Matt regained his composure and nodded. “Someone tried to kill him.”
Now it was the lieutenant commander’s turn to raise an eyebrow.
Matt continued: “A group of paramilitary commandos sabotaged his plane and brought it down. Paratroopers dropped in to finish the job. We barely escaped to reach…Sheriff Aratuk.” He pointed to Jenny.
She nodded. “We’ve been pursued ever since. We even think the explosions over at Prudhoe Bay are somehow connected to all this…to the discovery here.”
“How…?” Sewell’s brow built into ridges. “Wait! Who even told you about the Russian ice station?”
“My sources are confidential,” Craig said, facing the stern lieutenant commander. “I’ll only speak further to someone with authority here. Someone who can act.”
A frown that matched Jenny’s formed on the Navy man’s face. As head of security, he was clearly suspicious of the newcomers. Matt noted Craig eyeing the man, too, trying to read him.
“Before anything can be decided, I’ll need to consult with Captain Perry when he returns,” Sewell finally said.
Passing the buck up the command chain, Matt thought.
“And when is he due back?” Craig asked.
Sewell just stared at him and didn’t answer.
“Then who’s in charge of the station in the meantime?” Jenny asked. “Where’s the head of the research team? Someone we can talk to?”
The lieutenant commander sighed, clearly straining to straddle the line between civility and authority. “That would be Dr. Amanda Reynolds. She’s…she’s out for the moment.”
“Then what about us?” Jenny demanded. “You can’t hold us here.”
“I’m afraid I can, ma’am.” He turned from the table and left. The guards remained at the door.
“Well, that got us nowhere,” Matt said after a long stretch of awkward silence.
“On the contrary.” Craig leaned closer to the table and kept his voice low. “A Russian ice base. No wonder I was called out here. Something must’ve been found over there. A political hot potato.” He ticked off points on his fingers. “The Navy clamps down the drift station. A gag order silences the scientists. And someone must have learned of my itinerary. Tried to stop me from getting here.” Craig glanced around the table.
“The Russians?” Jenny asked.
Craig nodded. “If it was our own government, they could’ve stopped me through a thousand legal channels. Whoever was after us was keeping their noses low to the ground, trying to go under the radar.”
Matt nodded. “Craig could be right. The commandos certainly had a military background. It could have been a small strike team sent to execute a surgical attack.”
“But why target me?” Craig mumbled. “I’m just a reporter.”
Matt shook his head. “You may be the only one outside this base or a need-to-know chain of command in government who has any inkling of the discovery out here.” He silently ran over the scenario in his head. Something didn’t add up here. What was so important to require such a deadly response?
He stared over at the Navy guards. They stood stiffly, not with the usual casual attentiveness of someone baby-sitting civilians. He had seen soldiers acting the same way prior to a battle. And Sewell’s silence when he asked when the submarine and its captain might return…it jangled Matt’s nerves with warning. If the crew had headed out to Prudhoe Bay to help in salvage and rescue, they’d be gone days. Sewell would’ve arranged rooms for them. The fact that they were still here meant the captain was expected back soon. And if this was true, why wasn’t the sub called to help at Prudhoe Bay? This was a disaster in their own backyard. Why had the submarine remained? Why did it need to stay here?
Craig spoke up, stating the obvious. “We need to find out what’s going on.”
“I’m open to any ideas,” Matt said.
Jenny met Matt’s gaze. “First we have to devise some way to get over to that Russian ice station. Whatever triggered all this started there.”
“But how?” Matt asked. “We can hardly just walk over there. And they’ve got the plane under guard.”
No one had any answers, but from each person’s worried expression, everyone knew time was running out.
Matt sensed forces larger than any of them swirling down upon this frozen acre of ice. Russians…Americans…a lost base hiding some secret…
What clandestine war had they gotten themselves into?
7
Running Silent
APRIL 9, 8:38 A.M.
ABOARD THE DRAKON
Viktor Petkov smelled the impatience wafting from the young captain. They had been at all stop for the past hour, engines quiet, resting two meters from the surface. The ice was even closer, less than a meter. An hour ago, they had found a small lead in the frozen cap, too narrow to surface through, really no more than a crack. But it was enough to roll their radio antenna up into the open air.
As instructed, they awaited the molniya go-code from Colonel General Chenko of FSB, but the burst transmission from Lubyanka was late. Viktor’s own patience was running thin. He checked his watch again.
“I don’t understand,” Captain Mikovsky said. “We’re due to arrive at the U.S. research station in two days. What are we waiting for now? Another exercise? To plant more meteorological equipment?” He emphasized this last, not hiding his sarcasm. The captain still believed the Polaris array was a mere listening post to spy upon the Americans.
So be it.
Across the bridge, the entire crew remained edgy. They had all learned of the past night’s attack on the U.S. oil station in Alaska. None knew what it meant, but they all knew the U.S. forces in the area would be at heightened alert. The waters around here had gotten much warmer, even for a diplomatic mission.
Viktor checked his other arm. The Polaris monitor lay heavy on his wrist. The plasma screen continued to depict the five-pointed star. Each point glowed, awaiting the master trigger.
All was in order.
Overnight, the diagnostic testing of Polaris had gone without mishap, requiring only a bit of calibration. He studied the wrist monitor. The nuclear-powered array utilized the latest sonic technology, capable of shattering the entire polar cap. But when in quiet mode, it also acted as a sensitive receiver. The five points of the star comprised a radar array, a giant ice dish spanning a hundred kilometers. Like ELF systems used in subs, no matter where in the world Admiral Petkov was, his monitor could communicate with the array.