Alex Archer - Sacred Ground

“The ice, she opens up and the truck just disappears. Then the ice floe slides back into place like nothing was ever there. Incredible, really.”

“Wonderful,” Annja said. “How long will we be on this ice road?”

The counterman shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe an hour. You can’t burn like you do on normal roads. But you can go at least forty kilometers an hour.”

“That won’t be nearly fast enough,” Annja said.

“I AM SO NOT HAPPY about this,” Annja said. She sat in the front next to Godwin as he drove through Inuvik toward the entrance to the ice road.

“We don’t have the luxury of time,” Derek said. “Better we go through some discomfort and reach our destination. Otherwise, it’s time lost.”

“Discomfort is one thing,” Annja said. “Falling through some trapdoor and plummeting to our icy death is quite another.”

“Relax,” Derek said. “The company has a great life insurance policy.” He frowned. “Well, it does for Godwin and me. Contractors are—”

“Screwed,” Annja said. “Yeah, I gathered that.” She nudged Godwin. “I don’t want to die in this river, okay?”

He smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

“Do better or I’ll kick your butt.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Derek pointed between them. “Is that it?”

Godwin nodded. “Yep, it feels a little weird knowing you’re leaving dry land, but then you kind of forget about it.”

“Doubtful,” Annja said. But she looked out the window as the SUV rolled down the embankment and then the wheels slipped for just a moment before they found purchase on the thick ice. Annja tried to guess how thick it must have been.

“Probably about five feet in some places,” Godwin said suddenly. He glanced at Annja and smiled. “Everyone asks the question eventually. I figured I’d beat you to it.”

“And the heavy trucks drive on this.”

Godwin pointed. “See there? That’s one coming right at us.”

Annja stared through the windshield at the approaching rig. It was a flatbed and seemed to be carrying something square and huge. “What is that thing?”

“Generator by the look of it,” Godwin said. “Probably coming back down from the refinery project on the delta. The government has a few of them up there. I think they’re trying to extract petroleum from ice crystals of some sort. Pretty interesting actually.”

The rig honked its horn and Godwin waved as the massive truck rolled past them. Annja shuddered, praying that the ice would hold. But then the truck passed them and was gone.

Annja breathed again.

Godwin smiled. “If the ice road wasn’t mostly safe, no one would be allowed to drive out here, Annja. Just relax and try to enjoy the scenery.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll do that.” She leaned back in the seat. But there wasn’t much scenery to look at. Frozen carcasses of pine trees poked out of the snowy white landscape. Rolling hills and mountains of white surrounded the river road, and beyond that there seemed little of interest aside from the occasional sign.

She glanced at the dashboard and saw that Godwin had increased their speed to a little past forty kilometers per hour. “Aren’t you going too fast?”

Godwin shook his head. “Smaller truck means we can travel at this clip pretty well. Besides, I know how badly you want to get back onto dry land so I’m doing my best to deliver.”

“Thanks.”

“No bother.”

Derek unfolded a map and pointed out their location to Annja. “We’ve got maybe twenty miles to go. Maybe thirty minutes more on this.”

Annja took a breath. “That’s a relief.”

Godwin nodded. “I’ll get you there in one piece, Annja. I promise you that. Whatever happens from there on out is up to you.”

“You say that like you expect something to happen. Everything all right?”

“I’m concerned.”

“About what?”

“The assassin’s dagger that guy was using. I want to know how he managed to get his hands on something like that.”

Derek cleared his throat. “He said he won it in a poker game. Couldn’t it have been that innocent?”

“Actually, no. The dagger represents everything to the assassin. There’s no way it would have been wagered. And there’s no way it would have been given up without a terrible cost.”

“You think someone dispatched those guys to warn us?” Annja asked.

“Possibly.”

“But about what?”

Godwin shrugged. “Probably the dig site. I’m sure there are quite a few Araktak traditionalists who are not pleased about the prospect of relocating what they consider to be sacred burial grounds, all for the sake of some giant faceless company.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “No offense, Mr. Wainman.”

“None taken,” Derek said. “This wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened. Although usually we’re able to resolve the situations without much difficulty.”

Annja glanced in the mirror out of her window. “Holy crap, that’s a big truck.”

Godwin glanced back. Behind them, a large rig was barreling down on them at a high speed.

Godwin frowned. “He’s going way too fast. And with that much weight, he’s going to cause problems.”

Annja’s stomach sunk. “Problems?”

“Just hang on.” Godwin put his foot down on the gas pedal and the smaller truck shot forward across the ice road. But the giant truck didn’t fade into the distance. It kept coming.

“He’s still coming for us,” Annja said. She glanced back at Derek. “Would this possibly fall into the category of ‘situations’?”

“Possibly,” Derek said. He was staring out of the back of the truck. “Can we lose him, Godwin?”

“Doubtful. It’s not like there are any side streets or alleys to duck down around these parts. And he’s coming much too fast for me to lose him even if I tried.”

“He looks overloaded, even from this distance,” Derek said.

Godwin nodded. “He’s got too much load on him. Way too much. I don’t understand it.”

Annja glanced at him. “Unless someone wants that much weight around us.”

“You think?”

“I think,” Annja said, “that we need to find a way to get off of this road and soon. Otherwise that truck is going to steamroll us into oblivion.”

Godwin nodded. “Hang on. I’m going to let him get closer.”

“You’re what?”

“Just wait and see.”

Annja looked out the back window. The truck wasn’t even honking its horn at them. Whoever was behind the wheel didn’t seem to care that they were a few hundred feet from rolling right over the smaller truck.

“Here he comes!” Annja shouted.

Godwin gripped the steering wheel with both hands as he tried to coax any last bit of power out of the SUV. The speedometer cranked slowly higher, but it wouldn’t be enough. He glanced at Annja and shook his head. “Any more and we’ll spin out and crash.”

The front grille of the lumbering rig grew ever larger out of the back window. Annja thought the truck looked like a hungry shark bearing down on a wounded prey. She could hear the engine of the truck surging as it burned more gas and chewed up the ice as it sped toward them.

“Can’t we do anything?” Derek asked.

Godwin shrugged. “Like what? It’s not like you’ll find a cop waiting to bag you for speeding. No one drives this fast out here except for us.”

“And him,” Annja said. “Except he’s driving even faster than we are. How is that possible?”

“Bigger engine,” Godwin said. “Plus, he’s got cargo that gives him added weight and therefore force.”

“Great,” Annja said. “And we aren’t big enough to slow down that force by much.”