“Just hang on to that strap. Out you go now, there’s a good lad.”
Since the brawny oilman supplemented his friendly words of encouragement with a solid thump between the shoulder blades, the cargo compartment soon emptied of everyone but Liz and Devlin. Passing his gear bag to a waiting deckhand, he turned back to her.
“How often do you make this run?”
“Five maybe six times a month. Depends on whether they need supplies or there’s a crew rotating off.”
“Maybe I’ll see you on your next run.”
“Maybe.”
He took a step toward her, his sun-streaked hair ruffled by the wind whistling through the open hatch. “Do I have your permission?”
“My permission? For…? Oh! No, as a matter of fact, you don’t. No touching, Devlin, and definitely no kissing.”
“Sure you won’t reconsider? It’s going to be a long twenty-eight days out here.”
“Just grin and bear it.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Tipping her a two-fingered salute, he exited the aircraft and made his way to the stairs leading to the main deck.
Liz saw to the unloading of the replenishment supplies and accepted the sealed outgoing mail pouch, but instructed the landing officer to wait before bringing up the departing crew members.
“I need to talk to the company rep,” she informed him, holding back her wind-whipped hair with one hand. “Do you know where he is?”
“Try the galley. Conrad is usually there this time of morning, swilling coffee and shooting off his…Er, shooting the breeze.”
She gave the LO a wry smile. She’d dealt with AmMex Petroleum’s on-site representative before. She had no doubt she would find him pontificating to anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck in his immediate vicinity.
She took the stairs, crossed the deck to the main superstructure and entered a world like none other. The ever-present reek of fresh paint and diesel fuel flavored the air. Machinery constantly in motion thumped out the rig’s steady heartbeat. Metal creaked as the massive platform rode the waves.
The giant anchors and stabilizers minimized the motion until it was almost imperceptible, but Liz had to lay a palm against the bulkhead once or twice as she followed the scent of fried onions to the galley. Sure enough, the AmMex on-site rep was sprawled in a mess chair at the officers’ table, holding forth.
Big and amiable and impervious to all attempts to shut him up, Conrad Wallace never seemed to tire of the sound of his own voice. Today’s topic appeared to be a crew Ping-Pong tournament that evidently didn’t come off to Wallace’s satisfaction. The rig’s Pakistani-born doctor sat across from him with a glazed expression on her face. When she spotted Liz, relief sprang into her eyes.
“Hello, Elizabeth. Did you bring the waterproof cast liners I ordered?”
“Sure did.”
“What about the metronidazole tablets?”
“They’re on back order, but marked priority. I’ll fly them out as soon as they arrive.”
“Thank you. I need them. Excuse me, Conrad. I must go inventory the new supplies.”
She hurried out, leaving Liz to help herself to the coffee before joining Wallace at the gleaming teak table reserved for the rig’s officers. The officers lived well out here on the patch, as did the hundred-plus crew members. Accommodations included hotel-class rooms, a galley that served international cuisine, a cinema showing satellite TV and movies and a gym that would get a gold stamp of approval from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oil companies had to provide such facilities along with high-dollar salaries to induce men and women to live surrounded by miles of empty water for months at a time.
Cradling her coffee, Liz sank into a padded captain’s chair. The company man shifted his bulk in her direction and picked up almost where he’d left off.
“We were talking about the fluke shot that won the crew Ping-Pong tournament last night. Did anyone tell you about it?”
“No, I just got down.”
“It was crazy. The ball ricocheted off a steam pipe, hit the forehead of one of the watchers and slammed back on the table. No way the referee should have allowed that shot, but you know how these foreigners are. They make up their own rules as they go.”
Liz started to remind the man the rig sat in Mexican territorial waters and he was the foreigner here but didn’t want to set him off on a new tangent. Instead, she cut straight to the point.
“I need an advance on next month’s salary.”
Wallace blinked at the abrupt change of topic and pursed his lips. Liz recognized his pinched expression. She categorized it as his company face.
“Payday was last week,” he pontificated, as if she weren’t well aware of that basic fact. “Don’t tell me you’ve already run through the exorbitant flight pay AmMex shells out to you.”
Her supposedly “exorbitant” flight pay was an old issue, one that came up every time Liz renewed her contract.
“What I did with my pay is my business, Conrad.”
Frowning at the cool reply, Wallace shifted in his seat. He was a big man, but soft around the middle. Not lean and hard like the roughnecks who wrestled pipe or the roustabouts who performed general maintenance work.
Not like Joe Devlin.
Irritated at the way the man kept popping into her head, Liz laid out her requirement. “I need six hundred.”
Living was considerably cheaper in Mexico than in the States, thank goodness. That amount would cover the payment due on the loan and get her though to the next payday with no problem.
“Six hundred?” Wallace echoed, looking as horrified as a man asked to sacrifice his firstborn child.
Liz should have known he’d balk. The man managed a multimillion-dollar operating budget, yet was so tight he squeaked when he walked.
“You know, Conrad, you’re the perfect company man. You think every cent you dole out comes out of your own pocket.”
“Well, it does! Anything that impacts the company’s bottom line affects its profit margin, which in turn affects its stock value. Since I receive a large portion of my compensation and retirement in stock options, I’m obligated—”
“I know the spiel,” Liz interrupted ruthlessly. It was the only way to get through to the man. “You’re obligated to act as a responsible guardian of company funds. Are you going to give me the six hundred or not?”
“All right. All right. I will. But you’ll have to sign a voucher. Let’s go down to my office.”
Liz lifted her bird off the patch a half hour later with a check for the six hundred zippered into her jumpsuit pocket and an exuberant crew
