Cold Blood by Andy McNab

Author:Andy McNab
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Thrillers, Fiction, Suspense, General
ISBN: 9781473508675
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2016-10-19T23:00:00+00:00

47

We roared across to a blue hooped tent on the far right of the cluster that was big enough to drive a vehicle into. Outside it sat what, from a distance, had looked like a Viking amphibious armoured all-terrain vehicle. One of ours. But as we got closer, I saw it was a white-camouflaged MOSV, a Russian tracked vehicle for bouncing across snow and swimming through swamps.

It was essentially two metal boxes linked by a bar so the thing could bend, and judging by the rutted highway leading to the second camp, it had been back and forth between the two on a regular basis since it was dropped last week.

A thermometer dangled on para cord outside the entrance to the tent, pirouetting in the wind. Rune grabbed it as we went past. ‘Minus twenty-one. Hmm. Warmer than it should be.’

Inside, I banged the ice off my boots as he opened the alloy door set into a solid half-moon frame.

The small porch area was gloomy, but I could still see the wind-chill-factor calculation card on each wall, below a small white marker board warning everyone that the wind speed was now 16 k.p.h.

I had never really understood how to work that stuff out, so kept one fact in my head: exposed flesh froze in sixty seconds or less at –9° centigrade in a 40 k.p.h. wind. But all I really needed to remember was to keep well covered.

We took off our jackets, gloves and hats and hung them next to a row of military green parkas and white Gore-Tex outers. Russian murmurs filtered through from beyond the next half-moon wall that led into the main part of the tent.

‘I explained who the team are.’ Rune treated me to a blast of garlic breath as he whispered into my ear. ‘I am not sure if telling him they were ex-military was helpful at all.’

I pushed through the door into a wall of heat far stronger than the one at Longyearbyen’s terminal entrance. I heard the low, almost comforting hiss of aviation fuel being forced under pressure into what looked like a hi-tech log burner. The room smelt of helicopters.

At the far end, maybe twenty metres away, there were two men in uniform. Light-grey fold-down plastic tables were stacked behind them, with chairs to match. They sat the other side of one of the two that had been unstacked, like a couple of court officials waiting to pass judgment. Which, in a way, I supposed they were.

They didn’t look up as we entered: they were poring over a pile of familiar maroon passports.

We carried on towards them, aiming at the table alongside theirs. A water-boiler took pride of place on it, surrounded by blue plastic mugs and an assortment of brew kits, biscuits, jams and bread, but I wasn’t expecting an invitation any time soon.

We were still a few steps away when Rune began his introductions. He tried to sound calm, but I could almost hear his knees knocking.

‘Sir, this is Mr

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.