Alpha, Delta (6 page)

Sucking up every ounce of courage he possessed, he crawled out from the space and cautiously made his way to the main door from the production deck outside. His hiding place was damn near all the way over the other side of the vast platform, and the rain hadn’t let up. Carefully, he removed his glasses, blinking as everything blurred a little. He thought about what he needed to do. Section seventy-nine was his first stop, if he could make it there then he could loosen the valve, move around the edge, under the walkway, to the main boat deck. Follow the pipes to section forty-seven, locate the outlet, loosen it, wait for the pressure to build between the two.

He could do this.

He straightened and pushed back his shoulders, then opened the main door. He had to keep close to the sides as much out of the rain as he could for fear of being blown off the platform. Cautiously, he made his way to the edge of the connections for the main rig right to the steel jacket that kept Forseti secure in three hundred and fifty metre depths. The going was treacherous, the howling wind making him wish for the safety rope he may well have thought to use in this situation. He wasn’t the kind to take chances like this. He was the solid, safe one, the one who looked out for everyone else. Rain sliced into his face, blurring his vision even more and he stumbled to a stop.

He guessed the only good thing about this was that the bad guys had as limited visibility as he did. And he had one thing they didn’t—he knew his way around these rigs with his eyes closed.

He didn’t stop to check the time, couldn’t stop, couldn’t even take his hands off of every handhold he could find. He felt like he was walking against a brick wall one minute, then sagging to the ground in the next when the wind shifted, pressing him down to the metal floor. He just hoped to hell that he was close enough to the first valve now to at least make it to the second. He’d need leverage to turn the valve and he doubted there was anything official to handle like a wrench. Inspired, he grabbed at one of the small water outlet draining pipes and levered the item until it came apart. Armed with a foot of hard metal he continued onward.

Feeling his way along the pipes, picturing the layout in his mind, he couldn’t help but think of Finn. Was Finn landing by boat? Was he even part of the ERU Delta team, did he know it was Niall on the platform?

Last week they’d spent a whole night together, Finn on his way north for training, Niall in seclusion working on project deadlines. They’d eaten out, made a whole date of it, hell, most of it even seemed normal. Finn was stealing a small piece of Niall’s heart every time they were together and Niall bet Finn didn’t even realise what he was doing.

And the sex? Niall slumped to the nearest pipe and gripped hard, knowing he was only maybe six feet from the first valve. He could think about the sex, about the way Finn made him feel, about the way Finn could hold him and make everything outside what they were doing seem unreal. Then he could focus on what he felt like when he stared into Finn’s beautiful green eyes, or when he dug his fingers into Finn’s dark hair like he never wanted to let go.

The valve was easy to grab and Niall leaned into it. All he needed to do was turn it enough so the seal was broken. With the lack of oil running through the platform the pipes instead were holding back water pressure. This would work. He was sure of it. The valve moved a little, or was that just Niall’s wishful thinking? Then, using the metal bar as a pivot, he leaned with his bodyweight, abruptly wishing he were a lot bigger than he actually was, and it finally gave way.

That was the first part done and he gave up trying to walk to the boat deck, instead near crawling on his hands and his knees, the metal pipe, twisted and buckled, pushed under one arm. He’d gone beyond just shivering, he was growing colder by the moment, his fingers numbing, and his head fuzzy.

I’m going to tell Finn I love him,
he thought. Over and over he thought the same thing, focused on surviving this, getting off the platform and telling the stubborn cop exactly what he thought of him.

“I can’t love someone,” Finn had stated when they woke up in each other’s arms last week. “It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Fair on who?” Niall asked. “You? Me? Who the fuck would even know?” He was furious and he couldn’t help asking. He loved this man and all he wanted was commitment to go alongside the sex. Not forever, but an acknowledgment that Niall meant something to Finn other than just being there for only sex.

The rain eased as Niall rounded the last wall before the boat deck and he lay on his stomach in the wet until he could see through the spray to what was below. There was no sign of Delta, no sign of Finn, and there was no one with a gun. He belly-slid forward until he could see over the edge of this part of the platform and despair hit him. There was a hijacker there, still in a guard’s uniform, just inside the door to the boat deck, staring out at the water with a rifle in his hand. He was sideways to Niall but that didn’t make it any easier. The valve was between Niall and the hijacker and Niall needed to get closer.

Part of him wanted to check his phone, but hell if it would even be working if he did. Would any of these be any easier if he knew he had five minutes or ten? He crawled a little further to the right, the valve in his sight and the rain sheeting at full force as he moved out of the shelter of the overhanging deck. He reached it and hoped to hell no one was above him waiting to shoot him in the back of the head.

What would Finn do?

Utilising the bar he used his full body strength to attempt to move the second valve. As soon as it was open enough he needed to back the fuck off. The build up of pressure would angle down into the boat deck and the force of it would be enough to grab the hijacker and physically throw him to the ground. Or at least, that was what was in Niall’s head.

The rain eased a little, an eerie silence that made Niall’s chest tighten. He would be seen. All the hijacker had to do was look up and to the right and that would be it, Niall would be dead and he would never have gotten the chance to say anything to Finn.

I love you, I love you,
he murmured to himself as he moved as slowly as he could to get his body weight behind this valve as well. Movement out of the corner of his eye and he swore he could see a boat in the stormy sea. The hijacker moved. Had he seen the same thing?

Temper made Niall strong. He wasn’t going to let the Delta team down. He was getting them on this platform and he was fucking well going to make it home so he could pin Finn to the bed and force his lover to say how he felt.

I love you, I love you…
The valve creaked and groaned as Niall pushed but it was moving, and he saw the rifle point up at him at the very same moment the valve gave way. The force of its movement pulled him to one side and the pain as he slammed to the floor was enough to steal his breath. A spark, a sound, and he was being shot at, the bullet missing him by inches. He couldn’t move, the metal he’d used in the valve had pinned his sweater, curled into the thick mess of wool, and as much as he yanked he couldn’t get free. He was like one of those butterflies in a display case. Any second now he was dead.

I love you.

The pressure built underneath him; he could almost imagine the water pressing and forcing, gathering enormous strength until it blew. He struggled to get free, the sweater pulling, tearing, and he knew he had to get away as soon as he could. An explosion of air and water rocked the small part of the platform he was pinned to, metal wrenching under the force of it. Niall could hear screaming and knew it was himself.

I love you.

Finn adjusted his headset until he could get a clear reading on what the hell was going on. Cap laid it down, Niall was alive and he’d somehow managed to get communication out of Forseti. The storm snagged and threw the small boat, and he gripped hard as a sickening lurch had him cursing.

“Fucking bitch,” Erik cursed from the front. He was cursing Mother Nature and her ability to literally pick this boat up and slam it down into the sea like it was nothing. Finn didn’t want to hear Erik’s cursing; he wanted intel. About assailants, firepower, hostages, but most of all he needed to know about Niall.

Pride flooded him at the thought Niall had somehow eluded the hijackers and had contacted the station. He’d shown clear thinking in what must be a terrifying situation. Especially for an engineer more used to the fear of a failing superstructure than facing the end of a loaded weapon. Then that same fear insinuated itself inside Finn’s calm acceptance of the situation. This was nothing new. They were trained for this. They could get on the platform, become a formidable team against God knows who. But that was when they knew the parameters. This wasn’t the same.

Svein wanted Delta with all the hate-filled focus of a thwarted bully, and he was using innocents to line up Delta in his sights.

The boat surged upward on a swell and Erik guided it through as best he could. They were only a short distance from Forseti but the vast oil platform was even visible in the churning storm that was trying to kill them. To get on the platform would take no small amount of skill and Finn had to just sit there and accept that Erik knew his job.

“Asked the engineer to create a diversion to drive the hijackers to boat deck,” Cap confirmed.

Finn’s chest tightened. Erik glanced sideways at him; he’d heard the same message. A diversion to the boat dock meant this half of the Delta team had to come around the back, no soft landing. Not that they expected it. They were clearly moving to plan B.

But what scared Finn the most was the casual way Cap had said the engineer was creating a diversion. Niall. They drew closer to Forseti, the superstructure rising like a goliath out of the sea, steel gray against the churning clouds. Erik guided the craft to the left, away from the boat deck, and when Finn looked up he could see the Puma wheeling above them. They would take the main fire, allow the boat to get a foothold somewhere on the metal rising from the sea. Under the platform the sea settled in a couple of places and the two men managed to get themselves off the boat and onto the structure itself. They were on unmoving land when an explosion from the boat deck had Finn scrabbling the rest of the way up to the deck.

Niall was up there.

When they reached the deck it was empty, a great pipe split at a valve, and metal peeled back like it was nothing more than paper. There was no sign of a hijacker and Finn signalled for Erik to cover him. If Niall was anywhere up here then Finn was finding him.

He followed close to the gray walls and, staring through the rain, he attempted to make out anything except crooked pipes and chaos. Then he spotted what he assumed was one of the hijackers. It was difficult to tell because metal had sliced into his face and cut into skin. There was no blood, the sea had washed him clean, but he hung like a grotesque scarecrow and Finn couldn’t even think that Niall was here somewhere just as dead.

Above them the Puma was backing off from fire. He could hear at least two weapons firing, and Delta returning fire. That would pull the focus from him and Erik; they had a chance of getting people off this place. Including Niall.

White material caught his eye and he realised it was a sweater. In seconds he was there, yanking at an unconscious Niall, cutting away the wool that had him caught and freeing him. He felt for a pulse. There was one, and just as Finn contemplated where he would be hiding Niall until this was all over, Niall opened his eyes.

“Finn,” he choked.

Finn didn’t have time to feel relieved. The rest of Delta was taking the heat and he and Erik had a mission. He glanced around at the mess of metal, something that Niall had done here had made things right for him and Erik.

“You did good,” he said as he assisted Niall in getting up. “Can you stand?”

Niall groaned and pushed himself to stand, taking a lot of his weight by himself. “I’m okay.” The crunch of glass had Niall looking down. On the ground lay Niall’s glasses, twisted with one lens shattered. He couldn’t look. What if that had been Niall?

“You said one crew dead,” Finn repeated.

“Jeff.” Niall nodded as he blinked water from his hazel eyes.

Finn spoke into his comm. “I have one hostage alive. Confirmed one dead hijacker, one dead crew.”

Niall is alive.

Erik moved out, Niall behind him, Finn bringing up the rear. Niall appeared to get with the plan and didn’t for one minute drop behind. They made it as close to the accommodation module as they could then regrouped in silence. Erik gestured to indicate that there was a hijacker in sight and silently pulled out his knife.

Finn held out a hand to stop Niall moving and counted down with Erik. When Erik moved it was stealthy but somehow the hijacker must have sensed something as he turned at the exact moment Erik was on top of him. A short scuffle later and the second hijacker was dead, sprawled with his throat cut.

Erik held up two fingers. Two dead hijackers. Two to go.

Finn faced Niall. “I need you to get inside the accommodation module, okay?” Niall looked like he was in shock and Finn stepped a little closer. “Can you do that? I need you inside where you can lock yourself in.”

“What about the hijackers?”

“The two left are occupied with the rest of Delta, you have to trust me? Can you do that?”

Niall looked at him, shivering, his skin so pale, his eyes bloodshot and his glasses gone. He looked like death.

“I can,” he finally said.

“Then I need you to go find the rest of the crew and stay with them.” Finn kept his tone level, even when Niall gripped his jacket and opened his mouth to talk.

“Find me, okay?” Niall said firmly. “Come find me.”

Then, before Finn could say a word, Niall turned on his heel and hobbled in the opposite direction. He was cradling his arm, limping, but Finn hadn’t seen blood.

“We’re taking fire,” Cap’s voice echoed in his head and he pulled himself out of the need to grab Niall and just leaving this place.
Break the firing
. Then memories of what he’s seen Svein do, of the bodies in Alta of fellow ERU members, of the laughter as he’d thrown himself off the dam like some kind of action movie cliché, assailed him. The guy was a killer and Delta needed to take him down.