Page 21 of Hell Bent

“This is Alix,” Howard told the guys. “Foreman of this crew. Tell them what you’re doing down there, Alix.”

I didn’t. That was because I was staring. How?How?“Uh …” I said, in a brilliant display of intellect.

“Anastasia Alexandra Glucksburg-Thompkins of Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg,” Sebastian said. “As I live and breathe.”

9

PLEASE, NOT IN MY CARHARTTS

Sebastian

She gave me a long look. Hard to define it, what with the safety goggles and all, but it wasn’t, “I can’t believe I’m running into the man of my erotic dreams once more!” Or, of course, “Pick me up and carry me out of here like you’re whisking me out of my hard-luck life and into your alpha-male billionaire reality.” It was only a look, though, because Howard was saying, “You know each other?”

“Sure do,” I said, because Alix still wasn’t talking. “This is Harlan, and this is Alix. Don’t use the Anastasia thing. She doesn’t like it.”

“OK,” Kristiansen said, sounding amused, which seemed to be his normal state.

“So, Alix,” Howard said, “or whatever your actual name is, explain what your crew’s doing here.”

“Pulling wire,” she said.

“Explain better,” Howard said.

“See the PVC pipe down there?” she said, pointing. “You run the pipes first out of a panel in the substation, because that’s where the power comes from. Glue them togetherthrough the runs so they hold up, because they’ll be down there forever. OK so far?”

“Got it,” Kristiansen said.

“The pipes protect the wires,” she said. “The wires come from the substation, too, obviously. You attach them there, but then you’ve got to run all that heavy wire through the pipes, because the wire’s the whole point of the deal. We have some tricks for that.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“First thing you do,” she said, “is hook up a big shop vac at the end of your run of pipe, then suck a plastic bag with heavy string tied to it through the pipe. Those flimsy plastic bags are easy to suck through a long pipe, is the idea. Once you’ve done that, you can attach a rope to the string and attach your ground wire to the rope. That’s called making up the head. Tape the other four wires—the thick ones you see there—to the ground wire, and pull the whole bundle through, and there you are. Repeat it about four thousand times, and you’ve got your wires in place and can pour a foundation. I can show you the blueprints if you like. They make it pretty clear.”

“Those wires have to be an inch and a half in diameter apiece,” I said. “Six inches thick of electrical wire? Got to be heavy.”

“It is,” she said, relaxing into it more now that she was the one with the knowledge. “Data centers take alotof electric power. Think about how many thousands of servers they’re powering. Aisles and aisles of them, working all the time, so you can imagine how much wire you’ve got to run for all that. You’ve got a feeder over there—a person—that guy guiding the wire off the big spools so nothing tangles—well, two feeders right now, because one was struggling—and then that big yellow machine down here, the loud one. That’s a tugger. Mechanical assist. It’s about working smarter, not harder.That’s how you don’t end up with OSHA breathing down your neck. Tugger’s expensive, but so are three people pulling wire all day, and having to replace one of them when he strains his back. Trading money for time tends to be economically smart anyway when you’re building something you want to get up and running fast so it’ll make you the big bucks.” She looked at the construction manager. “This what you want me explaining?”

“Alix is our newest foreman,” Howard said. “Gives you an idea of the quality of our team.”

“How many women on the job?” Kristiansen asked.

“Maybe twenty in all,” Howard said. “That’s another woman down there. I put her on Alix’s crew because she’s new, and I thought she’d be more comfortable there.” Alix had a sardonic look on her face again, and I wished I could ask her what that was about. I had a feeling she’d be making me smile again.

“It’s a good crew,” was all she said, though. Again, proving she was smart. “Women don’t have the upper-body strength men do, but that isn’t everything, even on a job like this. It’s about endurance. Body positioning. Like that. Keeping up all day. And, of course, knowledge and skill.”

Howard said, “Long as they can do the work, I’ve got no problem hiring women. But it’s a physical job, and a dirty one. Most women aren’t going to be interested.”

Well, that was true. Alix had mud liberally caking the jacket and pants. Now, she swiped her cheek with the back of a glove, streaking her rain-spattered face with yet more mud, and said, “I’d better get back to it, unless you have more questions.” Not looking at me.

I said, “I have a couple of questions.”

She glanced at me sidelong. “I’ll bet you do. But I’m not on break, and we only have an hour or so before we knock off.”

“These are investors.” Howard’s voice was sharper. “Answer his questions.”

Alix

I was not going to lose my cool. I was not. It was the dog-food aisle all over again. How had I gotlessattractive every time I’d seen him? See, this was why my grandmother was wrong, and I was never going to inspire great passion. It’s mighty hard to inspire passion in rubberized, insulated foul-weather work gear, boots, and goggles, and yet here I was in my Carhartts, not to mention covered in mud. I had a feeling I’d just wiped more onto my face, but I refused to take off a glove and check. When Sebastian had said he liked women because they were mysterious, I didn’t think he’d meant, “when they’re so dirty I can’t tell what they look like.” At least he hadn’t said “princess.” That wouldreallyhave made my life interesting here.