Chapter 9

"Mr. Conroe, we may have a slight problem," Max said into the satellite phone. "Someone saw me taking care of our little colon smuggling operation at site five."

"Well, that is unfortunate, but you are taking care of this aren't you Max?" came the voice on the other end of the line.

"Yeah. Don't worry boss. Probably just a lost hiker or something. Whoever it is won't make it too far. My boys are giving chase right now. Just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

"Great! It'll work out, I know it will. You're the best man I've got. By the way, how's the new Jeep working for you?"

A grin briefly crept onto Max's face. "Great sir. That motor is a beast. Its got more power than a tank. I even brought it up to the site today. That Hennessey turbo kit you had installed is awesome. I raced some guy in a Lamborghini the other day and blew its pants off. I can't drive through town without at least a dozen people staring at it. I'm just glad it has dark tinting."

"Yeah, it's a looker, all part of keeping up an image. I always want you to remember how important that is. The clients respect an image. They pay more if they think the head of security is some kind of stereotypical, blood-thirsty Terminator." The man who played Max the Enforcer understood this lesson very well. "Anyhow, I've got work to do, so keep me posted. Give Tom a call if you need anything. He always comes through."

"Will do. I've got to shut the site down. Weather forecast is predicting a huge snowstorm on the way. We're probably going to suspend operations for a few days until we can get the road opened back up."

"Yeah, saw that in the paper. I was really hoping we might make more progress before the first big snow. I've got a really good feeling about site five. Might be the one we've been looking for. But sometimes the good Lord has other ideas about our time schedules," he sighed. By the way, is everything in place for the shipment coming in tomorrow?"

"Yep, we've got it secured. The buyer is already in place. All we need is the supplier. They should be getting in tonight."

"Great, great. Let me know how things go."

"I'll keep you posted," Max hung up the phone. He turned his attention to the tundra above the mineshaft. The truck and the SRT-8 were in a race to the top. Even without a low four wheel drive gear, the sheer power of the Chrysler V-8, force-fed cold mountain air by the twin turbochargers from Hennessey Performance in Sealy, Texas, allowed it to climb like a mountain goat, leaving the Chevy pickup further and further behind.