“The garage is locked,” I said quickly. “And the power is cut for safety reasons.”

“Right,” Marcus said, looking nervously at the thick power cables dangling near the roofline. “Right, of course.”

He looked at his phone again, frowning at the screen.

“No signal down here anyway,” he muttered.

“The hills block the tower when the heavy equipment is running,” Nathan added.

Marcus nodded, his skepticism seemingly washed away by the sheer scale of the chaos.

“I’ll tell Todd to call Richard when we get back to the office,” Marcus said, opening his car door.

“Please do,” I said. “Tell him we’re saving his investment.”

Marcus got back into the Lexus, shifted into reverse, and backed carefully down the narrow driveway.

I stood there until the sound of his engine faded into the distance.

My knees felt like water.

“That was close,” Nathan said, tossing his red rag into a tool bin.

“Too close,” I said, wiping a bead of sweat from my forehead. “We need to move faster.”

“We’re going as fast as the steel allows,” Nathan said. “The kitchen wing is next.”