Polar Quest

by Alex Archer

  Garin shrugged. “Thomson’s last order was that the camp go into blackout mode. No communications in or out. So we’re pretty isolated right now.”

  “That could work to our favor.”

  “For right now. But it could also work to the enemy’s benefit, as well. They’ll know we don’t have any help coming.”

  “Great.”

  “Our job,” Garin said, “is to keep our eyes and ears open and see who makes the first move. As soon as we see that, we’ll need a plan of action.”

  “How about stopping them from destroying the camp and everyone in it?” Annja said.

  Garin shook his head. “You’re assuming that’s their goal. It might not be. We need to keep ourselves open to the possibility that there could be something else at play here. Otherwise, we’ll miss seeing it when it happens.”

  “You’re right.”

  Garin headed to the door. “I should get going. People will expect me to be visible for the next few hours at least. I’ll let the camp know you’re free to move about. Let me know immediately if you learn anything new.”

  “Okay, good luck.”

  “You, too.”

  Garin pushed his way out of the door and Annja leaned back on her bed. She hated waiting. But Garin’s plan seemed most logical. At least for right now.

  The door opened and Zach and Dave rushed in. Zach was covered in dirt and grime. Dave looked less harsh for the day’s work.

  “Are you okay?” Zach asked. “We just heard.”

  Dave smiled. “You look okay for having been in a bomb blast.”

  “Shaped charge, apparently,” Annja said. “But I could have easily been killed. And given everything that’s gone on so far on this trip, I’m a little amazed I wasn’t.”

  Dave smiled. “Well, we’re glad you’re okay.”

  Annja nodded.

  But inside, she wondered if that was true.

  33

  The next couple of hours passed uneventfully. Annja could see that the camp was in a bit of turmoil with a lot of soldiers wondering whether they should call in for help or stay where they were. Garin was quite visible, reassuring the soldiers that he had the situation well in hand. He played the part well, and Annja found herself admiring his leadership skills.

  She went to dinner with Zach and Dave. The mood in the mess hall was grim. Annja got a lot of nasty looks. It was all she could do to not stand on the table and scream her innocence. Garin sat with them toward the end of the meal, asked a few questions and then left them alone.

  For his part, Zach still seemed convinced that there were more relics to be found in Horlick Mountain. Annja watched him going on and on about where he wanted to dig next and felt pity.

  Look at how devoted he is, she thought. This dig is a life raft for him. It’s the only thing keeping him above water and I know that it’s all fake. When he finds out, it’s going to devastate him.

  “And, Annja, if the major will let you come with us, Dave and I were talking about trying a new spot tomorrow, once the blasting is done,” Zach said.

  “I thought the blasting was scheduled for this morning?” Annja said.

  Dave frowned. “Well, it was. Until the colonel ordered everything put on hold while he solved the mystery of who broke into the communications systems yesterday.”

  Annja frowned. “So the other team hasn’t broken through the granite yet?”

  “Nope.”

  “Do you know what they expect to find on the other side of that wall?”

  Zach shrugged. “Apparently, there’s a cavern of sorts. Who knows, it could be like opening an extraterrestrial tomb of the pharaohs.”

  If only, Annja thought. But she smiled and nodded. “That would be an incredible find.”

  Dave was looking at her. “You don’t seem convinced, Annja. Something bothering you?”

  “Just everything. I mean, I’ve been accused of espionage. Then someone obviously broke into our shelter and wired my laptop with a bomb. I narrowly avoided being killed and everyone thinks I killed the colonel.” She sighed. “I’m happy for you guys, believe me, but it’s hard getting upbeat when the entire camp wants my head stuck on the business end of a pike.”

  Dave smiled. “Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you killed Thomson.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Any chance you’ll be my campaign manager?”

  “I’ll paint a sign and everything.”

  Annja smiled. “Great. That’ll help a lot.”

  Zach looked at her. “So did you hack into the computer systems?”

  Annja smiled. “I wanted to see the report. What can I say? I’m stubborn when it comes to that kind of thing.”

  “How did you do it?” Dave asked. He seemed to be concentrating on his mashed potatoes.

  Annja realized too late what she’d done. He must have known they took his satellite phone. Was it better to deny it or just get it out of the way? Then she remembered that the phone had been in Thomson’s shelter when the bomb went off. Was it still operational? Or had it been destroyed? She’d have to check with Garin.

  She sighed. “I’m not proud of it, Dave, but I used your satellite phone.”

  “I don’t recall ever showing it to you,” he said.

  “I saw it when you were unpacking.” Annja smiled. “Anyway, at least no one thinks you hacked the system.”

  He nodded and swallowed some of his food.

  Zach smiled. “Hey, at least we know we have a way out of here if it turns out this thing blows up in our faces.” He grimaced. “Ugh, bad choice of words. Sorry.”

  “Forget it,” Annja said. “I’m ready to move on if you guys are. I just honestly want to get back to digging and finding these relics. It’s been hard keeping my mind on it with everything else going on.”

  Dave looked up. “Well, that sounds good to me.”

  Annja held her breath for a moment. Did he buy it? Would it have been better to deny that she had used the phone? She didn’t think so. Dave would have figured it out. Besides, once it had been confiscated, the game was up. Annja was sure she would have done more harm than good by saying she hadn’t used it.

  “I’ll find out if it’s still in operational shape,” she told Dave.

  He shook his head. “It’s okay. I’ll check in with Major Braden after dinner. See if it was recovered from Thomson’s shelter.”

  “Send them the bill if it’s not. That blast was powerful and I’m not sure anything would have survived,” Annja said feebly.

  Dave smiled. “Well, you did.”

  “By luck or chance or design, I don’t know,” Annja said. “It was pretty scary stuff. I don’t know that I’ve ever been so close to an explosion like that.”

  “Any hairs singed?” Zach said, smiling.

  “None that I could find.”

  Dave nodded. “Well, whoever stole your laptop and rigged it to explode obviously knew what they were doing.”

  “You think?”

  “Without a doubt. From the sounds of it, it wasn’t an easy thing to pull off in the first place. You should be grateful they may not have rigged it properly. Maybe it was supposed to blow up in all directions or something.”

  Annja frowned. “Thanks, Dave, that makes me feel a whole lot better about the day.”

  “I’m just saying.”

  “Well, don’t. The fact is someone is dead now because of my computer, and even though I didn’t have anything to do with that, everyone thinks I did. My name is mud around here and I have to live with it. You guys don’t.”

  Zach frowned. “I thought we were moving on from this?”

  “I was all set to until Mr. Optimism showed up,” Annja said.

  Dave put up his hands. “Okay, okay, that was a bad choice of wording on my part. I’m just trying to make sense of all of this. And it seems so strange to me.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a monopoly on the strangeness,” Annja said. “It’s all been happening to me since I
arrived in Antarctica. It’s not a very comfortable feeling, let me tell you.”

  Zach leaned back in his chair. “Annja, I hate to bring this up, but I want to ask you something.”

  “What?”

  “Have you considered the possibility that the computer was supposed to kill you?”

  “I thought we just discussed this?” Annja frowned. All she wanted to do was go back to their shelter and sleep.

  “Yeah, but only in one context.”

  Dave leaned closer. “Explain, Zach.”

  “What if the computer wasn’t meant to be detonated by Thomson? What if it was supposed to explode when Annja clicked to open the file? After all, the person who rigged it might have had no idea that Major Braden would grab it and take it to Colonel Thomson.”

  “You’re saying that shaped charge was meant to kill Annja and not Thomson?” Dave asked.

  “Why not? Annja was the one who was presumably going to open the file and read it, right?”

  Annja nodded. “That was the plan, yeah.”

  Zach spread his hands. “Well, then…?”

  Dave took a breath. “He’s got a pretty good point, Annja. You might want to look into getting some protection. If you take Zach’s theory and apply it to the rest of your trip here, you seem to be a marked woman.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Annja said.

  “I’m being serious.” Dave frowned. “You could be in real danger. And not for nothing, but the people around you could be, too. Thomson might simply have been a case of mistaken identity.”

  She took a breath. “Well, that about seals this day as being one of the crappiest in my life. Guess I’ll go off to bed and hope I wake up in the morning.”

  Dave started to stand. “Annja—”

  She stopped him. “No, no, you guys stay here and enjoy dessert. I’m out of here. Maybe I’ll check in with Major Braden and make sure it’s okay to sleep tonight.”

  She walked away from the table and heard Dave telling Zach what an idiot he was for bringing that up. Zach retorted with something about how Annja deserved to know the possibility existed. Annja wanted to hear no more of it and pushed out into the Antarctic night.

  She stood outside the mess hall for a moment, letting the frigid wind wash over her. If only it was that easy to wipe her fears away, she thought.

  But it wasn’t. And like it or not, she was stuck here for the duration. This had to play itself out with her as a participant. If she tried to stay away from it, she’d likely just end up dead.

  And that wasn’t an option she wanted to consider.

  She could see the light on in Garin’s tent. She could wander over and tell him about the conversation she’d just had, but was any of it really news to him?

  Everyone thinks I’m responsible for this, and yet I might be the most innocent person here.

  Another stiff breeze threw snow at her from the side. She turned away and saw the line of Sno-Cats parked under a frozen tarp.

  I could just grab one of them, get it fueled up and head back to McMurdo, she thought. With the GPS system, it wouldn’t be that difficult finding her way back. Once there, she could tell the marshal about everything that had happened. If nothing else, he might be able to protect her.

  She smirked. Whom was she kidding? Traveling alone in the darkness on a remote continent with no real idea of where she was going? It was a recipe for disaster.

  It might also make her an easier target.

  She turned and walked through the snow toward Garin’s shelter. Love him or hate him, he was at least a connection back to the outside world.

  Her boots trudged through the snow as the wind blew harder. Annja bent lower, trying to take herself out of the direct path of the gusts. It was brutal out. Annja wondered why anyone would come down here to put up with these conditions. She was thankful they at least had the generator going to provide them with warmth and electricity.

  If the generator was gone, they’d all be dead.

  She stopped.

  The generator. It was nuclear powered. The first of its kind. Small, compact and powerful.

  It had to be worth a lot of money to someone, especially nations that were desperately trying to acquire nuclear power. She hurried through the snow. Could it be the target?

  Had someone orchestrated this entire thing knowing that the military would use the new generator to power their camp? Had they come down and faked the dig sites, the mineral deposits and more—all for a chance to steal the nuclear generator?

  It would have taken an awesome amount of planning. It would also take a devious mind that knew how to manipulate events and people to the extent that it could work.

  She frowned. But where did she fit into the picture? Why was she being targeted for death?

  That question still remained unanswered.

  Annja stopped in front of Garin’s door and knocked.

  “Who is it?”

  “Annja.”

  “Come in.”

  She opened the door and stepped inside. Garin sat there behind his desk. “Got something to tell me?”

  Annja nodded. “I think I know what this is all about.”

  34

  Garin looked at her. “I’m listening.”

  “It’s the nuclear generator,” Annja said. “That’s what they’re after.”

  “Who?”

  Annja shook her head. “I don’t know that yet.”

  “Well, according to what Thomson said, the generator is cutting-edge technology. I suppose it might be of some value,” Garin said.

  “It’s definitely valuable,” Annja said. “Think of what emerging nations would pay to get their hands on something like that. Nuclear power, portable, and they could probably copy it so they could then produce others. It would solve their energy needs, and at the same time put them at the table of the other nuclear powers.”

  Garin stroked his chin. “Interesting. And not exactly comforting since my shelter actually backs up to it.” He reached into his parka and withdrew a large-caliber pistol. “Guess I’ll be keeping this handy for the next couple of days.” He smiled at Annja. “So this entire thing was designed to get the Americans to bring one of their new supersecret nuke generators here?”

  Annja sat down in a chair. “I think it’s the only thing that makes sense. The relics are fake. The mountain, while it might contain plenty of minerals and deposits, wouldn’t be something that someone would be able to swoop in and make a quick buck off. That leaves the generator.”

  “Unless, of course, we’re still not seeing something else that’s right here,” Garin said. “But I don’t know what that could be.”

  “Neither do I,” Annja said. “I really think this is it. And it’s a big one.”

  Garin frowned. “I wonder what the plan is. I mean, are they simply going to drive it out of here? It’s not exactly the kind of thing you could just up and take. The effects would be too immediate. Everyone would know the instant we lost power. Obviously, it’s protecting us. Lose that protection and people will die.”

  Annja looked around. Garin must have been lying on his bed when she knocked because the blanket was ruffled. “And where would they take it? McMurdo’s still a long haul,” she said.

  “Worse, the weather is dire. The generator is portable, yes, but it’s not something you wouldn’t need a plane or a ship to ferry out of here.” Garin frowned. “Still too many questions left unanswered.”

  “But at least we know.”

  Garin nodded. “True, but in this case, that might harm us more than protect us.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “If the people plotting this find out that we know, then we’ll naturally be the first ones they seek to eliminate. Someone’s wanted you dead from the start. And now it looks like they have an even better reason to want it so.”

  Annja sighed. “Your suggestion about sleeping with my sword? I just might do that. I don’t care what my roommates think.”

  Garin smiled. �
�Well, at least you always have that weapon. It’s not as though it ever leaves you. Does it?”

  “Not so far. I’ve had trouble using it in cramped places, but otherwise, it’s always there when I need it.”

  “Good,” Garin said. “At least I don’t need to give you a weapon now. I tend to think people might mutiny if they saw that.”

  Annja nodded. “You should have seen everyone at dinner after you left. They hate me here.”

  “They think you killed their commanding officer. A man who was well liked by his troops. Of course they hate you.”

  “Speaking of which,” Annja said, “did the satellite phone that you took from Dave’s pack survive the explosion in Thomson’s shelter? I think he’s pretty steamed that I used it to make contact with my hacker friend.”

  Garin shook his head. “It was pretty mangled. I don’t think you’ll be using that to call for help, if that’s what you’re after.”

  “I just wanted to return it to him. But if it’s gone, then I guess he’ll have to manage without it.”

  Garin got up and walked over to his bed. “All right, then. If that’s all you’ve got, I should get some sleep. Unless, of course, you’d like to spend the night with me?”

  Annja smiled. “I don’t think we’re at the point where we need to keep watch over each other by sleeping in the same bed.”

  Garin lay on his back. “Perhaps not, but it would certainly make for some entertaining times. We might both wake up tomorrow dead. Did you ever think about that?”

  “You’re going to use end-of-the-world lines on me now? Garin, you must be losing your touch if you think that will work on me. Besides, it’s not like you can die. Even if I do, I imagine you’ll still be around kicking.”

  Garin sighed. “Most likely.”

  Annja moved to the door. “Good night, then.”

  “Be careful, Annja. Someone is obviously gunning for you.”

  She pushed the door open and walked back out into the cold. The winds howled through the camp, sliding snow all over the place. Bits of it pelted her parka and face, and she blinked, trying to get her goggles and mask back in place before her exposed skin froze. In conditions like this, it was no wonder people lost skin after only a minute of exposure.