Deep Ice (7 page)

“Are you sure of all this?” she petitioned.

“That’s just it,” Henry replied with a look of sympathy. “Nobody really knows. But if it goes. . . well, it goes. Mind you, this is all theory. Some scientists think the ice is floating already.”

“Did the nuke crack the ice?”

“Big-time. I saw the shelf crack open myself – with my own eyes. God, you should have heard it!”

He stared past her as he remembered the sound of the ice breaking. “Still, I don’t think it did the job.”

She smiled. As much as Henry wanted to take advantage of that smile, he felt it wasn’t fair to keep her in the dark about the second bomb.

“Hate to tell you this, my friend, but there’s another nuke, and I don’t think anyone but those terrorists knows where it is. If they trigger that one, the shelf could really go.”

Sarah thought for a moment, then her face lit up with a bright idea. “It should be easy to find, though,” she said, looking at her powerbook. “They’ll have planted it where they reckon it’d do the most damage, and they’ll have used a computer to work that out. Assuming they used publicly available data, any other computer fed the same data will make the same estimates of the best place to plant a nuke. Isn’t that right?”

“But of course! Hel, we should tell the general,” said Henry.

He got up and opened the door, calling for Hayes. But Hayes was nowhere to be seen.

“Elvis has left the building,” said Grimes with a grin.

He was sitting at the desk where the general had been, facing the door to the conference room. His feet were up on the desk and he was fiddling with the knobs on a plastic radio. “You two need room service? How about a mint on your pillows?”

Henry ignored Grimes’s heavy comedy and told him about Sarah’s idea.

Grimes sat up. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think we discussed that. But I’ll bet they more’n likely have eggheads tellin’ ’em that right now in Washington.”

Sarah joined Henry in the doorway. Grimes pointed to her. “Your job, miss, as I understand it, is to identify the folks who are trying to turn Antarctica into Swiss cheese. The general wants a picture for his buds in Washington, and he means to have it even if he sends them
your
picture. Get the drift?”

Henry was growing impatient. “We’ll be sending them shit, Grimes, if it ain’t right. I can see those bastards in my head, but she can’t read my damned mind. Besides, what I remember is three soldiers in parkas with their hoods up, lookin’ like any other motherf. . . person on the ice.” He glanced at Sarah sheepishly. “Sorry for my language, ma’am.”

She paid his apology no attention. “As Henry says, he can see them in his mind but getting that on screen isn’t easy. Sometimes it takes days.”

“Shit!” said Grimes. “We don’t
have
days.”

“Let’s keep trying, Henry,” said Sarah. “We still have twenty minutes before the deadline. I want to run some variations. Maybe the computer can hit on a random that’ll do it for you.”

“Not a bad idea,” said Grimes. “By the way, Sarah – that was a good thought. I’ll pass it on to the general when he gets back.”

#

When the President of the United States next call ed, the general was in his office, in his chair and connected to the Armed Forces intranet’s south polar uplink.

“I’m glad to hear that was the first thing the geologists thought of, sir. Bright boys,” he said into the mouthpiece. He rolled his eyes at Sarah and Henry.

A moment later he winced. “Well, we – you – may be a bit disappointed, sir.” He squirmed in his seat. “But I’m sending the images anyway. I’m uploading them now, sir. You have to realize that Gibbs, the witness, saw them close-up for only a few seconds, and they were dressed like ev. . .”

The general was apparently interrupted mid- sentence. He nodded at Sarah and Henry. Then he said, “I’ll keep at ’em, sir,” and hung up the phone.

Henry began to get steamed. “I feel like I’m in the goddam principal’s office here. You’ve been acting like I’m a tough customer from the beginning, General, and I’m getting sick of it. I’m doing my
best
, sir, whether you think so or not!”

He had expected a fight. Instead, Hayes smiled.

“Acting more Navy all the time, Henry. Not bad.”

Hayes reached into a box on his desk and opened it. He pulled out a large cigar and threw it to Henry. “Cuban,” he said with a guilty grin.

Henry caught the stogie and examined it. He raised his eyebrows as though questioning the significance of the general’s gesture. “The President of the USA would appreciate it very much if you and this federal employee would give it another shot,” said Hayes.

“Yes, sir,” said Henry.

“Sir,” echoed Sarah.

#

After the door had closed behind Henry and Sarah, Kai Grimes got up to leave. He opened the outside door, then closed it again and turned back towards the general’s desk.

Hayes, lighting a cigar for himself, looked up in surprise. “Grimes?”

“Gibbs keeps saying he can see – he can remember these bastards who shot him. I’d remember too if they’d shot
me
. I’m saying that all the sonofabitch saw was three faces – guys in hoods. I mean, say he can nail down even one of these bad guys, but there were at least twenty people in that party, and we don’t have a clue where they went. I say we take him to the carrier, so he’s under our eye. His memory is all we got.”

The general nodded and blew a cloud of smoke into a shaft of light that streamed in through the window.

“Long days down here, Kai,” he said, watching the blue smoke churn and curl in the sunlight. “Damned unearthly place. Leave it to the fuckin’ penguins and the whales, I say. Not my part of the planet.”

Grimes nodded. “Fuck it, sir.”

“If it was up to me, Kai,” said Hayes, “well, yeah, fuck it, as you say. But that’s not the way it is. Some smartass has thought up a way to ransom the ass off the world, and this is the place he chose to do it.” He stood. “The rest of the Navy will be on us like fleas in a few days. The carrier
Enterprise
is not exactly where I want to be if the big ice goes, but I don’t want to be here when that fucking mountain goes, either.”

Outside the window Mount Erebus coughed thicker clouds of ash into the sky.

#

Henry and Sarah stood at the top of the wooden stairway outside the door of the HQ.

“Got a cigarette?” asked Henry.

“I don’t carry them. You smoke?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “Been thinking about starting, though.”

She laughed.

The wind was blowing stiffly off the Ross Sea. He knew summer was soon to be upon them, but there was no hint of it in the breeze that bit into his nostrils. Sarah shivered and stood behind him, using his tall frame as a windbreak.

He turned away from the wind to face her. They looked into each other’s eyes for a second and Sarah caught sight of the “yes” that showed as clearly as a message bobbing in the window of a fortune-telling eight ball.

“You don’t smoke,” she said as she studied his face at close range.

“Nope.”

“Don’t shave, either, I see.” There was a subtle twinkle of laughter in her eye.

He blushed and looked away. “I’m usual y out on the ice. What’s the use of shavin’ for your dogs? They never seem to appreciate it, anyway. Well, except Sadie, I guess. For some reason she liked the taste of shaving cream. Damnedest thing.”

“Can I meet your dogs?”

She didn’t have to ask twice. As soon as they could get their coats on, he took her to the kennels, where she played a little jumparound with Shep while she and Henry discussed the merits of malamutes as lead dogs. Henry said Shep had earned his medals in the field. Then he told her how much he missed Sadie. “I always seem to lose my ladies somewhere along the way. It’s a talent.”

He paused, changing the subject.

“I have a feeling they’re gonna take us out of here.

The Navy, I mean. But I’m not sure I can do them any good whether I go to Washington or Tokyo, or look at one computer-generated dude or another. I won’t know this terrorist until I actual y see him. Face-to-face.” He shook his head. “And how’s
that
ever going to happen?”

A voice called out to them over the howl of the wind. Kai Grimes. He was clad in full arctic gear, his head covered by his hood, but Henry could still recognize him, over fifty yards away.

“That’s what I mean,” he said to Sarah. “I can tel that’s Grimes coming, even though he looks like anybody else. Everybody dresses like that here. After a while you get so you can tell who’s who. It’d be like that with me and that terrorist. If I ever see him. . .”

“. . . you’ll know him,” said Sarah.

Grimes reached them. Shep moved between Henry and the SEAL. Noticing Shep’s defensive stance, Henry pulled on the leash. “Don’t jump this guy, Shep. He’ll cut you six ways before you lick his face.” He laughed.

Grimes held up his hands. “Not dangerous with friends,” he said, then he looked at Shep. “Nice puppy, Gibbs. What’ya call him? Kong?”

Henry smiled. “The Eighth Wonder of the World. . . Shep, this is a SEAL you
can
eat if you want. Say hello 74 to Commander Grimes, Shep. He’s your dinner.” He patted Shep’s side.

Grimes and Sarah laughed. A strong gust of icy wind hit them, cutting short their laughter as they turned away from it.

“What brings you out on a nice afternoon like this, commander?” asked Henry, squinting tears out of his eyes.

“Time to blow this burg, Henry. You too, French. The general wants you on the carrier
Enterprise
by noon. He says to expect a prolonged visit, but pack light.” The SEAL looked at his watch. “The Cobra is leaving in two hours.”

“Not without my dog,” said Henry.

Grimes was walking away, but Henry’s statement stopped him in his tracks. He spun round.

“What?” He stamped his feet against the cold. In spite of a layer of Gore-tex-lined socks, booties and boots, his toes were already numb. He’d been out in the cold for hours helping establish a cable hookup for the generators of the
Glomar Explorer
when it arrived. He was in no mood for arguments. “Did I hear you say. . .?”

“Not without Shep. Take him with us and I’m all yours. But, without Shep. . . well, no more volunteering for Mr Henry Scott Gibbs, American stoolie.” Henry clutched Shep’s nylon leash resolutely.

“Fuck it, Henry!” shouted Grimes. “They’ll buy you a whole kennel full of dogs if you’ll just. . .”

But Grimes stopped himself mid-sentence. He could see it was useless to argue. They could put a gun to Henry’s temple and lead him away, but that wouldn’t assure his cooperation. They needed a full y cooperating Henry Gibbs.

“Okay, whatever,” said the SEAL. “Your dog could count as a witness, I guess. But what if he shits on the general’s shoes?”

“Shep never shits,” said Henry. “I don’t know. Figure something out. That’s the Navy’s problem. Maybe the admiral has a private garden where me and Shep can take a nice stroll, smell the flowers and take a leak. I don’t care. It’s Shep and me, or neither of us. I’ve made up my mind on this. I’m not leaving Shep here.”

Grimes stamped a foot again and it broke through the thick ice crust into softer snow, throwing him off balance. This seemed to anger him more. “Shit, Henry!” yelled Grimes. “I’ve told you the answer’s yes, as far as I’m concerned. If the general says otherwise, you argue it out with
him
, okay? We have more important things to deal with. If there’s a way to find that other bomb, we need to find it. It may be you’ll be no damn’ good to us at all, but we have to have you on hand. Shit, you can take movies – whatever it is you do. But we need you there to collar these guys.”

He took a breath. Henry patted him on the shoulder.

“You’re trying too hard, Kai. Anyway, it won’t work. We can stand here and freeze to death or we can walk together; you, me, Sarah and the. . . other witness.”

Grimes growled and turned to walk back to the HQ.

“If you can convince the gen. . .” But the wind blasted the words from his lips. “Fuck it!” He began running towards the HQ building.

Henry put an arm around Sarah’s shoulders and they followed Grimes. Then he paused, bent over and unhooked the malamute’s leash, setting the dog free. Shep bounded in a happy circle around them, oblivious to the cold that seemed to deepen with every passing second. Henry whistled softly and slapped his left side. Obeying his master’s command, Shep immediately leapt to Henry’s side.

“No more kennels for you, boy,” said Henry.

Once more a light snow began to fall ; propelled by the wind, it stung any exposed flesh. Even Henry pulled his hood tight around his head as they trudged back towards the cluster of buildings grouped around the main complex.

That night a major storm blew in from the sea. By nightfall four Cobra attack helicopters, awash with weaponry, sat on the main helipad. There was nothing to do except tie down the choppers and wait for the storm to pass. Everyone ended up in a meeting room adjacent to the mess.

There were a lot of unfamiliar faces in the room.

General Hayes told Henry the strangers were a special team from the
Enterprise
. “They’re here to sniff out the nukes.”

Grimes watched the general carefully, waiting for him to question the presence of Henry’s dog in the room, but the question never came. Finally Grimes took Hayes aside and mentioned that Henry was “kind of firm on the subject of his dog coming along”. To his astonishment, Hayes just looked at him and then at the dog, and casually said, “Fine.”

#

The storm lashed McMurdo all night. Gradually everyone broke up into small groups, playing cards, watching tapes, reading or simply drinking coffee and talking.

Finally an exhausted Grimes headed for bed. “You gotta Z when you can,” he said with a yawn.

Sarah and Henry spent another three hours looking at her laptop computer and “trying out heads”, as he described it. Still to no avail.

Finally everyone but Henry was asleep. Lying on his cot, listening to the ice hit the tin roof of the building, he let his thoughts roam. Even if they found out where the second bomb was located, what good would it do? They couldn’t remove it without setting it off. So what was the point of looking for it or, even, the terrorists? All he wanted to do was go back to his life before this happened. Back to the ice and the aurora. How long had it been? He’d lost track of the time. Easy to do in Antarctica.