Deep Sea One (31 page)

"Are you familiar with Purdue?" she asked, removing her spectacles to have a better look at her latest agent.

"I know him by reputation. And my best friend has worked with him before," he said. She waited for him to elaborate.

"Oh . . . uh . . . my friend was the photographer on the Wolfenstein expedition," he rushed. Mrs. Lancashire's glasses fell from her hand.

"Your friend was with that expedition?"

"Yes, madam. He is currently working with two of the people from that expedition . . . on something else."

"Again with Dave Purdue?" she asked abruptly, as if she could not get the information rapidly enough from him.

"I believe so."

"DCI Smith, where is your friend working at the moment?"

"I believe he is on assignment again, madam, but I don't know where exactly."

"Call him. Ask him if he knows anything about Purdue holding those biological agents. Find out his location, but do not disclose the nature of your inquiry. Am I clear?" she said, with that all too familiar authoritarian voice.

"Crystal, madam."

"I want that location before the end of this business day, DCI Smith. Surely I do not need to impress on you the urgency of this matter," she added. Patrick nodded. Inside he was very proud of his accomplishments, but he was worried about Sam. What if he could not get hold of him? His friend was known for going off the radar for weeks on end when he was on assignment.

"If we find Purdue, we find the strains. Once we find the strains, we find the rogue agent and hopefully avert an act of biological terrorism. You are dismissed, DCI Smith."

"Good day, madam," he said, and made his way to the nearest park where he tried Sam's cell phone, but there was, as expected, no answer.

On Deep Sea One Liam and Darwin informed their respective crew members about their concerns, but they did it so that Peter and Mr. Purdue could not tell that something was going on within the staff. Secretly the men had prepared for evacuation after several of them had admitted to seeing strangers come up to the platform from out of nowhere. Now their jobs, maintaining a disused oil rig and checking structural defects under sea level, made sense. The money was very good, therefore none of the crew members ever questioned the basic nature of their jobs, where they did not produce raw oil for processing, but instead only checked that the machinery was in order.

"It was all in working order, lads, not because we were drilling, but because our expertise maintained whatever the fuck is going on in them labs beneath," Darwin gruffly whispered from the center of the gathering of workers who assembled to discuss their voluntary departures or staying on the oil platform. It became clear to the mechanics, engineers and divers that the machinery was acting as generators for the high-maintenance power grids under the platform. They had always known that they were being paid for upkeep, instead of actual drilling, but for the remuneration they received, it was an exceedingly easy job. What made them restless after all this time was the revelation of the volatility of Deep Sea One, should anything go wrong.

Tommy was nowhere to be seen, but after what Liam and Darwin saw, they did not bother to look for him. It was 5am when the first shift started and the men agreed to wait for Darwin to make alarm, should Tommy cause any serious trouble. They knew now that he was a charlatan, but in trying to alert Mr. Purdue, the boss would not give them a moment's attention.

"I had never seen him like this," Darwin panted, as he returned from Purdue's office. He met Liam and two other men at the control room entrance. They were getting their gloves and boots on while they chatted with Liam. Darwin looked thoroughly somber as he came toward them. "He won't see anybody, for any reason."

"Is he bombastic?" Liam asked.

"That's the thing. He is not in a bad mood at all, but it's like he is not even here. There is something weighing on his mind that makes everything else unimportant. I swear to God you could tell him that there's a pipe bomb in his arsehole and he'd nod and smile about it," Darwin moaned. He wanted, needed, to tell the boss about Tommy and the sergeant who was also at large.

Purdue did not even notice that his bodyguard was missing. Like Nina and Sam, he reckoned she was still sleeping. He had good reason to be so distracted. Today was the fruition of decades of promise to his peers in the organization. Now that he knew the Spear was real, even before the dating process was complete, there was no time to waste. Down to the laboratory he rushed, ignoring everyone who passed him or greeted. Briskly he entered the red section, walking into Nina's lab, and picked up the relic where it was lying in front of the chest.

Wrapped only in its leather casing, he shoved it into his blazer and locked the lab again. He had to have everything properly prepared for the gathering. Dave Purdue, high commissioner of the contemporary Vienna Circle descendants, had initiated a meeting of the clandestine and powerful Order of the Black Sun.

☼

Chapter 40

It was just before 8am when a large red Jet Ranger clamored above the platform. The sky was clear and the ocean breathed lightly, making it easy for the machine to land. Purdue walked out to meet his first two guests, men in flawless suits with unremarkable traits. Smiling, the three walked toward Purdue's elevator.

Nina and Sam were having breakfast in the mess hall.

"What are you going to do when the Spear's carbon dating shows it to be real?" Sam asked the pretty petite academic as she bit off half a sausage.

"Ish not up tha me," she said through her stuffed mouth, and Sam could not help but chuckle at her charming reply. She swallowed. "As soon as we know for sure I think I should tell him what I really think."

"Nina, he won't give a shite, love," the handsome journalist shook his head.

"Look, the guy is smitten with me. I'm sure I can impress the severity of this thing's power on him if we were alone," she whispered. Sam could not believe what he heard. Nina Gould? Using her ass as an asset, for once? He could not deny it was a smashing idea, but he could not see Purdue give up the "power of gods" to fuck Nina. Not even Nina.

"Well, I can't steal the fucking thing now, can I?" she snapped, when his expression betrayed his cynicism.

"I didn't say that . . ." Sam started, but Nina's eyes moved with something behind his back and he knew they had company. "What?"

Nina's face changed from catty to terrified. The last time he saw that look on her was when a gun was against her head. His heart sank. "Nina."

Tommy stood behind him, Beretta drawn. He held it close to his body, not to be noticed by anyone but them. Sam turned to face him.

"Jesus, mate!" he shouted.

"Shut the fuck up, Cleave!" Tommy gritted his teeth, looking around for anyone who might have heard Sam. The mess hall was empty and all the men were at their stations.

Nina started shaking, her eyes welling with tears again. She placed her hands over her mouth in shock at the vision of Eickhart's spy. Sweating profusely with burning red skin, he sniffed constantly. In between his breaths, he coughed profusely.

"Where is the Spear of Destiny?" he sneered, through fits of coughing that shook his body.

Sam looked at Nina as calmly as he could, but they both knew that in their close vicinity stood a man infected with something that came from inside the platform. It dawned on them that the only bacteria here was kept from the Wolfenstein Ice Station.

"We don't have it, Tommy," Nina's quivering voice bent.

"Don't you fucking lie to me, Gould! I know you have been working on it."

"It's in the lab down below," Sam said quickly, to avert attention from Nina. "I can take you."

"No, you'll both take me, son. And you'll take me now," Tommy said and motioned with the barrel for them to get up. His eyes looked horrifying from the fever, coloring the whites a dark pink, which melted grotesquely into the light brown of his irises. It gave the impression that his eyes were entirely red and with his sweat-soaked hair it only added to the unnatural sight.

Sam took Nina by the arm and led her with him, holding her body tightly to his. It was a great comfort to her that he would not leave her even an iota behind him. Through the walkways they headed to the elevator. Nina prayed that Purdue would be down there and that someone could inoculate them against whatever Tommy had. Little did she know that Calisto, in her vindictive nature, had also taken the antidotes with her. After seeing the evil breeding of human beings according to a lunatic doctrine, she decided to leave them all to their fate. The keepers were as bad as the kept, and she wanted all to perish in her wake.

When they stepped out of the elevator, Nina went ahead to punch in her code. On the other side of the glass she saw the scientists locked in furious argument about something.

"What is going on?" she asked, as she rushed toward them.

"The Wolfenstein viral strains have been stolen!" said one woman.

"WHAT!" Nina shrieked, her stomach tying itself in a nightmarish knot at the prospects of their fate. "The antidotes?"

The woman shook her head gravely and Nina followed her gaze to the empty chests.

"Oh, my God, no!" Nina cried out, as she turned to Sam and Tommy. This was the opportune moment to get away from the gun-toting dead man walking. Suddenly she shouted, "Look! A carrier! He is infected!" Nina pointed to Tommy and stood back as the scientists with the protective clothing swarmed at him in panic to contain him. Sam was not taking any chances by grabbing the gun. There was no knowing what kind of strain infected him and human contact was too risky.

Tommy raised his Beretta and shot one of the scientists, provoking a full-fledged riot to apprehend him. Sam and Nina could hear him cussing and hissing about the Spear as they headed to her lab to get the relic.

"Nina, we have to get out of here before they take us too," Sam said, as Nina stopped in her tracks.

"Where is the Spear?" she gasped, breathing hard in oncoming hysterics. She turned to one of the assistants, a blond, blue eyed German woman. "Where the fuck is the relic I was working on?"

"Mr. Purdue came to take it this morning, doctor," the assistant replied snidely, "It belongs to him, after all," she smiled, and without another consideration she left the lab. Nina's jaw dropped.

"Something really bad is going down in this place, Sam. We have got to get the fuck out of here," she implored with her hands on his folded forearms. "Let's just get our shit and get away from here."

"How?" he asked. "How will we get out of here without a chopper?"

In her desperation she had neglected that fact.

"Let's go up and talk to Purdue. I want to know why he took the Spear from me before I was done," she bitched, her face distorted in a nasty scowl.

"Listen, let's just take it easy. Don't agitate things again," Sam warned her.

"Again?"

"Yes, your volatile temper always blows things out of proportion, Nina, and you know it. You can't always just go off on someone when they piss you off. You have to remember where we are," he pulled her closer by her upper arms and looked her seriously in the eye, "Pissing off Purdue while stranded on his island, is not a good idea. Let's go chat to him and see. Maybe he is just having a look at it himself. No big deal."

But Sam changed his tune quickly when they reached the platform. Finding the place crowded with helicopters, one arriving after the other, he knew something was going on that Purdue did not share with them. Eight or nine flying machines stood stationary, their rotors quiet as the last one circled the platform once and then descended slowly to set itself down.

From it stepped a middle-aged woman, well-groomed, wearing a fur coat. Her short hair was blond and she wore large sunglasses. Accompanied by a huge blond haired man she was shown to the same elevator as the previous guests.

"Dignitaries?" Nina frowned.

"On an oil rig? I think not," Sam replied. His journalistic instinct told him that this was not a friendly gathering with birthday cake and party games. Sam ran over to the man directing the visitors and over the noise of the last helicopter he shouted, "What is going on here? Where is Mr. Purdue?"

The man looked at Sam with contempt and simply said, "Please return to the laboratory with Dr. Gould and stay there. This is none of your concern, Mr. Cleave."

Sam hesitated and was going to insist, but the man casually put his hand on the butt of his gun to reiterate his order and Sam got the message.

They'd actually shoot us? What the hell is this?
he thought as he returned to Nina, who stared at him in anticipation.

"Let's go to the community room," he said.

"What is going on?"

"I don't know, but we are not welcome. I'm going to talk to Liam. See if he can call out for an extraction for us," Sam huffed, his demeanor on borderline panic that worried Nina no end. He was the level-headed one, the logical one. If he was worried, she had reason to be.