CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The darkness was exactly what Brett needed.
Heavy clouds had swallowed the moon, leaving the Gulf black except for the occasional glow of distant platform lights behind him.
The small boat cut through the water as he guided it farther away from Platform Three, the engine vibrating beneath his feet while the salt-heavy wind whipped against his face.
He would have preferred to wait to do this. That had been the plan from the beginning. Keep everything quiet until Ms. Hart and Mr. Iverson finished whatever bullshit inspection Silverman had sent them to conduct. After that, he could return to business.
Unfortunately, Andre had changed the timetable.
The call had come earlier that evening. Andre had an interested buyer for the UUV, someone with deep pockets who wasn’t patient and willing to pay double the asking price.
But they wanted proof the device worked, and they wanted delivery next week.
Which meant Brett needed a successful test now.
His gaze lifted toward the sky as another gust of wind swept across the open water. The storm system moving through the Gulf had grown considerably faster than anyone had predicted and was expected to start affecting operations by morning.
Under normal circumstances, Brett would’ve considered the timing another complication. Tonight, it was a gift. By tomorrow, anything unusual could easily be blamed on the weather.
He smiled. Sometimes the universe worked in his favor.
Brett adjusted his heading, watching the navigation display as the platform lights behind him became smaller. He wanted to be far enough away to avoid any detection, especially with Ms. Hart and Mr. Iverson snooping around.
His thoughts drifted unexpectedly to Nova Hart. Now there was a complication he wouldn’t mind spending a little more time investigating.
Brett smiled to himself as he remembered seeing her earlier.
She was a beautiful woman, no question about that, but there was something else about her he found intriguing.
Maybe it was the confidence. Maybe it was the way she looked him directly in the eye when she spoke instead of becoming flustered like so many women did around him.
Whatever it was, she was on his radar. Unfortunately, so had Iverson.
The prick seemed permanently attached to her whenever she wasn’t in the office area.
It was as if he acted like some overprotective guard dog.
Brett’s jaw tightened. He still hadn’t decided what he thought about the man. There was something about Iverson that didn’t quite fit the role he had supposedly been sent there to perform.
Brett had spent enough years working offshore to recognize men who belonged in that environment, and Iverson certainly knew his way around a platform, but his constant awareness bothered Brett.
The guy watched exits. Paid attention to people coming and going and noticed things most consultants or engineers wouldn’t give a shit about.
Maybe he was simply protective of Nova. If so, Brett could understand why. Given the opportunity, he wouldn’t mind having a go at the beautiful attorney himself.
Maybe tomorrow he would find a reason to get her alone. Invite her to lunch or dinner. Who knew, maybe without Iverson hovering over her shoulder, she might prove considerably more receptive than she had so far.
A light flashed on the navigation, pulling Brett’s attention back to the present.
He checked the coordinates. He was far enough away.
He eased back on the throttle until the boat slowed.
He killed the engine, and the sudden silence seemed to expand around him.
Without the steady rumble of the engine, there was little more than the soft lap of water against the hull and the occasional creak of the boat beneath his feet.
He glanced toward the distant platforms for another few seconds, but from this far out, they looked insignificant against the endless darkness of the Gulf.
He moved toward the stern and released the latches securing the protective case he’d brought aboard. He had intentionally come alone. He had learned with Capperson that secrets became liabilities the moment too many mouths were attached to them.
Besides, he didn’t need anyone’s help.
He opened the case and stared down at the UUV.
It still amazed him how something relatively unimpressive to look at could be worth so much fucking money and be so destructive.
If Andre’s buyer was as serious as he claimed, this deal alone would put enough money in Brett’s pocket for him to finally start thinking about getting out. He was getting tired of constantly looking over his shoulder.
Maybe he’d finish this deal, let things settle down, and call it quits while he was still ahead.
He’d accumulated enough over the years to live comfortably, especially if this buyer paid what Andre claimed they were willing to pay.
He could disappear to the property he bought and spend his days doing whatever the hell he wanted instead of babysitting idiots on an offshore platform.
That didn’t mean he had to retire completely. If Andre brought him the occasional request that was too profitable to ignore, Brett could always pick up a job here and there. There was no sense turning his back on easy money.
He just wouldn’t make a habit of it anymore.
Brett smiled at the thought as he prepared the device for the test. Once everything was ready and the capsule of chemicals secured inside the device, he carefully lowered the UUV over the side and watched it disappear beneath the dark surface.
He returned to the console and activated the controls. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then the signal appeared on the screen.
Brett watched the tracking information as the UUV moved away from the boat, following its programmed course exactly as intended. A surge of adrenaline moved through him as the distance increased.
Andre’s buyer wanted proof that the device could do exactly what they’d been told it could do. Brett intended to give it to them.
He watched the numbers change on the display until the UUV reached the designated location, then rested his finger over the command.
“Let’s see what you’re made of.”
He activated it. A second later, the water surface surged upward, sending a plume of water into the air before it collapsed back into the sea.
Then everything became still again as Brett stared at the spot where the device had detonated.
A slow smile spread across his face. “Perfect. Fucking perfect,” he muttered.
Brett leaned back against the console and stared across the dark water, feeling some of the tension that had been riding his shoulders for weeks finally ease.
Tomorrow, while everyone else was holed up inside the main building waiting out the storm, Brett would slip away to his secret room and start the build-out for the buyer.
With the entire platform shut down and everyone distracted by the weather, the storm couldn’t have handed him a better opportunity if he had planned the damn thing himself.