Endgame (Agent 21) by Chris Ryan

Author:Chris Ryan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781409026808
Publisher: RHCP
Published: 2016-04-06T23:00:00+00:00

16

GRIZZLY

‘Wolves,’ Zak said. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

He bent over and started digging again, but could see Ricky and Malcolm exchanging an anxious look. ‘You don’t seem very worried,’ Ricky said.

Zak gave him a slightly forced smile. ‘Feeling better enough to argue with me? That’s a good sign.’

‘You shouldn’t be arguing,’ Malcolm said. ‘You shouldn’t be. What if there are wolves nearby? What if they attack us?’

‘Just because we can hear them, it doesn’t mean we’re going to see them. Packs rarely attack, unless they’re very sure that they’ve got easy meat.’

‘I feel like easy meat right now,’ Ricky said with a slightly rueful look on his face.

‘Just stay close to the fire. Most animals are afraid of it. There aren’t many animals that’ll be brave enough to approach.’ Zak hoped he sounded convincing. The truth was, they weren’t in a state to run anywhere – and he hadn’t forgotten about the bear tracks they’d seen.

He continued digging his trench and wall around them. The scraping sound of his entrenching tool was dull and monotonous. He was glad to hear Ricky talking. He’d given them a scare back there. In conditions like this, contact with icy water could bring about death in a matter of minutes if you didn’t act correctly in the few golden moments you had. In a way, Zak was thankful that it had been Ricky not Malcolm who’d fallen in – he doubted that Malcolm would have been able to survive that. He was also thankful that Raf and Gabs had thoroughly briefed him in cold-weather survival techniques back at St Peter’s Crag.

He felt a pang. In the struggle to escape their pursuers and keep alive, he’d almost forgotten about his Guardian Angels. They were the whole reason the three of them were here, on the run in this inhospitable Alaskan backwater, with no idea of how they were going to travel hundreds of miles across the frozen state. He felt his lip curling bitterly. Things were looking bad. They were lost, and a very long way from where they needed to be.

But he wasn’t going to give up. He’d crawl the length and breadth of Alaska rather than give up now—

He looked up suddenly. Had he seen something move from the corner of his eye, away to his eleven o’clock? He squinted into the darkness, trying to pick it out.

Nothing.

Zak took a deep breath, trying to ease the sudden pumping of his heart. He looked over his shoulder. Neither Ricky nor Malcolm showed any sign of having seen anything.

He drew Malcolm to one side. ‘Listen, mate,’ he said in a low voice. ‘You need to keep an eye on Ricky. Watch his movements carefully. If he speaks, listen to his words. Any sign of slowness or slurring, you tell me, right? It could be a sign that hypothermia is setting in.’

Malcolm nodded while Zak went back to his digging.

It took thirty minutes to finish building up the wall. He looked at the pile of wood he and Malcolm had collected while Ricky had been semi-conscious.

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