Read Online Oil Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 4) by T'Gracie Reese, Joe Reese - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: T'Gracie Reese, Joe Reese
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that.”
“I will.”
“Look. On these monitors you can see every area in the rig. All workers have micro chips in these clips around our necks. Two hundred and fifty-three people. They’re all out there now, all accounted for. Well, I’ll promise you: Edgar knew every one of them. Sometimes we would scan the monitors, just to be sure everyone was in the right place. If Edgar didn’t recognize someone, he would ask. It was important to him.”
And so, on it went.
Finally, they were through.
And five minutes later, they were following Sandy Cousins down the corridor that led to Edgar Ramirez’ room.
Individual rooms for each worker.
Carpeted halls leading from room to room.
Little sound at all except for the ventilation motors overhead and the soft sounds of music coming from closed doors to their left and right.
Sandy had reached the door and was unlocking it.
She swung it open inwardly.
The room that looked back at them could have been any dorm room, but a little nicer and with no beer cans;
“All of the rooms are like this,” Sandy was saying. “We have two hundred and fifteen people on board at any time. Everybody gets an individual room with a tv and stereo system.”
“Now: We’ve left these baskets here so you’ll have something to put Edgar’s things in. Also, on the table, there’s a vase of flowers for…well, we put it together ourselves. If you could, we would like you to take it to Edgar’s mother, brother, and sister. That is, if you don’t mind doing it.”
“We don’t mind,” said Nina.
The three of them had begun to enter the room when a fourth figure approached, walking briskly up the hallway.
“Ms. Bannister?”
Nina turned.
The man walking toward her looked the epitome of a southern gentleman. His hair was wavy and so well coiffed that he might have been a character actor. With his ruddy face and twinkling eyes; he could have been the perfect Mississippi/Louisiana plantation house owner except for the absurd bright orange pumpkin costume he wore.
“Ms. Bannister?”
“Yes, I’m Nina Bannister.”
“Brewster Dale here. Ah have the honor to be in charge of security for Aquatica.”
She could have been listening , she told herself, to Foghorn Leghorn.
“And this is the young Mr. Ramirez?”
Hector nodded.
“A great loss for all of us, Sir. My condolences. You must be suffering greatly. All I can say to you is—well, I can quote the bard as I always do. He said: ‘Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain’.”
“The bard?” asked Nina. “Did Shakespeare say that?”
Brewster Dale shook his head.
“My only true bard is Mr. Faulkner, Madame.”
Sandy smiled:
“Brewster is our scholar out here on Aquatica. He knows everything there is to know about William Faulkner.”
And Dale would have blushed, has his complexion not been so red as to render doing so impossible. Or at least undetectable.
“I flatter myself as being somewhat knowledgeable on the subject. At any rate though, I’m sorry to have to bother both of you at what I realize must be an extremely difficult time. But we do have some rather tight security precautions on Aquatica.”
“What kind of precautions? Surely Edgar wasn’t stealing anything.”
“No, no, I’m absolutely certain that he wasn’t. A young man of sterling character, absolutely sterling.”
A shake of the head:
“But the problem is as follows:. we are using some very advanced techniques out here. I’m not sure whether you have ever heard of ‘industrial espionage?’”
“Only in books.”
“Well, the concept exists outside of books, too. There are a great many competing companies that would like to have a look inside what we’re doing out here. Companies in the oil industry. It has happened in the past that employees—especially engineers with advanced degrees—have downloaded advanced programs to personal computers, and sold the contents of those computers for a
“I will.”
“Look. On these monitors you can see every area in the rig. All workers have micro chips in these clips around our necks. Two hundred and fifty-three people. They’re all out there now, all accounted for. Well, I’ll promise you: Edgar knew every one of them. Sometimes we would scan the monitors, just to be sure everyone was in the right place. If Edgar didn’t recognize someone, he would ask. It was important to him.”
And so, on it went.
Finally, they were through.
And five minutes later, they were following Sandy Cousins down the corridor that led to Edgar Ramirez’ room.
Individual rooms for each worker.
Carpeted halls leading from room to room.
Little sound at all except for the ventilation motors overhead and the soft sounds of music coming from closed doors to their left and right.
Sandy had reached the door and was unlocking it.
She swung it open inwardly.
The room that looked back at them could have been any dorm room, but a little nicer and with no beer cans;
“All of the rooms are like this,” Sandy was saying. “We have two hundred and fifteen people on board at any time. Everybody gets an individual room with a tv and stereo system.”
“Now: We’ve left these baskets here so you’ll have something to put Edgar’s things in. Also, on the table, there’s a vase of flowers for…well, we put it together ourselves. If you could, we would like you to take it to Edgar’s mother, brother, and sister. That is, if you don’t mind doing it.”
“We don’t mind,” said Nina.
The three of them had begun to enter the room when a fourth figure approached, walking briskly up the hallway.
“Ms. Bannister?”
Nina turned.
The man walking toward her looked the epitome of a southern gentleman. His hair was wavy and so well coiffed that he might have been a character actor. With his ruddy face and twinkling eyes; he could have been the perfect Mississippi/Louisiana plantation house owner except for the absurd bright orange pumpkin costume he wore.
“Ms. Bannister?”
“Yes, I’m Nina Bannister.”
“Brewster Dale here. Ah have the honor to be in charge of security for Aquatica.”
She could have been listening , she told herself, to Foghorn Leghorn.
“And this is the young Mr. Ramirez?”
Hector nodded.
“A great loss for all of us, Sir. My condolences. You must be suffering greatly. All I can say to you is—well, I can quote the bard as I always do. He said: ‘Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain’.”
“The bard?” asked Nina. “Did Shakespeare say that?”
Brewster Dale shook his head.
“My only true bard is Mr. Faulkner, Madame.”
Sandy smiled:
“Brewster is our scholar out here on Aquatica. He knows everything there is to know about William Faulkner.”
And Dale would have blushed, has his complexion not been so red as to render doing so impossible. Or at least undetectable.
“I flatter myself as being somewhat knowledgeable on the subject. At any rate though, I’m sorry to have to bother both of you at what I realize must be an extremely difficult time. But we do have some rather tight security precautions on Aquatica.”
“What kind of precautions? Surely Edgar wasn’t stealing anything.”
“No, no, I’m absolutely certain that he wasn’t. A young man of sterling character, absolutely sterling.”
A shake of the head:
“But the problem is as follows:. we are using some very advanced techniques out here. I’m not sure whether you have ever heard of ‘industrial espionage?’”
“Only in books.”
“Well, the concept exists outside of books, too. There are a great many competing companies that would like to have a look inside what we’re doing out here. Companies in the oil industry. It has happened in the past that employees—especially engineers with advanced degrees—have downloaded advanced programs to personal computers, and sold the contents of those computers for a
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