The Rig 2: Storm Warning Read Online Free Page A

to shelter in place had her frozen.
    “Sheila.” He looked at her sternly. “We’re going to the Central Plaza. I need to know how Joy and Dave are. Then we will look for a way out.”
    She looked at him, slightly bewildered.
    “But we have to stay where we are.”
    Wes shook his head.
    “No, we can’t. We need to go down there. And then we’ll see whether anyone else needs help; then we’ll get out of this place.”
    “But there’s a terrorist walking around down there!”
    Sheila was almost in tears. She was panicking. Wes did not understand it. Earlier, she had been so calm and composed; so strong. Now that she had heard there was a terrorist, she was terrified.
    “There might be. We don’t know,” he said calmly.
    “Yes, we do. They said so!”
    Wes shrugged.
    “And what? Do you believe everything they tell you?”
    Sheila was confused now. She could not understand Wes’ attitude.
    “But the bomb! The explosion!”
    Wes frowned.
    “Yes, there was an explosion. Perhaps a bomb, but who knows, maybe Stryker set the thing off.”
    Stryker, he thought.
    Dave and Joy had found out something about Stryker. Something had been wrong. But what?
    He took Sheila by the hand and set off toward the Plaza, pulling her along.
    “We can’t go to the Plaza!” she protested.
    “We can and we will. I have to talk to Joy and Dave.”
     
    ***
     
    Dave was looking through the fridges in the storeroom. He needed something cold for Joy’s head. That was the one thing he knew he could do. He could not dim the light for her, he could not bandage anything, but he could cool her bruised head. Finally, he found what he was looking for. In the back of the storeroom, he found one of the fridges had an ice maker. It still worked. He picked up a garbage bag from one of the shelves and began gathering ice cubes in it. When he had enough, he closed the bag and went back to the office.
    Joy still lay on the bed. She had not moved. Her breathing was still shallow, but when Dave checked, he found her pulse was strong. He kneeled down beside her and gently placed the bag of ice on her head, where the plank had hit her, hoping it would help a little. He did not want to lose her.
    Dave had lost too many people he cared about already, and he cared about Joy more than most people. Most of the people that he had lost had been in the army.
    He had joined up when his mother died in a car accident and his father had turned to drink. When he returned from his first tour in Iraq, he found his father had drunk himself to death. Once again, he had nothing. Dave had then gone to the local community college to take some IT courses, but when his money ran out, as did the funding he received from the army for studies, he had volunteered for a tour of Afghanistan where he worked as an intelligence analyst.
    Several times he had been out on patrol when IED’s had blown cars and men to bits and pieces. He had been lucky. Some men in his own unit had been hurt, but by and large, they had escaped unscathed. It was probably because of that he could now keep his calm. There was no reason to panic. He had seen worse, so he’d learnt to accept the inevitable.
    When he came back from Afghanistan, he worked the odd job for a while before he was able to become a system administrator with a university; working there for a year and a half before he was asked to join this project. He jumped at the opportunity and he had always been happy that he did. Today only marred that slightly; he had still met some people he would not have met otherwise.
    Joy stirred and lifted her hand. She groped around and eventually found Dave’s free hand. She mumbled something which Dave could not make out. But the squeeze of his hand said enough to him. He smiled and sat down more comfortably. He petted Joy’s hand.
    “We’ll be alright, Joy. We’ll get out. We’ll survive this.”
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    Akhmed reached the office deck without running into anyone. The