Ice Hunt

Once she cleared the lee of the Jamesway hut, winds gusted and tore at her clothing, seeking warm skin. Upon the sharp breezes, Je

As a group, they hunched off toward the two parked Sno-Cats.

A distant boom echoed and rolled over the ice.

Craig glanced around him. “What was that?”

“Fracturing ice floes,” Je

Once they reached the vehicles, two Navy seamen led Je

One of the guards stepped to the first Sno-Cat and pulled open the door. “Ma’am, you and your father will take this one.”

Ducking her head, Je

The driver, uniformed in a blue parka, was already in his seat. He nodded as she slid beside him on the bench seat. “Ma’am.”

She frowned back at him. If one more person called her ma’am today…

Her father took the spot on the other side of her. The two guards hauled themselves into the backseat.

“Sorry we can’t run the heater,” the driver said to them all. “To cover the thirty miles, we’re go

Once everyone was settled, the driver started the tread-wheeled vehicle across the ice. He followed the trundled track of the other Cat as they headed out from the base. Once under way, the driver tapped a button, and a rockabilly tune twanged from the tiny speakers.

A groan rose from the seaman in the backseat. “Trash this hayseed shit. Don’t you have any hip-hop?”

“Who’s driving this rig? I could put in the Backstreet Boys.” The threat was clear in the driver’s voice.

“No, no…that’s all right,” the other conceded, and slumped back in his seat.

They continued away from the base, all lost to their own thoughts. Snow crunched under the treads.

As the driver hummed to the music, Je

She began to twist back around when motion caught her attention — not from the base, but out farther. A dark shadow rose through the whiteness, like some breaching whale. She stared a moment longer, unsure what she was seeing out there on the ice.

Then the winds swept the fog clear for a moment. She watched a black co

“Is that your submarine?” Je

Both seamen swung around. The music critic, the one with the best view, jolted up from his seat. “Fuck!” He tore open the back door. “It’s the goddamn Russians!”

Winds whipped into the cabin. The driver braked the Sno-Cat. Je

She turned to her father. He was staring back at the base, too. “They’re wearing white parkas,” he said calmly.

Je

The guard, assault rifle in hand, hopped out the door as their Sno-Cat growled to a stop.

“Keep going,” Je

The guard outside lifted his weapon. He studied the sub and men racing over the ice ridge.

Laser sights glowed in the fog, casting about. Then a fiery flash burst from the top of the Russian submarine. A missile jetted through the air in a tight arc and smashed into one of the smaller outbuildings.

The explosion shattered the hut, blowing it into a hail of flaming fragments. A ten-foot-wide hole was punched through the ice.

“They took out the satellite array,” the seaman in the backseat moaned. He leaned farther out the open door.

Je

When the driver didn’t respond, she punched her foot on the accelerator. The vehicle was still in gear and jolted forward.

“What are you doing?” the driver shouted, and knocked her leg aside.

“They blasted your communication!” Je

Punctuating her words, gunfire erupted outside. The guard was down on one knee, firing. “Go!” he hollered at them.

The driver hesitated half a breath, then jammed the accelerator himself. “Hang on!”

“C’mon, Fernandez!” the seaman in the backseat yelled to his buddy.

Out on the ice, the guard rose to his feet and backed up. His rifle barrel steamed. More laser sights zeroed in on the fleeing Sno-Cat. He turned and ran for the cab. But when he was within a couple steps, he tripped. His right leg flew out from under him. He hit the ice and slid, leaving a red trail behind him.

“Fernandez!” The seaman leaped from the cab. He raced over to his partner, grabbed his collar, and hauled him after the Sno-Cat.

The driver slowed enough for the pair to catch up.

Je

Once both men were hauled inside, Fernandez yelled at the driver. “Kick this piece of crap in the ass!” He seemed more angry at being shot than scared. He pounded a fist on the seat.

The other man kept pressure with both gloved hands on his buddy’s thigh. Blood welled between his fingers.

The Sno-Cat churned across the ice. Je

Rockabilly continued to blare from the speakers. Snow crunched. Then a sharp whistling cut through everything.

“Shit,” the driver swore.

The blast erupted just ahead of them, spattering the Sno-Cat with chunks of ice. The windshield cracked with spiderwebs. They were momentarily blinded.

Instinctively, the driver ripped the wheel around. The top-heavy Sno-Cat tilted up on one tread, skidding. Through the smoke, Je

A hole lay blasted through the ice. Ten feet down, water and ice sloshed. Steam roiled up from the edges of the blasted pit.

The Sno-Cat continued its icy slide toward the deadly pit, still up on one tread, fishtailing. Je

No one breathed.

But miraculously, impossibly, the stubborn vehicle stopped just at the edge of the hole’s shattered lip.

The driver swore — half in relief, half in restrained panic.

The tilted Sno-Cat slammed back down onto both treads, rattling Je

Je

Like a glacier calving from a coastline, the section of ice under them fell away. The Sno-Cat followed, rockabilly blaring, and toppled end over end into the icy ocean.

Perry stood in the control bridge. The entire crew held their breaths. All eyes were on the monitors and equipment. Perry leaned beside one screen. The image was a digital feed from one of the exterior cameras. Half a mile away, the shadow of the Drakon floated, limned within a pillar of light shining through the open polynya. The enemy sub showed no indication that it sensed its smaller shadow.