Playing with Dynamite by Leanne Banks Page A

there wasn’t a great deal of traffic. The construction site was surrounded by a wire fence and in the darkness before dawn, to Lisa’s inexperienced eye, it looked like a lot of machinery, dirt and rock.
    The rock was the problem. Construction for the addition couldn’t continue until the foundation was excavated. Watching more closely, she narrowed her eyes and saw that Brick was examining the holes drilled for the explosives.
    By sunup, he was loading the holes with cartridged explosives. “Why cartridged explosives?” she asked the man beside her.
    The young man pointed toward the office building. “If we overload and there’s flyrock, a lot of people could get hurt. Windows could get broken.”
    She looked at the intricate design of holes, connectors and wires, and shook her head at the complexity of such a small project. “How does he know where to put everything and how much to use?”
    He shrugged. “It takes years of experience. Brick’s the best. That’s why the operating manager of the company tried to keep him blasting as long as he could.”
    It gave her an entirely new perspective on Brick. It seemed as if he checked the “shot” at least ten times. Back and forth, he looked for anything he could have missed. So utterly cautious, she thought, and wondered if the same cautiousness spilled over into his emotional commitment.
    Was he the kind of man who would have to walk over the same ground time and time again before he took that final step?
    The notion didn’t set her mind at ease, but it did give her something else to think about, something she knew would stay in the back of her mind for a long time.
    Brick put wire mats over each hole, then brought the leads to the protected area where she stood.
    â€œGo ahead and sound the warning signal,” he told the man beside her.
    A loud horn blast jolted Lisa. Covering her ears, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
    Brick seemed oblivious to the noise, but noticed her reaction. He grinned. “How would you like to wake up to that every morning instead of your clock radio?”
    She laughed in disbelief. “About as much as you would.”
    â€œI’ll pass. Get ready.”
    She watched him connect the wires and pick up something the size of a pencil. “What is that?” she asked the young man, not wanting to distract Brick.
    He must have heard anyway. “We call it a popper. It’s a nonelectric detonator. It’s safer than the old kind.” He received clearance from the superintendent on a radio. Then Brick surveyed the site again and called out, “Fire in the hole!”
    Within less than a second, the ground was rocked by the explosion and the noise was deafening. Lisa had to resist the urge to crouch down. It was silly, but she kept expecting someone to say, “Hit the deck!” The rock looked as if it had turned into a dust cloud. It was an incredible sight, watching all that hard rock instantly shattered. Even though she’d known what was going to happen, she hadn’t expected to be awed by the power of the explosion.
    â€œYou better close your mouth or you’ll be eating a lot of dust, Lisa,” Brick said dryly.
    Lisa knew the voice of experience when she heard it. She closed her mouth.
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    A little over an hour later, after Brick had inspected the shot and filled out paperwork, they left the site. “How about we get a fast-food lunch and take it to my apartment. I need to grab a shower.”
    Lisa agreed and barraged him with questions the whole way to his home. Brick patiently answered all of them and translated some of the technical jargon.
    It wasn’t until he took his shower that she realized it was the first time she’d been inside his apartment. She remembered wishing for this. Senada had said she was silly, but Lisa had always wanted Brick to take her to his personal space.
    Now that Lisa was there, she didn’t