Offshore (32 page)

“
Hey! Good job,” declared Eddie.

Cameron
wiped his greasy hands on a rag. “Piece of cake, if you know what
you’re doing.”

A dig at
Eddie’s lack of mechanical expertise?

“
Let’s get this show back on the road,” Eddie said, and left
Cameron in the dark as he reset the circuit breakers.

The
lights came on. He waited for them to go off again. They did
not.

He
reached for his radio. “Attention everyone. Thanks to Mr Cameron,
the generators are up and running and we’re in business again.
Sorry for any inconvenience. Spanner, you can come in now. Make
your way to the mess. Kettle’s on.”

Eddie
set the kettle to boil while Cameron took down the teapot and
dropped tea-bags into it. He set out six mugs, one for each person
still living who might appreciate a warming cuppa.

“
Where is everybody?” said Eddie. “Nobody want a tea
break?”

“
Give them time. They’re keeping busy. It helps the time
pass quicker if nothing else - also stops you thinking about things
you’d rather not.”

“
Can’t argue with that.”

They sat
opposite each other in the armchairs, steaming mugs of tea in
hand.

“
Why won’t Longdrift come and take us off?” said Cameron.
“They should have realised by now that the phones are off, so why
don’t they just come? And don’t give me all that guff about the
weather grounding the choppers or closing the harbour.”

“
It has been, still is, pretty bad.”

“
Bollocks! They’ve been out in worse than this. Two men are
dead, one is missing, and they’re just leaving us out here. If this
were a factory onshore we’d be shut down by now, and the place
would be swarming with cops and men with clipboards. They don’t
give a damn about us. They don’t care whether we live or die out
here.”

“
You might be right,” said Eddie. “They
knew it wasn’t safe when they sent us out here, and now that it’s
all gone belly up and proved it, they’re running scared of the bad
publicity and the lawsuits. They’ll be running round like headless
chickens, not knowing
what
to do, so they’re doing nothing. The longer we
stay out of the way …”

Silence.

Cameron
chuckled nervously into his mug, shook his head and took a quick
sip.

“
What’s so funny?” said Eddie.

“
Nothing.”

“
Nothing doesn’t have you laughing like a drain. Tell
me.”

Another
sip. “Call me crackers, but … Lonny dead, Reynolds’ suicide, Jock
missing, and all in the last month? It’s like some macabre
countdown. As if we’re in one of those cheesy slasher movies. You
know the ones, where there’s a bunch of shiny happy teenagers holed
up in a cabin in the woods being stalked by some serial killing
maniac with a great big fuck-off knife who picks them off one by
one.”

Silence.

“
Told you you’d laugh.”

Eddie,
not laughing, took a long slow sook from his cup, watching Cameron
over the rim.

“
The same thought crossed my mind,” he murmured. At that
moment Matt Shaw pushed open the doors and strolled into the
lounge, closely followed by Lydia Ellis.

“
Not a word,” Eddie cautioned.

Cameron
nodded and concentrated on his tea.

“
Just taking a break,” said Eddie. “Tea’s in the pot. Help
yourselves.” … “Everything okay?” he said casually when the new
arrivals were settled in the chairs and on the sofa. He received a
general consensus of confirmation.

“
Not like Spanner to be MIA when there’s a brew going,” said
Shaw. “He’s usually the first here. I swear he can smell the water
boiling.”

“
He was storing his stuff in the dog house,” said Eddie. “I
told him to stay there until the lights came back on.”

“
He’s probably still in there having a fag,” said Cameron.
“He’ll be here soon enough.”

Before
Eddie could object to the flagrant rule breaking yet again, Shaw
chipped in, “No Prof either? I’ve never seen anyone drink as much
tea as him. Sometimes I swear you can see it swilling behind his
eyes.” He took a drink from his cup. “Is it just me, or does anyone
else think he’s a bit of an oddball?”

“
Meaning?”

“
I dunno, he seems …” Shaw shook his head as if dismissing a
stupid thought. “Nah. It’s nothing.”

You too?

“
Go on, say what you mean.” Eddie’s expectant gaze
encouraged him to speak his thoughts.

“
I was going to say he seems different to
how he was when he first arrived,” said Shaw. “He was a decent sort
then, polite and friendly, and despite him being a nosey bugger,
you could talk to him. But recently, since things have been
happening, it’s like he’s a totally different person. He’s turned
cold and aloof, and the way he looks at you–” He shrugged and
shivered. “No, not at you,
through
you; like he’s trying to see what’s
inside.”

“
Don’t be silly,” said Lydia. “I’ve spent a lot of time with
Lawrence, probably a lot more than you, and I can tell you he is a
very nice man. There should be more like him.”

“
You can think what you like, but I know he gives me the
creeps. It’s like he’s always watching us, weighing us
up.”

“
No. You’re wrong about him Matthew. He’s completely
harmless; a gentleman and a gentle man. As ordinary as they come.
He wouldn’t harm a fly,” she insisted.

“
Yeah, well, it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch
closest isn’t it?” murmured Shaw.

A
throwaway comment at which Cameron and Eddie exchanged glances, and
Eddie felt his bowels turn to liquid. With restrained urgency he
rose from his chair and headed for the door.

“
Mr Cameron, would you come with me for a moment please?
There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

Cameron
drained his cup. “Sure boss.”

As he
passed Shaw, Eddie whispered in his ear. “Keep an eye on Miss
Ellis. Don’t let her out of your sight.” Although not fully
understanding Eddie’s earnest warning look, Shaw still returned a
silent nod.

Eddie
kept up a brisk pace all the way to the control room, hardly
pausing as he took the stairs,

“
What’s the problem boss?”

Eddie
did not answer his companion as he snatched at the radio at his
shoulder. “Craig? You there? Over.”

Static.

“
Spanner, respond, over.”

Silence.

“
Doctor Brewer?”

Nothing.

He
picked up his pace to a gentle jog, Cameron trailing behind.
“What’s up boss?”

Still no
answer.

Into the
control room and over to the window to look out over the deck. Too
dark to see anything out there now. A flick of a switch, and orange
and white arc lights flared into life, scaring a pair of herring
gulls into flight.

“
Want to tell me what’s going on boss,” Cameron
insisted.

“
Craig and Brewer have both been out of touch for nearly an
hour,” Eddie said, scanning the view below. “Call me paranoid, but
I won’t be happy until I see those two in front of me … together …
alive.”

“
And you want me for …?”

“
Safety in numbers. I don’t want anyone to be on their own.
From now on we’re operating a buddy system.”

“
Why?”

“
Like I said, I’m just being paranoid.”

Eddie
activated the public address system, his voice blaring out from the
speakers distributed over the platform.

“
Craig McDougal, Doctor Brewer, please report to the control
room on the double.”

Ten
minutes passed.

Neither
Brewer nor McDougal appeared.

He
repeated the message.

Chapter 36

Craig McDougal blew a smoke ring toward the orange tinted
skylight of the locker room as Eddie’s tinny voice faded
away.

“
Our lord and master calls us,” he said,
and sat up from where he had been resting his head in
Euterich/Brewer’s lap.

Euterich snorted derogatively down his nose.

“
Let him wait. I’m sick of dancing to his
tune. Eddie Capstan is just a little man trying to be a grown up,
given more responsibility than he can cope with, out of his depth
and pissing in the wind, making up for having a tiny dick by
lording it over the rest of us with some over exaggerated sense of
authority. A right little Napoleon.”

McDougal laughed. “Don’t like him much do ye?”

“
Not much.”

McDougal took a last drag from his cigarette and stood. “I
need a slash affar we show oor faces. I’m ready for a brew. Hope it
hasnae stewed.”

A few minutes later he emerged from the toilet, adjusting the
contents of his shorts and zipping up his overalls, to find an arm
suddenly wrapped around his neck, encasing his Adam’s apple in the
crook of its elbow. “Hey, steady oan, that’s a bit tight,” he
protested.

Euterich planted a wet kiss against his cheek. “I just wanted
to say thank you very much for making my first time so delightful,”
he said. “Be assured, it is one experience I will never
forget.”

“
Let’s hope it’s nae yer last,” wheezed
McDougal.

Euterich cupped his left elbow with his right hand and
increased the tension. “It won’t be, but I’m afraid to say … it has
been yours.”

McDougal wriggled against the hold. “Hey! What’re you doin’?
Lemmego!”

To no avail.

“
Did you know, that when successfully
applied –?” Tighter still, “– a rear naked choke can cause
unconsciousness in about ten seconds?”

“
Nnnnggggghhhh.”

“
You didn’t? Unfortunately, get the timing
wrong and you can kill your target. I wonder just how long that
will be. Shall we try it?” A final muffled whimper, a futile snatch
at the clamp around his throat, and McDougal’s pop-eyed blue-faced
body sagged senseless in Euterich’s arms.

“
Hmmm. Not long at all it would
seem.”

Chapter 37

No
McDougal. No Brewer.

Eddie’s
agitation mounted.

“
Cam, go down to the fab shop on sub level 2. The Prof
should have been down there clearing out and packing up. He might
not have heard the call. I’ll check the spider deck and the dog
house for Spanner. He might have done as he’s told for once and
still be holed up in there, although I doubt it. He’s probably
sloped off to the smoko.”

“
But boss, a few minutes ago you said we should stay
together.”

“
I know what I said!”

“
So which is it to be? Do I stay or do I go?”

Silence.

What to do? Make a decision.

“
Forget what I said. Just go,” said Eddie.

“
You sure?”

“
Aye I am. On your way.”

“
Yes boss.”

“
And Cam?”

“
Yes boss?”

“
Watch your back, eh?”

Cameron
nodded and left.

Eddie
exited by the little used external door, to be blasted by a stiff
northerly wind and driving rain as he slipped and skated down the
metal stairway to the deck below. Without his coat he was soon
frozen to the bone and drenched through.

He
reached the safety rail and peered over. He could just about see
the spider deck below him. It looked deserted. He called out for
McDougal.

His
words, carried out to sea by the wind, went unheard. He picked his
way down the rickety steps, taking care to mind his head with the
low clearance, and called again.

No
response. Definitely nobody there. Back on the main deck he strode
quickly towards the main access door, keeping an eye out for the
man sheltering in a niche somewhere, sneaking an illicit
cigarette.

He
heaved the door open and stepped inside, slammed it shut and
engaged the clamp, sealing out the worst of the weather, and stood
there shaking raindrops from his hair. He stopped.

What was
that? Voices?

No, one
voice. Faint.

From the
direction of … the locker room.

Bloody
Spanner!

He
marched up to the door, grabbed the handle and wrenched it open,
intending to give the incumbent a piece of his mind for making him
wet and cold.

“
I told you to stay where you–”

The
sight which met his eyes froze the blood in his veins and made him
stagger where he stood. The air ejaculated from his lungs carried
with it a reflex cry of mindless horror.