The safety clip fit around a rod beside the ladder steps, but had to be unclipped and reclipped every five or six rungs.
As the locomotive gathered speed, a crook appeared on the ladder steps of the dynamite car.
At Keller's left side, Shucorion floated down the forward ladder steps, gripping the handrail for dear life.
Wheeling in the midst of his lunge, he dived back through the roof door, grabbing for the ladder steps on the way down.
Then, hands tucked into his sleeves, he marched, chin lifted high and only slightly quivering, to the ladder steps.
On each of those ladder steps, including the top one, was an unmistakable smudge from the masked burglar's foot.
Painfully, he pushed himself to his feet and struggled up the ladder one step at a time.
Then Colene found what she had hardly dared hope for: ladder steps.
The door swung open, and the ladder steps popped down into place.
The truck's tailgate had ladder steps built in.