Page 79 of Rugged and Filthy

“I don’t think it’s Declan if that’s what you’re after.”

“Doesn’t he have the skills to damage the rig?” I asked.

“He was the head rigger. He was book educated. You know? He talked the talk, walked the walk. Hell, the man taught me some skills I didn’t know I was missing when he came on board, but he was an arrogant son of a bitch doing it. However, Sean really liked him. A lot. So, we were forced to accept him. Eventually, the kid cooled his ass down and became one of the team. You could tell he cared. That’s why I can’t believe the way he’s been. Something is off.”

Something was certainly off. Sadly, men could turn on a dime because of greed if nothing else.

Or love.

I’d seen his infatuation with Rylee in his eyes, the ugly green monster appearing as if he knew what was going on with Rylee and the three of us. “It’s something to keep in mind. Are there security cameras on the rig? I didn’t see any evidence of them in the command center.”

“Nah. Up until recently, we haven’t had issues and the system necessary for this type of rig would cost as much as a new drilling arm.”

“Have a couple of the men keep watch tonight, especially on the blowout preventer. And the main drill lines.” Shit. Even illegal drugs could be brought onto a rig with ease. There were dozens of hiding places no one would find.

“You know as well as I do there a lot of running parts on a rig, Foxx. If the saboteur is in on board, we might not catch him in time.”

“We gotta try. I have a bad feeling if something is going to happen, it’ll be in the next couple of nights.”

“Understood. I’ll put some men on duty. They won’t like it but they’ll get over it.”

He walked away and I hated that I had no real trust in any of the men, but I sensed Cormac was a good guy. I headed toward where Jack stood with Rylee, her body movements and stance indicating even more tension than before.

“I think it’s prudent the four of us devise a plan,” I said, noticing the clouds were getting thicker. If rain rolled in, the weather conditions would be a perfect cover for someone sabotaging the rig.

“Something’s wrong. Isn’t it?” Rylee asked.

“Yeah, there are a lot of things wrong,” Jack answered.

A crackle of thunder in the background drew my attention. The storm was approaching. Goddamn it. This was the last thing we needed.

“And I think you learned something new, didn’t you?” I asked the question of the beautiful woman, trying to ignore the fact she looked like a fresh-faced girl with her long strands in a ponytail, the few wisps not secured stuck to her luscious mouth. In a chivalrous move, I brushed the hair behind her ear, half expecting her to smack me for the intimate gesture. When she didn’t, doing nothing more than locking eyes with mine, I sensed the same fear I’d smelled before.

She was fucking terrified.

And I was fucking furious.

CHAPTER 22

Hudson

“Fuck.”

I’d exclaimed the word more than once. What I’d found couldn’t be right. If it was, the news could devastate Foxx. That was something I didn’t want to do. Plus, I was no computer expert, although I knew my way around them and had made an effort to stay up to date on what hackers could do with a damn good computer. Now that Artificial Intelligence or AI was being used by almost every company in the world, the sky was the limit as far as the lengths criminals could go to in order to make something look real.

I had a buddy back in the States that could pick out the difference. Telling Foxx about what I’d found before being certain could end our friendship. That wasn’t on my bucket list.

I sat back, closing my eyes. This shit was getting frustrating. From what I could tell, the oil production had been a constant flow. Until recently. But by all appearances, the decision had been made by a member of the family.

Would Sean really do this?

Nothing was making any sense. Absolutely nothing.

When the door opened, I immediately shifted the screen from what I’d been looking at. While Foxx had asked that I check into the situation regarding the Irish mob, and that’s where I’d started, the connection I found was disturbing on so many levels. One thing I would share were my thoughts on why Madden was attempting to purchase Sean’s rig, just like he’d done with two others off the coast of Ireland. Now he was scouting ones in Alaska and California, and even off the coast of Louisiana.

It would seem Madden Byrne and his family were set to become the world’s offshore oil moguls. And they were using any method available to make that happen.

Including murder.

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