Sarah Andrews - In Cold Pursuit

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks for the message. And for the heads-up.”

“Hey, we gotta stick together! Southern girls rule!”

“You got that one, sister,” said Valena, and added, “Over.”

“Mac Ops clear!” sang Lulu.

The connection ended. Valena took her time hanging up the phone. It was one thing to burn off her disappointment at Emmett’s colossal change in plans by thinking that she could clear him, but she was over that now, convinced that sticking her neck out was not such a good idea. And here was a group of PIs—full-scale grantees—who wanted to use her as a probe or a decoy, and they had her staying right here where things didn’t seem safe. She need time to think, to figure out how to protect herself.

“Who was that?” asked Skehan.

“Lulu in Mac Ops,” said Valena. “She said I’m invited out to Cape Royds and that someone’s stealing artifacts and penguin eggs.”

“Someone’s what?” asked Kathy. “That’s not only theft, it’s against treaty protocols!”

“They’ve got to be hallucinating,” said Bill. “How could anyone get out there without anyone knowing it?”

Skehan said, “How indeed? Anything out of the ordinary around here is grist for this mill.”

Ken Phelps said, “I agree. Kathy, you’re headed out there tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I could take Valena along, and it would fit inside our cover that she’s working for me. You have a tent and sleep kit, don’t you, Valena?”

Now you’re talking , thought Valena. I can go out to Cape Royds and mind my own business, stay out of trouble, not have to wonder who my friends are and who is my enemy… She said, “George Bellamy had the people at Berg Field Center retrieve all the field gear out of Emmett’s office.”

Ken Phelps said, “No problem, have BFC put a replacement set on my account.”

“Get that gear and meet me here ten o’clock tomorrow morning,” said Kathy. “You’ll need a tent, too. Make sure to ask for a mountain dome. Those other ones take too long to set up, and they make a lot more noise in the wind.”

“I’ll be here,” said Valena. “And I’ll be ready.”

“Okay, getting her to Royds is taken care of,” said Skehan. “Now, how about getting her out to the Dry Valleys to talk to Dan Lindemann. Anyone?”

The Dry Valleys? thought Valena. I’m going to the Dry Valleys?

Julia Rosserman said, “I’ll get a message to Naomi. She’s in charge of their project. I could have Helo Ops pick Valena up at Royds and continue across to their camp on Clark Glacier, drop her off there. I’ll let Naomi know she’s coming—tell her it’s part of my transect or something—and get Helo Ops to add her to the manifest under my account.”

“That’s great,” said Skehan. “How and when are we getting her back?”

Bill Williams said, “Naomi is bringing up a lot of core. I’ll bet they’ll have a helo coming back every couple days to pick up a load, and they can pull Valena out as accessory pax when they do that.”

In spite of her newfound caution, Valena began to tremble with excitement. I’m going to a penguin colony and the Dry Valleys, just like that! How life can change!

Skehan shook his head. “That’s too open. If there’s a problem there, she needs to be able to make a pullout on her own. And we’ll need a signal to send through Mac Ops.”

Julia said, “Hey, I’m not made of helo hours! I don’t know about you, but NSF really put the limits on my flight time this year. I’m stretching it to pick her up at Royds and drop her at Clark.”

Ken said, “I’ll supply the backup. I’m not flush, either, but it’s the least I can do. If Emmett goes down, we can all kiss the freedom to do science in an honest, straightforward manner good-bye. It’s the camel’s nose under the hem of the tent: don’t like the results a scientist is getting? Attack him in the press, drag his butt before Congress, and then, if he still doesn’t get the message, accuse him of murder!” He shook his head with fury.

“Congress?” said Valena.

“There’s more to the story,” said Kathy. She glanced at Ken, who was calming himself, and artfully changed the subject. “So what did you learn from Sheila while you were up at Black Island?”

“That she can play the cards even closer to her vest than you can, Jim.”

One corner of Skehan’s mouth almost curled into a smile, but he caught it. “Just as I thought. Okay,” he said. “I think we all have our tasks well in mind. Now, from here, let’s all wander off separately, or in groups no larger than two or three. This meeting never happened, are we clear on that?” He stood up and looked at his watch. “We can still make it to dinner.”

“Absolutely,” said Ken. He stood up and headed for the door without further discussion.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” said Kathy. “I like coming down here.” She was twiddling her pencil now, batting it nervously against her clipboard. “You know, the NSF is in a bad situation here. I can understand why Bellamy has tried to put a lid on this.”

“You understand this how?” asked Skehan. “Our colleague has been arrested like a common criminal. You’re telling me you can understand that?”

Kathy said, “I don’t think Emmett hurt anybody any more than you do! But everybody wants to hang this on the middle manager, or on management in general. You know the old adage, ‘Shit from above, shit from below.’ George is out here at the end of a very long chain of command, assigned to keep a town full of rebels in line while serving a raft of scientists, all of whom think that their work is the most important work in the world.”

Skehan gave her a wry smile. “I happen to think that whether the climate is going to heat up so far that we get intense species die-off is important, yes.”

Kathy went on. “And of course George Bellamy can’t know what we’re doing, or he would be required to try to stop us, but I think that in this case what he doesn’t know would rather please him.”

“You might be right,” said Skehan. “Let’s leave our egos at the door and presume that he would be a member of this team if he could. Okay, we’re done here.”

Several of the others nodded, and they all stood up.

“Ones and twos,” repeated Skehan. He watched as the assembly sifted out of the room. When everyone else had left, he turned to Valena and said, “Well, sorry to say it, kiddo, but a lot rests on your shoulders. As grantees, we have a lot of stroke around here, but just in case you hadn’t noticed, McMurdo is not a part of the United States.”

“Can you enlarge on that statement, please?”

Skehan awarded her a sardonic smile. “I like you, Miss Walker. You’re smart. Really, really smart. I meant only to suggest that this little patch of humanity does not operate as a democracy.” He put a hand on her shoulder to steer her toward the doorway. “And please be careful. I’ll do everything I can to cover you, from buying wine for Cupcake to getting you around to see the people you need to see without Bellamy half noticing that it’s happening, but there are so many ways to die it doesn’t take a wizard to weigh the risks. Okay, now get going. I don’t want to be seen walking with you.”

DAVE FITZGERALD HEADED ACROSS THE ROAD TOWARD dinner in Building 155 with his hair still wet from the shower. He liked to think that the soap he had used made him smell like springtime, which was exactly how he felt. Two hours in the cab of the Challenger with Valena Walker had been quite the tonic. He was in an exceptionally good mood after his sojourn along the trail to and from Black Island, and the pleasure of a clean shirt and the possibility of bumping into Valena in the galley were like extra toppings on a sweet dessert.