50 Rescue On The Way

Rickie crouched beneath a diamond-plate walkway and tried to catch his breath. The sound of running feet and shouting meant that his distraction may have allowed some of the crew to escape.

Since the tower was miles offshore, the authorities were at least twenty minutes out, and Rickie needed to determine what the saboteurs might have done to the structure. Deciding the Control Room was the best choice to reconnoiter, he headed towards one of the doors leading to the interior.

He hesitated a moment before spinning the door lock and pulling open the heavy iron door. The brightness of the interior stung his eyes before they adjusted. He strained his ears but did not hear anything, so his quickly slipped down the corridor towards the center of the structure.

In short order, he reached the Control Room without incident, and pressed an ear against the door.Since he didn't hear anything, he cautiously opened the door and ducked inside. Straightening out, he noted that most of the security cameras appeared to still be online. Rickie locked the door, and sat down in the chair in front of the bank of monitors. Scanning the cameras, he saw several groups of crew members throughout the rig, but did not see either of the saboteurs.

He attempted to use the main radio to contact the Maritime Enforcement Agency, but all he received was static. Possibly the explosion he saw previously had damaged the communication dish.

He checked his cell phone again, and kicked the wall in frustration; he should have thought to bring a satellite phone with him.

Wait; maybe there was one here in the Control Room. A brief search yielded no results, although there was a locked cabinet underneath the desktop. He pulled the paring knife out of his boot and used it to force the cabinet door open.

Wonder of wonders, the cabinet contained a bank of two-way radios as well as a satellite phone. He picked up one of the radios from the charging station on the table and turned it on.

"…where is everyone…she's escaped…we need to find them…"Rickie winced at the babble and turned the volume down.Leaving the chaos for the moment, he switched on the phone and called Raine.

"Just what the hell is happening?" Raine demanded once Rickie identified himself.

"It's just as Meaghan said.I saw one of the consultants with an assault rifle corralling a group of crew members. I managed to make enough noise for a distraction, but I don't know who escaped. I'm currently holed up in the Control Room. The male subject is nowhere on the camera monitors, and I've lost sight of her as well. It's probable that some of the tower personnel have radios, but I haven't contacted any of them yet. I wanted to check with you first."

Raine replied, "We've got two patrol ships on their way, and the APMM also launched their AS 365 Dauphin helicopter as well. A STAR commando unit of fifteen is on both the ship and the helo. Don't move, just sit tight and they should be there soon."

[A/N: STAR Teams are similar to US's SEAL Teams]

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"I can't do that, Raine. Those bastards might have explosives somewhere, and I'm not willing to have an ecological disaster happen to my tower."

"Don't be a hero!" Raine all but yelled. "You need to let the professionals do their job."

Rickie gritted his teeth. "Don't forget, I'm one of those professionals, too. I went through PASKAU training, just like them. Moreover, I know this building, and I'll be careful. What frequency will they be monitoring?"

Raine blew out a breath; she knew he wasn't going to budge on this. "Fine, MoTac Channel 7 has been assigned. The boat team is Unit Alpha; the helo team is Unit Bravo. And Prince, if you get damaged, you'll hear it from me."

Rickie laughed and gave a smart salute as if she was standing in front of him.

"Yes, ma'am."