She pulled out her phone and quickly tapped into the system. “I can send the company files to you, but there isn’t much in them.” As soon as she had access, she emailed it to Troy and to Mason. When their phones buzzed, they pulled them out.
Mason spoke up. “You open that one, and I’ll open the one we have, so we can compare timelines.”
“Got it,” Troy replied.
“You won’t see it in those company files, no doubt,” Mason said, “but apparently he was a bit of an activist early on. His brother is a big activist. When Jude was younger, he actively protested against oil rigs.”
“Right, and here he is working on one,” Axel said, shaking head.
“But only for six months,” Mason said, as they sorted the information between them and discussed it out loud.
“What? So his brother wants him to blow up the place, you think?” Berkley asked.
“Maybe,” he said, “or maybe the brother didn’t want anything to do with it, and Jude is behind it all. Or maybe the older brother tried to pressure Jude into it, and, when something happened, he got off as soon as they could because he didn’t want to get blamed. He might not have wanted anything to do with it.”
“And again, tons of speculative thoughts,” she said, “and no answers. I deal in data. I need real evidence, real data, in order to sort this out,” she said in frustration.
The men stood in a circle, looking at her, and smiled.
She raised both hands. “Is that really so unexpected? What?”
“No,” Mason said with a smile. “That’s how Tesla talks.”
The other men all chuckled.
“Yeah, if she were here, she’d be into all kinds of shit,” Berkley said.
“What would she be doing?” Nelson asked.
She thought about it a few moments. “She’d have hacked into God-knows-what and already cross-run everybody’s history and cross-matched for connections. And then she would have done the same for everybody in the navy who was here during the recent war games. We already found Jude and his brother’s connection, but there’s got to be a reason why these eight guys are here now—plus Lionel—and nobody else is.”
“I gather you don’t believe in coincidences,” Troy said.
She snorted at that. “No, I don’t.”
Just then Mason’s phone rang. He answered it and immediately said, “I’ll be right there.”
He looked at Nelson. “That’s the boss man. Apparently one of the men has been found dead.”
*
Troy stared at him in shock. “Which guy?”
“The marine engineer, Bruce,” he said.
“He was there at dinner,” Berkley said. “They all were.”
“And they just found him in the hallway outside his room,” Mason said.
“Is there a clear cause of death?” Axel asked.
“Don’t know for sure, but there’s evidence of a blow to the head.”
“Of course there is,” she said, crying out. “This place is such a nightmare. Why can’t we just leave?”
“Everybody will be leaving, and a whole new crew is coming in,” Mason asserted. “In a situation like this, it just has to happen and should have been done already. There will be duties to hand off and a full investigation of everybody who’s here.”
“But now we have another death,” she said. “Accidental or not.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Nelson, get your suit jacket back on, and we’ll go get a briefing.” He looked at Axel and Troy. “Maybe take her back to her room, and one of you at least come up and hear what the guys have to say.”
“I want to hear too,” she said, wrapping her arms around her gut. At their silent looks, she added, “I brought you guys in on this. Remember? And if something else even nastier is going on, I want to know.”
“I’m not sure that’s wise,” Troy said.
“It doesn’t matter if you think it’s wise or not,” she said, turning on him. “We need answers, and somebody has to have them. So far it doesn’t seem to be us.”
“Ouch,” Axel muttered.
“Maybe she’d be better off staying with us,” Troy said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Better that she understands and knows what’s going on.”
Mason frowned and then shrugged. “Okay,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t like it, but I know I’d have the same damn problem with Tesla, if she were here.”
Immediately Berkley smiled, sparks flashing in her eyes. “We are a trial, aren’t we?”
Mason grinned. “Worth every moment of it,” he said with a laugh.
As they all headed out, she looked back at the other men. “Are they staying here?”
“They’re guarding the rest of the drills,” he said. “None of us want to end up dead before this scenario is over.”
She nodded. “If you say so.”
Troy looked at her, surprised.
She shrugged. “It all just seems so odd, this whole scenario. I don’t know what is proper or what to think anymore.”
“Not sure anything proper is to be done about any of it, but Mason is the one who pulled strings to get us all here, based on your SOS,” Troy said quietly. “We’re in international waters, and that can cause all kinds of chaos. We don’t know who’s responsible for the sabotage or the aftermath, all those unrelated deaths.”
She thought about it. “Not needing to be said, of course, but it’s an American oil company that clearly has military ties.”
“That it does,” he said grimly. “That it does.”
They went back to the dining area, where everybody was gathered. The crew stopped and glared at her as she walked in.
“And here I thought you were going to bed,” Jonesy said with a sneer.
She stared at him in surprise, as that wasn’t his usual attitude. “Well, I was,” she said, “until I heard that Bruce’s been hurt.”
“If that’s what you call it,” he said, staring at the men behind her. “For all we know, it’s these assholes. We didn’t have any trouble until they showed up.”
She looked at the two men behind her, realizing he meant Axel and Troy. “These two who arrived this morning? You call the explosion two days ago as no trouble until they showed up? I beg to differ about that. Nevertheless I highly doubt these men have anything to do with any of it,” she said calmly.
Jonesy glared at her. “If they hadn’t shown up,” he said, “I doubt any of this would have happened.”
“Well, that’s possible,” she said, “but that’s hardly a reason to blame them for somebody else’s reaction. They certainly didn’t attack Bruce.” She sighed in frustration. “Jesus,” she said, “this place is a mess. How soon can we get off this rig?” She looked around at the gathered men, realizing they weren’t all there. “Where’s Denny?” she asked suddenly.
“You know exactly where Denny is. He’s right where he always is at this time of night,” Jonesy said. “He’s in his room.”