“What’s with the book?” she asked.
“My secret weapon,” he grinned.
“Looks dangerous.”
“I swear it weighs like 500 pounds.” He paused for a moment and looked down at his stomach. “By the way, I think I was shot.”
“Danny and I dug the bullet out. You don’t remember?”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember a thing.”
“That’s okay. What matters is that you’re awake and alive.”
She stroked his face and leaned forward and kissed him. Tenderly at first, afraid of breaking him, then just a little harder.
“Gaby,” he whispered.
She pulled back slightly. “Hmm?”
“You have blood all over you, babe.”
“I know.”
“Whose is it? Do I want to know?”
“It’s not mine or Danny’s, and this time it’s not yours, and that’s all that matters,” she said, and kissed him again.
16
Lara
The sign on the wall read “Roustabouts 5:00 A.M. sharp” with the “5:00 A.M.” in large blocky red letters. She had seen similar signs along the rig, but especially around the living quarters where, she assumed, the “roustabouts” congregated.
“Five a.m.?” Bonnie said, almost whispering. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to wake up at five a.m. even when I was flying around the world doing runway work.”
“Must be nice,” Lara said, matching Bonnie’s pitch.
“Being hot has its privileges, what can I say? You could have passed for a model, you know. What are you, five-seven?”
“Five-five.”
“Never mind, then.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Just being honest.”
They stood in the back of the communications room, watching Riley wearing a headset and standing over a console lined with buttons and monitors while a young woman who had introduced herself as Terry manipulated the controls. The woman, who looked to be in her late thirties with naturally curly hair, seemed to know what she was doing, even though Lara could see her fingers tapping nervously on the table. Lara could only hear snippets of the ongoing conversation, and all of it from the room’s side. While Terry was clearly nervous, Riley was calm and his voice remained steady throughout.
“Roger that,” Riley was saying into the mic sticking out of his headset. “We’ll be ready to receive you by then. Ocean Star out.”
Riley took off the headset and handed it back to Terry, whose hands were shaking as she took it. “Jesus Christ, Riley. I never want to do that again. I think I’m going to piss my pants.”
Riley put a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “You did good, Terry.”
“You think they suspect anything?”
“If they did, then they wouldn’t still be on their way here.”
“Where are they coming from?” Lara asked.
He looked over. “Texas. We’re going to be getting a lot more units coming our way for refueling and resupplying now that the first phase is reaching its end.”
“And then back to the war?”
“Some of them. But most will be heading back to The Ranch.”
“The Ranch?” Bonnie said.
“That’s what the younger guys call it,” Riley said. “It’s our main base of operations. It’s also where Mercer planned all of this and where we built up the forces that’re being used in Texas right now.”
“So what happens when this unit shows up?” Lara asked.
“We’ll pretend like everything’s okay and refuel and resupply them and send them on their way.”
“Just like that?”
“That’s the plan.”
Lara exchanged a look with Bonnie.
“What?” Riley said.
“What happens if they don’t buy it?” Lara asked.
“They will,” Riley said. “We’ve done this before. Besides, I know the unit that’s heading our way right now. One of them is a good friend of mine. I would know if they suspected anything,” he added, looking back at Terry when he said it. “We just carry on like business as usual, and everything will be fine.”
“You sound pretty certain,” Lara said.
“I am.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
He shook his head. “I’m not.”
“He’s cute,” Bonnie said.
“Who?” Lara asked.
“Riley. Baby blue eyes.”
“Is that what they call them?”
“Tall, broad-shouldered…”
“From what I can tell in the few hours I’ve been here, he’s not taken yet, so feel free to make your move.”
“I was thinking more about you.”
Lara sighed. “Bonnie, I brought you here to help me do inventory and figure out how much space we’ll need to clear on the Trident to accommodate Riley’s people, and because Carly can’t—and won’t—leave the bridge until Danny calls in—so don’t start with me.”
“I’m just saying; you could do worse.”
“I don’t have to do anything. And my love life—or lack thereof—is not up for debate.”
“Sorry,” Bonnie said.
The two of them turned a corner and pushed their way into the stairwell. Every step they took produced a loud clang, something that used to bother her—anything that made a lot of noise, especially when she was the cause of it, bothered her—but she had become used to it after going up and down the Ocean Star all morning.
“Sorry,” Bonnie said again. “You’re right; it’s none of my business. I’m just worried about you, that’s all. We all are.”
Again with the “we.”
“Tell everyone I’m fine,” Lara said.
“I know you are. That’s why we trust you with our lives.”
Maybe you shouldn’t, because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
“We’re behind you,” Bonnie said, apparently taking Lara’s silence as approval to keep going. “We know every decision you make is because you’re looking out for us. Everyone on the boat believes that. We have a lot of faith in you, Lara, and we care about your well-being.”
“Like getting me a boyfriend?” she said, and this time smiled at the ex-model.
“Something like that,” Bonnie smiled back. “Baby blue eyes, Lara. Baby blues.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said as they reached the landing at the top of the stairwell.
The door in front of them was a thick metal airtight structure with a round wheel instead of a traditional lever or knob. Bonnie gripped the wheel and spun it with both hands, then pushed the heavy door open.
They stepped outside and onto a staircase that overlooked the Ocean Star’s top deck. Lara tugged at her jacket’s collar as they made their way down and over to one of the edges overlooking the western part of the platform. They leaned against a chipped yellow railing with the water sloshing below them while signs around them warned of the importance of hard hats and holding onto the railings at all times.
She had no trouble locating the Trident anchored nearby, swaying slightly back and forth against the waves. It was only about a football field’s length from them, and if she stared hard enough she could just make out Blaine’s outline on the bridge and Carly pacing behind him.
“Carly’s going to burn a hole in the bridge’s floor,” Bonnie said.
“She’s worried about Danny,” Lara said.
“Hopefully he radios in soon. I’d hate to lose him, Gaby, and Nate.”
If we did, it’d be my fault for sending them out there in the first place.
“Yeah, me too,” she said instead.
There was a white tube connecting the Trident to an old gray refueling ship that was about a quarter of the yacht’s size. The vessel had been attached to the other side of the Ocean Star when they first approached the rig, so they hadn’t seen it before. For a while she wasn’t sure if Riley could live up to his promise of fuel, but he’d proven her wrong. The more
she learned about the rig’s importance to Mercer’s war efforts, the easier it was for her to believe that Riley’s mutiny was not going to be well-received. The fact that Riley planned on taking the refueling boat with them, along with the inventory and armory, would only add to the insult.
He’s risking a lot.
No, that’s not true. He’s risking everything.
Two men wearing black tactical gear and carrying rifles walked past them. They were part of Riley’s security personnel and were back at their stations now that he didn’t need to hide them from her anymore. There was also someone on the crane in the background. Lara had seen the man’s silhouette every now and then, but never for too long. That would be the oft-mentioned, never-seen Peters.
She unclipped her radio and pressed the transmit lever. “Blaine, come in.”
“Blaine here,” the big man answered. “Everything good over there?”
“We’re on schedule. Faith’s taking Bonnie back to you with the first of the supply runs in a few minutes. Depending on how close Mercer’s men are from us, there might be one more, at least for now.”
“What about the refugees?”
Lara and Bonnie exchanged a grin.
“He’s not wrong,” Bonnie said. “They are sorta like refugees.”
Lara said into the radio, “They’ll come over later once Mercer’s people are gone. Missing civilians would be a huge tip-off that something’s not right on the Ocean Star.”
“Good point,” Blaine said.
“How long before the tank’s topped off?”
“Ten more minutes, give or take. Has Riley told you where we’re taking him yet? It’d be nice to know now so I can get started figuring out the best route there. It’d also give me something to do other than watch Carly wear out the carpet back here.”
“I’ll let you know when he tells me. Until then, be on the lookout for Bonnie in a few.”
“Roger that,” Blaine said.
She put the radio away. “You should get going,” she said to Bonnie. “They’re probably finished loading the supplies by now.”
Bonnie took out a notepad from her back pocket and scanned it. “That’ll be the cooking oil. He’s giving us half of his stock. Hot and generous.”
Lara rolled her eyes. “Get going.”
“Yes, sir, ma’am, sir,” Bonnie said.
She gave Lara a mock salute, then pushed off the railing and headed down the nearby stairs, her boots clanging off the steps after her.
“Where did you get that thing, anyway?” a voice asked behind her just before Riley appeared next to her a few seconds later, taking over the spot Bonnie had just vacated.
She knew Riley was only in his early thirties, but he looked so much older than that. It wasn’t just the lack of sleep either; there was a heaviness about everything he did and said. In another place, another time, he would be handsome and she might have gotten weak in the knees if they had met in a bar or at a party, but now, watching him staring at the Trident, she could only think about the burdens of leadership and the choices he’d made. Not just for him, but for forty-seven other souls.
I wonder if I could make that kind of choice in his shoes?
Will could have. But then, Will could do a lot of things…
“I guess you could say it sort of just showed up when we needed it most,” she said.
Riley chuckled.
“Did I say something funny?” she asked.
“The boat showed up when you needed it most, and now it’s here. I needed a way to get my people off the Ocean Star, and you showed up. There must be something special about that boat.”
Its previous owners would beg to disagree, she thought, but said, “I never asked you how you spotted us in the first place.”
“Peters.”
“Peters?” she said, and reflexively turned around and glanced up at the crane, though this time she couldn’t see anything that looked like a man up there.
“He’s got one of those amateur telescopes up there,” Riley said. “It’s supposed to be used for astronomy, but he’s adapted it for terrestrial surveillance. The damn thing weighed close to twenty pounds and it took forever getting it up there in one piece, not to mention welded into place. He spotted the Trident when it was still twenty miles away—even before you guys anchored—otherwise we’d never have met.”
“Lucky you.”
“Lucky us,” Riley said.
“Lucky you I didn’t give the order to shoot last night.”
He smiled. “Definitely lucky me, then.”
Neither one of them said anything for a while, and they were content to lean against the railing and let the cold wind whip around them. A fishing boat had already left the Ocean Star while they were talking and was now maneuvering toward the back of the yacht, where a couple of figures were waiting for it. Faith and Bonnie would be on that boat along with the first stack of supplies from Riley’s inventory.
Finally, she said, “Why an oil rig?”
“Probably the same reason you’ve been living off the yacht,” Riley said. “The Ocean Star has the benefit of being isolated. You would have just cruised right past us if I hadn’t pulled my idiotic stunt last night.”
She smiled and hoped he didn’t see it.
“These things were built to withstand time and anything Mother Nature can throw at it,” Riley continued. “And while it’s not exactly halfway between the Texas shoreline and The Ranch, it’s the next best thing.”
“You mentioned The Ranch before. Where is it, exactly? Or is that something else I don’t need to know yet?”
“Have you ever heard of Black Tide Island?”
“It doesn’t ring any bells.”
“It’s a U.S. government-owned piece of real estate in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. The military uses it for war games, and it’s equipped with a base big enough to have its own accompanying landing strip.”
“That’s where your planes took off from.”
“No. I mean, yes, the planes Mercer’s using during R-Day have the range, but the logistics made it impossible, not to mention all the fuel they would burn just getting from point A to point B. The ones they’re flying out there were already sitting in Texas air bases, gathering dust. We only used Black Tide to train the pilots.”
“You mean people were flying around out here all this time and no one noticed?”
“Like I said, Black Tide is in the middle of nowhere, on purpose. How many other people have you run across before us?”
She thought about the dead body they had fished out of the ocean, then later, the voice on the radio begging her for help but that she had chosen to ignore…
“None,” she said.
“It’s a big ocean,” Riley said. “Anyway, after the pilots were trained, it was just a matter of sneaking them back into Texas with the main force. We already knew where to get everything we needed for the operation. Of course, it took the teams weeks to get the planes working, but Mercer is blessed with men who know their way around machines.”
“Blessed,” she said, unable and unwilling to hide the derision in her voice. “Not quite the word I’d use to describe what’s happening out there right now.”
“They’re only doing what he asked of them.” He leaned closer against the railing, as if he were trying to make himself small. “I’m not proud of any of this, Lara. I wish I could say I was braver, but I wasn’t.” He looked over his shoulder as the same two guards she had seen earlier passed them by again on their rounds. “When all of this is over, I’ll take the blame.”
“The blame for what?”
“For not putting a stop to this nightmare before it ever got started. But I didn’t. None of us did. We could have done so much more—I could have done so much more—but we didn’t, and we’re going to have to live with that.”
She thought about the voice on the radio again, asking for her to make contact, asking for her help…
Lara closed her eyes and counted to five, t
hen opened them again.
“The plan was always to bail once we got out here,” Riley was saying, “but my transportation never arrived.”
“What happened?”
“At the last minute, Mercer decided to reroute it to help with the war effort. I think he’s planning to attack Port Arthur from two sides—land and sea.”
“So you needed a replacement transportation, fast.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“What about that refueling ship?”
“It’s not exactly designed to haul people around, Lara. And definitely not forty-eight people and all of our supplies.”
“How did you convince everyone here to abandon Mercer’s war, anyway? That must have been one hell of a discussion.”
“It didn’t take that much convincing, actually.”
“No?”
“As the CO, I was able to handpick everyone here with us right now. So I only took the ones that I knew could be convinced. Most of them are friends, and some are known acquaintances.”
“So you only selected people who were already pro-mutiny.”
“Exactly.”
“Smart.”
“One of the few smart things I did, I guess you could say. It took a lot of work and vetting, but I had help.”
“Hart.”
He nodded. “Hart, Faith, Terry, and a few others. I never told you this, but the Ocean Star, in terms of staff, is the smallest FOB out here. It’s not because the rig can only accommodate forty-eight people. These were just the ones I could be sure of.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He looked over at her. “What do you mean?”
“You said you handpicked everyone here, but how can you be absolutely sure everyone sees things the way you do?”
“I don’t understand…”
“Fine. You only chose the ones you thought would be the most open to your mutiny. But how can you be absolutely certain every single one of them didn’t just say yes when you revealed your plan, not because they agreed with you, but because they had no choice?”
“No choice? Of course they had a choice.”
“What if some of them are just going along with you because they’re afraid of what will happen if they say no? You said it yourself how difficult it was to do what you’re doing because of everything Mercer’s done for you. He saved your life. He saved all of your lives. What if not everyone is quite as willing as you to cross the line from having doubts to full-on mutiny?”
The Purge of Babylon Series Box Set, Vol. 3 | Books 7-9 Page 58