Ninth Cycle Antarctica: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 2)

by JC Ryan

  Once again, JR crept up behind one of the sentries, this time knowing that this time he didn’t have the advantage of approaching a sleeping man. The total silence of the valley was a disadvantage; there were no bird calls, animal or industrial sounds to mask his approach. Thanking his lucky stars for his training, JR was within a couple of feet of his adversary before the latter heard him, turning and raising his rifle.

  JR’s hand whipped forward, his scavenged knife finding the man’s neck before he could speak or shoot. He dropped the rifle and slapped his hand to his neck, but JR was on him. JR yanked the knife from the flesh where it was lodged and jabbed it upward between himself and the other man. Stroke of luck, he thought, as the man collapsed in his arms. The knife had found the cleft between the ribs, just under the breastbone, and had punctured his heart.

  Two down, one to go, but there had to be others he hadn’t seen. He suspected there was at least one more, probably three to five, because none of the three he’d seen struck him as leader types. Certainly not the two he’d killed with little trouble. He dragged the second one into the jungle and moved toward the third.

  This time, he wasn’t so lucky. Fortunately, this one had put down his rifle for some reason, so when he heard JR behind him, he whirled and came after him unarmed but with a muffled shout. JR’s arm whipped up and caught the guy at the hollow of his collarbone with the point of the knife. A horrible gurgle accompanied the spurt of blood as the man’s eyes widened before closing forever. Three down, how many to go? Noises from his right indicated someone was coming. There was no time to drag the man away; whoever was left would now know that they weren’t alone. JR fled the scene, wiping the knife on his pants as he ran straight into the jungle. If they caught him, at least he wouldn’t have led them to Rebecca.

  When JR had gone far enough into the vines and scrub brush to convince himself he was covered, he stopped and stilled his hard-beating heart with the iron discipline of his Marine Corps training. Now that his own heartbeat wasn’t deafening him, he listened for sounds of pursuit. Hearing none, he considered his position. Were they waiting for him to reveal himself? Had they found the other two dead sentries? For long moments, he waited. Then, he heard Rebecca’s cry of distress. Starting upward from his hidden position, he strained to hear what was happening.

  “Pyotr, we’ve found a woman!” The shout carried through the still air and stabbed JR in the heart. Now there were two hostages, both Summers and Rebecca. He should never have allowed her to come with him. His training and experience gave him the discipline to analyze the situation first, rather than running headlong to her rescue, but that discipline was sorely tested. Failure was not an option. No matter what else happened, he had to make sure Rebecca was unharmed.

  Quivering with stress, JR thought about what he’d heard. ‘Pyotr,’ the man had called, so that meant there were at least two. But, he’d also said ‘we’. So, at least three and perhaps more. And they now had Rebecca as well as the rifle he’d salvaged. Even if he still had that, he couldn’t go in shooting, for fear of hitting her. More stealth was called for, but now the intruders had been alerted to their presence.

  He had two choices; backtrack to meet and warn the others, then bring Robert back to help him, or take out the remaining intruders himself. Robert seemed like a capable guy, but JR wasn’t sure he’d ever been in combat. Furthermore, they had the problem of Carmen and what to do with her if the only ones left to guard her were Angela and Cyndi. Better to do it himself, and he’d better hurry or the rest of the party would be walking into an ambush.

  JR began creeping through the jungle at near-ground level, careful not to disturb the vegetation as he passed. His first task was to locate Summers and then try to see where they were holding Rebecca, who had stopped crying out as soon as the men who found her had called to their leader. JR could only hope she was alive. A grim thought occurred to him about their intentions with her. He crept faster.

  A few minutes later, he saw legs pressed against a stone bench-like object that was covered in vines. The legs weren’t moving. Was it a sentry? Or was it Summers? He thought he recalled that Summers was seated on something like it, but the angle was different. He risked raising his head, wreathed in brush, to check it out. Yes! Summers. But, he seemed to still be unconscious. Was he sleeping, or was it his injury that knocked him out? JR could see a trickle of dried blood at the corner of his mouth, and a contusion on the side of his face that looked like he’d taken a severe blow. Summers’ hands were cuffed behind him. He’d be no use in a fight, but if he woke up and cried out, he could jeopardize JR’s plan. JR crept as close as he could and whispered.

  “Psst. Summers.” The man stirred, giving JR hope that he was merely sleeping. “Summers, its JR, don’t say anything.”

  To his relief, Summers opened his eyes slowly and made a show of stretching. He turned his head to the right, whispering softly.

  “JR, I think the OS is here. They’re going to kill us all.”

  “Not if I can help it,” JR whispered back. “How many?”

  “I saw six. But they knocked me out as soon as they were out. Don’t know if others were behind them.”

  “Where’d they come from?”

  “See that cleft in the rock? Carmen said it leads outside. They must have come from there.”

  At that moment, a black-clad figure appeared from the left and strode toward Summers. JR shrank back into the vines and stilled. He could only hope that Summers was smart enough not to give him away.

  “Who are you talking to?” demanded Pyotr. Summers put on a face of surprise.

  “Myself! Who do you think?” he asked sarcastically. Pyotr reacted to Summers’ tone by backhanding him again. He slumped, seemingly unconscious. Pyotr scanned the jungle, seeing nothing. A yard into the tangled vines, JR kept his head down, waiting for a shot in the back. Then the footfalls retreated and he risked looking up.

  “Summers, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, but let’s not do that again,” Summers whispered. His lip was bleeding again, and now a trickle from his nose joined it.

  “Okay, hang tight. I’m going to take them one at a time.”

  JR didn’t bother telling Summers that the OS operatives had taken Rebecca. It would only distress him, and he might reveal it if he knew it, which would again compromise JR’s mission. He melted back into the jungle and resumed creeping around the perimeter, this time to the left since that’s the way the leader had come. If he could take out the leader first, the troops would fold if they were like most. If they were specially trained, it could be harder, but he was now in full combat mode, a honed and focused weapon of mass destruction in his own right.

  ~~~

  JR crawled back into the jungle and thought for a while. He needed to get higher again, try to figure out where the leader was, where they were holding Rebecca, and where the others were deployed. The trouble was, they had to know he was out there somewhere. Even if Rebecca didn’t talk, and he was sure she wouldn’t, they’d have found the dead men by now. If he climbed, they could spot him before he had a chance to get into the cover of the treetops where there were leaves to hide him. And if he were caught, the rest of the party would be walking into a trap.

  He needed more eyes up above, or he needed bait. Carmen. If he could send her in, the OS operatives might reveal themselves, but would she betray him? The answer was almost certainly. But, maybe he could lure the leader out if she appeared to have been compromised and in danger. It was worth a try.

  The rest of the party was probably no more than an hour behind, if that far, by now. He’d go back and let the others know what was ahead, then interrogate Carmen more thoroughly. After which, he’d have to do something rather unpleasant. He hoped the others would go along. He started back, keeping to the shadows in the vegetation instead of walking confidently along the path, in case he ran into the other OS soldiers.

  As he walked, he scanned the path, for the first time realizing the signific
ance of a clear pathway all around the perimeter of the canyon. Who was maintaining it? Why hadn’t the vegetation overtaken it, like it had everything else in the valley? It was something to ask, when the current crisis was over. They needed to bring a botanist next time. He didn’t register the fact that he’d thought ‘next time’ as if it were a foregone conclusion that he’d be back. Later, he’d remember.

  Half an hour later, JR heard the rest of the group coming and quickly concealed himself. When he was sure it was them, he waited until Carmen was parallel with him, to keep her from screaming and perhaps alerting her co-conspirators. He stepped out of the jungle practically right in front of Carmen, who gave a startled gasp, prompting him to seize her and put his hand over her mouth before she could scream.

  “JR, you startled me! What’s all over your face?” Cyndi asked from behind him. Robert, just half a step behind her, came up and stuck out his hand, which JR grasped.

  “Hi, buddy,” JR said to Robert, still holding his right hand. “Your girlfriend here is an OS spy. Help me secure her, we’ve got a problem.”

  Robert’s look of surprise accompanied a moment of indecision while he processed what JR had said. In that interval, Carmen, who was trained to be quicker on the uptake, whirled and broke JR’s grip on her, starting toward the jungle, but JR was right behind her. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her, struggling, into the air, turning and depositing her in front of Robert. By this time, Robert had figured it out, and he clasped her in his arms to quell her struggles. Together, they pinned her to the rock wall of the canyon, and JR snarled.

  “How many are there?” Carmen stared defiantly at him and pressed her lips together. Cyndi and Angela had watched the events of the past two minutes with wide eyes, but Angela put it together first.

  “JR, is Charles okay?” she asked fearfully.

  “Yeah. He’s been hit a couple of times, but he’s basically okay. They took Rebecca, though, and I couldn’t find where they were holding her. I need this bitch to lure them out one at a time.”

  Carmen pulled her lips back from her teeth. “Never.”

  “Oh, I think you’ll cooperate. Robert, girls, this isn’t going to be pleasant. I’d like you to remain here.”

  Robert, though he was cooperating by holding Carmen, objected. “What are you going to do to her?” he asked.

  “Whatever I have to. Don’t worry, she’s not going to risk getting hurt for those guys, are you, Carmen?” he said, giving her a significant look. Her eyes widened as he removed the knife from his boot.

  Angela and Cyndi started to protest, but JR cut them off. “Ladies, it’s them or us. If she cooperates, she won’t get hurt, I promise.”

  JR sacrificed a short length of one of the climbing ropes, which he cut to use as a restraint. He wrapped it around Carmen’s wrists behind her until he was satisfied that it would hold. Angela, catching the intent, offered her bandanna as a gag. JR then took Carmen by the arm and thrust her forward down the path, back in the direction of the cleft and the danger. They walked for about twenty minutes, and then he stopped and pulled her into the jungle. Taking out the knife, he pressed the tip to her jugular vein.

  “I want you to call out, “Pyotr, help.” Nothing else. Anything else and this point goes in, got it?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Do it now.”

  “Pyotr! Help!” she cried. JR snaked his arm around her head and covered her mouth with his free hand. He listened carefully. After several moments, there was nothing to indicate someone was on the way. JR shoved Carmen forward for another five minutes and then repeated the process. This time, a shout came in return.

  “Carmen? Are you alone?”

  “Tell him yes,” JR snarled. “Say you’re injured, and you can’t crawl any further. Nothing else.”

  “Yes, but I’m injured, I can’t make it any further,” she called.

  “Wait there, then. I’ll send my men. Can you walk with someone supporting you?”

  “Tell him yes,” JR said again.

  “Yes, I think so,” she answered, risking a cut to her throat as she added unauthorized words. JR pulled back the knife with only a surface nick, which nevertheless left a drop of blood where he’d almost stabbed her.

  “Good girl,” he told her, before gagging her again with the bandanna. “Stay quiet and you live. Betray me and you die right after Pyotr.”

  Carmen’s eyes flashed hatred at him, but she remained quiet while he shoved her to the edge of the path and arranged her lying down with her head away from the direction the OS would be coming. Pyotr was cautious, so it wouldn’t be him, it would be one or both of the other two. He could handle two if he had to, but only with the element of surprise; no doubt they’d have their rifles at the ready. He crept some yards further along the path and back into the jungle, waiting for the men to arrive. In only a minute, they came into view, walking cautiously and sweeping their rifles back and forth. JR let them pass. He waited until he heard a cry from one of them, “There she is!”

  As the two broke into a jog toward Carmen, dropping their guard as they went, JR leapt at them, arms wide, bowling them over with his weight and superior height. He jumped up immediately, drawing his knife and slashing the throat of one, before the other had recovered and was on him. Now it was a fight for control of the knife. JR was aware that his height was more of a disadvantage than an advantage when it came to a ground fight, especially if he were on the bottom as he was now. He struggled to maintain his grasp on the knife while attempting to get leverage to reverse his position so he could get up. A sharp pain along his arm alerted him that the other man had turned his knife hand back on his own arm and made a cut.

  Suddenly, he felt a vicious kick at his hip. Carmen had managed to stand up and was trying to help his assailant by kicking at him wherever she could find an opening. Within moments, his ribs, legs and backside were bruised and throbbing, and the distraction was keeping him from gaining any advantage in the main fight. With a shout of anger, he rolled toward the leg that was supporting Carmen and bit her, as hard as he could, just above her booted ankle. She screamed and went down, allowing JR to focus on the man who was slowly getting the better of him. Then an opening presented itself. The guy’s face was close to his. JR head-butted him, stunning both of them for a moment.

  JR was the first to recover, having steeled himself for the blow. The man’s grip had loosened, just a bit, and JR pressed the advantage, flipping the guy over and pressing down on him. Now JR was on top, and the man was gasping for breath as JR bore down with all his might, pushing himself up from the legs to press into the other’s chest. Gradually, the assailant’s grip on the knife loosened until JR could wrench it out of his hand. He delivered the coup de grace quickly, slashing through this man’s jugular as he’d done the other. A gout of blood spurted into his face, mixing with the forgotten purple juice.

  He got up, breathing heavily, and turned on Carmen, who was still writhing on the ground, bleeding where he’d bitten her. With a sound of disgust, he suppressed the urge to kick her as well, and instead yanked her to her feet, howling through the gag. If Summers had counted correctly, there was just one man left. And he should be running toward Carmen’s shouts, unless he was clever enough to know that JR would gladly trade the traitorous Carmen for Rebecca. In that case, he’d be marching down the path with Rebecca walking in front of him for protection.

  JR yanked the gag from Carmen’s mouth and used the dry ends to wipe his face. He couldn’t know, but the resulting smears were more frightening than ever. He looked like a savage, a cannibal maybe, and his freakish height made the impression even worse. Tired though he was, he knew he’d better be prepared for whatever Pyotr might be bringing for battle. He shoved Carmen to the side of the path and found a tree to tie her to. Then he took both of the dead OS operatives’ rifles and took up a position behind Carmen from the direction that Pyotr would come. Propping the rifles on convenient bushes for quick access, he settl
ed into a waiting stance, drawing on his training to calm his adrenalin-fueled anxiety and take a moment’s rest.

  A few minutes later, JR rejoiced in Rebecca’s cleverness as he heard stumbling on the path, along with a man’s voice cursing at her to be quiet. He took up a rifle and pointed it in the direction of the voice. Rebecca came into view first, and gave a small cry as she saw Carmen tied to the tree. Immediately behind her, Pyotr stepped out and raised a side-arm. Without warning, he shot Carmen in the chest, nicking her heart. Rebecca screamed and threw herself to the ground in front of him, giving JR a clean shot. He took it.

  With Pyotr fallen, Rebecca raced to Carmen’s side, but she could see there was nothing to be done for her.

  “Why did he shoot you?” she asked the dying woman.

  “… chance at JR,” Carmen whispered. “Tell Robert…cave is the same. Open now,” she gasped with her last breath.

  “Carmen!” Rebecca screamed. Then she wept. JR knelt beside her and pulled her into his arms.

  “Becca, she was a spy. She was going to lead us to slaughter. I’m sorry, but we need to get the others and collect Summers so we can get out of here.”

  Rebecca nodded, shaking, and pressed into JR. “I’m cold,” she said.

  “You’re in shock,” he replied. Sitting down beside Carmen’s lifeless body, he leaned against the tree and pulled Rebecca into his chest, turning her head in the other direction and wrapping his arms around her. The others would be along soon. Meanwhile, he’d keep Rebecca warm.

  Chapter 29 – The Way Out

  JR had fallen into a stupor, staring at nothing except the scenes of bloody battle, with Rebecca wrapped in his arms, his only comfort. He came to attention at Robert’s shout.

  “What the hell?”