end? And to use a battle metaphor, who is the enemy here? The people Madge has been investigating? Or people within Covert Intelligence?"
"Both," Madge says vehemently. "Simon's brother and his partners are using the press to manipulate public opinion, as a way to influence the government."
"Exactly, so we get public opinion on your side to protect you," Gale says.
Perri sighs impatiently. "With what, Gale? You making a generic statement that you think Madge is a nice, well-meaning girl who's being treated unfairly won't go very far if you can't back it up with more than your opinion. You're biased. And frankly I'm more concerned about Madge being subjected to a closed pseudo-judicial proceeding—"
"A secret trial," Madge translates for Gale.
"—than what these fools on the television are saying. We need to figure out who's behind all this and handle it ourselves—off camera—which is what I'm working on." Perri glances at Madge, who quickly takes an interest in the tiles on the kitchen floor. Perri has never liked Madge's job and hadn't reacted well to hearing about some of the methods Madge has used. It hasn't left Madge feeling optimistic that the inquiry will wrap up tidily or in her favor, but Perri's implied disapproval almost feels worse.
Gale is frowning again, clearly not enthusiastic about a plan that doesn't involve him pummeling somebody or commandeering the airwaves. "I don't trust the people Madge works for."
"I don't trust anyone," Perri says, "but I want to. Otherwise what are we doing in all those meetings?" She gazes at Gale for a few seconds and then adds firmly, "I'm not letting anything happen to Madge."
There's an authority to her tone that reminds Madge momentarily of her father, which triggers another pang of missing him. Like Perri, he would have done whatever he could think of to help her, even if he had reservations about what she'd done.
Gale glances at Madge and then scowls at the same tiles Madge had just been studying. "So what are Madge and I supposed to do while you're calling people?"
Madge can think of a few ways they could entertain themselves back in her bedroom, but Perri's already talking again. "You could focus on your own job, Gale," she says dryly. "I spoke to Rhoda this afternoon. You shouldn't have left as early as you did."
"Are you kidding me—"
Perri cuts him off. "At the sub-committee meeting you missed, the group approved putting Committee Member Douglas's land distribution proposal out for a public vote before all the citizens. Soon."
Gale looks stunned, and then narrows his eyes. "Those stupid committees don't do anything fast." He sounds as suspicious as Madge feels. "How could they have read and approved that proposal so quickly?"
"Apparently Douglas made it seem straightforward and urgent. Rhoda said nobody else knew anything about it so the members felt they might as well proceed."
"Douglas is no good," Madge says darkly to Gale. "He's tight with a bunch of the slimiest of the former Capitol people. Friends with Simon's brother," she adds, which she considers reason enough to be dislike him. "And also with that guy at the bank who gave the tabloids that security tape of me." That especially still rankles, since she was just setting up an audit, not doing anything more… controversial.
"I don't like Douglas, either," Gale says. "He's lazy, and he stole that land distribution proposal project away from me. I haven't even read that proposal yet—who knows what the committee just approved?" He glowers for a few seconds and then looks up at Madge with wide eyes. She can see the idea forming in his mind at the same time it occurs to her.
"Did you bring the proposal with you?" she asks eagerly.
He's already backing out of the room. "It's in the car…"
Madge rushes to follow him. As she leaves, she glances back into the kitchen at her aunt, who's reaching for the phone again. She smiles gratefully at Perri, who returns the smile with a small nod and a shooing gesture.
#
A half hour later, Madge is sitting with Gale on the small sofa in the living room while they read through the land distribution proposal. Madge leans back against the arm of the sofa and nudges her feet under Gale's leg on the other cushion. He looks up and smiles. Then he wraps his arm around her legs and turns his attention back to his half of the proposal. She can hear Perri's low murmur on the phone in the kitchen and feels a strange mix of excitement and contentment that she and Gale can work together like this. It's almost like when they plotted together in District 12, only now she doesn't have to pretend not to be attracted to him.
Their current seating arrangement was a compromise between not wanting to sit on separate pieces of furniture and actually still making some progress reading through the proposal. Since there was only one copy, they had started out next to each other. But then Madge noticed that Gale had started using a different type of aftershave, and inquiring about it somehow devolved into a kissing break. She wasn't quite sure who started it and decided to blame the aftershave manufacturers. Then after they'd returned to reading, her hair kept getting caught in Gale's mouth, which she took as an encouraging sign that it was finally growing longer. It also probably meant Gale was spending more energy smelling her hair than reading, which led to another unplanned break. Once they'd gotten back on track and through the proposal's introductory section, they decided they should just divide the rest of it up so they could read independently.
There hadn't been anything especially alarming in the introduction, just an overview of how each district's land area would be increased. The existing borders were to be expanded and divided into parcels that would be made available for sale. People could then purchase the land with either money or its equivalent according to a formula that valued serving in the rebellion and past labor given to the Capitol by people like the miners of District 12. Once the borders were set, there would be elections for district governments and representatives from each district to a central parliament. Gale had said it was all consistent with what they'd discussed during the meetings and that he might have even agreed to approve advancing it to a public vote. But Madge pointed out that the proposal was hundreds of pages long and that a lot of things that sound good in a general fall apart when you look at the details. So they'd split up proposal and dug in.
Madge has been focused on District 7 since she spent the end of the war there and that's where Douglas is from. He'd been one of the targets of her investigations, and the fact that he pulled this skeezy maneuver when Gale was preoccupied with scandals makes her suspicious.
She feels cool air on her ankle as Gale pulls his hand away to turn a page in the report. Then he sits forward and flips roughly to the next page.
"This is wrong," he announces.
"How?" Madge scoots closer to him and sees that he's looking a map in the section of the report on District 12. She feels a jolt of excitement: of course Gale would notice if anything was off in District 12. He and Katniss knew the area outside District 12 better than anyone.
"Look." Gale puts the map front of her. "See the area where the mine was when we lived there? Basically it's around these four major coal seams." His finger moves along four gray hatched areas on the map. "But we completely mined these two seams already. There's nothing left. We were just starting on a new one, but it's not shown here. That area's marked 'unavailable for bidding.'"
While Gale keeps frowning at the map, Madge looks through the report until she finds what she needs. "Unavailable for bidding means land set aside for pre-approved companies and individuals, like members of those partnerships between Capitol investors and district citizens. The prices for those parcels are set according to formulas in Appendix B… Basically, this rewards those companies for 'taking the risk and initiative' to get industry going again. They get a deal." She skims ahead to Appendix B and feels like her eyes have crossed there are so many symbols and equations in fine print. "Ugh. You'd have to be a genius to figure out these formulas!" Looking at Gale again, she says, "It's probably safe to assume that if the prices are based on hiding what makes the land valuable, like coal, then those prices aren't fair."
Gale tosses his half of the proposal onto the coffee table and slouches back into the sofa. "Why bother going through this charade? I'm not the only one who knows where the coal seams are in 12."
Madge grimaces; this fits all too well with her theories. "Didn't the underground fires from the bombs burn some of those coal seams? And all the records in 12 were destroyed. If someone is purposefully hiding where the seams are, they have a good cover story for this being an innocent mistake. They probably think it's worth a shot, since who's actually reading this long, confusing proposal? And so few people survived in 12, who is going to try to buy up land and start a mine?"
"I can't think of any miners who survived who would," Gale admits.
"But other people want to," Madge says. "Especially the ones who used to control all that coal before the war. The Capitol owned it when we lived in 12 because they owned everything, and now I think a lot of those same people are angling to own it again—individually or through their companies." She shrugs. "They don't care, as long as they're the ones who have it. Same thing in the other districts—I bet you anything Douglas has cooked up some scheme to get the best timber stands. And then who cares if the Capitol lost the war if all the same people still control all the resources?"
That's what frustrates her the most; the possibility that the war didn't change things enough and that life could so easily slide back into the way it used to be.
Madge looks back at the District 12 map. "When I was in 12, I saw schematics for a new type of mining where they knock the top off a mountain to get to the coal seams more easily. Nobody from 12 would have the kind of money for that kind of operation; it could only be done with one of those Capitol investor partnerships. And if they're the ones benefiting from hiding where the coal—or whatever else—is, you can be sure they'll convince other people to vote for it, too."
"This isn't how these things are supposed to work," Gale declares as he kicks the coffee table in frustration. "This proposal is crap—it shouldn't be voted on. I'm stopping it first thing tomorrow."
"It has to be stopped before the vote," Madge agrees, "but that won't stop the bad seeds who set all this up…" She looks longingly at the map of 12, wishing the wrongdoing were clearer so they could actually bust someone. "This is the problem I keep running into, Gale. Everything adds up in theory, but I don't have proof… This looks suspicious, but can easily be explained away." The panicky, resigned feeling returns and she swallows nervously. What has she gotten for all her efforts trying to figure out this puzzle? Suspension, scandal, and the knowledge that she's disrupted the lives of people close to her. Gale's family can't even be in his apartment without being harassed.
Gale scowls and then reaches for Madge's half of the proposal and flips to the section on District 2. His eyebrows look even heavier than usual as he frowns at the maps in the back of the section. Madge fights the urge to look over his shoulder since being that close to him could lead to another "break" and he seems to be concentrating…
After a few minutes he looks up at Madge with a sly smile.
"I have an idea."
#
The jeep bumps along the narrow, pothole-strewn road until they reach a village Madge hasn't visited before. It's fairly close to her aunt and uncle's village, she's just never had an occasion to visit until now.
"This is your friend Milo?" Madge asks Gale from the passenger seat. "He's the one you do all that rock climbing with, right?"
"That's him. He worked in a quarry before the war. Good guy."
Madge smiles at the Gale-equivalent of lavish praise and looks out the window. They're pulling up in front of one of the drab, single-story houses typical of all the outer villages of the district. Gale had said Milo worked for the surveying company that provided the maps to Douglas, and that he might be able to help them figure out how (and even why) the map of District 2 in the land distribution proposal was wrong.
A muscular boy their age is sitting on the front stoop of the house rubbing a waxy substance into the exterior of a hiking boot. He smiles and rises as he sees Gale and Madge approaching from the car.
"Welcome, celebrities," he says with a grin, sticking his hand out to Madge, who shakes it. "I'm Milo. And unfortunately I know who you are."
"It's all bullshit," Gale says forcefully.
"You aren't Margaret?" Milo asks. He raises his eyebrows at her. "Gale's old friend from District 12?"
"I go by Madge," she clarifies. "But yes, I'm from District 12."
"That's what I thought," Milo says triumphantly. "Gale's mentioned you."
Surprised, Madge glances at Gale just in time to see him do that thing where he tries to hide that he smiled at something. His usual stern expression restores itself, and he glances up and down the street.
"Can we go inside?"
"Sure, come on in." Milo picks up his boots and ushers them inside the door, away from any prying neighbors' eyes. Although from what Madge has seen so far, she doubts Milo has the type of problems with his neighbors that Gale seems to have. "Good timing," he says as he guides them to a small living room. "I just got back from a trip. Heading out again tomorrow. Hey, either of you want a beer?"
Gale shakes his head and Madge follows suit. "We need to talk to you about your maps," Gale says.
Milo disappears into the kitchen. Madge can hear the refrigerator opening. "You need more copies, Gale?" he calls. "Your office should have everything they needed for that land proposal. I heard it was a rush job; that's why I haven't been at the wall lately. Practically live in the forest these days."
"We need to know how you make the maps," Gale calls back. Madge takes the opportunity to peer around Milo's house. It reminds her of Gale's apartment: muddy gear piled near the front doorway, maps tacked up on walls, and a mountain of unopened mail on the kitchen counter.
Milo returns with a bottle of beer and flops into a ratty-looking armchair in the living room. He gestures for Gale and Madge to sit on the couch as he puts his feet up on a coffee table covered with even more maps.
"What do you want to know?"
Gale moves to the couch and perches on the edge as though he's not committed to the idea of sitting. Madge sits next to him and feels grateful that Milo doesn't seem to think she's a treacherous spy. She does wonder though what Gale said about her to Milo… She can barely get a few words out of him, and half the time he ends up kissing her instead of talking, which she assumes doesn't happen with Milo.
"What happens with the maps after you do the field work?" Gale asks.
"I give my field notes and coordinates on the rough map to the boss, he pretties them up, and then turns them over to the head honchos on the Reconstruction Committee."
"Do you see them after he pretties them up?"
"No, it's all computerized and I'm usually back in the field."
Gale pulls out the maps Douglas included in the land proposal and sets them on the coffee table. Milo scoots forward to study the maps while Gale stands and retrieves a few of Milo's own maps from the wall, adding those to the ones on the table.
After a few seconds of studying the maps side by side, Milo sits back. "Shit."
Gale nods grimly, but Madge doesn't understand what they've seen and gently squeezes Gale's leg to remind him to explain to her.
He lays two maps in front of her. "When Milo surveys an area, he also collects information about the types of rocks, minerals and other things people care about. It's included on the map. These are actual surveys, Madge, not like the maps of District 12 where people could claim they were only guessing about what might be there. And look at the difference between Milo's field maps and the ones in the proposal. The locations of the good stuff—the minerals and things worth money—are missing or are switched around. Copper, coal, silver…"
Madge holds the two maps next to each other and follows along where Gale's pointing. This is the best proof she's seen that anyone is deliberately hiding information everyone else has a right to and it fits with her theories… She peers at Milo, who set his beer aside and is looking at the maps with a worried expression. She wonders if Milo is in on it…
Gale doesn't seem to share that concern, though. "Do you think your bosses are messing with these maps?"
"I don't know," Milo says as he runs a hand over his stubble-covered chin. "I'm not around them much. I turn over my stuff, get my paycheck and my next assignment, and then hit the road."
Gale frowns and continues to study the maps, so Madge asks Milo for the names of the people in charge of the company. He digs up one of the business cards. "It's just those two in the office here in District 2 and a bunch of rockheads like me in the field, but I think they've been expanding into some of the other districts, too."
Madge tries to keep her expression calm, but she recognizes from her own investigations the names on the card. She catches Gale's eye and gives a tiny nod so he'll know this is encouraging evidence.
Milo notices their exchange. "So… is the company in trouble?"
"It depends," Madge says hesitantly. "If they were altering maps, that's not good… If someone else is doing it, maybe not… Are you supposed to keep these rough copies? Does anyone know you have them?"
He shakes his head sheepishly. "I'm supposed to turn them in, but sometimes I let Hawthorne borrow them. Unofficially. I'd get canned if they knew."
Gale sits forward on the couch and gazes sternly at Milo. "Don't say anything at work, but we need you to see if you can figure out who exactly is behind the changes."
Milo blinks a few times. "This is my job. How am I supposed to pay my rent if the company folds—"
"If these people are involved in something illegal, you don't want to be caught up in it," Gale cuts in. He glances at Madge. "I don't know what the exact crimes are, but you're going to want to be on the right side of this."
Madge offers a partial list of the possible crimes. "It depends on what's been happening, but offhand I can see there might be corruption, fraud, forging of government records…"
Gale keeps watching Milo. "Madge and I will go confirm some of this on our own. If I can say that I know for a fact that certain parts of the District 2 map are wrong, then you won't have to get involved if it turns out the changes are being made after your company turn the maps over. But I still need you to try to find out who's making the changes." He leans forward. "This is important."
Milo still looks unsettled to Madge, and she guesses Gale can sense his friend's discomfort as well because he adds in a gentler tone, "If you do end up needing another job, I could probably help you out. I know a lot of people now…"
Madge thinks Gale looks a little embarrassed to admit that he's got some pull and squeezes his leg again to signal that he's doing the right thing. He shoots a grateful look at her and then they both return to watching Milo.
Milo nods slowly while looking at the maps. And then his face relaxes into the ease Madge saw when they first arrived. "Guess I can always crash with you if I end up homeless, huh, Hawthorne? Bet Madge would be thrilled about that—some guy always hanging around when you want to be alone?"
He grins cheekily at Madge. Before she has a chance to blush, Gale rolls his eyes and leans back into the couch.
"In that case, I would definitely help you get a new job."
A/N 2: The next update won't take anywhere near this long, I promise. Lots of Hawthorne family action in the next chapter. Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I appreciate the feedback.
Also, if anyone hasn't seen it yet, I posted a mini-fic called "Tuesday Night in Town" during my break from this story. Just a little Gadge diversion back in District 12.