Egan, p.11
Egan, page 11
*
Magnus and Egan had spent three hours out searching for tracks, searching for anything that would give them answers. They had to use miner’s headlamps initially, as they’d come out in the dark. Now it was light, and they still had no answers. When they finally stopped for a break, they shook their heads at each other.
Egan spoke first. “Any chance it was done to fool us?”
“Maybe,” Magnus replied, his voice harsh.
Egan groaned. “In which case, whoever the fuck did this did a hell of a job, which would be the reason for doing it.”
“Yep,” Magnus admitted, “they thought they could do a good-enough job to fool us, which they have. But still, there’s got to be a reason.”
“And every time we go around and around,” Egan muttered, “not exactly coming up with answers. Then we just have a whole lot more questions.”
“Questions are good though,” Magnus noted.
Egan sighed. “You and I both know that.”
Magnus shook his head. “Yet it’s so frustrating. When we think we’ve got something solved, it’s only to find out we’ve got nothing … again.”
Egan smiled. “Sounds like normal life to me.”
At that, Magnus laughed and nodded. “Very true. I’ll give you points for that one.”
“I guess we may as well head back, huh?”
“Unless you’ve got anything else to suggest.”
“No, but we better keep an eye on our storage areas in case these thefts become a regular thing on base, which won’t make Chef very happy at all,” Egan noted, thinking out loud. “Or the colonel. He is hardly bearable as it is. I’m sure not looking forward to telling him about this. In fact, I’m surprised he’s still here.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s still here until we solve all this, and, if we don’t solve it, … there’s no safety for him either,” Magnus shared.
“I heard rumors that he was here as punishment.”
“I don’t know whether that’s true or not. It would suck if it were, yet it’s also kind of—I hate to say it—the military way.”
Egan laughed at that. “Isn’t that the truth? Anyway, let’s head back, and we’ll try to figure out our next step from there.”
They slowly turned toward the military base, their tracks already mostly covered in the blowing snow.
As they skied, Egan added, “You do realize that they could have quite easily come into the base, gotten supplies, and left, and we wouldn’t be any the wiser?”
“That’s what they did do, and we wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the jimmied hinges,” Magnus replied, looking at him in confusion.
“I guess I’m wondering if they’d done it any other time. So, if they didn’t pry the door off before, how many other times would they have come and gone? Would Chef even know?”
“I would hope he’d know,” Magnus stated, his tone harsh, “because otherwise what would it take for him not to?”
“I don’t have an answer for you there,” Egan noted, “but it’s something to think about.”
“Too much to think about right now,” Magnus muttered, as they headed home.
“Not only too much to put together but also none of it’s making any sense.”
“Yet it will eventually. You know it will. We just don’t have enough answers yet to put the pieces into place,” Magnus added.
Egan nodded. “That’s always one of those things that makes life a little more difficult.”
“What I want to know,” Magnus stated, “is if you’re suggesting that this was an inside job just made to look like it was somebody from outside? If so, what was the purpose?”
“To get extra resources, but why?”
Magnus considered that for a few moments. “So, if the insider can’t use them at base, the only other reason to steal from the military would be if he’s selling them. And who would buy them?”
“The locals,” Egan suggested. “Nobody else is here, unless we’re also considering Amelia.”
Magnus winced at that. “God, I hope not. I would hope that, if Amelia’s team were in trouble, they were being overly cautious by not coming in and talking to us. Yet to steal groceries from the base or to buy stolen goods from someone in the village would also be rough.”
“And wouldn’t say a whole lot about anybody involved, would it?”
“No, but we already know we’ve got problems here,” Magnus noted, “so I can’t say I’d be terribly surprised. Maybe not terribly surprised, but I guess I’d feel pretty sick if I thought that’s what was really going on.”
Egan nodded but didn’t say anything. Yet it was something to contemplate as they headed home, the journey long and cold. Thankfully they were both in good shape, and it was a gorgeous day for this trip.
When they neared the military base, Egan continued with that same line of thought from earlier. “Amelia could have hidden anywhere. She could be out here and relatively close by, and we wouldn’t even see them because of the whiteout conditions. She could be out here perfectly happy, munching away at our stores.”
“She’d be welcome to it,” Magnus stated. “Still, I’d prefer to know that she’s okay.”
“You and me both,” Egan agreed. “I don’t like anything about this, especially if the only reason she wouldn’t be coming in is because she’s too scared. That makes things take an uglier turn yet again.”
“Just think about it. Does she know what happened at the scientists’ camp, her own camp? We now know that Anna was trying to kill them all, some psychotic murder-suicide mission. But, with Anna dead, was somebody else in the scientists’ camp after Amelia too? Or does Amelia even know what happened to Anna and the others, after the carbon dioxide leak in their camp? Or does Amelia think Anna and Myles both wound up dead on our base—which facts, without all the circumstances, sure does point a guilty finger at our military compound. Not knowing everything, maybe Amelia won’t come in, thinking someone would go after her again. Again, too many questions, not enough answers, and nothing making sense,” Magnus concluded.
When they rounded a bend and came upon the base, Egan felt a certain sense of relief in seeing it. It represented safety, but a false one at that. Still, when out in the cold like this, day trips could be something incredibly joyous, knowing you could handle whatever was tossed at you because, really, it was glorious out there. A lot of living things did manage to survive in these harsh surroundings, and that just made Egan respect the tundra ecosystem all the more.
As they unpacked and cleaned up their gear, Magnus told Egan, “Don’t say anything to anyone in there, will you? I have yet to talk to the boss.”
“Better you than me,” Egan noted, with a smile.
“Yeah, right? On the other hand, if we can get some answers, then I don’t mind in the least.”
As they walked inside the main building, several people stared at them, questions in their gazes, but it didn’t take long for people to realize that Egan and Magnus hadn’t found anything. Egan searched out Berry and found her in the dining area, talking to a group of seeming friends. He hesitated, not wanting to intrude. But when she saw him, she bounded to her feet and came over with a smile.
“Any luck?” she cried out. Then she saw his face and winced. “I guess I should have waited before I asked that, huh?”
“It’s all right,” he said. “We spent hours following what was left of the tracks, but, no, nothing.”
She shook her head. “It just blows me away to think that somebody slipped inside the base during the dark of night and took supplies. I don’t understand why they would do that.”
“The why is easy,” Egan noted, with a one-arm shrug. “They needed food.”
“Right, sorry, I’m not trying to be obtuse, but why not come into the base during daylight hours then?” He didn’t say anything, just nodded. She walked with him to get a hot cup of coffee. As she stood here waiting, she studied his face. He tried not to let on too much of what was going on, but still she saw something in his gaze. “You’re wondering about something, aren’t you?”
He gave her a dry look. “I’m wondering all kinds of things,” he admitted. “Believe me. We have no answers for any of it.”
“No, I understand,” she replied, “and that’s one of those things that the rest of us have been sitting here hashing out. Such as, no need for somebody to steal the supplies, when I don’t think anybody on base would care about sharing food, especially not if they needed the food. The question is whether they needed those supplies or not, and, if they didn’t, who is it and what are they doing with them?”
“Yeah, all good questions that we want the answers to.” Egan smiled wanly. “However, no answers are coming our way just yet.”
She winced. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s not your fault,” he noted, with a chuckle. “Definitely not your fault. We’ve come in from a very long morning of skiing to find not a whole lot, and now we still have to deal with the brass about it.”
“Oh, great.” She gave an eye roll. “That’s probably the last thing you want to deal with.”
“Still, it’s got to be done.” He raised one hand and gave her a half smile. “I’ll talk to you later.” And, with that, he quickly disappeared down the hallway. More because he knew, if he stayed, he would start talking to her about everything going on. However, the brass must get the accounting first.
Also something was between him and Berry, and he couldn’t resist the pull that bound her to him.
As he walked in to join Magnus with the colonel, Egan was ushered straight through, where he found Magnus talking to the colonel, who looked up and glared at Egan. “So, you guys didn’t find anything, I hear?” the colonel barked.
“Nothing conclusive, no,” Egan replied.
At that, the colonel’s eyebrows raised. “I don’t play games, so what are you talking about?”
“We’re just not sure, … but Magnus and I, … we wondered if somebody inside the base may have done this.”
At that, the colonel sucked in his breath and stared at the two men with a hardened look. “And why would that be something anybody here would want to do?” he asked, in a raspy hard voice.
“We don’t know that it is,” Egan clarified. “All we’re saying is that it’s a thought that occurred to us, while we were out there. It would be pretty darn hard for anybody to hide this theft.”
“But it would also be very hard for anybody to utilize this stolen food, when they are all here,” the colonel added. “So your theory or your idea doesn’t make any sense.”
The two men didn’t say anything and just waited while the CO pondered what to do next. Finally he said, “The only reason anybody here would want those foodstuffs is if they were selling them, and we aren’t short on rations.”
“What if somebody thought we would be short on rations?” Egan asked him.
The colonel stared at him, as if he was out of his mind. “That’s a wild accusation.”
“I’m not accusing anybody,” Egan stated. “All I’m suggesting is that our problem could be slightly different than we were thinking it was.”
At that, the colonel nodded. “Oh, I get what you’re saying. I can’t say I like any of it though.”
“Of course not, sir.” Egan tried to keep his voice respectful, but it was hard when he was dealing with as much as he was himself.
The older man looked at him, his gaze sharp, and declared, “I want you to keep after this. I don’t know who may have done this, but if you think it’s worth it, I suggest we do a room-by-room search.”
“That would aggravate everybody,” Magnus replied immediately, “and elevate the lack of trust to a whole new level.”
“You think I don’t know that?” the colonel snapped. “There is a complete lack of trust already. In me, in this outfit. I don’t want it to get any worse.”
“Neither do we, sir,” Magnus admitted, “and to accuse somebody of hiding stores here and ruining the door just in order to have a supply in case things go bad, not sharing with anybody else, that’s just ugly too.”
“None of us will starve,” the colonel noted in exasperation. “If nothing else, we can always get stores from our neighbors.”
Egan didn’t say anything to that because, of course, the locals didn’t have a whole lot, certainly not enough to feed thirty extra people.
“As a last resort, we would still ski out of here and get food supplies hauled in. If nothing else, it would be survival supplies.”
“We can get those airdropped in,” Magnus noted, “so it makes no sense that anybody on the inside would have done that—not to make an artificially low food supply here.”
“Maybe not,” Egan added, “and I admit it sounds a bit farfetched, but, with the low morale, with the angry people here, with so many wanting off this base, it could be motive. And, since we couldn’t really find any tracks outside, not once sunlight finally came, it just made us wonder.”
“Well, wonder something else,” the CO said in a snippy voice. “And, while you’re wondering, get me some goddamn answers too.” And, with that, they were both dismissed.
At the door, Egan looked back to see the colonel staring off in the distance. “Sir?”
The colonel shifted and sent him a hard gaze. “What now?”
Egan then shrugged. “Nothing, sir.” And, with that, Egan took his doubts and his questions and quickly made his escape. Out in the hallway, when Magnus stared at him, Egan added, “Something’s seriously wrong, and I wanted to have clearance to go check things out, if I needed to. Yet I think it’s a bad idea, so that’s why I backed off again,” he explained, with a laugh. “I’ve never been very good at talking to the bosses. Can you tell?”
“Oh, some bosses care, and some don’t,” Magnus replied. “I think, at this point in time, this one’s just scared.”
“Like all of us at times,” Egan confirmed, as he nodded at Magnus.
“That’s the problem. Everybody here is scared. So, if they did steal the foodstuffs for themselves and their friends, in a way I understand it. So I disagree with the CO’s notion to search everybody’s rooms.”
Egan nodded. “I don’t appreciate it, and I sure as hell won’t condone it, but I understand some people here not having the belief that everybody would get the same treatment. We’re dealing with a lot of countries, a lot of different cultures and beliefs,” Egan stated, carefully choosing his words. “And that can go sideways very, very quickly.”
At that, Magnus grimaced. “I hadn’t considered it from that point of view, but you’re right. Not everybody would have the same confidence in knowing that this would all work out in the end. Some people will have the absolute opposite attitude toward it, something we had better keep in mind. And so I vote that we delay any required search of the rooms for the missing food.”
Egan agreed.
And, with that, the two men parted ways for the day.
Day 6, Early Afternoon
Hours after her last visit, as Berry approached the door to the clinic, she found it open. She stepped inside, calling out a hesitant greeting.
Sydney looked up and smiled. “Good morning again,” she called out, as she motioned Berry in. “Or is it afternoon already?” She checked her watch. “Yep, just after noon. You can come in and see her.”
Berry knew that she probably could, but that didn’t mean her sister wanted to be seen. Berry hadn’t heard too many people discussing her sister’s drug-addicted condition. Berry didn’t know if that particular info was out and in the general knowledge. However, as Berry walked closer, her sister opened her eyes and smiled at her. That was a good sign.
“Hey,” Cherry murmured, her voice sleepy, quiet.
“Hey,” Berry responded, sitting beside her. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. I ache everywhere. Who would have thought getting off some simple pills would do this?”
Berry winced at that. “I don’t think those pills were simple at all.”
Cherry gave her twin sister a half smile. “Yeah? You haven’t called me stupid yet.”
“And I wouldn’t,” Berry declared. “I think you’ve got enough to deal with without my adding anything to it.”
“You know Mom and Dad will absolutely hit the roof when they find out.”
Berry didn’t say anything at first. What could she say? It was true; their parents were extremely narrow in their views. Neither had wanted the girls to go into the military, and neither of them were terribly impressed when the twins had taken this assignment up north, but the parental disapproval was something the twins had both learned to ignore a long time ago. “They will get over it,” Berry finally said, “if they even need to know.”
Cherry looked at her hopefully. “You won’t tell them?”
Berry stared at her sister, her eyebrows raising. “I’m not sure where you’ve been these last few years,” Berry began gently, “but it’s not been my habit to tattle on you.”
Her sister flushed. “No, … but you did say something about me that was my secret to keep and not yours to tell.”
“If I had realized you had specifically avoided telling anyone that information—”
“I get it, though even asking you to hide it wouldn’t have been right either,” Cherry admitted, “because you’re correct. If I cared about him, why the hell would I not want to find out who killed him?” she asked in exasperation. “I guess I felt as if I would get judged, and I’m really tired of being judged.”
Berry hid a smile at that. Cherry had always had this thing about everybody looking at her in a negative light.
At Berry’s silence, Cherry glared at her sister, then groaned. “I know. I know. I need to work on myself.”
“Yeah, you do,” Berry agreed, “particularly now.”
She stared up at the ceiling. “My military career is over. You know that, right?”
“I don’t know whether it is or not,” Berry said, “but I do know that you need some professional help, and this is a really good time to get it.”
