Page 57 of Scarred Sunrise

Chapter 24

The sea waschoppy as Zack manoeuvred the small speedboat up to the base of the rig. It wasn’t as big as other rigs Smithy had been on, but it was still pretty impressive. Once they were close enough, he jumped onto the platform, Zack a step behind him. In the SAS they’d done plenty of warfare simulations on oil rigs, but then he’d had more than one man backing him up, although Zack was better than most units.

Both men were dressed in black, with Osprey body armour underneath. Their thermal caps pulled low, helmets over the top, they were doing everything they could to make sure they went home to those they loved.

Smithy held up his fingers, and Zack nodded as they ran silently towards the first platform, clearing the two guards soundlessly with double taps. Smithy picked up the dead man’s radio and tapped Zack on the shoulder as he took the lead.

As they reached the second level, they could hear voices from the other side of the diesel generator. Zack motioned for him to go around and he poked his head out as the radio crackled. The soldier spun, and Smithy took him out with a headshot, his body was flipping backwards over the railing and landing on the gantry below.

“Guess they know we’re here now,” Zack said sardonically as he took out the last soldier on our level.

Smithy nodded above him knowing Rhea would be on the highest level where the engine room was located.

“Good luck, brother.” Zack didn’t hang around, knowing a clean exfil was crucial.

Once out of sight, Smithy turned and crept up the metal steps that ran along the crane and derrick. Reaching the third floor he felt the air behind him and spun as an assailant in black dove at him. Smithy took the blow falling through the gap of the door to the watch deck. Shoving his feet into the man’s belly he rolled backwards, throwing him behind him and jumping to his feet. The man circled him as Smithy followed his every move with a counter strike until his opponent began to lose his cool. Smithy was done with this game, and when he moved in again, he blocked, grabbed his arm, pivoted, and threw him to the ground as he screamed, his shoulder popping out of the joint.

Using his legs, he choked the guy out and zip tied him to the metal structure, picked up his gun which he’d dropped during the fight, and moved towards the engine room. He knew his silent entrance was blown but hoped the noise of the machinery would have masked most of it.

He saw Rhea Winslow with her back to the door, as put together and refined as always. The petite woman was not what anyone would expect a criminal mastermind to look like. Blonde hair perfectly done, she wore a pale green trouser suit, cream wool coat, and ridiculous four-inch heels.

He opened the door quietly, but she sensed it and spun, the gun in her hand pointing at him, but it was the smile on her face that made nausea roll in his gut. This woman would always be the bogeyman under the bed for him, the nightmare that would haunt him on weak days, when the silence filled him.

“I knew you would come.”

She looked excited, almost happy to see him, and it freaked him the fuck out. Seeing the case with the laptop open on the console next to her, Smithy froze.

She followed his gaze. “We could be unstoppable. You could command an army that would rule the world.”

It was hard to see how this woman had gone from an innocent to so unhinged. Nobody was born this way, he truly believed that, and despite the things she’d done, he felt the smidgen of sympathy for the girl she’d been.

“I’m over this shit, Rhea. Give me the drug and the laptop.”

Her mouth formed a pouty mew that he’d seen her use before to get her way, but he was immune to her tricks. “Why would you not want to live in a world where only the gifted reside?”

“Because imperfection is the beauty.” His words seemed to confuse her for a second, so he pushed on. “Not all gifts are a blessing, Rhea, you know that. Or why would you poison yourself daily to suppress your own gift?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know my father loved you more than he ever loved me, enough to make him turn his back on his flesh and blood. Do you know how lucky you were to find a love like that?”

“He cheated on me.”

“He stole a baby for you. He walked away from me without a backwards glance.”

“He left me.”

Her voice shook with anger and pain, and he knew she loved John, but her gift, losing her child, and his cheating had broken her mind until she became this caricature of herself.

“You didn’t lose me, Jo.”

Smithy spun to see John step out of the control room, a gun in his hand. Smithy glanced at Rhea Winslow, and she’d gone sheet white, the weapon in her hand shaking so bad it was visible from where he stood.

“John?”

“Hello, Jo.” His voice was soft, almost indulgent as he said those two words.

Smithy watched, his gun on Rhea as his eyes moved between the two of them.