Egan, p.2
Egan, page 2
“That’s a good point too,” Egan noted. “Did you know the missing guys?”
Garry nodded. “I knew them, and I also had a little bit to do with the dead scientist Myles.” Garry shook his head. “None of us understood that Anna, one of the scientists, was something of a loose cannon. Imagine coming up here just to kill off all your teammates. Freaking mind-boggling.”
“It doesn’t really bear thinking about, does it? And yet, if we don’t, we don’t learn anything from it,” Egan noted.
Garry walked over to the sideboard. “There’s always hot water here, or, if there isn’t, you can ask for it. We keep big kettles on the stoves, and you can usually get tea or instant coffee anytime you want. However,” he added, with a slight grin, “the good coffee comes out in the morning and at dinnertime—or sometimes in the afternoon, if we’re lucky.”
“Good to know.” Egan walked over and made himself a hot instant coffee. Seeing the hot chocolate there, he added a good spoonful to make it a hot mocha.
Garry laughed. “I guess you’re accustomed to your treats.”
“I’ve done some pretty hard roughing it myself,” Egan admitted, “but I do recognize the benefits of having something good and enjoying it when you have it because, next time you turn around, the supplies will be gone.”
“Yeah, I don’t know how many times Chef has told us he’s running out of groceries.”
“I think that’s a common refrain,” Egan agreed, looking over at his new friend and smiling.
“Anyway, I’m heading over to the commons to play some cards, if you want to come join us,” Garry offered. “Otherwise you’re on your own.” And, with that, he walked back out again.
Egan normally would have gone along with Garry, except Chef glared at Egan from behind the counter. He walked over to introduce himself.
Chef shook his hand. “Why the hell do we have new people coming in, when others are dying?”
“Maybe that’s why,” Egan clarified his point. “We have to replenish the numbers. I am Egan.”
Chef winced at his casual comment. “Chef Williamson. You can call me Chef.” He took a deep breath and added in a hard tone, “God, it just seems so wrong to bring in more people, when the ones already here keep dying or go missing. It’s so frustrating.”
“It does, and I’m sorry if my presence upsets you.”
Chef shrugged. “It doesn’t upset me in a personal sense. I just don’t want you to be fresh meat for the grinder.”
“Do we have any idea who’s operating the grinder?” he asked casually.
“No, and, if I did, believe me. I’d have mentioned something.”
Egan nodded. “It’s hard watching the people around you go down, isn’t it?”
“It sucks,” Chef added, “and no way to know who is behind it. I never, ever would have pegged Anna …”
“To be a serial killer?”
The words struck Chef oddly, and he took a deep breath. “She was this timid thing, always after a hot cup of tea,” he shared, with a headshake. “What BS is that?” And, with that, he stormed off into the back of his kitchen.
“If you need any help sometime, let me know,” Egan offered in a friendly tone. “If I can, I’ll come and give you a hand.”
Chef poked his head around and glared at him.
Egan smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I can cook. I’m not a chef by any means, but I can certainly put two and two together and make a decent meal.”
“Well, good, because my last guy managed to get himself injured and got shipped out after a damn fire in the kitchen. A bloody idiot is what he was.”
“Are you here alone?”
Chef glared at him. “Yeah, I’m here alone, and, yeah, I can cook, and, yeah, it doesn’t matter. I can manage these numbers easily enough.” He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Just don’t expect anything too fancy because I don’t have the supplies.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Egan shrugged. “Hot grub and lots of it is worth more at this place than fancy foods.”
“Best not to get your heart set on either of those,” Chef replied, with an evil grin, and, with that, he disappeared.
Smiling, Egan stirred the hot mocha in his hand, then turned around and saw two women walking into the dining room, their tones low, as they conversed among themselves. When they looked up and frowned at him, he smiled and nodded. “Good evening, ladies. I just arrived. I’m Egan.”
At that, one of the women’s eyebrows shot up. “They let somebody new in here? I understood nobody was to come and go.”
He nodded. “You also have a lot of mechanical and electrical issues,” Egan explained. “So I’m here to help out with that.” He was trained as an engineer, though that’s not exactly the reason he was here. However, nobody else needed to know about it.
“Oh, so you’ll probably help with the scientists,” the same woman added, with an eye roll, “as if we haven’t got enough headaches.”
The other woman eyed him intently. “My name is Berry, and this is my sister, Cherry.”
He nodded. “The resemblance is hard to miss.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Cherry stated, a hint of attitude in her tone.
“However,” Berry added, with a smile, “we’re obviously not identical twins, and sometimes, when we’re apart, people do still get us mixed up.”
“I can see that,” Egan noted, studying them both. They both had a honey-colored skin tone, and both were five-eight, slim, and obviously fit. “Interesting that you’re up here.”
“We’re doing some survival training, like everybody else here, and I requested this,” Cherry shared, with a groan. “Then I convinced my sister to get onto the same team, so we could come up together.”
“Any particular reason that the frozen north interests you?”
“All of it interests me,” Cherry replied. “The whole world, everything and every place I can travel to. I spend a lot of time in tropical temperatures, so I thought this would be a nice change. But, since I hadn’t had any experience at it, and you never know where you’ll get shipped these days, I thought it would be a good idea.”
“How do you feel about it now?” he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.
“We were doing fine, until people started to go missing, and others started to die,” Cherry admitted. “That’s completely changed the atmosphere, and it’s not a good change.”
“No, of course not,” he agreed immediately. “I’m not trying to minimize the danger. I get it.”
“You were told?” Cherry asked sharply.
He nodded. “I understand some of the issues and decided I would be willing to come anyway.”
“Why? Do you have a history of investigation too?” she asked in a snarky voice.
He did; he’d been a cop a long time ago, although it was so long ago that it didn’t seem to make much difference. But there was another reason he’d fit the bill, as far as Mason was concerned. “I do have some investigative experience.” Egan chuckled. “Maybe that’s why they sent me up here.”
At that, Berry looked at him, the questions evident on her face.
He shrugged. “I was a cop. I joined the local police force at eighteen,” he explained, “and at twenty-five, I joined the Navy.”
Cherry frowned. “Not the usual pathway for this.”
“I don’t think anything demands usual,” Egan noted. “No right or wrong, but that was my pathway.”
“Whatever,” Cherry replied, as she poured herself a cup of tea. She turned to her sister and asked her lightly, “Do you want one?”
“No, I’m good,” Berry said, with a quick wave to Egan, as the two of them headed back toward the door.
He asked before they left, “Where does everybody go at night, in the evenings?”
“Their rooms,” Berry told him, with a laugh, “especially now.”
“You’re on a curfew here?” he asked because he hadn’t heard anything about it.
“It’s not curfew, just common sense.”
“Right.” He nodded. “Let’s hope that there’s no need.”
“There’s always a need,” Cherry snapped, glaring at him. “But then you’re male, so the world looks different from your point of view.”
And, with that, the two of them were gone.
*
“You and your usual short-tempered personality,” Berry whispered to Cherry.
“I just want out. I can’t believe I got you into this.”
“It’s fine,” Berry stated. “It’s an experience and one that we’ll look back on someday and laugh about.”
“I hope so,” she muttered. “The last thing I want is to end up in this frozen world forever.”
“Hey, don’t even start talking like that,” Berry admonished her sister, reaching over and rubbing her back. “You were getting close to the one guy before he disappeared, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be you next.”
“Maybe,” Cherry mumbled, “but still, it makes it very personal for me.”
Berry couldn’t argue with that because it was very personal. Cherry had been devastated when Yegorahn hadn’t shown up again. Especially after they’d finally spent their first night together, after dancing around for the first couple weeks. He’d gone missing the day after. “I’m sorry,” Berry said, for the umpteenth time.
Cherry shrugged irritably. “For the umpteenth time, it’s not your fault. So you don’t have to keep apologizing.”
“Maybe not. I just wish I could have done something to ease the heartache.”
“That would take finding him and finding answers,” Cherry snapped in a hard tone, “I just …” She shook her head, as she stared out at nothing. “I can’t imagine what would have even triggered this. And the scientists have had what? … two deaths besides ours?”
“Two deaths that we know of. We can blame Anna for the one guy who came with her, Myles or whatever. And, for the other one, we still don’t know.”
“I really like Sydney too,” Cherry added out of the blue. “It doesn’t hurt that she’s one of the few women here, and she’s hooked up with Magnus, which … he’s yummy. Yegorahn didn’t care for him at all though. I never did know what that was about.”
Berry laughed at that. “Magnus is yummy, and he’s also taken.”
“Yeah, well, I made my choice, and look at how that worked out for me.”
Berry winced. They reached their room, and, as they stepped in, her sister stopped and looked up and down the hallway.
“I always get a creepy feeling that we’re being watched. There’s no reason for it, but it still doesn’t stop that sensation.”
“If you ever understand where it’s coming from, you can always tell somebody.”
“Yeah? But who, who would I tell?”
“You can mention it to the doc, or maybe the colonel, if you have a chance to talk to him, or maybe … I don’t know, maybe mention it to Magnus. He seems to have his hands in all the cookie jars around here.”
“That’s hardly something I’ll do, is it? That would just make us sound like flighty women.”
“Maybe, and yet you don’t know what the doc’s been through, so you don’t know what Magnus might say is the issue.”
“Possibly. I don’t know. I’ll see.”
And with that, they went in and settled in for the night. They had books, which they read under emergency lights, and cell phones to play games on. They had some card games that they played a lot, but her sister was distracted tonight.
Finally Berry looked over at Cherry and shared, “I didn’t get tea earlier. Maybe I’ll go grab one.”
At that, her sister hopped up. “Sure, let’s go get one.”
Berry hesitated. “You don’t have to come with me, you know?”
Her sister snorted. “We have enough problems without us splitting up.”
“That’s ridiculous. Absolutely no way we need to worry about going and getting tea,” Berry protested.
Cherry glared at her sister. “This is a really good chance to sort it out.”
“Sort what out?”
Cherry muttered, “I just don’t feel comfortable letting you go on your own.”
Berry held up a hand. “Stop. I’ll be back in ten minutes, and, if I’m not back on time, then you can come looking for me.”
“Ten minutes? You can’t even go there and get a cup and get back again in that amount of time.”
“Fine, make it twenty then,” Berry said in exasperation.
At that, her sister pulled out her watch and hit the timer. “Now go.”
Day 1, Evening
Rolling her eyes, Berry slipped out of the room and headed down the hallway. She heard the wind whistling outside. It seemed to be a never-ending sound, just one of those background noises that didn’t stop. It was frustrating, yet Mother Nature forgot to ease up. They had some good days originally, and then came a period of ugly rough weather, which may have had an awful lot to do with the mental state of some of the people here, when these other things went off the rail. But it was just as likely that, whatever the headache, it was an issue with the people themselves, and Berry couldn’t blame the weather for that.
She really enjoyed the break in the weather a few days ago, but now it seemed it would take another dark turn again. She had a vast amount of respect for the people, the civilizations, who had gone before them, handling Mother Nature when she got to be too much. It still sometimes amazed Berry that civilizations had grown enough to survive on this very inhospitable rock.
Much of the time this place was a thing of beauty, and the rest of the time, as she had learned, it definitely was not. It was quite a challenge to even be here. She’d only come because her sister had really pushed for it, and, while neither of them had enjoyed it, Berry was getting acclimated to the gorgeous whiteness and the amazing life that survived through what appeared to be completely uninhabitable conditions.
She found the local village nearby to be fascinating. The twins had been there a couple times to visit, and it had really been quite interesting. As a race, present-day humanity was used to the easy comforts of so much, and yet these people out here survived with so little—and, to top it off, they were happy. Berry often thought everybody could learn an awful lot from these locals.
Berry entered the dining area and then into the kitchen and quickly found the teakettle. Thankfully it was already hot enough for her needs. She poured herself a cup of green tea and quickly put the kettle back on the hot stove, checking for wood to go into it. As she stoked it and closed it again, someone spoke behind her.
“That appears to be a natural habit.”
She turned to see Egan standing here, and she smiled at him. “It’s amazing how quickly things do become a habit,” she replied, with a laugh. “I’ve spent a lot of times in some fairly faraway corners of the world. … Although it’s different here, and it’s not something that I thought I would enjoy. Yet I’ve come to love what it has to offer,” she murmured. “It’s not a place I would choose to stay right now, but I am very grateful for the experience.”
He nodded slowly. “It does give you a completely new perspective on nature, doesn’t it?”
“And on people,” she added impulsively. “The perseverance, strength, and adaptability of our race as a whole.” She shook her head. “Don’t get me started. My sister would tell you that I never shut up about the topic, once I get going.” She smiled at him. “Hopefully you’re getting settled in okay.”
“I found my room, then decided to come back and get another hot drink.” He waved his hand at the kettle. “Having just arrived, liquids are important.”
“Liquids are really important,” she agreed, “and, of course, there’s a limit to what we have, but there’s never a limit to the snow.”
“And snow is great. as long as it’s not overwhelming,” he added, with a nod.
She smiled. “In the evenings, we all tend to go to sleep early because it’s so cold, and we have to ration our light usage.”
“And yet a number of people are always around, either playing on cell phones or God only knows what else, I bet.”
“True, but cell phones can’t always get charged up here,” she shared, with a note of warning. When he frowned at her, she nodded. “We’re having generator troubles, so sometimes we can’t all get charged up. So, if it’s important for you to have it, … you need to preserve it.”
“Got it. Thanks for the tip.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome. It won’t take you too long to get used to this.”
“No, and I don’t know how long I’ll be here,” he noted casually. When she tilted her head at him, he shrugged. “I’m here to help out. I’m not sure that I’m here to stay.”
“That’s nice for you,” she said, “but I wouldn’t pass that around because an awful lot of people here have been trying to leave. However, because of all the problems, the brass isn’t letting them go.”
“No, because, if somebody here is responsible for murder,” Egan acknowledged, “they don’t want to let them out. We may not track them down again.”
“That just blows me away,” she replied. “How could anybody here do that? We’re all part of the same team.”
“Did you know any of them?”
“I’ve been here since the beginning of this training session,” she explained carefully, “so I knew them to that degree. I’ve been on teams with them. I’ve worked and done some overnight survival training with them, but obviously I didn’t know them. I didn’t know them before I got here, so I’ve only gotten to know some people during these first few weeks here. My sister, on the other hand, did know one guy quite well, and they’d become an item, but he disappeared one night. It’s left her with more than a few questions and a lot of uneasiness.”
“Of course,” Egan stated. “She was with one of the Russians?”
Berry nodded. “Although it sounds bad when you say that. His name was Yegorahn. I forget his last name.”
“So, she has no idea what happened to him?”
“No, and honestly they spent their first night together. Then, on the very next day, … he was reported as missing, so she’s been beside herself ever since.”
