Kade: Santanas Cuervo MC by Kathryn Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

The geophones have finally gotten good enough that we can capture the data at a granularity where we can actually measure the densities of the voids to determine their contents.”
     
    Big Dick felt his headache coming back. “I’ll take your word for it, Doc.”
     
    “Right now, the drillers get all the glory, but when Winter’s software comes online, it’ll be the sounding crews who actually finds the stuff. Then we’ll be the heroes for a change,” Greg said as he climbed out of the cab.
     
    “What do you mean?” Duck asked.
     
    “Imagine this,” Winter began. “The way it works now is there is a giant warehouse, and somewhere in there is a brick of gold. I tell you it’s somewhere in the left third of the warehouse, and I send you to go find it. You go in and search, and eventually come out with the brick. Who gets the credit for finding it?”
     
    Duck thought a minute. “I guess we both do. You knew it was in the left third, but I had to go in and dig around until I found it.”
     
    “Fair enough,” she said. “But who would you say found it?”
     
    “I guess I would say I found it.”
     
    “Okay. Now imagine the same thing, except I tell you which aisle, row, and bin it’s in. Now who gets the credit?”
     
    Duck smiled. “I see. That makes sense I guess.”
     
    “Yeah. Right now the roughnecks give us boomers a train load of shit about how even with all this fancy equipment, they’re still the ones who have to find the oil,” Greg explained. “Well, that’s about to change. Winter here, she can practically smell oil. When was the last time you sunk a dry hole?”
     
    “I don’t know.”
     
    “I do. Not since your first year, when you were still working on your PhD. You sunk one dry hole. One . Hell, even your Dad isn’t that good, and he’s damn good. And when you get the bugs worked out of your software…” Greg shook his head. “I’ve been doing this for more than thirty years. I was one of the first people Tom hired when he founded the company, and I can tell you, this will be the biggest thing to come along since the Roller Cone bit.”
     
    Duck and Big Dick looked at each other. “That’s big?” Duck asked.
     
    Greg chuckled. “Considering they have been using that design for more than a hundred years, yeah, that’s big.”
     
    Before anyone could say anything else, the four heard the loud tink of something hitting metal, then a moment later, the crack of a rifle. Big Dick was the first to react, shoving Winter to the ground and falling beside her. There was a puff of dust about six feet away, then another crack of gunfire.
     
    “Under here!” Big Dick cried, dragging Winter until she got her wits about her and scrambled under the thumper where Big Dick shoved her between the massive front tires. Duck joined them a moment later, the men on either side of her with their weapons out as the rest of the thumper crews scrambled for cover.
     
    “See anybody?” Duck asked as they peered around the tires.
     
    “No. I didn’t see anyone before either. Where ever they are, they’re way the hell off because I didn’t even see a truck.”
     
    Everyone stayed down a moment. “Stay here,” Big Dick said, motioning to her with a hand before he crept out from behind the tire, then stood on the steps to the cab and looked in the direction of the shot.
     
    “See anything?” Duck called from under the truck.
     
    “Just a dust cloud from someone leaving in a hell of a hurry.”
     
    Duck, Winter, and the rest of the thumper crew crawled out from under and behind the trucks. “What the hell was that all about?” Greg asked.
     
    Duck started for Winter’s Jeep. “Don’t know, but I’m going to go take a look. Winter, I’m going to use your Jeep.”
     
    She nodded but didn’t say anything.
     
    “You think it was that crazy old bastard again?” Greg asked, as Duck drove in the general direction of the shot.
     
    “Why would it be? We’re not on his