Beyond The Limit

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Yeah, looks real good,” Cali agreed, relieved that things were going so well. She looked up at Pete, who was squinting against the sun. “I need a few minutes to discuss some other things with you. Your office?”

  He swung his attention to her. “Sure. We have to celebrate placing two hundred cubic yards of concrete today.” His happiness over their success was tempered by the serious look on Cali’s face. He glanced at his watch to check the time, then told Javad he’d be at the office trailer for about thirty minutes, in case he was needed. The young man smiled and nodded.

  Cali walked beside Pete to their trucks. The breeze caressed her hot face, and she took off her damp neckerchief and wiped her dusty cheeks. “Do you look forward to a cold shower every night like I do?”

  Pete laughed shortly. “Yeah. Truth be known, I’d like to take one three or four times a day. The grit gets into my clothes and chafes the hell out of me.”

  “Ditto,” Cali agreed. “We’re certified dirt balls, there’s no question.” Heart lightening with each step, she felt as if she’d just been released from a dark prison. The converted dump trucks were a triumph.

  Glancing over at him, Cali wondered if he was as excited by the success. He was deeply tanned, with strands of black hair plastered to his skull beneath the dark blue hard hat he wore. His mouth held her answer; she could see the corners lifting upward, as if ready to grin. And his gray eyes had lightened considerably.

  “Well, while we talk, let’s clean the dirt out of our mouths and throats with some cold Pepsi,” he offered.

  PETE DRANK NEARLY HALF a Pepsi before putting the can down in front of him. Wiping his mouth as he sat behind the planning desk, he watched Cali pour her soda into a large plastic tumbler filled with ice cubes. The office staff was in the field, the trailer quiet for once except for radio chatter that didn’t directly concern them.

  “Masochist. Now your stomach is going to knot up because it wasn’t prepared for all that cold stuff,” Cali warned him. She took a sip and tried to brace herself for the coming confrontation.

  Rubbing his flat, hard belly, Pete said, “You know what? My mouth and throat are very happy now.” He poured the rest of his Pepsi into the glass in front of him. Cali had taken off her hard hat and laid it on the desk behind her. He’d hung his on a peg near the door. “What do we need to cover?”

  Cali took several more sips of the icy liquid before speaking. “It concerns my need for an electrical subcontractor.”

  “Okay.” Pete hesitated, unsure where this talk was going to go. Not to mention he was distracted by her beauty. Cali’s white blouse was open at the throat and revealed the length of her neck and her delicate collarbones. He shouldn’t notice these things about her. Not now.

  “So what about electric?” He held her widening emerald eyes and saw a faint blush sweep up into her cheeks. Damn, but she was alluring. And he wanted her. All of her. But only in his dreams.

  Taking a deep breath, Cali gripped the glass. “I want to use Wharton Electric to lay the conduit beneath the concrete foundations that will eventually be poured.”

  Frowning, Pete reached into a drawer and pulled out the contractor file. His brows dipped as he opened it. “I don’t see Wharton on the approved list, Cali.”

  She grimaced. Why was it so hard to confront Pete on these things? She’d never had problems doing this before. Maybe her career would plummet, after all, due to Russ and his lies. Unsure, Cali compressed her lips. “No, Wharton isn’t on Mr. Elliot’s approved list.”

  “What’s wrong with Hartman Electrical? They’re on the list here,” Pete said, tapping his finger on the sheet.

  “Have you done any background check on Hartman?” she demanded.

  “No, but I’m sure Mr. Elliot and the team in Kabul did. You know contractors who want to work on a project have to submit their data one to two years ahead of time. If their stats and past performance are good, they’re put on the list.”

  Right. Cali bit back the retort. Her heart was speeding up noticeably. “Hartman is a small company, Pete. I don’t see how your boss could have okayed a firm whose biggest job to date was a hundred thousand dollars.” She shrugged. “The electrical bid for this project is in the millions.”

  “So what’s your point?” Shifting uncomfortably, Pete realized where this was going. Everyone in the industry had their favorite subcontractors.

  “My point is that Wharton is a known entity to me, to Roland Construction. They’ve worked around the world on multimillion-dollar projects. Hartman has not.”

  Frustration thrummed through Pete. He saw the set of Cali’s jaw and the tightness in her mouth. A delicious mouth that he badly wanted to explore…. The thought was completely out of place, and he shoved it away. Leaning forward, he picked up the list and held it toward her. “But Hartman has been approved. You know I can’t just let a contractor walk in here and ask for someone else. Front office won’t allow that.”

  “Hartman doesn’t have the trucks, the machinery or men to properly handle this project, Pete. I don’t know why Elliot put them on the list at all. We need someone who brings in all the equipment and men needed. Someone who doesn’t have to scramble to find it in-country.”

  “I don’t do the background research on these contractors,” Pete told her. “That’s not my job. My job is to make sure this site runs with what is given to me.”

  “And that’s all well and good,” Cali said, trying to keep the tension out of her voice. “But Hartman isn’t up to the task. They’re a fine contractor for a small job, not something this size. And if you allow them to come in, there will be delays.”

  Delay was not a word Pete liked to hear. In every contractor’s legal agreement there were clauses stipulating hefty amounts of money would be paid out for every day the project went over the end date. And Pete knew his reputation would suffer if this site and building went overschedule. Rubbing his mouth, he dropped the paper back on the desk.

  “Hartman will come in here,” Cali warned, “and will realize they don’t have what’s needed. They’ll scramble to hire men and supervisors. But from where?” She lifted her hand. “Electrical is a highly complex field. Finding qualified men to lay the conduit and wire is one thing. To get good supervisors who know what to look for, what is right or wrong, is another thing, Pete. That will cause us a lot of time loss.”

  Cali wasn’t wrong, and he felt trapped. “I’m sure Hartman can step into the job.” His boss back in Kabul expected him to stick with the preapproved list of contractors. Oh, Pete knew there was a lot of politics in this, and that Kerwin Elliot was a consummate player. It was no secret that every political operative had his favorites for projects. And for whatever reason, Elliot had approved Hartman as one of the potential electrical contractors despite any shortcomings.

  “Look, Cali, I don’t okay these contractors. I get handed the list just like you do,” Pete repeated.

  “I understand that,” she said, keeping her voice soft yet firm. She saw the frustration in his eyes. Her heart twinged at having to put him in a stressful position, but she couldn’t help it. “If Hartman is allowed to come out here, they will be stretched. They’ll start hiring hacks. I’m worried about the quality of workmanship.”

  “I’m not forcing you to use Hartman,” Pete stated. “but I am requiring you to use contractors from this list.”

  Damn. Cali wanted to mouth the word but didn’t. The air was taut and nearly crackled between them. Outside, she could hear the graders, bulldozers and other machines roaring and chugging. Only the radio calls back and forth between supervisors in the field broke the brittle silence between them.

  “And if I use one of the contractors on the approved list and have them subcontract to Wharton? What will Kabul do?”

  Pete shrugged. “Kabul doesn’t care if you spend your money for extra overhead.” He knew Roland would have to pay additional costs to get it done. This was a game played by all contractors to get their favorite subs to do work
on a project for them. And he could see Cali’s point and didn’t disagree with her. Hartman was too small and would have problems here, but it was out of his hands to control.

  “If I do it that way, Roland will spend roughly fifty thousand dollars. And we’d like reimbursement for that amount.”

  Ouch. Pete pushed his fingers through his short-cropped hair in frustration. Even though he sparred with Cali on site problems all the time, he always found her desirable. Times like this just reminded him how impossible any personal relationship would be. Corporate ethics wouldn’t allow it. “I can’t authorize additional payments to you just because Roland wants a different electrical company. You’re going to have to take it out of pocket.”

  “That’s not fair,” Cali protested. Why, oh why, did she have to take Pete’s tough words so personally? She wavered internally, her confidence crumbling.

  “An owner can’t have the contractor calling the shots on who works on-site, either,” he added. “That’s why we use a preapproved contractors list. We have to maintain a budget and set procedures. You know that.”

  Nostrils flaring, Cali knew Pete couldn’t magically dip into some account back in Kabul for the extra funds. “Okay, then I’m willing to eat the overhead costs if you agree to pay the cost on the concrete mixers that never arrived.” She advanced to his desk, her arms across her chest. “By contract, your company was supposed to have six concrete mixers out here for us to use. Four did not show up, as you know. I went and jury-rigged a bunch of dump trucks with my time, men and money to compensate for that problem, Pete. And because of my ingenuity, we are on schedule.”

  “I realize that,” he told her. Her body was radiating tension, but so was his. Seeing Cali’s eyes soften a bit at his compliment, he added, “And it’s working.”

  “Look, Pete, I need wiggle room here. I know some mixers were stolen and some were wrecked on that damn road from Kabul. Is that my problem? No. You guys have your problems, and you have to cover them. When it came to Roland not having the fence up for security because of delays beyond our control, you still made me accountable for getting it out here and getting it up. Which I did,” she added. “Within schedule.”

  “Yes, you did get that fence up in record time,” he admitted.

  “Mr. Elliot cannot keep asking Roland to absorb extra costs. You and I agree to waive some of these costs, but there comes a point when your company has to stand up to their obligations, Pete.”

  She was right. Taking a pencil, Pete fiddled with it distractedly as he pondered the situation. The jury-rigging Cali came up with was not in the contract. Roland had put out a lot of money to get dump trucks refitted to haul concrete. Plus, the dump trucks weren’t going to be available for any other use after the pours were done. It was a huge monetary loss for Roland.

  “I’ll call Elliot this afternoon and I’ll make clear the costs Roland has incurred. We’ll get this straightened out, Cali.”

  Pete knew that Roland could send in a team of lawyers to fight for every overcharge not in the contract. That could drag the project out for years. Lawyer fees alone made it wise to settle these skirmishes in the field and not in court.

  Her arms fell to her sides. “Thanks.”

  “I’m sorry we have to come to blows like this sometimes.”

  “Me, too,” Cali said, backing away from the desk. The apology in his eyes melted her, and she wished she could be immune to him. Just see him as the boss and nothing more. She picked up her hard hat and settled it on her head. “If Kabul wants to follow procedures, so does Roland. I’m going back to the hoppers to make sure things are running smooth.”

  The door shut and the trailer grew quiet except for the sounds outside. Pete sighed and sat back in his chair, the pencil still in his hand. The last thing he wanted was an argument like this one. They occurred daily over little or big issues. Still, his heart wasn’t into this particular fray. Cali was right; his boss had made a mistake in qualifying such a small electric company. Pete knew such mistakes were part of the construction business.

  The hurt lingering in Cali’s green eyes tore at him, and made him feel badly over having to lay down the law. She deserved better than what Kabul was dosing out to her company. And somehow, Pete was going to see that it got fixed in this one skirmish.

  For whatever reason, he wanted to see her smile. She didn’t do it often, but he waited for those rare moments. It was like getting a glimpse of the real woman beneath the hard hat. Even after months of working together, he ached to know her on a more personal level. But to go there meant ignoring his past history, and Pete couldn’t do that. When their two-year commitment was over, would he still feel this connection to Cali?

  Pete set the pencil back on the desk. He already knew the answer to his silent question.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “YOU HAVE A FEMALE FOR main contractor?” Brad Parker, the project’s newest engineer, asked his boss. “That’s an interesting plus. It will be the first time I’ve ever worked with one.”

  Pete sat at his desk and tried to keep from snarling at the man. Thirty-two-year-old Parker had just arrived on-site and didn’t know Cali’s reputation. He wasn’t in the military, nor would his employees be. “Ms. Roland knows her business,” Pete responded, a tinge of warning in his voice. He didn’t like the fact that another Taliban attack had necessitated this change in personnel.

  Three weeks ago, in mid-September, their owner’s chief structural engineer had been driving on the outer perimeter road and had hit a roadside bomb. Teddy Hanson had suffered major injuries. Pete was eternally grateful that the Canadian helicopter crew had been coming in that day to pick them up for their bimonthly flight to Kabul. They were able to whisk Teddy to the hospital, and an operation saved his life. But that left a hole in Pete’s supervisory force, and Brad Parker, a civilian, was Teddy’s replacement.

  Chuckling, Brad leaned back in the chair, seeming far too pleased with himself. He had his legs crossed, a clipboard in his lap. “Listen, women at a site like this are rare, anyway. I’ve banged around Asia and the Middle East a bit, and women are off-limits because of all the religious beliefs.” He grimaced. “Hell for me. I like women. I like their company. That’s the only thing I don’t like about jobs out in the middle of nowhere.”

  Pete couldn’t disagree with him. He handed Parker the rest of the reports, plus his duties, which were clearly spelled out in the standard operating procedure manual they all used.

  “Teddy Hanson won’t be coming back, and you’ve signed a contract for one year. I think by the end of that time you’ll know whether you’ve had your fill of our site or not,” Pete said.

  “There’s always Kabul. If you let me escape one or two weekends a month, I’ll be okay.”

  “If you want to drive four hours one way to reach the city, that’s fine by me.” The guy looked like a leading man in a movie. The errant thought that Cali might be attracted to this easygoing, smiling structural engineer bothered Pete.

  “Well, let’s see how it goes.” Parker picked up the clipboard and the manual and rose. “I came out of a nasty divorce a year ago. Women are nice, in their place. But I’m not interested in making a home with one soon.”

  The two men shook hands, sealing the start of Parker’s tenure. “I know Ms. Roland is out at the building site. They’re waiting on you, Parker. We’ve got a lot of work backed up that needs inspection and your recommendations.”

  Putting his dark blue hard hat on his head, Parker grinned. “I’m on it. I’ll give you an update at the end of the day.”

  “Sounds good. Thanks.” Pete watched the man leave. He was six foot three inches tall, well-built and in vital health. As the door shut, Pete wondered again if Cali would be drawn to this man armed with charm, poise and a flashing smile.

  Scowling, he shoved the thought aside and got to work.

  CALI WAS LOOKING AT the steel rebar that had been put into the bottom of the square foundation. The September sunlight poured warmth
down upon the dry plain. For a moment, she lingered there, enjoying the heat and surveying the progress.

  “Ms. Roland?” The deep male voice came from behind her.

  “Yes?” She looked up into the glimmering blue eyes of a stranger. An intensely good-looking stranger. Behind his square jaw and handsome face she sensed a keen intelligence.

  “I’m Brad Parker, the new structural engineer.” He extended his hand. “I’m Teddy Hanson’s replacement.”

  Cali reached out and gripped the man’s broad and callused hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Parker.”

  “Call me Brad.”

  Sometimes, when Cali shook hands, men tried to crunch her bones. Over the years, she’d learned this was a subtle test to see if she was really a strong woman. Parker seemed to monitor the amount of pressure he exerted, however. He was gentle with her.

  She grew uncomfortable under his intense gaze. Heat sprang up in her face as he gave her a long, appreciative look. Releasing his hand, she stepped back, unnerved.

  “I think ‘Mr. Parker’ will do,” she answered coolly. A warning went off deep inside her. A sense of fright. She didn’t have time to analyze why. For now, she would focus on the rebar inspection. Turning, she gestured toward the foundation. “We’re glad you’re here. You’ve got a lot of inspecting to do in order to catch up. Right now, we’re running a week behind schedule because we lost Teddy to that roadside bomb.”

  “Well, don’t fret, Ms. Roland. I’m here and I’ll get us back on schedule. Guaranteed.” Parker gave her a confident smile.

  His smile reminded Cali instantly of Russ—the man who had taken her down at the other project. He, too, had possessed a killer smile to go with his drop-dead-gorgeous looks. It was obvious that Brad Parker thought a lot of himself, and she couldn’t ignore the sense that he was coming on to her. Maybe she was making this all up. Running scared because of what Russ had done to trick her. Without thinking, Cali dropped her gaze to Parker’s left hand. No wedding ring. But that wasn’t unusual. Construction hard hats didn’t usually wear jewelry. Asking about his marital status would give the wrong impression.