Austerley & Kirgordon Adventures Box Set

by G R Jordan

  Kirkgordon handed her back the glass of wine she had barely touched, and she drank it down in one go. This was the Cally he was used to, fronting up to the challenge and putting the pain to one side. Kneeling in front of the fire, she stared at him, obviously assessing his thoughts, rudely, blatantly, but he didn’t care.

  “So, what do you think of the killer in front of you?”

  Kirkgordon looked, sighed and turned away. “Bloody hell, Cally. Why do this to yourself? Why hold this against yourself?”

  “You think I want to? You think I can just switch it off? Oh, what would you know?”

  Kirkgordon stood up. “Plenty, Cally, just plenty.” He walked over to the window and opened it. The cool of the night breezed over him and he marvelled at how something so simple could be such a balm to a troubled soul. “You’re not the only killer.”

  “But you did it to protect.”

  “And that makes it okay, how? Just ‘cos I did what I needed to do doesn’t make it go away. There were nightmares even before this Austerley nonsense. You see faces. I don’t know the names, but I see faces.”

  She stood up and came over behind him, reaching round with her arms. He felt her gentle kiss on his shoulder.

  “A right pair, us.”

  “Hey, do you think that’s why Havers keeps Austerley with us? Make us seem more normal.”

  Calandra dug him in the ribs. These were the times he felt strongest for her. Not the moments of seeing her outer beauty, her resplendent hair and figure, but these times when he connected. Moments when the world would seem the enemy, and she was his partner, standing together. This was when their feelings were at their most dangerous.

  Hearing a light flapping sound, he went to move, but she held him steady until her wings wrapped them both up. It was like being in a fridge, only a lot sexier. Inside, emotions were rising to the fore, and he could feel that Calandra was happy to work them. This needed to be halted.

  “Alana can find places inside my defences too. You know those places are hers to own.”

  “I know, it’s just tonight. It’s never been the same since him. Well, not until…you.”

  “Hey, I never promised anything. I never pushed for something.”

  “No…you didn’t…but you came back for me. You saved me, put me before the world. You don’t know what that kind of sentiment can do to a girl.”

  Kirkgordon stood in silence. He knew, he damn well knew. How did she think Alana had been won over? But it was true. He would dump the world for her, just like he would for Alana.

  There was a cold kiss behind his right ear, and the arms disappeared from his waist. He turned and watched her walk from the room, hips swaying, but inside he knew she was in pain. He couldn’t help but reach for a wounded animal.

  “If you want, we can stay here and sit for a while longer. We could…”

  “No” Calandra interrupted, “We won’t because we both know we wouldn’t leave it there.”

  “I know. Take care.”

  “Take care?” She turned and looked him in the eye giving a wry smile. “Don’t worry about me. After all, I am the Ice Maiden.”

  VI

  Austerley & Kirkgordon Origins 3

  The People in the Pool

  The Woman Who Felt No Cold

  Flicking the freshly falling snow off his moustache, he made his way over to the woman who was standing next to the outpost’s entrance. The outside temperature was ridiculously cold—below zero—and yet she stood there in just a leather jacket, jeans, boots, and a thin t-shirt. The wind was beginning to lift and drive the snow into their faces, but you would hardly have known it from looking at her except for her black hair flailing in the wind.

  Major Arthur Lewis Siddlington-Havers had thought this trip to Antarctica would be somewhat dull, examining a few leads about a forlorn expedition into the heart of the continent. Now he saw someone unusual which, in his line of work, meant trouble. He crossed the short distance to the woman, thankful for his thick jacket, padded leggings and boots, and tapped her gently on the shoulder from behind.

  “Yes?” asked the woman, turning around.

  She was every bit as impressive from the front and almost the same height as Havers. Her jacket was open and Havers wondered how she wasn’t chilled to the bone. A white complexion was countered by a warm smile of a person who believed they had the upper hand in everything.

  Strange, thought Havers, that’s usually me.

  “Good afternoon my dear, if indeed it is afternoon as I struggle to keep track of time when travelling. I was just wondering if you required any assistance. With this weather blowing in and, forgive me, your rather skimpy form of dress, could I offer you my jacket or locate a more substantial set of clothing for you? I’m sure the base must have some on the general stock.”

  “Very Kind of you, Mr…?”

  “Havers, Ma’am. Major Havers, just passing by the base for a couple of days. And you are?”

  “Calandra. Just call me Calandra.”

  “Well, Miss Calandra, can I be of assistance?”

  “No thank you, Major, I can look after myself, but it was kind of you to offer.” She turned her back and looked away to a far off snow bank.

  “Of course, Miss Calandra, but may I ask what you are doing here? I am invested in the security of this place, and therefore I ask that you forgive the very necessary prying into your current actions.”

  “Not at all, Major. I’m new canteen staff, here three days. And don’t worry, I like the cold. Or rather it likes me.”

  Oh well, thought Havers, rather an odd woman, but how she stands the cold I’ll need to ascertain. Still, she seems to be doing no harm at the moment.

  He turned, ready to go inside and warm up with some hot coffee, when he realised she hadn’t flinched from staring into the distance. Curiosity got the better of him, and he struck up the conversation again.

  “Miss Calandra, if I may be so bold and ask what you are staring at?”

  “There!” Calandra pointed into the distance. “Do you see it?”

  Havers glared at the white landscape but struggled to discern anything. “No Ma’am, my apologies, but no.”

  “There’s a pool out there. Half a mile away. The entrance to it is in the snow, and nothing has gone in or out in the last four hours.”

  “You’ve been here four hours in those clothes? You should be near dead.”

  “I told you, I like the cold. But don’t worry about me, there’s a different issue. Someone—or something—has been stealing food from the canteen. The stock check has been off the last few days, and, as I had just arrived, I thought it was better to solve this issue before any fingers get pointed.”

  Havers smiled. This was his type of thinking. “And what has your investigation uncovered?”

  “The pool. I followed tracks out to it, human footprints. But I didn’t go all the way in. Thought I would get some confirmation on what was moving in and out before entering.”

  “Are you ex-military, Ma’am?”

  “Kind of. It was some time ago. Anyway, I haven’t gone fully into the entrance, but I could see a pool inside. It rippled and certainly wasn’t frozen.”

  “What does the base commander say about this?” asked Havers.

  “I don’t know. I never told him.”

  “Why?”

  “The entrance isn’t obvious. Nobody knows it’s there. And it’s hard to show them when you are just a food preparation officer.”

  Havers laughed. He understood rank and the obstruction of communication at times. This was going to be more interesting than what he had planned for this trip.

  “Miss Calandra, what say we go find your pool?”

  “They’ll know I’m missing, it’s my shift in twenty.”

  “I’ll square it. I think we should take a walk.”

  A hot cup of tea later and the pair were walking across the snowy landscape towards something only Calandra could see. All around was simply snow and ice
and a little sea on the far off horizon behind them. Havers felt his moustache tweak as the cold bit into his face, but his companion strode happily along despite an ever increasing wind.

  “Look for a refraction in the light. It’s indistinct, but if you stare and move your focal point back and forward, you’ll see it.”

  Havers rejected the part of him saying this was insane due to the many strange occurrences he had seen before working for the government department. Impressed as he was by the woman beside him, he tried to keep a professional detachment—but she was certainly attractive to the eye.

  “There! Do you see it?”

  Havers followed her finger and then did as previously instructed. Dammit, she was right. It was faint, so very faint, but obvious once you caught it.

  “Shall we go in?” asked Havers.

  “Of course,” Calandra replied and strode ahead of the government man.

  Inside the entrance, which simply hung in the air without a form behind it, the landscape changed to a small cave and a pool on the floor. It was surrounded by roughly hewn blocks of snow and ice marking the edge of the pool. Inside, the water was clearly unfrozen, but the temperature in the cave was even colder than outside.

  Havers knelt by the pool and took off his thick glove. Dipping his bare hand in, he withdrew it quickly as the coldness of the water raced up his arm. He swore it was the coldest thing he had ever touched. Turning to his companion, he saw her remove her jacket and dip both arms into the water before swirling the liquid with her hands.

  She shouldn’t be able to do that.

  Calandra let go a small shriek before composing herself. Intently staring into the water, she dipped her head into the pool and submerged herself almost up to her waist. Havers watched her closely until she whipped herself out of the pool, her hair flicking water off and splashing the cave walls behind her.

  “Major, there are lights down there!”

  The Memory of His Mother

  Havers watched the water run down her body. It never made it very far as it froze on her. Her black hair was full of newly formed icicles, which she shook out like a wet dog. But the woman showed no sign of even being slightly cold.

  “Lights, ma’am. Are you sure?”

  “Definitely Major, I’m not prone to fanciful comments. There are lights at the bottom of that pool.”

  He had been an untrusting swine for as long as he could remember, which was as long as it had been since his mother had died. She had left him in a cold Russian field, snow falling heavily, gunned down by two KGB minders. Having been brought up on the wonders of the state, he had had all his illusions shattered when he saw her die.

  Distrust was something he was good at, and he certainly wasn’t going to take this strange woman’s ideas at face value. So far he had seen nothing, and it was time to find some things out first hand. He touched the water and removed his hand quickly on feeling the cold. Oh well, time to work for a living.

  Havers stripped to his bare torso and dipped himself into the water up to his midriff. The cold raced through his body, but he pushed the pain away and opened his eyes, staring into the depths. She was right, small lights, quite dim, shone through the water. What sort of lights and why they were there was not obvious, but they were solid enough, continuing to penetrate the water. But he couldn’t tell how deep they were.

  He felt his body shake and pulled himself back out of the water. Havers began to shiver from the sudden air across his wet frame and grabbed his inner shirt and began to dry himself with it. Once dry, he quickly got back into his warm jacket and gloved his hands.

  Calandra was standing, staring into the depths, and Havers wondered what she was thinking. Was she part of this or just someone strange caught up in it? But she had noticed the entrance, so she wasn’t a novice. And he wondered did she know anything about what lay beyond Antarctica’s inner mountains.

  “So, should I dive down and see what they are?”

  “Dive down?” said Havers. “We have no idea how deep it is to those lights. There’s also a possibility you may encounter something down there you can’t handle.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that,” replied Calandra and drew herself up, curved figure now matched by a determined face.

  “No my dear, it would be better to observe the place for a while and see if we can ascertain what we are dealing with. I suggest we retire to the station and place a camera on this location. Then I can get warmed up, and you can have some refreshment and tell me more about yourself.”

  “It’s not an interesting story.”

  “Trust me,” replied Havers, “I find people most stimulating.”

  After trudging back to the base and coordinating with the base commander, Havers retired to his quarters for a hot shower. He would review the footage the newly focused camera would gain in the morning, but for now, he would try to discover just who this “canteen assistant” was. He had never seen anyone endure such cold without flinching. He’d seen some ‘things’ do it but not any person.

  The breakout area, as it was strictly defined on base, consisted of a pool table and a small bar area which was self-service. A number of board games and magazines littered the place, and Havers found Calandra lying across a small sofa.

  Bare, pale legs ran up to a pair of cotton shorts and into a loosely fitting t-shirt. Her hair hung down, the black a stark contrast with her white face. She smiled as she caught Havers observing her and showed no discomfort or shame about it. Without apologising, Havers continued his scan of her body, like he was a customer in a gentleman’s club.

  “Like what you see?” laughed Calandra.

  “How old are you?” asked Havers.

  “Little bit rude, if I may say so. Most men with their tongues out don’t care about the age.”

  “Miss Calandra, my tongue is firmly within my mouth, and I wasn’t assessing your figure for my own gratification. Again, how old are you? I’d say, maybe seven hundred years old?”

  Calandra laughed. “Damn, you are good. But it’s eight.”

  “And yet you are human. Obviously with some changes. No one endures the cold the way you do. Even in here, I am wearing my sweater, yet you lounge around with so little on as if we are on a beach in the Bahamas. What happened to you?”

  Calandra sprung up from the sofa, her face now showing a frown and walked past Havers.

  “Drink, Major?”

  “Please. Neat whisky. The Scottish kind. Single malt, if they have it.”

  “I’ll join you in that one.”

  “And what happened to you?”

  Calandra sniffed back what Havers thought was a tear. “Let’s say a witch cursed me. Beyond that, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fair enough,” said Havers. But I’ll find out, I always do. He watched two personnel from the base walk past, casting long, lingering glances at his partner in the conversation. She seemed to enjoy their glances, but she never looked to draw them in. Maybe it was just being with him that was cramping her style. Or maybe she was hurting.

  Walking over to one of the windows, Havers stared out across the white landscape, watching the wind pick up the snow and deposit it back in a pile some distance away.

  How does anything live out here? he wondered. A thought struck him as he remembered the snow covered ground where his mother had fallen. He could see her face now, blood coming from her mouth. Standing before her, the exit wounds of the bullets evident and the blood that poured from her that stained her jacket. He could see it all.

  Yes, he could. But he was seeing it through the window. Right out there, in the wind and cold.

  “Miss Calandra, come to the window please, I feel I may have a touch of sickness.”

  He felt her presence behind him. “Can you see a woman out there, shot and bleeding? Her jacket covered in blood.” It must be the exposure that has got me, thought Havers. But he whirled around on Calandra’s response.

  “Yes, Major, I can. Right out there.”

  B
ody of Ice

  Havers bolted from the breakout room, running hard to the station’s main door. Bursting from it, he raced towards the spot he had seen the image of his mother. Behind him came the crunching steps in the snow that he knew would be Calandra. Arriving at the spot, he saw nothing and spun around searching the bleak horizon.

  “She was here! She was damn well here. You saw her, did you not? Miss Calandra, tell me you saw her.”

  “As bold as the day. I definitely saw a woman, blood stained. Whether it was your mother, I can’t really say.”

  Havers scoured the horizon looking for any sign. Then he scanned the ground for tracks. But there was nothing, not a sign of anyone or anything, save for their own footprints.

  “What’s up with you two? Major, what’s happened?” It was the station commander, fully wrapped up in a thermal coat and trousers.

  “Nothing, Commander,” said Havers. “Just a trick of the light, I think. Thought I saw a person, but obviously I was wrong. Not to worry.”

  “Okay, Major, but you should be getting back inside, I think there’s a storm brewing for later. And Miss, you really shouldn’t be out in your sleepwear. You’ll catch your death from cold.”

  “Your concern is noted, Commander, but the lady is just fine. We’ll be along shortly.” Havers stared at the Commander, smiling, but with the impression that something should happen or that smile may fade.

  “As you see fit, Major. But you are both under my command and your welfare is my responsibility.”

  “Again, noted. But as you are aware, I can look after myself, and I think your new cook may be even more adept.”

  The Commander nodded and strode off back to the station. Havers took another scan of the horizon before turning back to Calandra.