Page 52 of High Value Target

She fanned herself with the papers. “Dad said he needs your signature on these right away.”

He took them from her and scanned them briefly. “What are you, a document courier service now, Tinsley?”

“I just needed to get away for a while.”

“Don’t you always.”

“Grady, this is my brother, Bodie.”

Bodie scrawled his signature and studied Grady. “You the new bodyguard? I’ve heard about you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’d shake your hand, but I’m covered in grease.”

“I understand.”

“I’ve got to get back out there. We’re behind schedule. Don’t tell Dad.”

Tinsley locked her lips and threw away the key.

Bodie lifted his chin to Grady. “Ever been on a rig?”

“No, sir.”

“Want to see what we do?”

“I’d love to.”

Tinsley rolled her eyes. “I should have known this was going to happen.”

They followed Bodie out onto the derrick floor, where men were all in hardhats, jeans, and t-shirts covered in grease and mud. It was, apparently, filthy work.

Bodie pointed to two men grappling with some large clamps. “Those are the floor workers, sometimes called roughnecks. One’s operating the lead tong, while the other’s operating the backup tong. That guy over there is the driller.” He pointed to a man operating some cables and pulleys. “And that guy's the motorman.”

They watched the men work, moving in an orchestrated way, each man doing his part in the complicated dance without a word to each other. There was no yelling, no talking at all.

“What are they doing?” Tinsley asked.

“They’re working.They're feeding their family. Turning, burning, and earning. This is the real world, Tins.”Bodie chuckled. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. In layman’s terms,when one section of drill pipe has been drilled into the earth, another section needs to be added so that the well can be drilled that much deeper. There’s a bit more to it, of course, but they are basically adding pipe to the drill string so they can drill deeper, until they reach TD, aka Total Depth.”

“And how deep is that?” Grady asked.

“This one? Imagine the depth of the Grand Canyon. This one’s about twice that deep.”

“What do you do?”

“Supervise it all.”

“I see why I haven’t seen you around the estate,” Grady mused.

“We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I’ve got a trailer over there. I’m here until this job is done.”

“You work too hard, Bodie,” Tinsley said, shielding her eyes from the sun.

“That’s the way Dad wants it. I have to learn the business from the ground up.”

“That’s how he got started?” Grady asked.

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