Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 105825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Michal stared at me. “You want to go into the site?” He looked me up and down.
“I brought work boots,” I told him. “And jeans.” Why was he so surprised? My dad must have walked around the site all the time.
I changed, JD joined us and then Michal handed out hard hats and high-vis vests and we went into the site, our boots squelching in the mud. I could see JD watching for danger: when a truck or bulldozer thundered by us, he’d shift position so that he stayed between me and it. I was pretty sure he didn’t even realize he was doing it, but it made me feel warm inside, safe in a way I wanted to last forever.
The dam was a towering wall of huge concrete blocks, covered in scaffolding and crawling with workers. Already, it was two hundred feet high and it was still growing. Workers blinked in shock when they saw me. Then, instead of nodding hello or shaking hands, they made a point of turning their backs. Not a good sign.
Michal showed us to the man who was representing the workers in the negotiations, a gruff little guy called Bolek. He, too, looked surprised to see me marching through the mud. He shook my hand politely but, as soon as I tried to talk money, he crossed his arms and stonewalled me, just as he had in all our conference calls. “We want an eight percent rise.”
“Six,” I told him gently. “That’s more than generous.” And it was.
He stuck out his chin. “Eight.”
Eight was ridiculous and he knew it. What’s going on? “Six and a half,” I tried.
“Eight.”
I stared at him, bewildered. I was lousy at this kind of thing but even I knew that wasn’t how you negotiated. You had to give some ground.
Then I glanced around at the other workers. They’d stopped work to watch and were smirking and nudging each other.
I suddenly knew why they’d all been so surprised to see me down here in the mud when my dad had visited all the time. Why Bolek wouldn’t negotiate in good faith with me, why they had no respect for me. My dad had been one of them. But I was a woman.
I looked across at JD and saw the fury in his eyes. He’d realized what was going on, too, and his shoulders squared like he wanted to thump Bolek. But he knew I had to fix this myself.
“I have work to do,” Bolek told me. “Give us eight percent or we strike tomorrow.” And he turned his back and marched off.
I stared at him, open-mouthed. There was nothing I could do. The company couldn’t afford an eight percent rise and even if I gave it to him, he’d just ask for nine and then ten. He’d push and push because even though I was CEO, I was beneath him.
There was a rising chorus of panicked yells, off to my left. I turned to see one of the big, yellow bulldozers thundering towards me. I tried to get out of the way but there was no time: the thing was going full speed. Why doesn’t he slow down? Doesn’t he see me?
I looked up at the cab. Oh Jesus!
There was no one at the wheel.
23
LORNA
I ran but there was just too far to go. The bulldozer was terrifyingly wide, much wider than a car, and it was almost on top of me. Its huge metal shovel was going to slice right into my legs.
I threw myself forward…and JD’s big hands grabbed mine. He pulled and twisted and my feet left the ground as he swung me out of the way. The bulldozer flashed past less than a foot behind us.
He clutched me close and stared down at me, those prairie-sky eyes full of fear. I could feel his heart pounding. For a second, all the stoic gruffness fell away and he just squeezed me, harder than he ever had. A big, warm swell broke in my chest and I clutched him back, speechless.
A crash of metal made us look up. The bulldozer had smashed into the bottom of the scaffolding, knocking down several support poles. It came to a stop up against the dam and someone managed to shut the engine off, but the damage was done. The whole scaffold tower sagged and began to lean sickeningly. And there were at least thirty men still on it, some of them a hundred feet off the ground. “Oh God,” I moaned aloud.
The scaffold tower tilted towards us and people scattered, fleeing the site. JD tried to pull me away but I tugged back against his hand. “No! We’ve got to help them!”
“The whole thing’s coming down!” JD snapped, still pulling.
I pointed to the men on the scaffold. “They’re—” I tried to explain that they were my responsibility. They’d signed up with McBride Construction, trusting us to keep them safe, and if they didn’t come home to their wives and kids tonight, that was on me. But there was no time. “I’m not leaving them!” I blurted.