The Rig 1: Rough Seas (5 page)

“Then we will make magic happen tomorrow, you and me.”

“Always a pleasure working with you, sir.”

Chapter Eight

Wes was in the lock already, changing into his wetsuit. He looked at the clock and tutted. Joy was never late. So why was she late this morning? He picked up his mask and used it to call Dave.

“Dave, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, mon ami.”

“Where the fuck is she?”

“Not sure.” Dave looked at the clock as well. “She should be here. Want me to give her a call?”

“Yeah, do that. She might be sick or something.”

Dave picked up the phone and thought Joy might well be sick, though probably not in the way Wes thought. Just as he chose her number from the list, she walked in.

Joy looked rather worse for wear that morning and she knew it. Her head felt fragile and her throat and mouth were dry.

“Morning,” Dave greeted her cheerfully.

Joy growled at him and closed her eyes, “Yeah, morning.”

“Is she there?” Wes' voice asked through the radio.

“Yeah, just came in.”

“I'll be right up.”

Joy swore. She knew ‘The City’ would be moved tomorrow and they would have to finish their research today, and she was sure Wes would stop her diving. There would be another test drilling today as well and absolutely no chance she could go down today.

“Why did you get me in this state, Dave?” she vented at him. “You fucking idiot!”

“Because you needed it last night.” Dave smiled at her.

Joy groaned. She could not blame Dave for this. And then to make matters worse, Sheila walked in.

The gorgeous blonde was in a bright mood as she came in and it annoyed Joy more than anything.

“You look like you had a rough night,” Sheila greeted Joy.

“Yeah...” Joy replied, without any form of enthusiasm.

“Did you have any breakfast?” Sheila asked her kindly. “That might help.”

Joy gave her a foul look and just groaned again. She had wanted to make a reply, but she stopped herself short of snapping at her.

Sheila walked over to Dave and looked over his shoulder.

“What's the count down?”

“Countdown to today's drill.” Dave smiled at her as he looked up. “We can't be down there when they drill. There's always divers then, but it's dangerous and they don't want anyone but specialists down there.”

Sheila nodded, understanding the problem.

Wes came clambering up the steps into the control room. He had stripped down his wetsuit and had pulled a t-shirt over the top. His skin was glistening from the Vaseline he had to use to pull the wetsuit on properly. He took one look at Joy and knew she was not fit to dive.

“You can't dive like this.”

Joy got to her feet and looked at him with the most calm and sincere look she could muster.

“I can go down.”

“No, you can't. You're hung over.” Wes looked angry. “For fuck’s sake, Joy! We have one day to finish here and you can't dive!”

“I can dive!” Joy protested, as she blinked her eyes staring against the glare of the light of the lamps in the control room.

“Fuck that.” Wes was fuming now. “And I can't go down on my own.”

Dave looked at his screen. He could dive, but he'd never been down there, and he did not want to either.

“Dave?” Wes came to stand just behind him. “You're the only diver left.”

Dave's brain raced as he tried to find an excuse not to go down.

“I can go down,” Sheila said.

Dave looked at her in surprise and could not suppress a huge grin.

“Then you take her down and I can keep pressing buttons up here.”

Wes just stared at them both and then nodded.

“Come on.” He walked back to the stairs down to the lock. He shot Joy an angry look before walking down and disappearing.

***

Joy came to sit beside Dave and watched the screen for a moment. Then she laid her arms on the desk and rested her head there. She wanted to be down in the water, but she knew full well she could not be down at that depth in her condition. Up here was so boring though. She could not understand why Dave preferred this over diving.

“They're at the bottom,” Dave said, making her look up. He pointed to the monitor. A meter showed their depth, another window showed a sonar and on a second monitor he could see a feed from the two cameras in the masks.

“Right you two, get working. You have forty-five minutes to get your samples and come back up. After that the engineers are going down to check the drill.”

“Roger that, Dave,” Wes' voice crackled through the speakers.

“You alright. Sheila?” Dave asked, looking at the feed from her camera.

“Yeah, yeah. Just been a while since I was down this deep.”

“Well, you do have to get a move on; otherwise the other divers are going to whoop your ass.”

“Roger.”

A man in a suit walked into the control room. He looked at the monitors for a moment and then walked to Dave's microphone.

“Hey Reg. What are you doing here?”

“Need to speak to Wes and Joy for a moment.”

Just then Joy touched his arm and smiled at him.

“Oh! Hi, Joy.” The man grabbed the microphone and hit the button. “Wes, it's Reg here.”

“What is it, Reg?” Wes asked.

“Just saw Joy here, are you down there alone?”

“No, Dr. Briggs is with me.”

“Oh, good. Listen, can you and Joy get up to Mr. Stryker's office at one? Bring Dr. Briggs as well. They need an update on your work for some reason.”

“Roger that, Reg.”

Reg clicked the button again and just walked out. Dave and Joy watched him leave.

“Now, what was that about?” Dave asked.

“Beats me. They get daily updates. God knows what they really want.”

***

Sheila looked at Wes as they ascended through the water, making their way to the pillar and rungs. She struggled in the current, but managed to work through the water.

She had been so nervous. She could dive, but had not been down for several months. Her work right now did not allow it. She was in good shape and she was a good swimmer, but something about deep sea diving was far more exciting and nerve wracking.

They were close to the lock and she held on to the rungs, giving herself a rest.

“It's been a long time since I was last down at that depth,” she told Wes.

“You did well. But we need to get a move on.” Wes placed a hand on Sheila's bum and pushed her up. “Come on. They will want to start here in a few and I can't hold on forever in this current.”

Sheila pulled herself up and struggled to the door of the lock. “Right Dave, we're back. Can you open the lock?”

“Roger.”

Dave's fingers could be heard through the microphone as they hit the keys of his keyboard. Slowly the door of the lock began to open and Sheila hauled herself in when the door was half open. She pressed herself against a wall and waited there for Wes to enter. She was exhausted and just glad to be out of the current that swept around ‘The City.’

“We’re in, Dave.” Wes said as he passed through the door.

“Roger that,” Dave answered, and he hit a key to close the door.

Wes sat down next to Sheila as they waited for the door to close and the water to drain.

“You did well down there,” Wes told her, touching her knee.

“It seriously has been a long time.” Sheila sighed.

Her shapely chest was heaving as she tried to reduce her heartbeat after the exhaustion. She was relieved to see the door close completely. A few seconds after the door closed there was a whirring of a pump and the water level in the flooded lock began to drop. Wes looked up and the moment there was space above, he pulled off his mask and his tanks and swam up. He breathed the air deeply and sighed as he let himself float in the lock. Sheila followed his lead and she felt great with the air coming into her lungs. It was still recycled air, but at least it did not come from a bottle. And then the excitement of the dive that had been pushed away by her nerves finally came over her. She felt a huge smile coming onto her face and she reached for Wes, kissing him full on the lips.

Upstairs Dave was watching the monitor that allowed him a view of the lock. He saw how Sheila kissed Wes and how Wes wrapped his arms around her and he reached for the mouse to scroll the cursor over and get rid of the screen, but it was too late.

Joy had just come back into the control room with her coffee and saw the view from the camera. Dave saw her face fall and watched as the coffee began to spill from her cup. He swore under his breath.

Chapter Nine

The helicopter was ready and the pilot was just waiting for his passengers and cargo. He stood leaning against his machine and rolled a cigarette. He knew he was not supposed to smoke anywhere around the heliport, but he always got away with it as long as he stayed close to his own machine.

He stuck the rollie in the corner of his mouth and lit it up. He breathed the smoke deeply and turned towards the gate. He breathed out and took another puff before lowering his cigarette. He yawned and stretched himself. It was taking a long time for the van to arrive. His passenger and cargo today would be a technician and the gear of some local deejay that would be performing on that oil rig off the San Clemente coast, ‘The City’ it was called. God knows why she wanted to perform there, he thought. He had been there several times now, and indeed the complex was quite impressive, but it did not exactly compare to the big nightclubs of San Diego.

He rubbed his face, checking whether his shave had been smooth. He tended to let his beard grow out, but his girlfriend had insisted on him shaving. He spat out a piece of tobacco that came out of his rolly. His face just felt tender now. He hated shaving and was wishing he hadn't told his girlfriend he would not. He would just have to let the stubbly beard grow back again.

Finally, he saw a white van come through the gates. He checked his watch. It was half an hour late. He threw the rolly down onto the concrete paving of the heliport and stamped it out. He tracked the van as it weaved through the crafts gathered on the tarmac until it eventually pulled up next to him.

He looked at the driver and frowned at him. He tapped his watch.

“Half an hour,” he said, as the driver rolled down the window.

“I know,” he replied, spitting. “Fucking security checks, it's ridiculous.”

The pilot smiled. He had noticed the checks had increased since ‘The City’ started operating.

“Hey, if you help me load the gear into your bird, we'll be in the air in no time, might even be able to make up some time.”

“Sure,” the pilot said.

He made his way to the back of the van and waited until the driver opened the door. The door opened and there was suddenly a soft snap, a whir and then nothing.

***

Akhmed was running late. There had been an accident on the way to the heliport and then the security checks had taken forever. When he finally got through the gate he gunned it. He raced towards the helicopter and braked hard. With screeching tires he stopped beside the helicopter.

“Sorry! Sorry!” he shouted as he threw the door open and ran towards the back of the van.

The pilot walked after him and rubbed his beard. He threw down his smoke and stamped it out. “Security checks?”

“Yeah.”

Akhmed began to roll out the first crate with equipment. The pilot stopped him.

“I know how stressful it can be that can be. Why don't you go to the terminal and buy a cup of coffee? I'll do the loading.”

Akhmed jumped on the offer, even though he knew he should stay with the gear. But he trusted the pilot would not damage the gear. It was expensive gear and he would not risk breaking it. He walked down to the terminal, occasionally looking back at the pilot. But the pilot was just loading the gear. He was wheeling the crates out of the van and into the helicopter. Then Akhmed walked into the terminal and out of sight.

As soon as Akhmed walked into the terminal building, another van drove up to the helicopter. A man jumped out and opened the back doors. They began loading crates into the helicopter as quickly as they could and then took the crates from Akhmed's van which they loaded into their own. As quickly as the van had come, it left again.

Akhmed returned with two cups of coffee in hand. He figured the pilot deserved a coffee as well. Just to be safe he had taken some milks and sugars with him, in case the pilot preferred his coffee with either or both.

“All done already?” he asked, surprised the loading was already done. “You work fast.”