Page 131 of Deep Tide

The men crowded around the wall map turned to look when Nicole entered the conference room.

“Anything?” Joel demanded.

“Not yet,” she told him. “They’re getting in position.”

The Coast Guard had just dispatched a pair of response boats to go check out DL Offshore Drilling’s two platforms, which were about thirty miles off the coast.

“When they get close enough,” she added, “they plan to send a drone up to see whether a helicopter is on either of the rigs. He’ll call me when they know.”

Owen and Joel turned back to face the big map taped to the whiteboard. Red dots indicated the known locations of drilling platforms in the region.

Nicole stepped over to Brady and Emmet. “Any news here?”

“Moran just got off the phone with an agent on their surveillance team,” Brady said. “He says the chopper hasn’t returned to the drilling company’s headquarters, which might or might not be a good thing.”

Nicole hoped to hell that meant the helo had landed on one of the platforms. DL Offshore Drilling had a business connection to some rancher that Gagnon knew, so they were checking the platforms first. But there was always the depressing possibility the chopper had flown south of the border.

She glanced at Sean, who stood near the window with his back to everyone as he talked on his cell phone.

“Who’s he on with?” she asked the chief.

“HRT.”

“HRT?”

“The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team is mounting an op.”

“Where?” Nicole asked. “We don’t even have a location.”

Joel turned and glared at her.

“We’re optimistic we’ll get one,” Brady said as Joel turned his attention back to the map. “CBP has been in touch. They haven’t had any helos move through the airspace near the border in the last hour. So, it’s likely it was bound for one of the rigs.”

Nicole wasn’t so sure. Just because Customs and Border Patrol hadn’t detected something crossing the border didn’t mean the helicopter was headed for one of the offshore platforms. It might be meeting up with a boat. Or heading far out to sea.

She thought of Miguel Vidales, and a chill went down her spine as she remembered his words about the kidnapped reporter.

Rumor is he took one of those chopper rides... over the Gulf of Mexico.

Sean stepped over. “We’ve got a team en route from Houston.” He checked his watch. “ETA twenty minutes.”

“Where are they going?” Joel asked him.

“They plan to stage at the Coast Guard station in Corpus Christi. Hopefully, by the time they get there we’ll know where that helicopter landed.”

Assuming it landed.

From the grim looks on Joel’s and Owen’s faces, Nicole could tell they weren’t assuming anything.

Nicole’s phone buzzed with a text message, and she pulled it out.

Her pulse picked up.

“I’ve got something from the Coast Guard,” she said, skimming the message. “Okay, a drone sighted a yellow helicopter—”

“That’s it!” Sean crowded closer to read over her shoulder.

“—and it’s on one of the platforms,” Nicole said. “I’ve got GPS coordinates here. And he sent a map.”

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