“It sends a message to the captain. End of story time as yours is almost over.”
Chapter 42
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Sam parked his SUVa street away from where W’s phone location had pinged in a building. The only one on that block was under construction. He took off on foot and sent a text to Nitro.I’m at the site.
Can you see either one of them?came back.
No.Sam spotted a crane.Got an idea how to get high enough to see if they’re in a building under construction.
We’re coming on foot. Be there in a couple minutes.
Sam shoved the phone in his pocket and secured the weapon inside the back of his jeans. He snuck from spot to spot, watching for any of W’s people.
Lightning ran across the sky. Then the boom followed. Black clouds heavy with rain moved closer, swallowing the sun.
Not seeing his team worried him more than someone taking shots at him. Where were his people?
Sam ran for the crawler dragline crane. An older one from a construction job like the place he’d been brought in as labor to clean the site along with three other grunts. At sixteen, he’d never considered all those odd jobs of any value beyond the cash he pocketed, but he’d always been curious. During a lunch break, the crane operator had shown him how the machine ran.
This one appeared to be used for unloading transported materials since the building had a tower crane in place for building each floor.
The dragline’s boom was not set in the right place for him to use it as a way to see inside the building.
He leaped up on the track pads and reached inside the cab where he found butter-colored and well-used construction gloves, then took a seat to start the diesel engine. It cranked up with a low rumble. Thunder boomed again and again. He worked the gears to turn the cab and lifted the boom straighter up.
Leaving it running, he swung out of the cab and climbed up the boom.
Halfway up, he saw her.
Hallene sat at a makeshift desk. Wind whistled through the windows and blew strands of hair around her face.
Where was W, that traitorous senator?
Sam was to her right. She kept her attention focused straight ahead. She had to be facing W. She said something then opened a laptop he hadn’t noticed yet.