Aloha – Its hard to believe its been over a month since I posted last. I promised to share a few chapters from “Sea of Salt”. I did mention I’m in editing at the moment. We have made a first and second pass. I’ll probably send it off for final editing by the end of the year. “Sea of Salt” follows up on “Salt of the Earth”. I’m proud of the original and like where the sequel is going. Central characters remain but focus shifts somewhat toward the genius Dr. Blake Hilst. At the end of the last book, of the friends he was the odd man out without a partner. He takes center stage frequently in book 2. Chapter 3 was a fun introduction of a couple of new characters who are spying on Dr. Hilst’s lab out in the high desert of Utah where he won’t blow up anything consequential by accident. He has reluctantly left for the wedding of his best friend and the makeshift lab is currently locked up Chapter 3 Hank and Tom Tommy “I think we can risk it,” Tom Tommy kept looking around the horizon. “Nobody has come or gone in over twenty-four hours.” Tom Tommy and Hank had been in the ravine all night. It had been a long night for Tom Tommy. Hank fell asleep not long after dark. Tom Tommy on the other hand heard noises in the wash and above every few minutes. At one point he saw a pair of red eyes staring down at him from the top of the ravine. When he moved the eyes followed him for nearly a minute before they disappeared. That was either a cougar or a coyote, Tom Tommy thought. The pictures that Hank had taken were useless. Pictures of sky and sand, but not a single picture of the flying house. After Blake and his friends had departed Tom Tommy had taken dozens of pictures showing where the house had been, and where it was sitting now. But he knew he was going to catch hell for not getting something more concrete. “I think we can risk it,” Tom Tommy kept looking around the horizon not long after dawn. “Nobody has come or gone in over sixteen hours.” “Whatever you say,” Hank stood up and stretched his two-meter frame in the gully. Shaking his head and cracking his neck a few times he started to climb to the top of the ravine. “Come back down here,” Tom Tommy growled. “We can follow the ravine part way. We don’t have to stand in plain sight you idiot.” Hank slid back down the eight feet to the wash, spraying red sandstone dirt all over Tom Tommy. “Whatever you say,” he smiled like a cockeyed cowboy. For the third time in three days Tom Tommy reached for his gun, then relaxed. “Follow me,” he snapped. They walked along the dry gulch for nearly a hundred yards that angled toward the building. Fifty yards from the house Tom Tommy hesitated and took a deep breath, “come on, but stay low.” “What are we hiding from?” Hank drawled. “I don’t know; maybe nothing, but if you hear any vehicles or see any dust rising we get back to the gully as fast as those long legs of yours will move.” Tom Tommy crouched as he moved nervously toward the house, while Hank ambled along behind him. “We’d see anybody coming for at least three miles from here,” Hank drawled. Tom Tommy froze as he saw something moving off on their right side. “What’s that?” he croaked. Hank looked off for a moment. “Well darn if it’s not one of those coyotes that was eyeballing us last night.” “One of them?” Tom Tommy growled. “How many were there?” “Three or four,” Hank shrugged. “I knew they wouldn’t bother us if you were awake so it couldn’t have been more than that. If there’d been more they might have tried to take us.” A chill ran down Tom Tommy’s back. I hate this place, he thought. Then aloud said, “What if I’d fallen asleep?” “Not much chance of that,” Hank snorted. They approached the house with Tom Tommy considering where he could bury Hank’s body when they got finished with this project. Plenty of open ground around here, he thought. “Nobody would ever find him,” he muttered aloud. “What’s that?” Hank asked. “Nothing,” Tom Tommy growled. The damaged house was creaking in the light breeze from the south. The front door looked like it was closed but was letting light in from the top as it was no longer aligned with the frame. Hank climbed up the hillock and hung by the top of the frame as he gave the door a quick kick and moved inside. Tom Tommy struggled to find a way to climb into the house but kept slipping. Finally, Hank reached out and grabbed Tom Tommy’s hand and pulled him up with a single yank. “What is all this stuff?” Hank asked as he looked around. “I found the bathroom, it’s a mess by the way, I wouldn’t go in there,” he held his nose to illustrate. I found a microwave, but no kitchen. There is a bed in the other room. But the rest of this place is just a bunch of computers and weird equipment. I don’t think we’re gonna get much in this heist.” “This equipment, as you call it, is exactly why we’re here,” Tom Tommy grinned. Hank looked around the room, “Well, I might be able to carry one or two of these things, but it would take me three or four trips in my pickup to get the rest of it. Do you think we got that much time?” “We don’t need to take it, we just need some pictures,” Tom Tommy grinned malevolently, as he reached into his jacket. Pulling out his phone he looked around as if wondering where to start, then glancing down
