Chapter 33: Construction Destruction

In Tom’s garage later that night, Roxanne handed Tom a hard hat. “Put this on,” she said. They had just picked up some supplies from her father’s place. With Tom’s help, she set up a two by four on two sawhorses, and Roxanne handed Tom a hammer.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” she said.
Tom bent over the board, placed a nail on the piece of wood, and raised the hammer. As he smacked down on the nail, his arm jerked. He went through the same motions again, his arm looking like the hammer weighed as much as a brick.
“Here,” Roxanne said, holding his hand with the hammer in her own. She swung down on the nail in a more fluid motion, tapping the nail head more lightly. “Keep it fluid.” Tom groaned. She let go.
Tom tried again, hitting the nail on its side and bending it.
“Start again,” Roxanne said, handing him another nail. He struck it, missing and hitting his thumb.
“Owww,” Tom whined. Roxanne came over and rubbed his thumb. “Why can’t I do this?”
“Center the nail. Take a deep breath, and use one flowing movement. You don’t need to hit so hard. Let the hammer glide in your hand,” she said, demonstrating the movement to Tom. He took her instructions and tapped the nail in with a few smaller hits.
“That’s better,” Roxanne said. “I think you’re ready for the nail gun.” She showed Tom the safety features of the tool, then handed it to him. He jerked as each nail drilled into the wood piece.
“Slow and steady,” she said. He adapted and worked down to the end of the board.
After Roxanne showed him a couple more techniques and tools, she declared Tom ready for work.
“This plan isn’t going to work.” Tom kicked a piece of trash with his shoe. “They’re going to know.”
“Hey,” she rubbed his shoulder, “just stand there and look the part. Whatever they’re doing, they’re going to need some help carrying things or cleaning up. Then you can go around and listen to what the other guys are saying.”
The next morning, donning jeans and a plaid shirt, Tom still looked too clean to be a construction worker. When he opened the garage, Roxanne grabbed some dirt from the yard and smeared it on his pants.
“What?” Tom said, jumping back. “What are you doing?”
“We need to rough you up a bit.”
Tom sighed and let Roxanne dirty his jeans and shirt. She stepped back to look at her handiwork and nodded her approval.
Going undercover meant Tom couldn’t bring a bodyguard, and now that the loan shark had agreed to their new deal, he felt safe for the time being. The challenge of infiltrating the construction crew centered around keeping his real identity hidden. If they realized he was there only for information, they might take matters into their own hands.
Roxanne drove Tom’s pick-up and dropped him off in the open field where Tom sat down with a soda. Only 4 other men hung around, one eating a sandwich. Tom kept his head down, hoping not to draw any attention to himself. When the same pick-up they’d followed the day before arrived, he waited for the crew leader to signal for the men to hop in the truck.
As the other men scrambled into the truck, Tom clambered in too. He sat with his head down in the truck bed. One of the men nodded in his direction, and Tom took that as a kind of friendly recognition. Tom’s palms were sweaty. He knew nothing about construction, and if someone realized that, these men certainly looked like the type who could kick the cr*p out of him.
He planned to stay silent or only speak when he had to. Like Roxanne instructed, he aimed to be more of a helper to the other crew members so no one would notice his lack of skills.
The truck pulled up to the building, and all the men popped out and started grabbing tools. They seemed to know what they were doing. Tom grabbed a hammer, a hard hat, and some safety glasses.
When he walked in the building, men were busy putting up some drywall in one area and sanding some wood beams in another. Tom followed the men from the truck toward a tall, overweight man with a mustache.
“Alright, I need you to frame out this office. It’s going to go here.” He pointed to an area of the room with marks spray painted on the floor.
Tom examined the room. Various workers were completing jobs in the large, mostly empty building. Knowing that if he was caught, it could prove dangerous for him, Tom kept his gaze low so as not to reveal too much of his face and tried to blend in with the crew.
The men started carrying in two by fours from a pile in another part of the building. Tom followed and stilted toward the room, carrying a long piece of wood on his shoulder. Easy enough, Tom thought. The men assembled the planks and one started using the nail gun to connect them.
Tom hammered in a nail or two with his hammer, taking his time to line everything up correctly, remembering what Roxanne had taught him. He’d been around construction sites before, but actually doing the work proved harder than he thought. He considered how impressive it was that such a beautiful woman like Roxanne could excel at such work.
When the mustached boss returned, he instructed the crew to install some drywall. Tom trailed the men to a spot where supplies were stored. He picked up a large piece of drywall and hoisted it onto his shoulder, much like the other men were doing.
Carrying back the drywall, Tom tried to look around. He didn’t see anything amiss. His concern that his plan would prove useless worried Tom.
The crew worked quickly, one man applying glue to the stud beams, the others placing the drywall and then using nail guns to attach the drywall to the beams. Tom tried to look useful, fumbling with some nails to the side, his palms sweating in fear that someone might ask him to complete a task he had no idea how to do.
When the boss returned, he said to the group of them, “now glass.” They looked at him with a questioning stare. “Baxter wants it that way,” the man said.
At the mention of Baxter, Tom’s ears perked up. So he and Roxanne were right, Baxter had something to do with the project.
While the other men each carried their piece of glass between two men, feeling more confident in his abilities, Tom decided he could handle it on his own. Like the drywall, he picked up a large piece of glass and braced it on his shoulder.
He trudged toward the room where they had been working. Before he arrived there, however, another construction worker passed Tom coming the other way with a heavy tool. Tom tried to step out of the way to let the man pass, but he didn’t realize a large table saw sat behind him. Tom bumped into it. His body turned instead of absorbing the blow and the piece of glass swept into the saw and shattered.
The sound of cracking glass caught everyone’s attention.
The surprise shock of the broken glass paralyzed Tom. He stopped and stood like a stage actor caught in the spotlight.