Dead Ice by David Wood & Steven Savile

Author:David Wood & Steven Savile [Wood, David & Savile, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press
Published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

They let Leopov slip into the tent with some of the supplies and the radio pack.

Maddock knew that the men would get some respite from the cold once they were zipped into their bivouacs. Her job was to listen in on the radio for any kind of chatter from the Russians. He hated that they were blind. He wanted to know where the Spetsnaz team was with pinpoint accuracy. He didn’t want them wiping their noses without him knowing about it. She’d picked up a fragment, but all she had been able to make out was the word Pandora. That had been enough to convince him their intelligence was correct.

The signal had come from a short wave radio. That meant they couldn’t be too far away. There was no way of knowing who was broadcasting, but if it was the Spetsnaz team it meant they were no more than a matter of hours away, and possibly a lot less.

He waited until the others had settled down for a couple of hours sleep with their bellies full before he took Bones to one side. He didn’t want there to be any risk of Leopov overhearing what he had to say.

“Are you still up for this?” Bones asked before Maddock had the chance to voice what was on his mind.

“Don’t worry about me.” He was not sure whether he was lying to Bones or to himself. He felt stronger now he’d eaten, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t still carrying some of the aftereffects of his dunking.

“Okay, so what do you want to tell me?”

“The girl. She’s not going to be able to keep up on any kind of forced march. If we don’t have the Russian to worry about we should just push on. I’d rather not have to worry about her keeping up.”

“This again?” Bones scowled. “Come on, Maddock. She’s kept up so far. Don’t you think she’s proved herself?”

“She’s going to hold us back,” Maddock insisted.

“I don’t know, man. What do you have in mind?”

“We leave her behind.”

Bones gaped. “Leave her? Out here? Alone? After what just happened with the sabertooths? Are you out of your freaking mind? Hypothermia can mess with your brain, I guess, but seriously, dude, that’s uncool in the extreme. We can’t do that. I don’t care how you dress it up.”

“We don’t have to leave her on her own. We push on and the others can hang back with her. At least that way we won’t have to worry about her until this is done with.”

Bones shook his head. “We don’t break the team up. Rule one. Besides, she’ll never go for it.”

“I wasn’t planning to give her a choice.”

“What’s really going on here, Maddock?” Bones fixed him with a knowing grin. “You got a thing for her?”

“No, I don’t have thing.” Privately, he wasn’t so sure. The physical attraction was undeniable. Other than that, he didn’t really know Leopov all that well, but he certainly felt something. “I just don’t think she’ll be safe where we’re headed.

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