by L. A. Larkin
‘Blood,’ someone said. Was Luke bleeding, or did they mean the meat stains on the suit? He glimpsed another face: long, pale, baby-soft skin.
‘My name is Rod,’ the American said. ‘I’m a doctor. You have mild hypothermia so we have to get you out of your damp clothes.’
Luke understood. They removed almost everything, checked over his body and placed him in a sleeping bag that felt so soft, so silky, that he fell back asleep immediately.
Some time later, Rod spoke again. ‘Luke, we have some hot soup. We’re going to sit you up.’
The doctor placed a spoon near his lips and Luke opened his mouth. The warm liquid slipped down his throat. He felt a chill in the pit of his stomach, but his skin was hot and tingly. When he finished the soup, he noticed the sides of the orange pyramid tent were buffeting slightly in the wind. A battery-powered torch hanging from the roof provided startlingly bright light.
Luke now recognised the bulbous eyes and agile movements of the super-fit expedition leader from the Professor Basov. Luke had met him only once, and he’d judged him as a man who was suspicious until you proved him wrong.
‘Alrek Tangen,’ the man said, by way of reintroduction. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Better for the soup and sleep.’ Luke croaked. ‘Thank you … for finding me. But how—’ Luke was suddenly feeling hot, his skin burning. He struggled to open the sleeping bag, and Alrek, who was kneeling, moved away as if from danger.
Luke felt a large hand on his shoulder. He moved his sore head around to catch a glimpse of Vitaly, who was sitting behind him.
‘Stay still, my friend,’ Vitaly said. His hand remained firmly on Luke’s shoulder.
‘We picked up your SOS,’ said Alrek, still keeping a safe distance, his forehead creased in wariness.
Luke let his head fall back and laughed. He knew he sounded like a maniac but he didn’t care. He couldn’t believe the transmission had worked. His cry for help had been heard! Everything would be okay now.
‘Vitaly. Good to see you.’
The Russian patted Luke’s shoulder.
‘How … how did you find me, here on the mountains?’
‘In a moment,’ replied Alrek. ‘First, where are the others? At Hope Station?’ Luke saw him glance a warning at Vitaly. But what could he be warning him about?
Luke sat bolt upright, taking even Vitaly by surprise. ‘Maddie! They’ve got Maddie!’
‘Don’t move,’ said Alrek, pointing a Makarov pistol at Luke.
Stunned, Luke froze. ‘I don’t understand. Who are you?’
‘Exactly who I said I am. I need to know what you’ve done with the others. Tell me now,’ said Alrek, his voice tense and shaky.
‘Vitaly, what’s going on?’ Luke asked.
Vitaly was still behind Luke so he couldn’t read his friend’s expression. ‘Your division,’ he replied. ‘They say bad things about you. They think you are a crazy man and you kill your friends. I say they are crazy people, but they will not listen to a sailor.’
‘I didn’t kill anyone. We were attacked. Chinese, I think. With rifles, like AK-47s. They burned down the station. Maddie and I are the only two left alive.’ Luke shook his head. ‘Why on earth would AARO think I killed them? That’s absurd. I don’t understand what’s going on.’
‘Alrek, this isn’t necessary,’ said Rod.
Alrek ignored both Rod’s comment and Luke’s question. ‘Where is Maddie?’
‘They have her. We were sheltering at Bettingtons and they hunted us down. Maddie was hurt. I hid her but they found her and took her. God, I left her defenceless.’ Luke rubbed his hand over his face. Some of his fingers still felt numb.
‘Where? Where is she?’ Alrek demanded.
Luke looked up at him. ‘Please, put the gun down. I’m not the enemy. They are. We have to find Maddie fast. They must have taken her to their camp. Help me find her. She’s in terrible danger.’
Alrek lowered the pistol but kept his distance. ‘Your SOS said one was wounded. That’s Maddie?’
‘Yes. Shrapnel in her calf from when the gas cylinders at Hope exploded. I removed it and sewed up the wound when we made it to Bettingtons.’
‘Tell me about the operation,’ Rod said. ‘What did you do?’
‘That’s irrelevant,’ snapped Alrek.
‘No, it isn’t. Luke, tell me how you sewed it up.’
Luke explained exactly what he had done. ‘You did well,’ said Rod, nodding. He looked at Alrek. ‘I need to assess this man properly, but he doesn’t sound crazy to me. He performed the operation well, given the circumstances. If he wanted to kill Maddie, why bother operating on her?’
Alrek nodded slowly. ‘It could all be a lie.’
Luke’s head throbbed. ‘Think, man! Why would I leave the shelter of Bettingtons to tramp across a mountain in sub-zero temperatures to reach a camp that doesn’t exist? Maddie is being held captive. God, she may already be dead. Look, I don’t care if you believe me or not. Just let me go after her.’
Rod leaned over Luke. ‘Hold it there, buddy. You’re not going anywhere right now. You have frost-nip on some of your fingers, and on your nose and cheeks, and mild hypothermia. Night is closing in and we’re staying put.’
‘You’ll come with us to the ship in the morning,’ clarified Alrek.
‘No,’ said Luke. ‘Maddie’s in trouble. I won’t just leave her. No way.’ He was getting angry. What was wrong with these people?
Vitaly piped up. ‘Luke not crazy. If he say there are killers and they take the woman, then this is the truth.’
‘Vitaly, you watch him. He mustn’t leave this tent, okay?’
Alrek was about to leave but there was something Luke had to know.
‘How did you find me? On the mountain, I mean.’
‘Well, it had something to do with the bloody big sign you left at Bettingtons,’ Alrek said. ‘We got there to find “Over Hudsons to Fitzy. Searle, 4 pm, 7 March”. A novel use of zinc cream’. Luke had scrawled the words across the seaward side of the hut. Alrek paused. ‘AARO helped us decipher the word “Fitzy”. After that, it was a case of following your footsteps. Literally. Anyway, you were very lucky. Any further up the slope and the avalanche would’ve killed you.’
Alrek and Rod left. Luke could hear them in conversation but couldn’t make out the words. Vitaly moved around to sit in front of Luke.
‘Vitaly, what is going on?’ Luke asked in a hushed tone.
‘We hear your SOS. We reply, many times, but there is no response from you. We contact your AARO. They say that communication from Hope is broken, and families do not hear from their loved ones. They think something is wrong.’
Luke interrupted. ‘But there’s been no communication since the fifth. Two days ago! Why haven’t they acted?’
Vitaly put out his hand to calm Luke. ‘Not so, my friend. Someone from Hope is talking to your AARO people.’
Luke’s bloodshot eyes widened. ‘Not possible.’
‘AARO, they ask us to sail to this Bettingtons and make a rescue if we can get through sea ice. And so, we cut through the ice and here we are.’ The burly Russian gestured around him.
‘But why would they think I’m capable of killing?’
Vitaly’s blue eyes twinkled as he smiled sagely. ‘My friend, everybody can kill. We defend the ones we love, and if we love life, we fight to live. But I do not know why they think you kill your friends.’
‘Did they contact Rothera or McMurdo to see if they still have any planes? They could do a flyover and search for Maddie.’ Luke was growing more agitated.
The British station Rothera was one thousand two hundred kilometres away from Hope, and McMurdo, the American station, was further still. Both had planes, but usually only until February when the aircraft left for the winter. Perhaps McMurdo might still have a ski-equipped C-130, Luke thought.
‘I not know if they talk to these people. But nothing will happen until morning. It not possible for a plane to fly here at night. You
know this.’
Luke leaned forward and grabbed the Russian’s arms. ‘At first light, I’m going after Maddie. Vitaly, will you help me get away?’
‘Now you talk like a crazy man. You will die before you reach the camp.’
Luke stared at his friend, willing him to understand. ‘You remember that night on the vodka when you told me the story of how you survived dedovshchina?’ Luke had learned that dedovshchina was a brutal and sometimes lethal system of bullying of new recruits in the armed forces. Torture was the norm. It drove many to suicide.
Vitaly frowned, his eyes disappearing under his furrowed brow. ‘Nyet. We will not speak of this.’
‘You told me about your friend, Andrei. You said he was like a brother to you. You worked bomb-disposal together in Afghanistan. He died defusing a car bomb and then you deserted.’
Vitaly placed his rough hand over Luke’s mouth. ‘Quiet!’ Luke nodded and he removed it. The Russian spoke. ‘I get job on the Basov. Bolshakov hide me from army police. He is a good man. If I stay on the ship, I am safe. But I cannot set foot in my country ever again. Alrek, he must not know this.’
‘No problem, but I mention it because just as Andrei was your brother, Maddie is my sister,’ Luke said. ‘I must help my sister. You understand?’
Vitaly nodded slowly and then grinned, his wide face flattening. ‘I think maybe this woman is not like your sister!’ His laugh sounded like the bark of a fur seal. In an instant, he was serious again. ‘I understand. You cannot abandon a comrade. We will go to the ship in the morning. We get supplies and equipment. I will take the captain’s pistol from Alrek. I will go with you, my friend, and we will find her, I think.’
T MINUS 2 DAYS, 16 HOURS, 57 MINUTES
7 March, 7:03 pm (UTC-07)
As Robert stepped into his tent, he felt lightheaded. In his whole career, he had never been blindsided like this. Wei followed him. Furious that the soldier should assume he would be present when he spoke to his father, Robert rounded on him. ‘Get out!’
Wei bowed slightly and withdrew.
Robert sat at his desk and stared at the Iridium satellite phone, trying to work out the best approach. A couple of seconds passed before Robert switched it on and entered his four-digit PIN. The bars on the display told him he had good coverage. He held the handset to his ear but didn’t dial. Could it be true? Was his father running a secret operation? Would he really double-cross his own son?
Of course he would. What galled Robert was not that his father had betrayed him, but that he had, so far, outsmarted him. Robert should never have underestimated the General’s ruthless ambition and cunning. Their thirst for power was matched, although Robert craved recognition more. He tried to calm himself and focused on dialling his father’s scrambled line, which ensured their conversation would have no eavesdroppers.
‘General Zhao,’ his father said, the words snappy.
‘This is Robert Zhao Sheng.’
‘Wait. I must shut the door.’ It was early morning in Beijing and the General was at work. ‘The explosives test. I hear it was a success?’
‘Which one, Father?’
A pause.
‘Who betrayed me?’ the General asked. No embarrassment. No apology.
‘Nobody. I discovered your plan myself.’ Robert kept his voice calm and measured. ‘So, tell me about Project Eclipse.’
General Zhao grunted. ‘You were to be told on the ninth anyway. No matter. Strategically, Project Eclipse is a thousand times more important than your water project and, therefore, need-to-know only.’ He paused, clearly considering how much he should reveal. ‘A scientist at Li Bai made a discovery that will give China unprecedented military power. I will be handing our leaders the chance to become the one true superpower. Greater than America. I’m talking about rare earth elements.’
Robert blinked. Rare earths were indeed extremely valuable, but he had not yet found a way to get into such a business. ‘Go on, Father.’
‘This scientist, Zhu Guoming, has spent the last two summers drilling samples along the length of the Hudson Mountains. I mean through the ice, down to the volcanic rock beneath. He discovered a precious mineral, bastnäsite, which contains …’
Robert heard rustling and realised his father had picked up some papers to read from. Soon he continued: ‘Yttrium, neodymium, samarium, europium, terbium, dysprosium and praseodymium.’ The rustling stopped.
In the late nineties, Deng Xiaoping had made a speech in which he said China would be to rare earth minerals what the Middle East was to oil. Robert knew that China already supplied ninety per cent of the world’s rare earths, a fact that made several countries, especially the United States, very nervous.
The General went on. ‘It’s the single largest and most concentrated bastnäsite find in the world. You know what these minerals are used for?’
‘Military technology.’
‘Correct. China’s military technology and everyone else’s. Guided artillery projectiles, smart bombs, cruise missiles, stealth technologies, laser weapons, advanced armour and radar, night vision, jamming devices, unmanned aircraft. The list goes on. We will dominate the market. Can you imagine the United States begging for our bastnäsite? Without it, they can’t equip their military machine!’ The General sounded as though he were coughing, but he was in fact laughing. ‘Think of the power this gives our great nation, Robert.’
‘I believe South Africa and Australia have rare earth deposits.’
‘Only in small quantities. The Hudson Mountains discovery is enormous, and it’s only the beginning. Zhu reckons Antarctica is riddled with it, which means our leaders must be quick to follow through and claim as much Antarctic territory as possible. With me in command, naturally. Antarctica will soon become part of China. Mark my words.’
‘Marie Byrd Land first, I assume?’
Antarctica’s Marie Byrd Land was an enormous unclaimed wedge, which, from a point at the South Pole, expanded out to the Amundsen Sea. It was about the size of Pakistan. Robert glanced at the floor; he was sitting on Marie Byrd Land.
‘Yes.’
‘That could lead to war. You can persuade the Party to do this?’
‘I can. Some members are already in the loop, but they are sworn to secrecy. The Party can claim complete ignorance and reap the benefits.’
I know which members you didn’t tell, Robert thought. His father had many enemies.
‘Why have you excluded me?’ Robert spoke slowly but his fury was hard to control.
‘I gave you the military support you needed for your water project. That should be enough.’
‘So this is your project, is that it? You didn’t want to share the glory?’
‘How dare you speak to me like that!’
‘So, when you and our advisers pushed me into harvesting ice from this glacier, it was all about efficiency: the two projects at the same glacier, same project team. Except I, as project leader and key investor, don’t fucking know what’s going on!’
‘Go and cry on someone else’s shoulder. I’ll cut you in, but Wei will remain in charge of Project Eclipse.’
Robert clenched the fist on his good hand so tight that his knuckles turned white. ‘You always thought me weak because I didn’t go to military school. Doesn’t it matter to you that I’m worth a fortune? I run one of the most successful private-equity firms in the world. I run deals worth billions, and yet you, Father, don’t trust me!’
‘I don’t have time for this. Do you want to join me or not?’
Robert smacked his forehead as the realisation came to him. ‘Ah, of course. This is really about you beating me. You can’t be outdone by your weakling son, can you?’
The General gave a phlegmy sigh. ‘You have always been a disappointment to me. Prove you have a backbone and work with me on Project Eclipse.’
The thick skin Robert had built up over many years peeled away and he felt as if his innards had been ripped from his body. He struggled to reply. ‘I’
ll give you my answer when I’ve done my research. I choose my ventures carefully.’ He was livid but he doubted that the General would notice his shaky voice. ‘And the ice-harvesting? That must proceed as planned.’
‘Naturally. But it is a secondary project – do you understand me? Nothing must get in the way of Project Eclipse.’ The General’s tone was threatening.
Robert swallowed. His father could still frighten him. ‘What exactly is Wei in charge of?’
‘Blasting a shipping lane. Our tankers have to reach the mining sites along the Hudson Mountains. He will open up a twenty-kilometre ice-free channel along the glacier’s edge, so we can reach the Hudsons. Once the channel is open, our ice-breaker will keep it open.’
‘I assume the detonations will be staggered, the iceberg first and then the shipping channel?’
‘Correct. The berg will be blasted on the tenth of March, at ten hundred hours, your time. At twelve hundred hours, we will blast the shipping channel.’
‘But that only gives the heavy-lifter two hours to secure the berg. That’s too tight.’
‘We cannot wait any longer. There is a risk that foreign military forces will try to stop us. By the end of the day more soldiers will arrive to secure the territory. They will parachute in and Wei will command them.’
The General ended the phone call and Robert stared at the handset for a long while. ‘There’s only room for one Zhao on Project Eclipse,’ he hissed.
As he picked up his director’s chair and flung it across the tent, he noticed Maddie for the first time. She was so still and so pale that, if her eyes hadn’t been fixed on him, he might have thought her dead. Was it possible she had understood their conversation? It was time to get rid of her.
T MINUS 2 DAYS
8 March, 12:00 midday (UTC-07)
On board the Professor Basov, Captain Bolshakov and Alrek Tangen faced each other like gladiators in the ring. The beetroot-nosed, flabby-bellied Russian in his camel-coloured uniform glared at the stocky but athletic Norwegian expedition leader, who sported his tour company’s branded fleece as if it were a royal insignia. If the matter hadn’t been so serious, Luke would have laughed at the macho posturing. But Maddie’s life depended on the outcome.
