Ice Hunt

He came over. Amanda paused in the open door.

Jenny pointed to the armed figure, who seemed unaware of them. He had been close to the explosion. Probably dazed and deaf.

“We’ll have to take him out,” Craig said.

Then Jenny spotted another figure, dark and low to the ground. It was Bane. The wolf mix leaped at the man, bringing him down.

Craig saw it, too. “It looks like we won’t have to deal with the man after all. That is some mutt. A real attack dog.”

Jenny watched with a frown. Bane was not that sort of dog.

She watched the man wrestle the dog, then sit up on his knees and hug him, pulling the dog tight. She fell forward two steps. “It’s Matt!”

5:18 P.M.

A sob escaped Matt as he clutched Bane. How had the dog gotten here? All the way from Omega? It seemed a miracle.

He heard a small cry in the wind, but he couldn’t tell from where. He glanced up. Then he heard it again. Someone was calling his name.

Bane dashed a few steps, then turned back to Matt, clearly urging him to follow.

He did, one leg numbly stumbling after the next. He trudged after the dog, not believing his luck.

And he never should have.

Again a characteristic whistling wail pierced the winds.

Another rocket.

The Russians must know his goal. They were going to take out the parking lot, cutting off any means of escape.

Matt stumbled after Bane, meaning to catch the damn dog, drag him down. But the wolf kept running ahead. He raced among the first of the vehicles.

“Bane! No!”

Ever obedient, Bane stopped and spun back to look at him.

Then the rocket hit, blasting Matt back from the force of the concussion. He landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. He felt the wash of heat from the explosion roll over him.

He cried in his heart and aloud. “No!”

He sat up. The parking lot ahead was gone, a blasted ruin of ice and torn vehicles. At the center gaped a hole clear to the ocean below.

Matt covered his face with his hands.

5:19 P.M.

Jenny must have blacked out for a fraction of a second. One moment, she was standing by the Sno-Cat, calling out to Matt—the next she was on her back. She sat up, the world spinning slightly.

Her ears ringing, she lay some twenty feet from the Sno-Cat. She remembered the jolt as ice bucked under her, throwing her high. Across the way, the Cat was crashed on its side, toppled over by the force of the explosion.

Matt…

She flashed back to seeing him just before the attack. The fear drove away her momentary daze.

Jenny struggled to stand. Craig was doing the same ten feet to her right. Surprisingly, Amanda was already up. She stood by the Sno-Cat, seemingly unfazed.

Beyond them, the ice field was obliterated, swirling in steam. A large hole had been blasted through to the ocean below. Wreckage of vehicles lay all around, thrown and scattered like so many toys. There was no sign of Matt or Bane, but steam still misted thickly.

Closer, Jenny saw Tom sprawled in the snow, pinned under his snowmobile. The young ensign was not moving. A trail of crimson flowed from under him.

Oh God…

She spotted Kowalski’s vehicle halfway up the neighboring pressure ridge, on its side, motor still chugging. But there was no sign of the seaman.

“We need to help them,” Amanda said.

Jenny stumbled over to her.

Amanda turned. Her words were slurred more than usual. “The blast…” She shook her head. “It almost fell on top of me.”

Jenny placed a hand on her shoulder. It must be terrifying to see that play out without a single sound.

Craig joined them.

Through the Cat’s windshield, figures moved. Ogden bore a gash on his forehead. He and Magdalene were trying to calm Zane. He was dazed, flailing, half conscious.

“We have to get them out,” Jenny said.

“The door’s jammed,” Amanda said. “I tried…I couldn’t…maybe all of us together.”

Craig stepped away from the toppled Sno-Cat. “We’re not going to have the time.” He stared out beyond the blasted pit in the ice.

As the winds blew the steaming mist from the blast zone, a line of figures in white parkas were setting out across the ice, weapons ready.

Craig turned to them. “The cleanup squad. We have to get away from here before they spot us.”

Jenny stared at the spread of ruined vehicles. “Where?” She pointed to the pressure ridges. “Back into grendel territory.”

Craig shook his head, trying to map out some plan. “The Delta team could be here in twenty minutes…if we could hole up till then.”

Amanda had been following their conversation. “I may know a better way. But we’ll have to hurry. Follow me.” She turned and started away, heading out from the parking lot.

Jenny stared from the figures in the Sno-Cat to Tom’s limp form. She hated abandoning them, but she had no choice. Especially unarmed. Her fingers rested on her empty holster. Frustrated, guilty, she turned away.

As Jenny started after Craig and Amanda, the sound of engines whined into existence behind them. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted a pair of headlamps glowing beyond the fog and mists. They sped off to the side in tandem, circling around the zone of the rocket attack.

Hover-cycles.

She ran faster.

Thirty yards ahead, Amanda vanished around a shelf of ridgeline. Craig followed. As she reached the ridge, Jenny skidded to a stop. She cast one look back at those she was abandoning. Movement drew her eye. Tom, still buried under his bike, weakly lifted an arm.

She gasped, “Tom’s still alive!”

Craig yelled to her from the niche in the ice, a naturally sheltered cove. “We don’t have time to go back! The Russians will be on us any second!”

Jenny spotted their means of escape. Inside the niche stood a single-masted sailing boat, an iceboat, resting on long titanium runners. Amanda was near the prow of the boat, grasping a small hand ax. She chopped through the ropes that secured the boat.

Jenny hovered at the entrance to the niche and glanced back to Tom. His arm fell back to the snow, motionless again.

She gritted her teeth and made a hard choice. They could not risk capture again. She turned her back on Tom and the others and strode to the iceboat.

“One to each side!” Amanda instructed as she worked quickly, hopping around the boat with her ax. “We’ll have to push her out a ways!”

Jenny hurried to obey as the whine of hovercraft echoed over the ice. Craig glanced meaningfully at her. Time had indeed run out. Rescue of the others was truly impossible. They worked faster.