“It’s out there.”
“And what’s going to happen when we get there? Are you going to kill me, Erin?”
“That’s not my call.”
“Whose call is it?”
“You’ll find out.”
“When we get there.”
She nodded. “That’s right.”
Keo sat back and checked to make sure his jacket’s zipper was done all the way up to his neck. It might have been his imagination, but he swore it had gotten a lot colder since he was last awake.
“I don’t think Troy likes me,” he shouted to Erin.
This time she came so close to a smile that Keo decided to go ahead and call it one anyway, as she said, “Whatever gave you that idea?”
It was an oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.
Keo had to admit, of all the possible locations for The Ranch he had considered, an oil rig had never occurred to him. Though, as he stared at the gray concrete foundations and yellow stripes crisscrossing the platforms, he thought it made perfect sense. It was isolated and surrounded by water, and even if it ever came under attack by collaborators, you wouldn’t need that many people to defend it. In fact, he counted at least a half dozen locations where snipers could hold off an assault force by inflicting enough damage to dissuade them. The crane sticking out of the side of the massive structure was one of those places.
Keo looked over at Erin. “The Ranch?”
“No. Just the ‘there’ before the real ‘there,’” Erin said. “It’s called the Ocean Star, and it’s just a waypoint station.” She kicked at one of the empty cans near his feet. “We need to refuel.”
“So not The Ranch.”
“I guess you’re not as dumb as you look,” Troy said.
“A lot of people would disagree.”
“I bet.”
“Give it a rest,” Erin said. “You two sound like an old married couple.”
“I call groom,” Keo said.
Erin ignored him and climbed off her raised chair and walked the short distance to the center, where the two men who had picked them up stood at the helm. The rushing wind prevented Keo from hearing what they were saying, not that he needed to know to get the gist of it. They were going to dock underneath the oil rig.
“City on the sea,” Erin said as she walked back to him. “That’s what they call these things. They’ll be here long after we’re gone. Of course, by then the birds will have taken over. At least that way they won’t be a total blight on nature.”
Keo glanced up at a flock of birds flashing by overhead, making a straight line for the metal structure in the near distance.
“How many of these do you guys have out here?” he asked Erin.
“Need-to-know,” Erin said.
“That’s why I asked. I need to know.”
She smirked and grabbed her things off the floor and slung her pack while Troy did the same on Keo’s other side. Neither one looked nearly as impressed as he had been with the rig’s continually growing size, which told him they had been here before. Likewise for the four in front of him as they guided the boat under the Ocean Star and prepared to dock.
“Am I going up there, too?” Keo asked.
“Unless you’d rather wait for us down here,” Erin said.
“The weather’s nice, and maybe I can borrow a fishing pole, get us some chow while you guys go do your thing up there.”
“Kind of you, but I’m going to have to insist you come up with us. Don’t worry; they have a brig where we’ll stow you while we go about our business.”
“Okay, but when we run out of food, remember I offered.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Erin said.
They had to free his legs so he could move on his own power up the stairs, his footsteps, along with Erin in front of him and Troy behind him, clanging with every step. A variety of birds perched along the railings of the structure watched them pass by, seemingly oblivious to human presence. For every one that was awake, he saw two or three that were asleep.
“Who’s up for bird soup tonight?” Keo asked.
“Do you ever shut up?” Erin, walking a few steps in front of him, asked.
“Can’t help it. I tend to talk a lot when I’m being led to an interrogation and possibly death.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
“No?”
“You could always join us.”
“I would if you told me who or what you people are.”
“Because you don’t already know,” she said, and though he couldn’t see her face, he imagined her smirking when she said it.
“I get the feeling you don’t believe me, Erin.”
“Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Man’s intuition.”
“I’ve never heard of that one before.”
“It’s like woman’s intuition, except manlier.”
“Ah,” she said, and turned a corner and kept ascending.
“What are the chances I’m going to survive The Ranch?” Keo asked, following her around the bend in the stairs.
He was surprised Troy hadn’t intruded on his back-and-forth with Erin yet. As far as he could tell, the man was still back there, close enough that Keo considered spinning around and going for his gun. Worst-case scenario, they’d both go over the railing and into the water, which would undoubtedly spell death for him with his hands still tied. Then again, what did he have to lose?
“That depends on what you say,” Erin was saying in front of him.
“I don’t know anything,” Keo said.
“I didn’t say you did. I said it’s going to depend on what you say when you’re presented with the questions.”
“Well, at least the truth is on my side.”
“Right,” Erin said. “You just keep clinging to that, Keo.”
A man appeared above them — forties, broad-shouldered, with grays in his hair. He wore the same black uniform and tactical vest as the two that had helped them dock below the rig. Keo looked for a name tag but didn’t see one on the newcomer, either.
“Welcome back,” the man said, extending a hand to Erin.
She shook it. “Thanks, Hart. Where’s Riley?”
“He came down with a cold,” the man named Hart said. “Stuck in bed, so I’m running the show until he gets back up on his feet.”
“He okay?”
“It’s a cold. He’ll get over it.”
“You guys have a doctor onboard, right?”
“George. He’s a vet.”
“Same difference,” Troy said, piping up for the first time.
Hart gave a slightly weird smile. “Yeah. George’s come in real handy lately.”
The older man stepped aside to let them up onto the highest deck of the oil rig. The wind picked up noticeably, and the first thing Keo observed as soon as he climbed up was just how bright it was up here, with nothing but open skies above him.
He expected to see people around, but there were only a couple of men with slung rifles standing guard along the edge of the platform to his left. One of them was leaning against a chipped railing and the other one was absently chewing something. They wore the same attire as Hart, which weren’t uniforms exactly, but close enough. Both guards looked oblivious to their arrival.
Machinery outnumbered people on the top deck, with the derrick sticking out from the center in front of them and the even taller crane lording over everything. Keo stared at the towering structure for a moment, trying to spy the lookouts he knew had to be up there. After all, you didn’t take over a place like this and not make use of its best assets.
“You returning to The Ranch?” Hart was asking Erin as he led them across the platform.
“For now,” Erin said. “All the teams will be returning one by one, so you’re going to be pretty busy for a while. Richards and José are downstairs refueling; when they’re done, they’ll be heading back to shore to pick up more people. That means I’m going to need one of your boats to continue on.”