The right handle snapped toward the ceiling. The warped frame followed its familiar bias, rolling the wheelbarrow hard to the left. The tray pivoted over the single wheel, and one steel support leg tore across the concrete with a shriek that filled the workshop. Wet mortar heaved over the lip and struck the floor in a heavy gray sheet.
The kick had not moved two hundred pounds. It had lifted one handle past the wheelbarrow’s bad balance point. The mortar and gravity had done the rest.
Despite his training, the leader dropped his eyes toward the motion.
Kate threw her weight sideways.
She tipped with the chair. Its rear leg struck the leader across his shin, forcing him to Continue Reading “DEAD LOAD (A Nick Stello Action Thriller) Chapter Three: The Rough Ashlar”
DEAD LOAD (A Nick Stello Action Thriller) Chapter Four: The Geometry of Tracking
Kate peered out the window. The pines passed at an alarming speed. Beside her, Nick thrust a hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box no bigger than a thumb drive. He rattled it once, then snapped open the ashtray, dropped the box inside, and slammed it shut.
“No one smokes anymore,” he said.
Kate ignored the ashtray. “You didn’t call the police.”
“No.”
“You left three armed men tied inside your workshop.”
“I left three disarmed men secured to structural columns.”
“That distinction isn’t going to matter when someone finds them.”
“It matters to whoever sent them.”
The swiftness of the answer caught Kate off guard. “Why?”Continue Reading “DEAD LOAD (A Nick Stello Action Thriller) Chapter Four: The Geometry of Tracking”