You Fired the Backbone of Detroit novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Rod
The Anvil sat dead on the dyno with a hole in its side, and the control room was full of smoke.
Nobody said a word.
Marty stood in the doorway with a fire extinguisher he did not need to use.
I walked into the smoke and put my glove on the block.
It was still burning hot, and I did not take my hand away.
"Get me the pan," I said.
The twins drained the oil into a steel pan, and the machinist set it on the bench under the work lamp.
I fished through it with a magnet.
The rod came up in two pieces, blue at the break from heat.
I turned the bigger piece over in the light.
"Cylinder six," the machinist said quietly.
"Yeah."
I studied the bolt holes and the color of the metal, and I knew before I finished looking.
The bolts had stretched.
The cylinder had run hot, much too hot, and nobody had told it to stop.
Cleo came and stood at my elbow.
"What is it?" she asked.
I did not answer yet.
I looked at the intake manifold sitting beside the engine on its cart.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of You Fired the Backbone of Detroit are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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