Sea of Greed

The response came through the radio just loud enough for Gamay to hear. “You’re still too far out. Keep them on their current heading, we’ll intercept you in three miles.”

“Who are you working for?” Gamay said.

“I told you to be quiet!” he snapped. “If Paul comes down here, I’ll have to kill you both and I don’t want to do that.”

She knew Paul couldn’t hear them. The wind of the open deck and the rumble of the engine drowned out any voice that wasn’t shouted. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you’re making a big mistake.”

“Thinking you could sneak away in the night was the mistake,” Reynolds said. “Bringing all this with you…” He pulled the rest of the tarp back and tossed it aside, exposing the other containers.

“Those are soil samples from below the oil platforms,” she said.

“I know what they are,” Reynolds replied. “And I know you’ve been in the medical bay, adding chemicals and other things to the sediment. I’ve seen you in there. I heard the explosion when one of the experiments literally blew up in your face.”

“What are you talking about?” she said. “We’re not adding anything. We’re simply studying the samples.”

“You’re altering them, so you can blame someone other than the oil company.”

She looked Reynolds directly in the eye. There was a wild look about him. His face was red. She could see he was unstable and enraged by what he believed, but the voice on the radio had sounded far calmer. “Who were you speaking to?”

“Stop asking questions,” he said.

“You’re an environmentalist, right?”

“Of course I am,” he said.

“I’m an environmentalist, too,” she said. “I’ve testified before Congress for tougher laws on dumping waste in the seas and restricting drilling. I even chained myself to a few trees in my college days in the vain hope that they wouldn’t be chopped down for a parking lot. I know what you’re feeling, but—”

He cut her off again. “I’m not letting you blame radical environmental factions, or whatever else you might call them, for the negligence of the people who were operating that oil rig. I heard you talking to the captain about explosives. I know what your game plan is. We all know it. Big Oil and Big Government, can’t tell where one starts and the other ends.”

“We? Who are you working with?”

“A group who wants to do something about it,” he told her.

At this moment, Paul shouted down the stairs. “Everything all right down there?”

The gun rose a fraction.

Gamay tilted her head toward the door and shouted back. “Just fine, honey. Be up in a few minutes.”

Gamay could not remember ever calling Paul honey. She hoped the word would sound as strange to his ears as it felt coming from her lips.

“Just checking,” Paul said calmly.

Reynolds grew more tense, gripping the gun, wiping some sweat from his face and splitting his attention between Gamay and the stairs, expecting Paul to come charging down to her rescue.

It didn’t happen.

“So, what are you going to do here?” Gamay asked after another minute.

“Turn over the samples to friends of mine,” Reynolds said.

“And then what?”

“They’ll publish the truth.”

“What are you going to do with us?” Gamay said.

He paused as if he hadn’t thought it through. “They don’t want you, they want the proof.”

He was obviously being used by someone, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous.

Paul shouted down to her again. “There’s something up here you should see. Some weird lights on the horizon.”

Gamay looked at Reynolds. “Sounds like your friends are here. Last chance to change your mind and do the right thing.”

“I am doing the right thing,” he said. “Let’s go. Upstairs.”

Gamay turned and pushed the door back.

“Slowly,” Reynolds whispered.

She did as ordered, opening the door that led from the cabin to the stairs and climbing the flight slowly. Reynolds followed, gun in hand, eyes darting about, looking for trouble.

Paul wasn’t waiting to ambush them. In fact, he was still at the helm. But the second Gamay reached the top step, he threw the wheel over and the boat swung wildly to port.

Gamay was knocked off balance. She landed on the deck and slid.

Reynolds — who was still halfway down the stairs — was thrown into the wall. He slammed against it, managed to hold on to the pistol and pushed off the wall, trying to stand up.

Immediately, Paul reversed his turn and the boat swung hard to starboard.

Reynolds fell the opposite way and slammed into the other wall. This second impact knocked the pistol from his grasp, causing it to discharge a single round into the wall.

Getting up, Reynolds lunged for the weapon, but Gamay’s shoe caught him in the face and sent him flying backward into the cabin. Before he could get to his feet, Gamay had the gun and was holding it on him.

“Get on the floor,” she shouted. “Hands as far forward as you can stretch them.”

She watched him comply and then shouted up to Paul. “Nice work… honey. For a second, I thought you didn’t hear me.”