Hard Line

by Pamela Clare

  He saw her, surprise on his face. “Sam?”

  But then the plane was moving.

  Thor took something from the overhead compartment—a first aid kit—and sat beside Samantha. The frost from his eyelashes had melted, dripping down his face like tears. “You know him?”

  She held out her palm, which was now bleeding freely and had stained the blanket. “I met him at McMurdo when we first arrived. A group of us researchers got together. There may have been drinking.”

  He opened the kit, cleaned the wound, his fingers cold, his brow furrowing when the sting of the antiseptic made her gasp. “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.” She watched him work. “You’re not what I was expecting.”

  “Oh, how so?”

  “You’re kind. No swagger or chest-thumping or sexist jokes.”

  He chuckled. “You were expecting a shitting jerk, then. You don’t have a very high opinion of military guys, do you?”

  She suppressed a smile at his syntax error. English speakers didn’t use the word shitting quite like that. “I guess not.”

  He bandaged the cut and put the kit under the seat in front of him just as the little plane lifted off, shaking in the wind.

  Thor passed the O2 mask to Samantha, their heads close together so as not to waste oxygen. As soon as they’d gotten airborne, Jones had gone to the back to reconfigure the oxygen system, giving the seven Russians four tanks to share, while he, Segal, Samantha, and Thor split two between the four of them.

  It wasn’t ideal, but they’d had no other choice.

  Thor could never have abandoned anyone in those temperatures. Rarely had his time on the ice of Greenland involved wind chill that extreme. When it had, he and his teammate, Bengt, had staked the dogs, put up their tent, and crawled into the same sleeping bag for warmth.

  The dogs with their thick coats could survive it.

  People couldn’t—not for long.

  Samantha handed the mask back, her fingers accidentally brushing his, the contact human and warm. He knew she was afraid, but she was handling it well. For someone who hadn’t wanted to be a part of this mission, she’d done a great job.

  If the flight out had been turbulent, the return trip demonstrated exactly why people didn’t fly in Antarctica in the winter. Twice, the plane had suddenly lost altitude, seeming to free fall before the pilot was able to gain lift again. The man deserved a medal as far as Thor was concerned. In a lesser pilot’s hands, they’d already be dead.

  So far, their Russian guests hadn’t tried to pull anything. Then again, without safety belts, they had to hold on to the straps that secured the ferry tank or risk broken bones. None had spoken a word since takeoff.

  The plane shook and bounced like a plaything.

  Samantha handed the mask back to Thor, her gaze meeting his. She was so close he could smell the sweet floral scent of her shampoo.

  “You should drink. You’re probably dehydrated.” He nudged the seat in front of him with his knee. “That goes for you guys, too.”

  Jones elbowed Segal. “The Viking says to drink.”

  “Water—or does he have something stronger?”

  Samantha reached for the bottle of water she’d tucked into the seatback pocket, opened it, drank deeply. “Where do you live when you’re not saving people?”

  Thor gave the mask back to Samantha. “In the mountains about an hour and a half west of Denver. I bought a house up there—”

  The plane dropped again, losing altitude all at once.

  Samantha gasped, grabbed Thor’s hand, their guests grunting and shouting in alarm as inertia flung them against the overhead compartment.

  But just as quickly as it began, it was over, the plane still aloft.

  Thor could have released her hand then, but he didn’t, instead holding fast. “It won’t be too much longer.”

  “You must think I’m a big baby.”

  He grinned, shook his head. “Being brave doesn’t mean you’re not afraid. You did great out there. The NSF sent us the right person for the job.”

  Reluctantly, he released her hand.

  What’s with you, man?

  “I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

  “I only did what you told me to do.”

  A few minutes later, the pilot announced that they were now below twelve thousand feet and that he was shutting off the oxygen system. “We’re past the worst of the turbulence. Conditions near the Pole are calm.”

  She breathed a deep sigh of relief when at long last, the aircraft’s skis touched the ice. “Oh, thank goodness! I can’t believe we made it.”

  Thor couldn’t help but smile. “Of course, we did.”

  The Russians cheered.

  Thor unbuckled his safety belt and stood. “You two watch over our guests. I’ll get Dr. Park and the package back to the station. We need to clear the aircraft quickly so the pilot can get back to McMurdo.”

  Segal got to his feet, explained the situation to the Russians.

  Thor watched as they disembarked, waiting for the pilot, who appeared carrying the box with the components. “Fantastic flying, man.”

  The pilot shook Thor’s hand. “Happy to do my part.”

  By the time Thor and Samantha had reached the stairs to Destination Alpha, the pilot was in the air once more, racing the storm to McMurdo.

  Samantha opened the door. “I can’t believe it’s over.”

  But it wasn’t over for Thor, Jones, and Segal. They’d retrieved the package, but now they were stuck at the station with researchers who didn’t want them around—and seven potential hostiles.

  6

  Samantha had never been happier to see the inside of the station than she was at this moment. Exhausted and drained, she took off her goggles, mask, hat, and gloves, eager for a cup of hot coffee. She turned to Thor, Malik, and Lev. “If you’re hungry, there’s food in the galley. They’ll start serving supper at six. And thank you—all of you.”

  Thor met her gaze, his lips curving in a slight smile. “You did the hard work, so we should be the ones thanking you.”

  Steve came down the stairs, made eye contact with her, relief on his face. “Glad to see you back. Mission accomplished?”

  Samantha and Thor answered at the same time. “Yes.”

  Steve glanced around at the unfamiliar faces. “Who are these guys?”

  Vasily and his friends milled about, looking lost and bedraggled.

  “Just some Russians we picked up at the crash site.” Thor pointed. “Vasily there speaks English. Segal speaks Russian. He can help you out.”

  “Just great.” Steve looked about as excited by this as Samantha had expected him to be. “Let’s get them settled. We can grab toiletries and other basics for them off the Skua table. Do they have a leader?”

  None of this was Samantha’s problem. She left Steve to deal with it and headed down the hallway toward the A1 wing, uncomfortably warm now in these heavy layers.

  Thor caught up with her. “Hey, I had something to go over with you, but I don’t want to risk anyone hearing.”

  That was mysterious—and interesting. “Okay.”

  She wouldn’t forget how he’d helped her today. He’d recognized her hypoxia, giving her his oxygen, holding her hand. He’d even bandaged her cut.

  He followed her to her room, people casting him curious glances as they passed. “What do the scientists here have against guys like us?”

  He didn’t seem bothered by the situation, just curious.

  “Too many researchers have had their work appropriated by the military. They discover something or create something new, only to see it used for violence.”

  “Like Einstein’s research and the nuclear bomb.”

  They started down the stairs to the lower level.

  “Yes, exactly. Some are happy to sell their work to the Department of Defense or private contractors, but many aren’t.” It wasn’t a problem for Samantha because her work had no military
applications—not yet anyway. “Sometimes, professors don’t have a choice. The university owns the research and sells it to military contractors.”

  “I get it.” He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, while she fumbled in the pockets of her snow pants for her room key.

  “There’s also the growing militarization of Antarctica, with governments like China, Russia, and the US playing fast and loose with treaty regulations.” She found her keys, unlocked her door, opened it. “Many of us see any armed presence here—and that includes you Cobra guys—as undermining regulations that have maintained Antarctica as a science preserve for decades.”

  If this offended him, he didn’t show it.

  “We won’t be here for long. May I come in?”

  “Yes.”

  He followed her into her room and shut the door. “What about you? Is that why you thought we’d be assholes?”

  “I didn’t put it that way.” She’d take her words back if she could. “I knew some football players in high school and boys from NJROTC, too, and they—”

  “What’s NJROTC?”

  “Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps—a pre-military program for high-schoolers. They had big egos. They bullied kids like me, smart kids.”

  “Bullied you?”

  Did he not know the word?

  “They called me names, hit me, made fun of me, told me I was ugly.”

  Thor frowned, his blue eyes looking into hers, his expression serious. “I’m sorry to hear that. That’s not the kind of men we are.”

  “I see that now. Is that what you wanted to discuss?”

  “No, but thanks for your honesty. Be careful around the Russian team members, okay? We don’t know anything about them. We don’t know if they were lying or telling the truth, but they know you were at the crash site. They know you retrieved something from that wreckage. If I were you, I wouldn’t let them into my room or go anywhere in the station alone, especially not the service arches or ice tunnels.”

  “Okay.” Well, darn.

  Could she admit to herself that she’d hoped he’d come here to kiss her?

  As if.

  A man like him could have any woman he wanted.

  She took off her parka, touched at least that he’d thought about her safety. Then again, that was his job. “You really think they’re behind this?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Do you believe they flew out to the crash site with weapons in the middle of austral winter just to lend us a hand?”

  It wasn’t impossible, but it was highly implausible. “No.”

  “If they’re here to get a second chance at the package, they could try to get it through you. I’m serious, Samantha. Don’t take risks. We’ll be leaving when the weather allows. You should be safe once we’re gone. I’ll put together a more specific security plan for you this afternoon.”

  A security plan?

  “What about the … package?” She used their term for the Golden Horde components. “We don’t have much security here—no surveillance, no keycard entry systems. Most doors aren’t even locked. There might be a safe in Steve’s office.”

  His lips curved in a grin that made her pulse quicken. “We’ll keep it secure. Don’t worry about that.”

  She waited for him to explain, but he didn’t. “Right.”

  He reached for the doorknob. “Do you want to join me for supper?”

  Warmth rushed into her cheeks.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Was she so sexually deprived that attention from a good-looking man made her blush and messed with her head?

  You’re smarter than that.

  “I’m going to get some coffee and then check on the telescope. I’ve missed an entire day of work.” Yes, she was turning him down cold—until the moment she didn’t. “But, yeah, I’ll meet you there. Six?”

  What had she just done?

  “Sounds good. Thanks again. You might have saved millions of lives today.” He opened the door, turned back. “You should get a medic to look at that cut.”

  Then he was gone, leaving Samantha to stare at the closed door.

  Thor met in private with Tower, Jones, and Segal for a quick debriefing, sharing in detail all that had happened so far.

  Tower stared at him from the computer screen. “The Russian team is there? At Amundsen-Scott?”

  Segal leaned in so Tower could see him. “I believe they were telling the truth, sir. We didn’t have the time to run over to their plane to see whether it was functional. They were terrified—and willing to turn over their rifles. If they were telling the truth and we had left them to die, we’d be on the world’s shit list right now.”

  “Understood.” Tower’s face was fixed in a frown. “Is the package intact?”

  “No. The only way to remove it in the time available was to gut the unit.”

  Tower nodded. “What’s your plan for keeping the contents secure?”

  Thor had put some thought into this. “I gave the site manager my locked carry-on bag full of Legos and scrap metal from recycling to store in his office safe.”

  Segal and Jones chuckled, shook their heads.

  “Legos?”

  “They had some at the station shop. Legos are Danish, you know.”

  Tower ignored that last bit. “So, the carry-on is a decoy.”

  “Yes.” Thor ignored Segal and Jones, who found the Lego thing funny. “I had to revise our original plan to take the Russian presence here into account. Our rooms, Dr. Park’s room, and Hardin’s office seem like the places they’ll try to search first.”

  “Where is the package?”

  “It’s locked in the steel case, which is hidden in the ceiling of one of the empty berths across the corridor from ours. Segal used his lockpicking skills to gain entry. No one has any reason to enter, and no one knows the package is there apart from us. We installed motion-activated cameras there, as well as in our rooms. If anyone breaks in, the three of us will be notified on our phones and get an image of the intruder. Hardin placed the Russians in a different berthing area.”

  “What about Dr. Park’s safety?”

  “I’ve cautioned her against being alone with any members of the Russian party. She spends most of her time at the Dark Sector Lab, a kilometer away from the station. Her research partner died suddenly a few days before we arrived, so she’s alone out there whenever she’s working. I think one of us should be with her.”

  “Agreed. If our Russian friends are there to snatch this technology, she could be a target. That’s true for all of you.”

  “We’re all carrying concealed just in case, and we’ve got our two-way radios. I’ll make sure Dr. Park gets a radio as well.”

  Knowing how easily they malfunctioned in extreme cold, he’d packed spares.

  “Good work today. We’ll get you home as soon as the weather allows.”

  The meeting was over, so Thor packed up the laptop and cord.

  Jones stood, stretched. “I’m hungry.”

  “You’re always hungry.” Segal got to his feet, too. “I have a new appreciation for you tonight, Isaksen. I’ve never been that cold. It’s painful. Sleeping in a tent in that weather? Hell, no.”

  They made their way back to their rooms so that Thor could stash the laptop and then walked upstairs to the galley, where people were lining up cafeteria-style for the evening meal. Most ignored them. Others shot them cold looks. Some of the women—and there weren’t many—looked them up and down.

  Yeah, that happened sometimes.

  The scents of fried chicken and pizza made Thor’s mouth water, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He glanced around for Samantha, saw she was ahead of them in line.

  “Damn, that smells good.” Jones grabbed a tray and started filling it.

  “You’d think he hasn’t eaten in a week,” Segal joked. “Leave something for the people who work here, man.”

  Thor got the chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad, then saw Vasily ge
t up from his table and head straight for Samantha, who now sat alone, waiting for them to join her. Forgetting to grab a fork or anything to drink, he carried his tray toward her.

  Vasily veered off.

  Thor sat beside Samantha, saw the bandage on her hand. “You saw the medic.”

  She spread a paper napkin on her lap. “Yes. Kristi, the station nurse, said you make a good field dressing.”

  “I’ve had some practice.”

  “I bet. Did you—”

  “It’s happening.” Jason, the kid who liked to film people, walked up to the table, an apple in hand. “I knew you’d take the women. When do you leave again?”

  Irritation flashed over Samantha’s face. “Jason, you’re out of line.”

  “They’ve been here a day, and you’re already all over them. Just saying.” Jason shifted his attention to Thor. “Antarctica is a sausage fest, and you guys make it worse.”

  Thor hadn’t heard that phrase before. “Sausage fest?”

  Jason laughed. “Lots of dicks. You know. Sausage. More men than women. It was hard enough getting laid before you guys showed up.”

  Samantha glared at him. “Most of us are here to do research. Not every interaction between men and women is sexual, Jason.”

  Jason snickered. “Especially not with you. The other guys say you never hook up with anyone. If a woman can’t get laid in Antarctica—”

  Thor shot to his feet, glared down at the kid, enraged, Samantha’s words about being bullied still with him. “Apologize—now.”

  A hush came over the galley, heads turning their way.

  Jones stood, too. “You need to watch your mouth, son.”

  Segal got to his feet, as well, a piece of buttered bread in his hand, his mouth full, his gaze fixed on the kid.

  Jason looked from Thor to the others, took a couple of steps backward. “Sorry.”

  Then he hurried away with his apple.

  Thor sat once more, taken aback at his reaction. He met Samantha’s gaze. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that.”

  She looked away, her cheeks flushed. “Jason’s just an idiot.”