Page 35 of The Tycoon

Chapter9

The pilot met them at the helicopter.

“Hi, Cole.”The pilot was as tall as Cole, and slender, with light brown hair.He kept his hair short and did not wear any kind of hat, but he was in uniform.“Let me take your bags and put them in back.”

He grabbed Regan’s bag first.“I’m John Ferring.I’ll be your pilot today.”

“Regan Phillips.I’m looking forward to the trip.I haven’t been in a helo for a while now.”

“When did you last fly?”John took Cole’s bag.

“About a year ago.”She turned to board the helicopter.

Cole followed.

They sat in the seats behind the pilot.

The helicopter was a Hill HX50 and the most beautiful ‘copter she’d ever seen.It certainly wasn’t a Huey, that’s for sure.The seats were all soft leather.Each passenger, and it held six, had their own headphones so they could communicate over the sounds of the blades whirling.

They arrived at the platform around three o’clock in the afternoon.The trip to the oil platform took about forty-five minutes.This helicopter was fast, especially once it was out of Houston’s airspace.

Before they exited the aircraft, Cole told John to pick them up tomorrow at noon.Then he grabbed their luggage from the back.

The helicopter took off and left them on the landing pad.

She looked around at the platform and was surprised that she didn’t feel it moving.But then she remembered that it was anchored to the seabed by giant concrete columns.She would have to see the rest of the accommodation to decide what she needed to keep Cole safe.Being up on the landing pad didn’t tell her much.

The wind was gentle, at least for now, though she’d seen some film on the news that showed the wind blowing hard and the ocean crashing against the pilons.The air smelled of the ocean.Regan loved it, somehow she felt the scent was clean.

“We’re leaving so soon.I thought you planned on staying a few days.”

“I changed my mind.I probably could have gotten the answers I want with a phone call, but this is better.It keeps them on their toes.”

So this was a surprise inspection.

A shorter than average man, built like a fireplug, with dark brown hair cut military style with white sidewalls, greeted them.

“I hadn’t expected you, Cole.This is the first time you’ve been on this platform.”

“That’s true.”Cole shook the man’s hand.“Regan Phillips, this is Dave Chapman.He’s the supervisor for this platform.Everything that happens here goes through him.”

She extended her hand.“Nice to meet you, Dave.”

“You, too.”He turned toward Cole.“We only have one room open, unless you want to bunk with me.”

“No offense, Dave, but I’ve heard rumors that you could give a train a run for its money with your snoring.I’ll bunk with Regan.We’ll make it work.

Regan had no problem sharing a room with Cole.She was his employee.Nothing untoward would happen.She’d make sure of that.Besides, they had handled this arrangement before and it had worked fine.

“Dave, I want you to show us around the platform.I want to talk to you about the accident.A militant environmental group has taken a particular interest in it, and I want to know why and how it happened.We’re supposed to have backup systems that ensure something like this spill doesn’t happen.”

“That’s the thing, Cole.”Dave ran his hand around the back of his neck.“We have backup systems upon backup systems, and several of those failed at once.I believe it was sabotage, but I haven’t been able to prove it…yet.Some of the systems held, or the damage to the ecosystem would have been catastrophic.”

Cole placed a hand on Dave’s shoulder.“Let’s go to the conference room and talk.I want to know everyone who was working when it happened and how you finally got it shut down.”

Dave escorted them through a door and down a long hallway that ended at another door.He opened it and held it with one hand, letting her and Cole pass by him into the room.

This conference room had a standard layout.A huge oval table with about twenty chairs around it took up most of the room.At the far end was a whiteboard on the wall.Above the whiteboard was a pull down movie screen.Across the room was a projector on a two shelf rolling tray.