**New Mexico private eye Jack Vane is stranded atop a 282 foot tall tramway tower on the 12,000 foot high Sandia Mountains, and under attack by a former Russian Spetsnaz soldier name Vlad Stalin.

Jack woke with his leg kicking out in a reflex. He’d taken a thirty-second nap and was dazed from it.

The tower suddenly vibrated. A warning bell dinged loudly below as someone started the gondola up the haul cable from the lower terminal.

Vlad saw what was coming next and with a Spetsnaz battle cry started climbing the tower at Jack.

Jack couldn’t believe it—the gondola was coming up to him. He could step off the maintenance platform onto the roof gondola-crane and climb down to the roof, where he’d hold on to the crane as it took him out of there.

He glanced down. Stalin was racing up the tower like a monkey, the crossbow slung across his back. He was in better shape than Jack, but Jack had his own lifetime of constant paramilitary training and reflexes to draw upon.

Jack glanced down at the gondola.

It would be a close race between the gondola and Vladimir. Jack muttered, “It might be a damned tie!”

He worried that Stalin could still shoot at him even if he made it to the roof of the gondola. He decided somehow he’d have to climb inside the swaying thing from the roof.

But he was already worn out, so he had no idea how he’d be able to do that. It was too dark and too windy.

Here came Stalin.

Here came the gondola.

Stalin stopped to take a shot at him, but the broad-head bolt glanced off the maintenance platform’s underside.

As the gondola suddenly soared past Jack at almost fourteen miles an hour, he stepped out onto its crane.

And fell.

Stalin watched Jack fall.

It was twelve feet to the roof and Jack disappeared from view as he crashed onto the swaying gondola and slid away toward the edge like a burger on a greased grill.

The gondola kept going past and Vlad started down the tower to try and get Jack at the upper terminal, but then he realized that would be impossible. So Vlad climbed back up.

He hauled himself out onto the cable itself and began a commando crawl toward the summit, behind the gondola.

But whoever was operating the machinery below suddenly reversed direction. Now the gondola and Jack were bearing back down on Stalin, who was strung out like a stranded cat along the cable.

Vlad managed to do a slide-for-life a short distance in reverse, using the crossbow to take the friction, but the car was right on top of him.

He hit the maintenance platform just as the car passed. He rolled out onto the platform, stood up, and jumped. He hit the roof of the car, lost the crossbow, and almost rolled off into the smash of death below.

Jack had already gotten inside the gondola via a service hatch he’d jammed shut from within. He was locked inside the swaying car and Vlad was outside.

Vlad hung upside down to peer in the windows.

Jack made bye-bye at him with finger waves, grinned, and started rocking the car. The cross wind helped.