“Why not?” Berkley asked, looking at him with a frown. “Don’t you have the ability to measure the steel chambers?”
“We measured the pressure inside and out,” he said, “but it’s hard to say what a blast like that might have done to the tanks themselves.”
She stared off in the distance as she thought about it, then shrugged. “That really is out of my league.”
Immediately Phil jumped all over her words. “Wow, look at that. Little Miss Brainiac here admitted she doesn’t know something.”
She ignored him, but it was getting downright hard to. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her cool, so she could keep an eye on the others. The atmosphere was generally negative and depressing.
“The helicopter also landed,” Winslow said.
She studied them closely. “What helicopter?”
“Board members,” he said. “Company men.” His tone turned, and he seemed to spit out the words.
She’d never spent much time on any rig, mostly popping in and out of several of them, troubleshooting various programs. But one thing they all had in common. The men working on the rigs couldn’t stand the men in the offices. She nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense. Somebody has to come look at the damage.”
“Only if they brought some engineers with them,” Winslow said in disgust.
She kept her gaze on the monitor in front of her.
“How many men came then?” Jonesy asked beside her.
“According to Herman, three company men are on board.”
“That’s a lot,” she said.
Jonesy snorted. “One is too many. Three is a damn crowd.”
She shifted from one screen to the next, working to decipher what was going on; she ran split-screen testing, searching for malicious software in the system. On another one, she ran diagnostics on the software. Two different things but both related. On her center screen, she worked away on the electronics that ran the actual rig here. Just enough damage had been done on some of the computerized sections that she was rewriting code and creating patches to connect to the older systems. She sat back and said, “One day they’ll have to buy a new system.”
“If it makes our lives easier,” Chucky said with a half groan, “you know they won’t.”
She nodded. “That’s always the way, isn’t it? Save a few pennies, then blow a massive amount later to fix what they could have fixed now.”
“I’m sure there is a saying like that,” someone said.
“But it sure as hell ain’t that one,” Phil added.
She shrugged.
Jonesy clicked on some of the security footage around the place and whistled. “Why do we still have two guys outside on the rig?”
She glanced over his shoulder, and her heart stopped because no way could she not see Axel. That man was massive. She’d met him and Troy a couple times at Mason’s well-attended backyard parties. With her heart slamming against her chest, she said, “Maybe they came in with the helicopter.”
“It’d be typical of the company to do that,” Jonesy said, swearing. “Somebody better go roust them. They’ll be lost, looking all over this place.”
She wanted to go herself, but she knew that she had to stay where she was, and, even if she went, one of the guys would likely come with her anyway.
Just then the door to command central opened and in popped their foreman, Daniel.
She gave him a half smile. He looked a little rattled and, behind him, in came three men in suits. Daniel closed the door behind the men and disappeared from sight. Her gaze shifted to the suits that had walked in and froze when she caught sight of Nelson and Mason.
Chapter 2
Berkley’s breath caught in the back of her throat. She’d been in the act of standing, but she slowly sank back down again.
“Heads up,” the foreman said. “The company men are here, and we need reports as soon as possible. Two crewmen came on board with them, and everybody is looking to leave within a couple hours.”
“Good thing,” Chucky said. “We probably don’t have grub for longer than that.”
“Unless you came in with a new supply,” the foreman said, turning to the suits.
The only true company man she recognized—because she knew the other two were faking it—shook his head. “No,” he said, “I didn’t bring food supplies. Pretty hard to carry on a helicopter.”
Something about his tone she couldn’t register. Meanwhile Mason was looking around. He noted her, but his gaze bounced off her and went over her head. She was grateful for that. Nobody knew that she’d put out the word. It figured that Mason would come in person. Tesla wouldn’t have accepted very much else. Berkley would remember to thank her friend for that. What Berkley really wanted was to get off this rig, safe and sound, and to ensure none of the other men were in danger.
“We’ll break you up into threes,” the foreman said. “Actually no.” He stopped and frowned. “Maybe we’ll do this one at a time.” He walked to his office. “Chucky, you’re up first.”
Chucky bounced to his feet. “Up for what?”
“We want to hear from you just what happened,” he said, “but we’ll do it over here in the office.”
“Why? You’re separating us to get our stories straight?” Winslow asked, his tone disbelieving, yet a note of anxiety was in it.
Berkley kept her head down while she kept on working. She listened as the men grumbled among themselves.
Chucky had no option but to head into the one office on this rig, connected to the bullpen, where the rest of them worked—right where they could see him, sitting slouched before the suits, who sat off to the side and out of sight.
Jonesy leaned over and said, “That’s not cool.”
She leaned back and asked, “Why not?”
He studied her face. “Really?”
She flashed him a quick frown. “Where I come from, all meetings are done one-on-one. What’s different here?”
He settled back and said, “Yeah, I guess you’re more of an office worker anyway, aren’t you?”
It was a slight, but it was more than that. It separated her from them. She shrugged. “I’ve been here long enough to understand these nuances that I’ll never get because I’m deemed as different,” she said, “but I don’t understand what’s wrong about this.”
“They’re looking for somebody to blame,” Jonesy said, his voice short and tight.
At that, Phil walked over. “Well, they’re not fucking blaming me,” he sneered. “I’m lucky to be alive as it is.”
She’d heard his story. Apparently he’d been on his way back from checking one of the drills when the explosion happened. He’d been flung a good ten feet in the air to land on one of the poles. His ribs were badly bruised, and he had a slight concussion. She herself had been inside when it had all gone to hell. She didn’t have a clue what had gone on. It depended on what was the root cause of it all.
Winslow caught her attention. He was pacing back and forth. She glanced at Jonesy and nodded toward Winslow. Jonesy studied him. His gaze narrowed, and he nodded. “Well, he’s upset about something.”