Dry Ice (17 page)

Tess had expected the sense of elation to win out then, but she was wrong. The first emotion that assailed her as she looked into the vast, black depths of empty sky was something closer to fear wrapped in a smothering blanket of bone-deep aloneness.

“That’s one chapter ended. Well, boss, looks like TESLA is yours now, warts and all.”

Tess looked at Nik with a tight smile. “Before I completely believe that, I may need to talk to someone who saw him get on that plane and locked the door behind him.”

Nik laughed as he flicked on his desk lamp. “He was on it. We’d have heard if he wasn’t. So what now?”

She smiled and hoped it wasn’t as shaky as she felt. “A shower and something to eat.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Nik reached for his radio and asked someone named Fizz to meet them in the large sitting room in a few minutes. Then he pulled the drapes across the windows and turned to open the office door.

Their eyes met and Tess felt a sharp jolt as the look on Nik’s face changed from laughing insouciance to an expression of long-forgotten warmth.

She looked away from it.

“I’m glad you’re here, Tess,” he said in a voice not much louder than a whisper. “This is … it’s going to be good. You’ve got all the qualities that Greg lacks and … well, you belong here. You’ll shine.”

The burn behind her eyes, which had only just begun to dissipate, became stronger and she glanced at the floor in a moment of self-preservation. She pulled in a deep breath and looked up, giving him a bright, false smile. “Thanks, Nik. It all happened so fast that it’s still a little bit surreal, but I appreciate your good wishes and all the help you’ve given me so far.”

After a second or two of awkward silence, Nick pulled open the office door and they moved into the corridor, stopping on the way to the sitting room to get the walkie-talkie Nik had requisitioned for Tess.

They had only been in the sitting room for a few moments when a thin, youngish woman walked in and approached them. Tess had seen her in the crowd when she’d made her speech, but they hadn’t met yet.

“Ready to get settled in?” the woman asked Tess in a broad, unmistakably Irish accent.

“Very ready.” Tess smiled and stuck out her hand. “Tess Beauchamp.”

“Phyllis Reilly. Everyone calls me Fizz.” She grasped Tess’s hand and gave it a firm shake.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. It’s a hell of a welcome you’ve had, if you ask me.”

Tess looked at her in surprise. Part of her was a little startled at the casual response. The other part wanted to respond with “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Let’s get you moved. Are those your bags?”

Tess nodded as the woman pointed to the two large duffels on the floor next to one of the couches. She realized that she hadn’t seen them since they followed her off the plane. Someone had brought them up from the ready room.

“Is this all you’ve got, then? The two bags?”

“I travel light,” Tess replied with a smile, then looked at Nik. “Meet me in the dining room in about twenty minutes. We’ll continue with the meets and greets, then you can take me to the sandbox. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to have temporary passwords by then.”

“Not a problem. See you in twenty,” he replied, and Tess returned her attention to Fizz.

“After you.”

The younger woman picked up the larger of the two duffels and turned to face the door. “I’ve only just gotten your room ready,” she said over her shoulder. “That’s what I was up to when you were doing your meet-and-greets. I haven’t cleaned out Greg’s room, so for the moment I’ve assigned you to an extra room in the scientists’ living quarters. It’s never been lived in, so it ended up as storage. I just cleared it out. Are you ready?”

“Lead the way. Maybe you can solve a mystery for me, Fizz. Why are there separate living areas for the scientists and the non-science staff?” Tess asked as they moved into the library and continued through the installation and up the stairs. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have all the bedrooms together? I mean, for the sake of the layout—all the plumbing and whatnot?”

Fizz shot her a sidelong glance. “Sure, that would make sense. But it’s not always logic that drove Greg. Did you ever see an old BBC series called
Upstairs, Downstairs
?”

Tess nodded.

“Well, there you have it: we’re
Upstairs, Downstairs: On the Ice.
Class warfare without the bowing and scraping,” she said with a wry grin. “We’re the help, you’re the talent. Most of us laugh about it, but there’s a few of them—the scientists—who take it seriously. You’ll figure out who they are soon enough.”

“No, er, fraternization?”

Fizz let out a laugh. “‘Discretion’ is the key word there. Greg frowned on ‘fraternization’ in a big way. Said it takes one’s attention away from work, which is the only gospel down here. Besides, you’ll notice that the list of eligibles is fairly short, unless you’re willing to settle. My opinion, anyway. Still, wintering over is a long time to behave yourself. I shudder to think of what some of these people must do when they go on holidays,” she finished, almost under her breath.

Fizz stopped in front of a door and slid a smart card through the reader. At the sound of a low click, she opened the door and indicated that Tess should enter, then handed her the card.

“Oooh, nice. Better than any place else I’ve ever stayed on the Ice,” Tess said, giving the small room a quick once-over. “A real bed instead of a bunk. A rug on the floor. Privacy. I’m impressed.”

“We’re not much on interior decoration down here, but I’ve gathered what I could. There’s a private loo through that door, and showers are at the end of the hall. I’ll leave you to get situated,” Fizz said, placing the duffel on the floor near the bed.

Tossing her other bag on the bed, Tess turned to look at the woman. “Thanks, Fizz. This is wonderful.”

Fizz hesitated, then let a grin cross her face. “Well, if no one else has said it, let me be the first. Welcome to TESLA, the nicest spot on the continent.”

“Thank you.”

“That was some introduction,” Fizz continued, shaking her head. “I felt bad for you when His Lordship introduced you, but you seemed to handle it pretty well. I would’ve been tempted to drag the man bare-arsed down a gravelly road, but you kept cool. Nothing else will come your way. Maybe some attitude, but I think you’ll be well able for it.”

“Greg and I go way back. I didn’t expect him to welcome me with open arms,” she said easily. “I just take things as they come.”

“Best way to do it. So I’ll go now and leave you to it,” she said over her shoulder as she left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, Tess pulled out her smartphone.

*   *   *

Gianni Barone was navigating the twisting roads of back-country Greenwich, Connecticut, on the way to his office when the phone rang. The name that flashed onto the on-dash screen of his Maybach had him pulling off the road into the huge gravelled and landscaped entrance to his neighbor’s estate. He didn’t want to be distracted by having to dodge enormous SUVs piloted by late-for-school teenagers on the narrow lanes while taking this call.

Throwing the car into park, he tapped the button that completed the connection.

“What’s up?” he demanded before Tess could utter a word. “It’s seven thirty. You landed at four. I expected to hear from you before now.”

“It’s been hectic.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Greg took off a little while ago.”

Gianni blinked at the dark screen. “That’s good,” he said cautiously.

“You sound surprised,” Tess replied.

“No, no, why would I be surprised? That was the plan. He knew he had to go.”

“Uh-huh. The jig is up, Gianni. But we’ll discuss that in a minute. The bottom line is that he’s gone and I’m here. But there’s bigger news down here. No one was expecting us.”

“Say again?”

“Other than Greg, no one knew we were coming.”

He frowned at the huge statue of Winged Victory perched in front of him in his neighbor’s front yard.
Such subtle wealth.

“Not possible. Everyone knew, Tess. You saw the emails. They went to the whole team down there. How could—”

“There are content filters in place on the local network, and Greg was the gatekeeper. Everything went through him. Or didn’t. They truly didn’t know I was coming. When we came into the habitat, I felt like a monkey on display in the zoo.”

“How did you find out about the filters?”

“Greg told me about them. He said he didn’t want upsetting news to distract the staff.”

Gianni rolled his eyes in disbelief.
Crazy sonofabitch.

“I’ll get IT up here on it. We’ll pull them down—”

“Don’t bother. I’m sure the programmers down here can handle it. They do double duty as IT. But that’s not the most important thing on my priority list. You need to tell me more about what goes on here.”

Her words stopped him in the middle of a breath. Despite the repeated and increasingly pointed requests she’d made before she left, he’d been able to sidestep telling her the
real
reason he wanted her down there. He’d omitted any mention of the storm in Afghanistan, which, frankly, still sounded a little crazy even to him, and he’d been hoping his information was wrong.

“What do you mean ‘what goes on here’?”

“It’s—” She paused. “It’s like I’ve stepped into some weird little fiefdom. I mean, okay, I knew it wouldn’t be normal, given we’re talking about Greg, and I know how he ran HAARP, but the extent of his social engineering down here is a little creepy.”

Glad he’d been able to effect a course correction on her conversation, Gianni forced a laugh. “Social engineering? Come on, Tess—”

“I know it sounds dramatic, but I can’t think of another name for it. Have you ever been here? It’s not like any other station on the Ice.”

“Of course it isn’t.”

“No, but … every need is met—the public rooms are like something out of Pemberley.”

“Where?”

“Never mind. Everyone took Greg’s departure so calmly. I’m not sure if I should be waiting for a revolution, or if they’re all glad he’s gone. Maybe they just don’t care.”

“Certainly, they all know what an asshole he is. They may well be glad he’s gone.”

Tess responded with a short laugh. “Well, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like there was a confetti parade when he made the announcement, but I didn’t see any tears, either. Everyone kept a stiff upper lip, at least in front of me. But you’d think that since he’s been the heart and soul of the place and his departure was such a surprise, things would be a little … disordered for a while. But everything seems fine. When I was making the rounds to meet everyone, they seemed okay with the transition. It’s creepy.”

“Were you expecting an armed insurrection? They’re all professionals and it’s a business decision. And they’re probably giving you a honeymoon. Enjoy it while it lasts. If there’s a reason they’re not upset by his departure, you’ll learn it in time. Have you hooked up with Nik Forde?”

A minuscule pause built before she answered and Gianni winced at his bad turn of phrase. He’d forgotten that they’d been rumored to be an item at HAARP.

“Yes. Nik’s been very helpful. Funny. Same as ever, really. But very helpful.”

“So, Tess, is everything good?”

“Yes.”

Gianni frowned at the slight hesitation in her voice.

“Yes, it’s all good,” she continued. “I’ll have a better grip on it when I’ve been here a few days.”

He could still hear doubt in her voice and chose to ignore it. “I’m glad to hear it, Tess. I knew you were the right person for the job. Keep in touch, even if it’s just a quick text, okay? Just until you settle in. Let me know if you have any other concerns about what you see or hear.”

The silence on the other end of the phone stretched a little longer than it should. “I can’t shake this feeling that there’s something you aren’t telling me, Gianni.”

“You’re probably just nervous because you’re finally running a multi-million-dollar baby,” he said, forcing levity into his voice as he stared out at the harsh, bright Connecticut sky. “Stay in touch, Tess.”

*   *   *

Tess ended the call feeling less confident than when she’d placed it. But maybe Gianni was right. Greg was gone and she was in charge of TESLA and all the people who made the arrays and the installation work; that was enough to induce nerves in anyone. Of course, she thought as a huge yawn took her by surprise, it could just be that she was hungry and exhausted and more than a little overwhelmed by everything that had transpired in the last few hours—and weeks.

Enough introspection. There’s hot water waiting for me at the end of the hall.

She wasted no more time and quickly settled into her new digs. Inside of ten minutes, her bags were emptied and her belongings put away. Then she gathered her toiletries and towels and headed for the showers. Given the tight water ratios every Antarctic base had to endure, she could take only a standard military three-minute shower—strip off, get in, turn the water on and wet down, turn the water off, soap up, water on, rinse, water off, get out—but it would be a shower. And, right now, that sounded awfully close to heaven.

*   *   *

Tess dressed in a hurry, pulling on the most sober outfit she had with her, though she knew it would generate looks and comments. It wasn’t exactly standard Antarctic fare; nothing you could buy in Paris was. The fine black wool trousers fell in a long, slim line to the top of her low-heeled slingbacks and the loose, royal blue angora sweater draped over her curves. In Paris, Tess always wore a scarf with this outfit, tossing it artlessly over her shoulder, but she knew it would be way too much at TESLA. Nearly everyone she’d met was in jeans and T-shirts—two items she’d purged from her wardrobe when she’d headed across the Atlantic several years ago.

Grimacing as she looked in the mirror, Tess gathered her hair into a ponytail, gave it a few clever twists, and secured it with clips at the back of her head. It was a little messy and a little sexy, but mostly it was out of her way, which was the point. Then, she grabbed her laptop and headed for the dining room.