The Rig 2: Storm Warning Read Online Free Page B

corridors and stairs were strangely deserted. He remembered the announcement to ‘shelter in place’, but he hadn’t thought anyone would be doing that. He had reckoned on everyone trying to make their way to the helipad to see if there was an escape. But he had been wrong.
    He walked slowly through the corridor. He was on his qui vive now. He could not be sure of the whereabouts of Smith and Garcia, nor the intentions of anyone who might be out there. Anyone could be out to get him now. Anyone could be persuaded to help him too, of course. But until he knew who those persons might be, he had to assume the worst. And it frightened him. He had never had to assume the worst about anyone before.
    Most of the offices were empty. He peeked into a few and saw no one, then saw another office with two people crouching below their desks. He did not understand why they would do that. If they thought he was armed and dangerous, surely they realized he could shoot them under their desks as well if he wanted to.
    Eventually he came across a huge office. There was a single man in there, frantically calling on his phone. The door and the front of the office were glass. Akhmed retreated to the side of the door. He drew the gun and took the safety off, just to be safe. He opened the door of the office with a single touch. He could hear the man on the phone now.
    “Yeah, it’s Reg. Can’t find Stryker. He’s fucked off somewhere... No, I don’t know where he is! I just know this fucking place is on fire! You need to get us out of here!  What do you mean there’s no choppers?” The man became more and more animated. It seemed he wasn’t getting what he wanted. Eventually he shouted an expletive and hung up. He buried his head in his hands before throwing his head back and screaming at the top of his lungs.
    Akhmed put the gun away and stepped into the room. The man looked him up and down and snapped at him.
    “Who are you?”
    “My name’s Akhmed.”
    Instinctively the man reached for the phone on the desk.
    “You’re the alleged terrorist.”
    “I had nothing to do with that bomb.”
    “I know.”
    Akhmed’s eyes opened wide. He had not expected that.
    “You know?” he asked, hesitantly.
    “Yes. Stryker, the manager, has been missing since lunch. His chopper is not here. He’s fucked off outside his schedule, so he’s got something to do with it. Meaning either you’re hired by him, or you’re being framed. I believe the latter.”
    Akhmed walked further into the office, quite stunned. He did not really know what to make of this sudden development.
    “I was set up...” he muttered.
    “Yes.” The man kept looking at him. “What do you want?”
    Akhmed stopped. He pulled his phone out of his pocket but found it still had no signal bars. He nodded to the phone that the other man held.
    “I’d like to borrow your phone.”
    The man snorted.
    “Why? You think you can call someone to get you out of this?”
    Akhmed shook his head and felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes.
    “If I’m going to die here, then I’d like to have spoken to my girlfriend one last time.”
    A smile crossed the man’s face.
    “I’m Reg.” He introduced himself and threw the phone at Akhmed, who fumbled it but held onto it.
    Akhmed looked up Helen’s number and dialed.
    “Hello?” a curious voice asked on the other end of the line. She had not recognized the number.
    “It’s me,” Akhmed said, his voice overflowing with emotion.
    “Akhmed? Where are you? I heard your name on the radio. They say you’re a terrorist. What happened?”
    Helen shot all the questions at him at once, just wanting to find out what was going on with him.
    “I’m okay, for now. I’m on ‘The City’.”
    “How did you get there?”
    “I... I wanted to protest this place, but everything I did was always being shut down. So then some people approached me about a small sabotage project to disrupt it. Nobody was ever meant to get