OUTCAST Ops: The Poseidon Initiative

THIRTY-ONE

Dante hauled himself over the top of the ladder onto the oil platform’s lowest level. He shed his gear and then reached out to pull Jasmijn up. They crouched next to a large spool of electrical cable on a concrete deck and surveyed their new surroundings: a maze of pipes and catwalks. They could neither see nor hear any signs of people. The place looked deserted. Dante heard the sound of water dripping and located the source: Jasmijn’s mesh dive bag containing the sea anemones.

“I thought you said you needed those to be alive, in water, in order to be useful for the antidote?”

She frowned at the bag of invertebrates. “Ideally, yes, but to be honest I’ve tried it with them before, delivered live, and it didn’t work.”

“So you lied to them?”

“Well, I guess so. But I don’t know what else to try. I know these anemones are the key, somehow…”

“Good job. You got us out of the lab and at least now we have a chance. Maybe you should just ditch the bag now since they’re going to die, lighten your load?”

She eyed the bag again. “I think I should hold onto them. For one thing, if Hofstad does recapture us, they might still be alive and I’ll tell them they’re still good. For another, maybe they’ll work anyway, who knows. We went through a lot of trouble to collect them, after all. Not to mention I don’t want to take their lives for nothing.”

“Okay, then let’s move.” Dante motioned along the edge of the structure, below which the waves slapped against the support pilings, echoing throughout the rig.

“What are we looking for?”

“Let’s see if we can find a radio or a satellite phone in here somewhere.”

Jasmijn agreed. “We can work our way up, most of the rooms are on the upper level.”

They walked across the first level, which was mostly outdoors, with the second, more substantial level blocking most of the sunlight. Dante knew that they had only a few minutes before Hofstad discovered something was up. SCUBA air tanks lasted for somewhere between forty minutes to an hour, depending on depth, and, although he had no watch, he knew it had to be coming up on that now.

Dante pointed out some metal bolts laid out on the floor in front of them. “Step over them. We don’t want to make any loud noises they can hear from the boat.” Jasmijn avoided the obstacles and they continued around the edge of the rig, which was roughly square shaped. They reached the end of the first side and laid out flat in what Dante thought of as a prone sniper position in order to get a look at the Hofstad boat below.

It was still floating there, the four men and Naomi visible as indistinct forms from this distance. Dante could see no signs that they were frantically searching for them yet. But then he saw something that gave him an adrenaline surge.

Another boat.

Smaller, a little further away than Hofstad’s vessel.

Shah?

He’d been there at the dock. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to figure out where they were going, but Nay had gotten off the comment as a clue.

Even if it wasn’t Shah, as long as it was someone besides Hofstad, it was great news.

“Who do you think is in the other boat?” Jasmijn asked.

“I think it’s my OUTCAST colleague who followed us from the docks. I saw him there.”

“No way we can swim to him or Hofstad will see.”

“Right. We have to communicate with him somehow. A radio would be best, even though Hofstad might hear that. Or we could try to visually signal him somehow, like with a mirror or a flare if we can find one.”

But as soon as he said it, they heard the sound of a smaller outboard motor start up. They turned and saw an inflatable Zodiac boat making a fast beeline from the Hofstad boat to the newcomer’s vessel. It would be there in a couple of minutes.

“Should we watch what happens here?” Jasmijn queried. Dante got to his feet and started moving toward the rig’s main enclosed structure.

“We should see if we can get to a radio while they’re a little distracted.”