Gillian Anderson - A Dream of Ice

“We can’t stop the truck!” Siem told him.

“Why not?”

“Some scientist you are, you bloody dope!” Bundy said. “This fast on the ice—the momentum will crash the module into us, so just…”

“Dear god, what’s wrong with you both ?” Mikel said. “You have no idea what’s happening here!”

Mikel struggled to reach across Siem and grab the door handle.

“What are you doing?” Siem cried, grabbing his wrist.

But Mikel had enough of a head start to get his gloved fingers around it and tug up. The door opened and with a momentary sense of weightlessness, he and Siem flew into space, hit the ground, and the truck and its module swerved dangerously as Bundy tried to brake, but collision was inevitable.

When it came, the module hit the truck hard, sending it forward with a jolt, the two coming to a stop at jagged angles in front of the two former occupants.

“You’ve killed us!” Siem roared. “If that truck is damaged—”

“It won’t matter,” Mikel said, painfully climbing to his knees and reaching under the harness to where his radio was belted to his waist. His face frozen, lips numb, he tried to steady his trembling fingers to punch in the group’s radio-phone link.

Before he could do so, he felt the ground heave. Ahead, miles away, he saw flame shoot through the ice, a burning pillar that was as incongruous as it was biblical. Raising himself on one aching hand, Mikel watched as it reached for the sky like the straight, superhot issue of a burning oil well.

Beside him, Siem also watched as he raised his bloodied face from the ice. He was dazed but his eyes found the fire and stayed.

“Now… what?”

Behind them, Bundy had left the cab and run over. He crouched behind them, watching as the fire spread into a familiar shape.

“It’s the same thing we saw before,” Bundy said as a face appeared within it.

“No,” Mikel said.

“How do you know?” the man asked—and then his question was answered.

The fire suddenly spread like a fan, dissipating as it expanded.

“What is it?” Bundy asked.

“That, I believe,” Mikel said weakly, “is what a soul looks like when it is sent back to hell.”

“But it’s going—up!” Siem said in a rasping voice.

“Hell is where you make it,” Mikel replied.

Bundy put his overwhelming disgust for Mikel into one powerful, “What the hell are you talking about, you lunatic?”

“Salvation,” Mikel replied quietly. “At least, I hope that’s what it is. I’m going to try to find out.”

Bundy snorted. “Good for all of us. You may have wrecked our module.”

Ignoring the pain and the risk of frostbite, Mikel resumed his dialing. “I am very, very sorry,” he said. “I am calling some people who will buy you a new one.”

Flora stalked back into the room, stowing her phone in her pocket.

“No more shallow pickings,” the woman said. “I need to know everything you know, Dr. O’Hara.”

Caitlin looked at the woman sideways. “Who was that?”

“Someone who informed me, Dr. O’Hara, that you are far, far more connected to Galderkhaan than you’re letting on. Possibly more than you know.”

“Oh, I know how connected I am,” Caitlin admitted, looking up at her and feeling rage for the first time since coming here. “And that makes me powerful in ways I don’t think you understand. It’s time you talked to me, Madame Director. Respectfully, and now.”

“Or else?”

“How about a simple, mundane fact, for starters,” Caitlin said. “Your employee’s body was not removed by any authority approaching the word ‘proper’ and I guarantee there’s surveillance video.”

“You’re being irrational now.”

“You bet,” Caitlin said. “Talk to me, Flora.”

Flora weighed the request but briefly. “That call was from my colleague in Antarctica.”

“Antarctica,” Caitlin breathed. “I see. So you’re fairly well connected too.”

“Our reach is global,” Flora replied. “He’s just as worried as you are, so I strongly suggest we start treating each other as resources and not as enemies. He knows who you are.”

“He does? How?”

“He also saw the video from Haiti,” Flora admitted. “He is concerned for your well-being.”

“That’s refreshing,” Caitlin said.

“He’s a good, good man,” Flora admitted. “We are not voyeurs or spies or blackmailers, I assure you.”

“All right,” Caitlin said, not sure she believed any of that. “Who is this associate?”

“His name is Mikel. Why?”

“Mediterranean?”

“Basque,” Flora said.

Caitlin touched her head. “I’ve seen him. Here, in this room. Why is he concerned?”

Flora paused, marginally impressed. “He found a tunnel and ruins and spoke with the dead of Galderkhaan. You’ll never guess what they’re looking for.”

Caitlin took her at her word and didn’t try.

“They are looking for you, Dr. Caitlin O’Hara. They are very specifically looking for you. Mikel told me to protect you.”

Caitlin shrunk in horror, not just to the news that she was being targeted by some ancient force, but the fact that they got Jacob in the bargain. She had to make it stop, to separate them both from whatever the Galderkhaani wanted.

“You look unwell,” Flora said with the slimmest hint of compassion. “Perhaps we should continue this in my office?”

Caitlin forced herself to stand. “No. I have to go.”

Everything else be damned, Caitlin had to make sure he was okay, serve herself up if necessary.

“That’s not a good idea,” Flora said.

“This is not a discussion,” Caitlin said, literally pushing past her.

“You should not face this alone!” Flora said, grabbing her.

Caitlin wrested her arm free and pinned Flora with a glare. “Forgive me, but I believe that I am safer watching my own back. Please don’t try to stop me.”

Caitlin’s fury propelled her to the top of the basement stairs where she stopped in her tracks from sudden indecision.

Goddamn it , she thought .

She had an increasing, hideous sense that whatever she did next, someone would suffer. The lodestone of her life had always been helping and protecting the innocent, and obviously, right now she needed to get to Jacob. But she could not forget that last time dogs howling, the news reports of suffering animals, and similar events had heralded the crises of Maanik, Gaelle, Atash, and who knew how many other young people.

This is different, of course , Caitlin reminded herself. It’s worse.

If Yokane was correct, something was coming loose in the South Pole—something big and old and ferocious. And there was every reason to believe she was right, especially since Flora’s man Mikel had corroborated enough of her story.

Caitlin was increasingly convinced that something bigger was happening than what even Yokane had known, and that Azha and Dovit were trying to tell her what it was. This was part of what was impacting the stones and was not likely to stop of its own accord. Whether she wanted to or not, she had to intervene—or, at least, try to find out what was happening.

Caitlin turned to go down the stairs but Flora Davies was standing just behind her.

“I thought you might reconsider,” Flora said with a self-satisfied smile.

“You’ve got it wrong,” Caitlin said. “There’s something I have to do.”

“You promised to share.”

“There isn’t time.”

“ Make time,” Flora said, blocking her way.

Without thought, Caitlin pointed the two forefingers of her right hand directly at Davies’s neck. The connection was immediate. She saw the woman’s irises widen and, again on instinct, Caitlin moved her hand to the right in the “shut down” gesture. The conduit closed and Flora staggered and slumped against the wall. Caitlin leaned close and checked that the woman was breathing normally; she was.