“Do we have a submersible down there?”
Axel shot him half a glance and said, “What do you think?”
The two spent the rest of the flight watching for the oil rig to come into view, while surreptitiously eyeing Gregor.
“Do we know if it’s safe to land?” They both kept their voices low, looking out the window at the oil rig. There might have been an accident, but Troy wasn’t seeing anything to indicate just what that had been. “They said something about an explosion, some part of the rig collapsing, and a fire.” He motioned down below. “I’m not seeing evidence of that.”
“It was inside, I believe,” Axel said, but his look was hard as he studied the rig they approached. “Stay alive,” he muttered.
Troy’s reaction was instinctive. “Always.”
Chapter 1
Stay alive was a twist on stay alert, and both meant the same thing. Watch out for the knife in your back in order to make it home again. Something Troy always kept in mind.
They landed easily, the pilot having done the trip many times. The weather was just starting to brew outside. It promised to be a full-blown gale soon. Perfect. A damaged rig out in the middle of the Arctic nowhere with a storm coming on. Sounded like his kind of deal.
He hopped off with Axel, grabbed his bag, the same kit that anybody else on board would have, only his was fully loaded with weapons. They headed into the main part of the rig. One man stood, waiting for them. He looked at the two deckhand guys in surprise.
“What the hell? No crew is supposed to be arriving. We’re a skeleton crew as it is.”
“Beats me. We were told to get on board,” Axel said easily. “If it wasn’t for the board member on the flight with us, we probably would have begged off, but he said that we were needed.” Axel shrugged.
The guy looked over the two men. “We just busted our humps to get everybody off this place,” he complained. Then he turned and saw the board member walking toward him and frowned. “Of course the suits are here.”
“Right,” Troy said in agreement. He leaned forward slightly. “A real namby-pamby sort.”
“Aren’t they all?” he said. “Well, you’re here now. I’ll talk to this guy, and maybe you can leave with him too.”
“Appreciate it,” Axel said cheerfully. “I’m Axel. This is Troy.”
The guy nodded, then shook his head and said, “I can’t say I know you two.”
“We transferred in from another rig,” Troy said smoothly. “Again, board members are moving people around.”
“They should stick to what they do and leave us alone,” the guy ahead of him snapped. The ID tag on his overalls read Daniel.
“I agree,” Axel said. “Instead of moving people, they should stick to moving paper.”
At that, the three of them sniggered, a bond already forming. It was always that way in the world. Nobody liked the brass; nobody liked the board members; nobody liked anybody moving in and stepping on their toes. Daniel was obviously of a position here where he felt quite comfortable being the last one on board, then giving new crew shit for showing up. But he wasn’t so high up that he didn’t immediately smile and have a complete change of attitude when the board members arrived.
Mason, true to form, stared at him with a haughty look on his face. “Daniel,” he said, by way of acknowledgment.
Daniel stumbled a bit, then immediately put out a hand and said, “Glad to have you here.” He looked down at his clipboard. “I was only expecting one of you though, and I wasn’t expecting new crew at all.”
“Change of plans,” Mason said casually. He looked around. “I do want a full report though, as of five minutes ago.”
“It was sent around,” Daniel said apologetically, “but I guess our internet facilities took a hit.” He looked at the two new crewmen, Troy and Axel. “Head down the hall, take the first left, then follow the signs to your bunks. Grab any that are free. The place is empty. But don’t get comfortable.” His tone turned icy. “You’ll be leaving on the helicopter with these guys.”
“Will they?” Mason asked, one eyebrow raised. “My understanding was that you needed crew here.”
“Hell no,” Daniel’s words slammed out. “We’re trying to get everybody off. It’s not safe anymore.”
“Well, who’ll do the repairs if you don’t have any crew?” Nelson asked.
Daniel stared at him in frustration.
Nelson returned the stare. “I do know how to handle myself on a rig,” he said. “And the longer we stand here, the longer it’ll take. But, if you need a repair crew, why aren’t they here?”
“I have a six-man repair crew on board, plus my cook and an IT contractor,” he said. “I don’t need these two. Particularly when they’re new.”
“What difference does that make?” the real board member asked.
“You’re Gregor, aren’t you?” Daniel asked.
Gregor nodded slowly. “I am, indeed. How is it you don’t know Mason and Nelson here?” he asked with that air of arrogance that always made others uncomfortable.
“I heard some shuffling was happening at the top end,” Daniel said. “Sorry, we don’t always get the memos out here.” His tone was just barely above polite, and it was obvious that Mason in his role recognized the slight.
“Then I suggest you stop wasting everybody’s time and lead the way.” Mason turned to look back at the helicopter and raised his hand. The pilot lifted his hand and settled down to wait. With any luck, they would all be leaving within a few hours.
It was up to Axel and Troy to get the other two crew members on board without anybody seeing them. And then it would be a clear-cut case of finding out what the heck was going on.
But, for the moment, they needed to separate themselves from Mason and the others. Troy picked up his duffel bag, and, with a nod to Axel, the two of them walked down the hall, following the instructions they’d been given.
As soon as they were out of sight, Troy pulled out his sat phone, which was needed out here with the wet and cold weather and the lack of usual internet connections, and brought up a map of the oil rig. “I figure we should probably grab our bunks, nice and central,” he said, as he tapped one of the rooms that appeared to be midway in the rig. “It’s got two sets of stairs, so we’ve got easy access from both sides of the rig.”
“Good enough,” Axel said, but his jaw was clenched with tension. He glanced around. “Definitely something fishy here.”
“I smell it too,” he said. “A six-man repair crew, huh?”
Axel gave him a sideways glance. “Is that not enough?”
“Absolutely, depending on who and what,” he said. “But you and I both know, if you get the right guy, they can do the business of five or six other men. You get the wrong one, and you’ll still need a dozen, because all of them are too damn stupid to do anything.”
“Nobody stupid should be hired on these rigs,” Axel said.
“True, but look at how we got on,” he muttered.