13
USAF THULE BASE, NORTH GREENLAND, 20 MARCH 1990
Sakkak moved rhythmically on the spot while monotonously beating a home-made leather drum, which he held in his left hand, with a square drumstick. Before he started dancing and singing, he had told them that the drum was made by his great-grandfather a very long time ago.
Tom looked at Bradley and Reese, who were sitting on the sofa. One of Reese’s cheekbones was swollen and red. The two of them had got into a fight a couple of hours after that day’s readings had been taken. Tom didn’t know what had triggered it, but suddenly Bradley and Reese were on the floor trying to strangle one another. Sakkak had asked if they should cancel the drum dancing, but JJ thought it would take their minds off the experiment and had insisted that it go ahead as planned. Tom was struggling with his thoughts as well. The experiment had gone much further than he had imagined when they had started taking the pills, and it was no longer enough for him to get out of the experiment; he needed to stop the whole project.
Sakkak’s chanting disturbed Tom’s thoughts. Normally the drumming and the dancing wouldn’t be performed by the same person, but Sakkak had chosen to do both. His face was painted red and black in a demonic expression. The incomprehensible words and the monotonous sound of the stick hitting the wooden edge of the drum felt numbing and terrifying at once. Tom had had to snap out of a sense of unreality several times.
‘Heyi, eyi, eyi, eyiieyi,’ Sakkak’s voice chanted in low, hoarse utterances. ‘Raa, raaa…’
Before he started drumming and singing, Sakkak had explained what he would be singing about. It was a story so old that no one could remember where it had first come from. It was about a raven that falls in love with a goose one summer. The raven lived permanently on his island, while the goose was merely passing through. They spent the summer together, but when it started to get cold, the goose decided to head on south with her flock. The raven didn’t want to be without her, so the geese agreed that every night they would land on the sea and rest close together so that he could sit on them. ‘Make me an island,’ the raven said, and the geese promised that they would. But they broke their promise the very first night and scattered across the sea. Slowly the raven sank into the water and drowned.
Sakkak’s hair stuck out stiffly in all directions. His gaze moved in wild and anxious jumps around the room, and his artificially inflated cheeks made his song lisping and hissing.
Tom fought the rhythm. He could feel how it had got a hold in him. As if Sakkak was trying to force his heart to follow the rhythm of the drum and the song. Waves of warmth and icy shivers alternated through Tom’s body.
The sounds coming from Sakkak grew more agitated and panicky.
Suddenly a violent roar yanked Tom out of his trance.
Bradley had jumped onto Reese and was now straddling him with his hands locked around Reese’s neck.
Tom got up and grabbed Bradley, who lashed out in anger, flooring Tom with a hard punch to the side of his head.
Tom felt a crunching sensation in his head and blacked out for a moment.
Reese shouted something, but Tom couldn’t hear what it was. He rolled over on the floor and saw Sakkak fleeing out of the door. Behind the table, Bradley had grabbed a pair of scissors and was lunging at Reese.
Tom got up onto his knees and opened the drawer of a low dresser. He grabbed his pistol and loaded it. He called out. Then he was knocked to the floor again.
14
Abelsen drummed his fingers angrily on the desk. ‘So what you’re telling me is that I’ve waited here a whole week for nothing?’
Lee shook his head. ‘I can’t help you as long as we’re not ready, and it’s only a few hours since we took the last readings.’
‘I think we upped the dose too much,’ Christine said.
‘But you haven’t analysed the data yet,’ Abelsen said, looking towards the door. ‘And yet last week everything was just fine. I need something I can take away with me now!’
‘I don’t actually care how busy you are,’ Christine said. ‘And I’m not taking about the data; it’s the behaviour. What happened today was bad.’
‘But it’s just one day,’ Abelsen exclaimed. ‘Seriously…You really have to…I’ve been waiting for those pills for a week.’ He nudged a pile of papers on the desk between them. ‘Where the hell is Briggs? I’ve got all the paperwork in place. All I need is the pills, and then we can all move on.’
‘Given how things look like right now, we can’t start the second phase of the experiment,’ Lee said with a shrug.
Abelsen leaned across the desk. ‘I have all the signatures here, for fuck’s sake. How hard can it be? I don’t care about your tests…I just want the pills I was promised.’
Christine got up and went over to a desk with two computers, while Lee pushed himself backwards in his chair. ‘You’ll have to wait…As will everyone else.’
‘I’ve been waiting long enough,’ Abelsen said. ‘I’ll speak to the Minister of Defence…in Denmark.’
‘He holds no sway here.’
Abelsen’s chin slumped to his chest. ‘Very well. Name your price.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Money,’ Abelsen said calmly. ‘Cars, foreign holidays, jewellery, watches…art. What do you want so that we can do this now?’
‘You can forget about that for a start!’ Christine’s voice from the back cut in between the other two.
At the same moment the front door to the low wooden barracks was pushed open and two soldiers entered.
‘Bradley and Reese have been shot,’ one of them announced in a firm voice. ‘In Tom’s quarters.’
‘What?’ Lee said, jumping up. He looked at Christine, who leaned on the desk for support. Her gaze flitted nervously back and forth between him and the soldiers. ‘Are they dead?’
‘Yes,’ the other soldier said. There was still snow on his cheeks, but it melted quickly in the warm room.
‘They were found about an hour ago,’ said the soldier who had spoken first. ‘You need to stay in here until you’re told otherwise. Everyone is being interviewed.’
‘What about Tom?’ Lee wanted to know.
‘Suicide, or so it looks. Same room and same weapon.’
‘Tom shot them?’ Lee said, clasping his mouth in horror.
‘Lieutenant Briggs will brief you later.’
‘I’m shutting this thing down right now,’ a new voice interjected.
Everyone turned to face the door. Briggs and a gruff-looking major were standing right inside the doorway.
‘At last! There you are,’ Abelsen exclaimed, rushing up to Briggs. ‘We can’t be sure this has anything to do with the experiment, can we?’
‘There’ll be no more of this,’ the major said, nodding in the direction of the lab equipment. He was as big and broad as Briggs, but just under a decade older.
‘But I have a signed agreement,’ Abelsen shrieked. His pale face had acquired a reddish glow. ‘I want my pills.’
‘Shut up,’ the major snarled. ‘One more word from you and I’ll have you detained.’
Abelsen stared at Briggs, who merely shrugged.
‘JJ is right,’ Briggs said. ‘You’re on American territory.’
‘I claim diplomatic immunity,’ Abelsen exclaimed angrily, grabbing the papers on the desk.
‘You mind your own business,’ Briggs said, fixing his eyes on Abelsen’s. ‘And I’ll mind mine.’ He turned his attention to the two soldiers. ‘Escort Mr Abelsen to his quarters. Our discussions from now on are of no concern to him.’
A few minutes later Abelsen was back in his room in one of the long accommodation barracks. He slammed the door behind him, turning the lock angrily before slumping to the floor and beginning to slowly hit his forehead against it.
‘Shit,’ he whispered into the shiny linoleum surface. The floor breathed hot, moist air back at him.
He stood up and took a few deep breaths as he walked over t
o the two tall wardrobes that lined one of the walls. His fingers rested briefly on the handle of one of them, and then he opened the door. Two shining eyes were waiting inside the darkness. They squinted apathetically at the light.
Abelsen looked down at the man curled up in the bottom of the wardrobe. ‘You’ll be charged with manslaughter,’ he said. ‘They want this incident suppressed and the experiment shut down immediately.’ He knelt down so that his face was level with that of the other man. ‘They’ll blame you for the killings, Tom…and the experiment will be kept out of public knowledge.’
Tom stared passively into the air. His face, arms and shirt were soaked in blood.
‘Now, pull yourself together,’ Abelsen said, extending his hand to Tom. ‘We need to get you showered and find you some clean clothes.’
Tom grabbed Abelsen’s hand and got up slowly and reluctantly. He touched his head. One temple was swollen and red. ‘I can’t remember what happened,’ he whispered, his face contorting in agony.
‘We’ll find out in due course,’ Abelsen said. ‘But first we need to agree on a few things.’
Tom narrowed his eyes and touched his head again.
‘I believe you studied chemistry before you joined the army?’ Abelsen went on.
‘Yes, I joined up to finance my PhD,’ Tom said, shaking his head. ‘And the experiment was another…Not that it matters now…’ Tears welled in his eyes. ‘Did they stab one another? Bradley and Reese? Did someone fire a gun? Shit…They went berserk…But they didn’t have their handguns, did they?’ He shook his head, but then had to shut his eyes from the pain. ‘I should have stopped the experiment weeks ago…Now they’re dead.’ Tom looked at Abelsen. ‘You were there! You were there as well, weren’t you?’ His gaze scanned the room. ‘The mask dancer? Where is he? Is Sakkak dead as well?’
‘Stop it!’ Abelsen grabbed Tom’s arm. ‘You’re losing it…Yes, they’re dead, and you will be court-martialled for their killings. You’ll be locked up for good…and who knows? Perhaps you really did kill them.’
Tom tore himself free of Abelsen’s hold. ‘I didn’t…I know I didn’t.’
‘Your fingerprints are all over everything, you’re covered in their blood…and your pistol is missing.’
Tom buried his face in his hands and slumped to the floor. ‘That’s a lie. I know it is.’ He looked at the blood on his hands. ‘There were three empty cartridges, weren’t there? On the floor next to me…But what happened to my pistol?’
‘I can get you out,’ Abelsen cut him off calmly. ‘Far away from here. It’s not a problem. If I ask to be picked up by a government helicopter and use my connections here at the base, we can travel to Qaanaaq and from there on to Nuuk. I know of an abandoned place a few hours south of Nuuk where we can hide you underground.’
Tom sighed and shook his head. ‘No. I won’t run away.’
‘You don’t have a choice,’ Abelsen said. ‘And once you’re there, you can recreate the experiment in your own time. I can get you everything you need.’
‘You must be out of your mind,’ Tom said, looking up. He stared into the thin man’s black eyes. ‘Two men, three possibly, died today because of that experiment. I’ll turn myself in.’
Abelsen heaved a sigh. ‘That’s not going to happen, Tom. Listen, how’s your son doing in Denmark? It must be such a comfort to know that he’s living in such a safe place…and in the countryside, too. Tommerup is a quiet little village, isn’t it? And so small. I’m tempted to visit it myself…Play a bit with Matthew perhaps. That’s his name, isn’t it? Your son? Matthew? It didn’t take my friends long to find him in Tommerup.’
Tom stared at Abelsen in disbelief. ‘You stay away from Matthew,’ he said hoarsely.
Abelsen squatted down on his haunches. He took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. ‘Look,’ he said. ‘One of my friends took this picture a few days ago. Do you recognise this little chap?’
Tom bashed the paper from Abelsen’s hand. ‘Touch him and you’re dead.’
‘We’ll see,’ Abelsen said. ‘Now stand up. We need to get you cleaned up so that I can get you out of here.’
15
FÆRINGEHAVN, WEST GREENLAND, 23 MARCH 1990
Tom turned over on the mattress, which wasn’t much more than a flimsy sheet of foam. The grey woollen blanket was too small to cover his upper body and legs at the same time. Dust irritated his throat and eyes.
The cell was windowless, the iron door old and studded. It had once been grey, but now it was covered with patches of rust and most of the paint had peeled off. Everything inside the room was concrete; dark grey, rough concrete.
Tom had already paced up and down the cell more times than he could count, his hand trailing along the wall. Only the door broke the concrete surface. He felt restless and scared.
Several naked lightbulbs hung suspended from the ceiling, but only one of them appeared to be working. The ceiling was as concrete as the walls. And the floor.
At the bottom of the door was a hatch, and nearby were a bucket and a plastic bottle of water. In the just under twenty-four hours in which Tom had been locked in the cell, he had been given no food. Only water.
He lay down on the thin mattress. The room had a dry smell. Like old mortar that had become damp and then dried out again for decades.
His knuckles were smeared with dried blood and he could see bloodstains on the wall where he had slammed his fists into the concrete.
He hadn’t slept for days. There was no way he could have killed them. It was unthinkable. But then again, he could only remember odd glimpses. Bradley and Reese fighting like crazed animals. Sakkak with his mask fleeing the room. The darkness when he was knocked out. Then blood everywhere. On his hands and clothes. The cut to his temple. The empty cartridges on the floor next to him. Abelsen, who blackmailed him into fleeing, demanding that Tom recreate the experiment so that he could make millions out of the formula, which would increase the ability of humans and animals to survive the cold. There were huge sums to be made from improving the cold resistance in farm animals such as cows and pigs, to make them better suited for life in the Arctic.
Tom turned over. He could hear noises in the corridor behind the door. First footsteps, then a metallic grating from the lock in the door.
‘Hello, Tom. Making any progress?’
‘With what?’ Tom said, sitting up on the mattress.
‘Finding out how the two of us will be working together.’
‘You’re out of your mind.’
‘No,’ Abelsen said. ‘I want what I was promised.’
‘You weren’t promised shit,’ Tom said, sinking back onto the mattress.
‘You seem tired,’ Abelsen said. ‘I wonder if you could do with something to eat? Or your pills, perhaps? I’m guessing your body is crying out for them.’
‘Get lost.’
‘All right, all right,’ Abelsen said, taking out some prints from his pocket. He tossed them onto the floor by the mattress. ‘Tom, foot soldiers like you, you’re proper tough guys, aren’t you? But you have just as many weaknesses as everybody else.’ He nudged the papers with his foot. ‘Look at them…And take as long as you like.’
Tom reached for the papers. They were all pictures of Matthew in Denmark. Three of them had been taken from a distance, but there was also one where Matthew smiled happily to the camera. His eyes were shining. It looked like he was at some sort of nursery school because there were lots of other children in the background. Tom scrunched up the papers. ‘He’s not even mine.’
Abelsen grinned. ‘Oh, you can do better than that, Tom.’
‘You stay away from him,’ Tom snarled.
‘That’s entirely up to you,’ Abelsen said. ‘As you can see, we’re making great friends with your boy, so it won’t be difficult to persuade him to come along with us for a little trip.’
Tom glowered up at Abelsen. ‘Just get the hell out of here.’
‘As you wish, my friend.�
��
Abelsen disappeared out of the door and soon afterwards the light in the cell went out. The darkness was total. Tom couldn’t even see his own hands when he held them up in front of his face. Slowly he crawled in the direction of the door, feeling his way. First he bumped into the bucket, then the bottle. He untwisted the cap and drained the bottle of water. Hunger gnawed at his stomach, although he didn’t feel any real appetite. He rolled onto his back. His thoughts were spinning. His stomach rumbled.
Tom didn’t know for how long he lay on the floor. He was broken out of his trance by a flash near the ceiling. It was a glimpse of light and it startled him. He stared around the darkness. Had someone been in here? Had he seen something in the brief moment when the cell was lit up?
Another flash of light shot through the room. His heart started pumping so quickly that his fingers and temples began to throb. He closed his eyes. He forced himself to breathe slowly and calmly. It was just the lightbulb going on and off. That was all.
He banged the back of his head softly against the iron door. ‘You’re an amateur, Abelsen,’ he cried out into the darkness.
A shrill voice cut through the cell as the intercom system was switched on. ‘Oops,’ Abelsen’s voice crackled. ‘Then you’ve played all of your aces and shown your hand to an amateur, Tom. That’s bad news for you.’
The intercom buzzed and went quiet.
‘Let me out!’ Tom shouted at the ceiling.
The intercom came on again with another howl that turned into a buzzing noise. ‘I’ll let you out when we have a deal.’ White noise took over for a moment. ‘Otherwise you’ll never get out of here, and you won’t ever know if I let Matthew live—’
‘You bastard!’ Tom yelled.
‘That’s enough!’ The intercom buzzed. ‘I can also have the boy strangled right now and that will end our partnership. Goodbye, Tom.’
‘No…No…I’m sorry.’
‘That’s better. Enjoy the show.’
Tom’s brow furrowed in confusion.
The buzzing noise disappeared and the darkness grew silent. Tom started fumbling his way back to the mattress, but stopped when the light came on again. He looked up. The light wasn’t as bright as earlier, instead it was veiled and it was coming from one of the walls. It was a flickering square. Like the light from a projector. The film being screened on the wall looked like old 8mm footage.
Cold Fear Page 7