CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
By the time Snow and Nova reached the second level of Platform Three, only a drizzle remained, while the sky remained a flat, miserable gray.
The ocean below was still restless, but the violent swells from the night before had begun to settle into something more manageable. Every so often, a gust of wind would sweep through.
Snow was focused on his phone.
“According to this, we should be standing almost directly in front of it.”
Nova leaned closer, trying to look at the blueprints Bear had sent Snow earlier. “In front of what?”
“A future machinery room.” Snow pinched the screen and enlarged the section they were standing in. “Second level, west side. Roughly thirty feet long, twenty feet wide.”
Nova looked up. There was no room. Hell, there wasn’t even a door. All she saw was a long stretch of steel wall running between two structural columns.
Snow frowned and looked back at the blueprint. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
They had already spent the better part of twenty minutes searching the level. That was after a brief stop on the lower level where they located Delilah hidden on the west side of the platform. Snow had quickly disabled the engine on the small boat so Brett couldn’t use it to make a run for it.
Platform Three was exactly what Brett and Clint had repeatedly claimed it was—unfinished.
Huge sections remained open, with exposed framing, temporary lighting, stacks of materials, and equipment stored wherever there was space.
Several rooms had been completed, mostly for storage and maintenance supplies, but nothing about the place suggested there was a sophisticated prototype hidden somewhere inside it.
Which meant Brett had done one hell of a job hiding it.
Snow lowered the phone and looked around again. “Damn it.”
Nova glanced at him. “Getting frustrated?”
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Fine. A little.”
“A little?”
Snow gave her a look. “You really want to do this right now?”
Her mouth twitched. “No, but watching you argue with a blueprint is mildly entertaining.”
“I’m not arguing with it.”
“You’ve called it wrong twice.”
“Because it is wrong.”
“Uh-huh.”
He exhaled through his nose and handed her the phone before he said something she’d enjoy far too much.
“Here. You figure it out.”
Nova took it with a smug little smile. “Gladly.”
Snow shook his head and stepped back, scanning the surrounding area again while she studied the plans. The problem was time. Every minute they spent wandering around was another minute Brett had to realize what was happening.
Bear and the team were moving closer, but they weren’t here yet, and Snow knew better than to assume they had unlimited time.
Somewhere on this platform was a device capable of carrying explosives or chemical agents. And Snow wanted his hands on it before Brett got anywhere near it.
Behind him, Nova went quiet.
Snow glanced over.
She was staring at the steel wall, then down at the phone, then back at the wall again.
“What?”
“Give me a second.”
Snow waited.
Nova stepped closer to the wall and slowly walked along it, her eyes moving between the structure and the blueprint. Then she stopped near the far end.
“What room is on the other side of this?”
Snow moved beside her and looked at the plan.
“Storage.”
“Completed?”
“Yeah.”
Nova frowned. “And this machinery room is supposed to sit directly beside it.”
“Right.”
“But there’s no access point from this side.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying.”
“I know.” She looked at him. “What if that’s the point?”
Snow’s frustration eased slightly. “Go on.”
Nova turned the phone so he could see the blueprint. “What if the room is there, but not the way it’s shown on the plans? Brett’s been involved with this rig since construction started, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And he controls access to this platform.”
“Pretty much.”
She tapped the storage room shown beside the missing machinery space.
“So what if this storage room is the cover? Nobody comes over here unless Brett wants them to, and everyone already believes the platform is unfinished. He could’ve changed the layout during construction, and nobody would think twice about it.”
Snow stared at the plans, then at the wall. Shit. She might be right.
“If he expanded the storage room on paper or shifted one of these walls during the build...” Snow traced the section with his finger. “He could create a separate space behind it and hide the entrance inside the storage room.”
Nova nodded. “Exactly.”
Snow looked at her. The hopeful expression on her face made him grin despite everything.
“You know, for an attorney, you’re annoyingly good at this.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It was one.”
He caught the back of her neck and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
Nova blinked when he released her.
“What was that for?”
“You’re reward for smart thinking.”
She smiled. “I solve one architectural mystery, and I get kissed?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Oh, it’s absolutely going to my head.”
Snow laughed under his breath. “Come on.”
They moved around the outer walkway toward the opposite side of the level, stepping carefully over wet steel as the drizzle continued to fall. The storage room entrance sat around the corner, partially shielded from the weather beneath an overhang.
Snow stopped in front of the door. A card reader was mounted beside it. He swiped the card, watching the reader flash red and feeling his stomach sink for a split second. But then the light flickered, shifting to green, and a soft click echoed from inside the lock.
Snow wrapped his hand around the handle. “Stay behind me.”
She nodded.
He opened the door, and it was pitch black. Snow reached to his left, felt a switch, and flipped it. The large overhead lights flickered on. He stepped inside the room with Nova close behind him.
Metal shelving lined both walls, packed with boxes, spare fittings, tools, and equipment that looked exactly like the kind of junk an unfinished platform would accumulate.
His eyes swept over the room as Nova moved beside him.
“What exactly are we looking for?”
Snow stared at the room. “Anything that doesn’t seem to belong or looks out of place.”
Nova nodded slowly. Then her gaze shifted toward the shelving along the back wall.
“There,” she stated, pointing at the shelving unit.
Snow followed her line of sight, his attention narrowing as it locked onto the shelving unit she pointed out.
“Look at it. It doesn’t match the other shelves. This one is on wheels.”
Jesus, the woman didn’t miss a damn thing. Between picking locks, spotting details everyone else overlooked, and now possibly finding Brett’s hidden room, Snow was beginning to think she deserved almost all the credit for this mission.
When they got off this rig, the woman was getting a hell of a lot more than the quick kiss he had given her earlier. He was going to thank her very fucking properly.
◆◆◆
Nova stared at the shelving unit, still trying to wrap her head around everything Snow had told her that morning.
A part of her was still wondering how in the hell she had gotten herself wrapped up in this.
She looked at the shelving unit again. “I’m starting to really regret being right about this.”
Snow glanced at her. “You were pretty proud of yourself five minutes ago.”
“That was before we potentially found the terrorist workshop.”
“Fair point. Come on, help me move this.”
Snow unlocked the wheels, and then together, they leaned into the large unit. It was heavier than Nova expected, and at first the damn thing barely moved.
“Push,” Snow grunted.
“I am pushing.”
“Push harder.”
Nova shot him a look. “You know, yelling push isn’t actually contributing additional strength.”
Snow laughed. “Jesus Christ. Again, on three. One, two—”
The shelving unit suddenly lurched, and Nova stumbled forward.
“You didn’t say three!”
“Didn’t need to.”
“That’s not how counting works.”
“File a complaint.”
“I might.”
They shoved the shelving far enough aside to expose a steel door.
“Well, shit,” Nova said.
“Yeah.” Snow moved in front of her, his demeanor changing almost immediately as he studied the door. He reached for the handle, tested it once, then frowned. “It’s not locked.”
Nova peered around his shoulder. “I mean, why would he lock it? Nobody’s supposed to know it’s here.”
Snow glanced back at her.
She shrugged. “If you’re arrogant enough to build a secret room on an offshore platform, you’re probably arrogant enough to assume nobody will ever find it.”
“Good point,” Snow said as he pulled the door open and stopped. “Fuck!”
That one word wiped away what little humor Nova had left. She stepped around him and stared.
The room wasn’t huge, but there was a lot packed into it.
Worktables ran along two walls, covered with tools, wires, electronic components, pieces of equipment, and other things she couldn’t begin to identify.
Open cases sat on the floor, and against the far wall were two of the same blue barrels she had seen in the photographs she had taken inside Brett’s office.
But it was the UUV that held her attention. It sat near the center of the room.
Nova had seen the photographs. She knew what they were looking for. Still, standing only a few feet away from it made everything suddenly feel much more real.
She was surprised that it wasn’t very big. Something capable of doing as much damage as Snow had described should have been enormous and terrifying. It shouldn’t look like something that one man could move around himself.
“Don’t touch anything,” Snow said.
Nova looked at him. “Trust me, you don’t have to tell me twice.”
He already had his phone against his ear. “Bear, we found it.”
While Gabe talked, Nova slowly moved farther into the room, careful not to get too close to anything. She had dealt with plenty of dishonest people throughout her career. She had seen greed ruin business partnerships, destroy families, and turn otherwise intelligent people into complete idiots.
But this? This was a whole other thing.