Part 20 (2/2)

Skarda nodded. Then, with Flinders at his heels, he stepped through the dark hole into a flat-bottomed corridor where snow had drifted high on the rounded walls and what little exterior light that filtered in now s.h.i.+fted into a spectrum of muted blues and greens. From the ceiling, jagged stalact.i.tes of ice hung down like silver spikes.

The entrance corridor became a downward pa.s.sage, barely wide enough to accommodate his wide shoulders. Beneath his boots, the ice floor was steep and slick. With a concentrated effort, he shook off the dreaded sense of claustrophobia, turning to make sure Flinders was managing the trail. She smiled an ”okay”. Deeper into the pa.s.sageway the light began to dim, so he switched on his LED. A few steps later the corridor ended abruptly at a doorway carved from the ice.

Skarda stepped through into a square chamber that had been hacked out of the tongue of a centuries-old glacier whose walls bristled with ice crystal formations that looked like they were made out of spun sugar. A firn-layer banding ran along the line of the walls about two-thirds down from the ceiling. Off this main chamber, smaller side rooms had been excavated.

He peered into the nearest room, seeing a jumble of ice picks, aluminum avalanche shovels, and a primus stove. Against one corner two wooden crates had been stacked, their iron hasps rusted. The letters ”KM” had been stenciled on their sides.

”It stands for 'Kriegsmarine',” Flinders said behind him. ”German navy. U-boats.”

”I guess we're on the right track.”

With careful steps they followed the line of the wall, their lamps piercing the icy darkness of several more rooms, sweeping across more stacked supply boxes, sleeping bags, and an empty food locker whose metal door hung open on one hinge.

Skarda's light found a larger chamber. He panned around it. ”Here it is,” he said without emotion. He was staring at a series of metal shelves that ran around the perimeter, constructed with rectangular shallow depressions about four by ten inches.

The dimensions of a four-hundred-ounce ingot bar.

But all the s.p.a.ces were empty.

Then, behind him, Flinders burst out in a sob.

FORTY-ONE.

WHIRLING around, Skarda stabbed his light in the direction of the open doorway to another ice chamber directly across from his position. The beam outlined Flinders. She had dropped to her knees, her torso bent in half, sagging toward the floor. He raced toward her. Stepping inside, he saw her lamp lying on the cold floor, it beam spearing out a cone of light over what looked like a hump of clothing. Her hands hung in the air in front of her, motionless, as if they were useless sticks affixed to her body.

He crouched down beside her. Now he could see what lay sprawled out in front of her: a withered corpse, still bundled in a parka and thick wool pants.

Flinders' shoulders were shaking uncontrollably as sobs wracked her body. Finally she turned her face up to him. Tears rolled down her cheeks. ”It's my mother,” she said in a voice that was a croak.

Shock hit Skarda like a hammer blow. He sank to his knees, looking at the body. Thankfully, scavenging animals hadn't discovered it. But the eyes were black, hollow slits and the mouth was pulled back in a rictus, exposing teeth that looked like they were clenched in agony. One withered hand clutched a something attached by a chain to her neck.

”Are you sure?” he asked her gently.

Still sobbing, Flinders pulled off her glove and opened her mother's hand. Inside the palm a silver object caught the light ”It's a charm I gave her before they left,” she said. ”She had it made into a necklace.”

Skarda snapped around at the sound of pounding footsteps. Seconds later April burst into the room, the Glock steady in her right hand. She'd heard Flinders' sobs. With a quick appraisal she took in the scene.

He got to his feet and pulled her aside. ”It's her mother,” he told her in a whisper.

An expression of deep sorrow showed in April's eyes and was gone. Right now emotions were a luxury. ”Bars?”

He shook his head. ”Cleaned out.”

Flinders looked up at them. ”My father! He must be here, too! Where is he?”

”Stay here,” Skarda said. ”I'll look for him.”

He disappeared and April dropped to her knees. ”I'm truly sorry,” she said. Then she laid her hand on her shoulder. ”I'm getting a bad feeling. We should go. But I promise you, when this is all over, we'll come back here and give your mother a proper burial.”

For several heartbeats Flinders' stare was bleak and desolate, tears trickling down her cheeks. Then her eyes closed and she nodded. ”Thank you.”

Then, with another sob, she threw her arms around her mother.

Skarda raced back inside. Flinders looked at him, her throat tightening.

He shook his head. ”Nothing.”

Again her eyes closed. A tremor shook her body. April bent over and helped her to her feet. ”We have to go.”

Guiding Flinders toward the door, she caught Skarda's eye, then unzipped the top of her parka and pulled the material away from her throat. Her eyes flicked at the body.

When the women had moved beyond the doorway, he hunkered down and bent over the corpse. April's keen eyes had seen something that he'd missed. Pulling away the top of the dead woman's parka, he drew back in surprise.

A ragged hole gaped in the dried flesh just next to the sternum.

A hole that only could have been made by a bullet.

She'd been shot.

___.

They'd almost made it to the corridor shaft when Jaz stepped out of the first ice room, pinning them in place with the snout of her G36. Behind her two men took positions, leveling their rifles. In the darkened pa.s.sageway, the green shafts of their laser sights glowed like neon.

Her mouth split open in a huge grin. ”I figured you'd show up here sooner or later.” Her voice had dropped to a lower-pitched ba.s.s and the planes of her face had altered dramatically, the coa.r.s.e skin now puffy with retained water and spotted with bulbous acne pustules.

April's black eyes bored into her.

Jaz motioned to the nearest commando. ”Her first,” she ordered, indicating April. Then she aimed her rifle at Flinders. To April and Skarda she said casually, ”No tricks, or cutie here will get it.”

April exchanged a lightning-fast glance with Skarda, letting her shoulders droop. It was the signal to go along with Jaz for the time being. The commando approached her, spinning her around and grabbing her wrists. There was a sharp click of metal as he snapped on a pair of handcuffs. Then he yanked a roll of duct tape from his pack and wound several lengths around her lower legs and s.h.i.+ns. He repeated the handcuffs with Skarda, but not the tape.

Bulling forward, Jaz spun Flinders around herself, manacling her with brutal force.

Flinders cried out in sudden pain. A tremor of pleasure rippled over Jaz's face. ”Like that, honey?”

Skarda's face twisted. ”Get your hands off her,” he snarled. But before he could lunge forward, Jaz lashed out with the b.u.t.t of her rifle, hammering it against the meat of his shoulder.

He staggered back, slamming against the ice wall. But he thrust his boots apart, anchoring himself to the ice, refusing to fall.

Flinders shrieked.

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