Hell Rig (10 page)

“Oh, this and that,” he answered.

“More specific, please.”

“I worked with Red Adair for a while. You learn a lot from a man like that.”

Tolson shook his head in agreement. Everyone in oil field work knew about Red Adair, the man who had pioneered the technique for extinguishing oil well fires. Deciding he had learned all he was going to, both from his enigmatic partner and from the cellar deck, Tolson said, “Let’s go.”

“One more thing,” McAndrews said. He climbed up to the top of the mud vat and peered down. “Empty.” He climbed back down. “Just checking,” he said in answer to Tolson’s queried stare. “Let’s go.”

Outside, in the open walkway facing the outside of the rig, they climbed over storm-strewn equipment and under bent and broken pipes. “Quite a mess,” McAndrews observed.

“This side weathered the worst of the storm. Our next job,” Tolson told him. “We have to cut away the debris and ruined pipes so the next refit crew can get in. Luckily, we don’t have to do much else down here. The place gives me the creeps.”

“Oh, how?”

“You ever notice the way the shadows seem to move away from the light.”

McAndrews raised both eyebrows at Tolson’s comment. “Shadows always move from the light.”

Tolson shook his head, trying to find the right words. “No, shadows normally
dissolve
in the light. They don’t move away like flowing oil. Watch.” He quickly played his flashlight across a wall. The shadows parted as he said, briefly revealing a tortured face. When he brought the flashlight back, there was nothing there, not even a shadow.

“Did you see that?” Tolson asked, backing up against the railing. The light quivered as his hands shook violently.

McAndrews scanned the area with his own light, even walking up to the wall and rubbing his hand against it. He rubbed his fingers together and wiped them on his pants. “Undoubtedly just a patch of rust that resembled a face.”

“Resembled hell. It was a face, one of Waters’ ghosts.” Tolson shook his head. He was beginning to believe some of Waters’ wild tales. “Maybe the bastard’s not as crazy as we thought.”

McAndrews continued to stare at the wall, trying to make the face reappear with his flashlight. Finally, he gave up. “Let’s go. There’s nothing here.”

“I’m with you,” Tolson agreed.

A scream, loud and terrifying, broke the night. The voice trembled and undulated, creating frequencies at a pitch beyond the range of normal hearing. The sound and its ghostly echo sent goose bumps running up and down Tolson’s spine. They stood there looking at each other, trying to decide what to do.

“Where did that come from?” Tolson asked as the shock wore off.

“I don’t know. It could have come from anywhere.” McAndrews glanced up. “Perhaps upstairs.”

They heard the sound of a metal pipe beating on the deck.

“What now?” Tolson said as he took the lead in racing up the stairs with McAndrews close on his heels.

Behind them, the shadows slid from the walls and pursued them briefly, stopping only at a whispered “Wait”.

Chapter Eight

“What’s up?” Tolson asked, almost out of breath from his jog up the stairs. McAndrews, right behind him, in better condition, breathed normally.

“Sid’s all freaked out,” Jeff said. He looked around. “Where’s Waters?”

“I saw him skulking around the blockhouse earlier,” Gleason answered as he walked up. “What did you say about Sid?”

“He’s scared to death,” Lisa answered with a little more sympathy than Jeff had used.

Tolson shook his head. “I don’t blame him. I say it’s time to get off this damn platform. Let’s call the chopper,” he said as he looked back and forth between Jeff and Lisa.

“The radio’s busted, useless,” Jeff answered flatly. “Someone destroyed the radio shack.”

“Plus all the spare parts,” Lisa added.

“Someone hell,” Gleason yelled. “It’s that spook, Waters. I say we hunt him down and drop him over the side.”

“We don’t know that it was him,” Lisa said.

“Yeah,” Jeff agreed, though he wasn’t as uncertain as Lisa.

Gleason stood his ground. “Let’s drop him over the side anyway. I don’t like him. He freaks me out.”

Ed tried to bring a little sanity back to the group. “We can’t kill him but we’ve got to find him. We’ve got to stick together until morning. There’s a killer running loose.”

His words had the desired effect. Quiet descended on the group as they pondered their next move. Tolson broke the silence.

“Then what?”

Ed shook his head. “At least we can see what the hell’s happening in the daylight.”

“Daylight won’t save you.”

Ed jerked around at the sound of Waters’ voice. Waters stepped from the shadows as if a part of them, unfolding to let him emerge. “Jesus Christ, Waters! You startled me. Where the hell have you been?”

Gleason moved over to stand behind Waters. He slammed his pipe into his open palm menacingly but Waters ignored the implied threat.

“Up there,” Waters said, pointing to the helideck.

“What’s up there?” Jeff asked.

“If you lay on your back and look up, it’s like you’re floating in heaven,” he said, his eyes closed, grinning.

“The bastard’s gone to La-La Land,” Gleason sad. “I say we bust his skull. It would be doing him a favor.”

Ed held up his hand to stop Gleason. He turned back to Waters. “What happened to Easton? Did you scream?”

Waters swayed to an inaudible tune. He kept his eyes closed as he spoke. “Easton is a liar. He keeps things inside, little secrets like maggots gnawing at his rotten flesh. The Digger Man knows his secrets. He whispered to him. Now, he belongs to the Digger Man.”

Easton whimpered.

“I thought you said the Digger Man was dead,” Jeff challenged.

Waters shrugged. “Digger Man’s here still. They’re all here. He’s part of this platform now. So is Bale.” He looked at Easton and smiled. “Him too, soon, I think. The rest of us after that.”

Easton curled up into the fetal position and began to wail. “Nooo!”

“Why Bale?” Ed asked, while ignoring Easton’s frightened outburst.

“He was a defrocked priest seeking redemption and atonement for his sins. What better way to receive it than to follow the example of his Savior?”

“Bale was a priest?” Jeff asked. He stared at Waters. “How do you know?” he challenged.

“The thing that was Digger Man told me. It’s all part of his plan. He’ll free you all from your lies.” Waters spread his arms wide and laughed.

“You’re saying Bale hung himself like that?” Jeff challenged.

Waters ignored Jeff and continued to laugh.

“Laugh at this, mother friggin’ bastard,” Gleason yelled, slamming the pipe against the back of Waters’ head with a loud thud.

Waters folded at the knees and dropped to the deck face first.

“You killed him!” Lisa screamed, seeing the blood on Water’s head.

Gleason smiled. “Nah. Just cracked his skull some. He’ll live but he’ll have one helluva headache when he comes to. Lousy bastard!” He spat tobacco juice on Water’s leg.

Ed stepped in. “Okay, okay. That’s enough. Let’s take him somewhere we can lock him up. Then let’s figure some way to contact the authorities and get him off this platform.”

“And us?” Gleason added.

Ed looked at Gleason. “I got a man down. He had a family. I need to inform them what happened.” He paused as if thinking. “We’ll need some new men to finish up the job.”

“Finish up?” Jeff burst out. “Finish up what?”

“We’ve still got a contract,” Ed reminded them, looking them levelly in the eyes.

Jeff met his challenge. “Screw that. Global sent a mad man out here with us. I say screw the job and sue Global for all you can get for placing us all in danger.” Jeff was livid. Fear and anger was coursing through him like cheap liquor. “They set us up.”

“Yeah, sue the bastards,” Gleason chimed in.

“Now, it’s not that easy,” Ed said, trying to placate them.

“Why not?” Jeff noticed for the first time the haunted look on Ed’s face. “Why not?” He repeated more quietly. “What are you not telling us, Ed?”

Ed’s deep sigh gave Jeff goose bumps. “I signed a non-disclosure agreement. I also signed a form releasing them from any liability or blame, an indemnity clause.”

“Why the hell did you do that?” Tolson shouted.

“Because they wanted it,” Ed snapped, looking sourly at Tolson. “They were paying twice the going rate for this job and a hefty bonus upon completion, with the promise of bigger contracts down the line. I couldn’t buck them. Besides, they sent Waters out to handle the manifolds and wells, an extra hand I wasn’t paying for, or so I thought.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Jeff asked. He was hurt Ed had kept him out of the loop.

Ed shook his head and sighed. He looked on the verge of tears. “I’m almost bankrupt. Our equipment is old and needs constant repair. It needs replacing. I made a few bad choices in the stock market. Maybe I’m just not a good businessman. This job would have kept the bank off my back for a while. Without it, I would have had to shut down operations in a month or so. I couldn’t pay you guys.”

“So we finish the job or go look for another one,” Gleason summed it up for them.

Ed rubbed his hand across his face and shook his head. “That’s about the size of it. Look, I had no idea any of this would happen. You can’t believe in ghosts. It was Waters. He’s crazy. We get a couple more men sent out, we finish up and we get paid, all of us. If you want to go somewhere else to work after that, I can’t blame you, but we’ve got to get this job done.”

Gleason shook his head. “If we can get Waters off the rig, I’ll stay. I want that big bonus check.”

Ed looked up in surprise. “What bonus?”

“The one you’re gonna give us for staying, right?”

Ed looked at the others with a flicker of hope in his eyes as they considered Gleason’s suggestion. “Right, a twenty percent bonus if we make the deadline.”

“Make it twenty-five and we all stay, right?” Tolson looked at the others.

Jeff glanced at Lisa, who nodded. “Twenty-five percent.” He felt a twinge of guilt at pressing the issue, but Ed had lied to them and Bale was dead because of it.

“Done,” Ed pronounced. “Now, let’s get this piece of shit locked up.” He looked down at Waters. “Somebody grab Easton and bring him back to the blockhouse.”

Jeff took Easton by the arm and walked with him to the platform’s main building. Easton was still woozy and did not speak but he eyed the shadows warily and kept his distance from Waters. Jeff hoped they had all made the right decision. The extra money would come in handy, but somehow, he felt it wasn’t over yet. The platform still felt like a New Orleans cemetery. An air of ancient death hung over it so thick Jeff could taste it. Waters was just a tool.

“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just don’t know.”

He helped Easton to his bunk and McAndrews gave Easton two sedatives to calm him down. After a while, the soft sobbing stopped and Easton fell asleep.

“I wonder what he saw, or thought he saw,” Lisa asked as they sat in the coffee room.

“He said he heard voices,” McAndrews reminded them. “That’s a bit more serious than seeing things.”

“You think he’s going crazy?” Jeff asked. “He’s always been a bit strange, but crazy…”

McAndrews poured himself a cup of coffee. “He found Bale’s body hanging from the crane. That’s enough to unsettle anyone’s nerves. It wouldn’t take much to shake him up.”

Jeff nodded. “I once worked with a guy who let Ed get to him. This guy wanted so badly to keep ahead of Ed, keep things going smoothly, but just couldn’t do it. One day I found him down at the dock scrubbing a rusted out check valve with a wire brush. The valve was junk, rusted shut, but he spent hours brushing away, mumbling the whole time about keeping one step ahead. He must have said that a dozen times, ‘one step ahead’. Finally, he looked out at the water and started talking about a submarine coming to pick him up and take him home.” Jeff shook his head. “Tolson and I carried him out to his folk’s farm. Last I heard he was pumping gas up in Buras.”

“That’s so sad,” Lisa commented. “You don’t think Easton…”