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Matt stepped back and sank into the seat he had refused a moment ago. Relief washed through him. “Thank God. Jen…my ex-wife was on that boat.”
“Then she’s in more danger than you.”
Matt’s brow pinched, tensing again. “What do you mean?”
“This isn’t over. Not for any of us.” Petkov’s gaze flicked to the boy. “This ice station. It’s not a Russian research base.”
Matt felt a heavy weight settle in his gut.
Petkov’s eyes returned to Matt. “It’s American.”
Je
The thunderous whump of the lone remaining helicopter echoed over the frozen terrain as it circled to land near the iceboat. Amanda busied herself with securing the boat, tying down the sails and finding a spare set of wooden chocks to brace the ru
Craig crossed toward the helicopter, leaning against the rotor wash. He held his throat mike under his chin as he spoke to the Delta Force leader inside the craft.
From out of the cluster of Jamesway huts, a group of soldiers in white snow gear ambled out, weapons in hand, but not raised. They were taking no chances with the Russians so near.
One of the men approached the two women by the boat. “Ma’am, if you’ll follow me, I’ll get you inside with the others. The Russians planted a slew of incendiary devices throughout the base. We don’t know if any of them are booby-trapped.”
Je
They wound back through the nest of buildings. The snowfall had stopped, but the winds continued to gust fiercely through the Jamesway huts. Je
This thought generated more tears. She had thought herself done crying on the boat ride here, relieved, but at the same time full of grief. Kowalski was missing. Tom was most likely dead. Bane, too. And Matt…
Now all were gone.
She needed someone to still be alive.
Her pace hurried as the guard opened the door to the hut. Je
Je
“For your protection,” their escort said as he led them past. “We’re trying to keep everyone in one place until we know the base is safe. And with the Russians entrenched only thirty miles away, nowhere else is safe.”
Je
The warmth of the barracks struck her like a wet blanket to the face. The heat was stifling from both the heaters and the number of bodies. Je
She spotted Commander Sewell immediately. He sat in front. Half his face was bandaged. His arm was in a sling. She stepped in front of him, her eyes wide.
He stared at her with the one good eye that peeked from the bandages. “You just couldn’t stay away, could you?”
“What happened?” Her gaze traveled over his beaten form.
“You ordered me to protect your father.” He shrugged. “I take orders seriously.”
The crowd parted and a familiar figure pushed through. Tired-eyed, but unharmed.
She hurried into his arms. “Papa!”
He hugged her tight. “Jen…honey.”
She could not say anything more. Something broke inside her. She began to sob. Not simply tears, but racks of pain and gulping breath. It was uncontrollable, rising from a well deep inside her. It hurt so much. She had survived. So many others had not. “M-Matt,” she managed to sob out.
Arms tightened.
She continued to cry while her father drew her back to a bed and pulled her down beside him. He didn’t try to console her with words. Words would come later. Right now she simply needed someone to hold and someone to hold her.
Her father gently rocked her.
After a period of time, she became aware of her surroundings again, emptied and numb. She slowly lifted her face. At some point, Craig had joined them. He was seated with Amanda, Commander Sewell, and a man in a storm suit.
This last fellow carried a helmet under one arm. His hair was black, short, slicked back. He appeared to be in his midthirties, but a hard midthirties. His skin was ruddy with a wicked scar that trailed under his ear to the his neckline. He fingered the scar as he leaned beside Craig, studying something on a table that had been dragged over. “I don’t see that any of this matters,” the soldier said. “We should strike now before the Russians can entrench any further.”
Je
“Jen…?”
“I’m better.” At least for the moment, she added silently. She stood and walked over toward the group. Her father followed.
Craig glanced up at her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“As well as can be expected.”
He turned back to his discussion with the others. “These are the journals I was assigned to acquire. But they’re coded. I can’t make any headway deciphering them.”
Amanda glanced over to Je
“What does it matter?” the storm-suited newcomer asked. “My team can take the station in under two hours. Then you can send in as many encryption experts as you’d like.”
Je
Craig answered, “The Russian admiral is no fool. He’ll blow the station before letting us commandeer it. Before we go in shooting blindly, we need more intelligence.”
Je
She leaned over and picked up the book. Craig frowned at her. She ran a finger over the lines. “This last word is Grendel.”
Craig swung around in his seat. “You can read the code?”
Je
He shook his head. “I can’t read it.”
Craig stared between them. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” Je
Craig stood up next to her. “Phonetically?”
She nodded.
“Can you read the opening line? How it would sound spoken aloud?”
Je
Craig jerked straighter, listening with a bent ear. “That’s Russian! You’re speaking Russian.” He repeated her words more clearly. “Istoriya ledyanoi stantsii Grendel. It translates ‘History of the Ice Station Grendel.’ ”
Je
Craig hit his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Of course, the doctor who ran the station would know Inuit. They were his test subjects. He would need to communicate with them. So he used their symbolic code to record his own Russian notes.” He turned to Je