Thumbs Down

The telephone's insistent ringing at three in the morning snatched Sam Workman from dreamless sleep. "e;Hello,"e; he mumbled. "e;This is a warning,"e; said a digitally altered voice. "e;Leave Betterton now! If you don't, you won't live long enough to regret it."e; "e;Who is this?"e; Sam angrily demanded to a dead line. "e;Unknown name, unknown number,"e; blinked the call identifier. "e;Coward!"e; Workman growled and slammed down the receiver. The call was the first episode in a conspiracy to force Sam and his business, B&W Concrete, out of Betterton or destroy them. Followed were attempts to oust B&W from two construction projects, a hospital addition and an engine plant, totaling $400 million in construction costs to yield B&W $10 million profits. Sam retains attorney Penn Roman to stem the tide of disastrous actions drowning B&W in a flood of claims of incompetency and fraud and more threats and violence against Sam, Penn, and Penns family. When a testing lab employee working on the projects disappears, and the newspaper prints libelous articles condemning B&W, Penn and Sam find themselves entangled in a web of greed, deceit, violence, and murder. Courageously, they face the schemers in an explosive and telling trial to the finish.