A fire had already begun to take hold in the hearth. The sharp tang of wood smoke and the welcome wave of warm, dry air greeted him. Wood crackled and fizzed as flames licked into the air. He had no idea where they’d found the wood. He didn’t care. All he cared about was getting warm, even if the air felt no different than it had done beyond the threshold. It would, soon. And just knowing that was enough to get him as far as the chair beside the fireplace. He slumped into it as Bones eased his support away.
Concerned faces gathered round.
He tried to retain his tenuous grip on consciousness, but eventually there was nothing he could do but surrender.
He felt rough hands on him as his wet clothes were pulled away. He didn’t resist. His limbs were numb, muscles useless, but there was no longer anything he could do about it. He was in the care of others.
He dreamed of ice closing in above him.
FIVE
Maddock awoke lying on the floor. He felt the warmth of the fire on his skin. As his senses grew more alert, the sound of muffled voices slowly became clearer.
He opened his eyes to see the wood lying in the hearth had blackened and charred and now glowed with a deep warm red at its core. It gave off enough heat to sting his face. He tried to move. The voices stopped suddenly. He knew that meant he was the center of attention. Every joint ached as he tried to sit up, every muscle filled with pain. It felt as if they hadn’t moved in days.
“How are you feeling?”
He moved too quickly, his head pounding as he tried to sit up. He couldn’t even be sure who had spoken, so addled were his senses.
“I’m fine,” he lied trying to hold back the darkness that swam at the edge of his vision. He pulled himself up into the chair again, wondering how he’d ended up on the floor, and took the opportunity to look around properly. Bones and Professor were sitting at small table, but neither of them made the slightest move toward him. Plates and mugs lay scattered across the table, bearing food debris. At first he thought the others had fed themselves while he had been out of it but then he realized that the plates had been there for some time. The edges of the scraps of bread were white with frost burn. This was the previous residents’ last supper, or the remnants of it at least. The cabin’s previous occupants had apparently walked out into the endless winter and abandoned the place. Had they expected to return? Or had they just left in a hurry? Without the familiar bacteria and mold growths it was impossible to tell how long the place had been empty. Months? Years?
“How long was I out it?” he croaked.
Bones glanced at his watch. “Half an hour, maybe a little more.”
It could have been worse, but half an hour was a long time when they were in a race against time, or at least a race against the Russians. They couldn’t afford to be sitting around and doing nothing, waiting for him to thaw out.
“Where’s everyone else?” He hadn’t realized they were down in numbers until then. The room wasn’t big enough to hide anyone. He was slowly coming back to himself.
“I sent them out to scout the area and make sure that there’s no one hiding out in these buildings. They should be back before long. I didn’t think you’d want them all to see you naked. You’re not the most impressive physical specimen.”
Maddock hadn’t even realized he wasn’t wearing the same clothes he’d been in when he went under the ice. He saw them now, a wet pile on the floor beside the fire.
“Your mom thinks I look pretty good,” he rasped.
“He’s already feeling better,” Bones said.
“Here.” Professor handed him a plastic beaker. “Drink up. It’s still hot.”
Even the steam from the coffee, strong and black, felt good as he raised it toward his lips. The first sip burned, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him. He savored the heat as it trickled down inside him, coming alive again.
“What about Lieutenant Leopov?”
“First one out of the door,” Bones laughed “I think she’s got something to prove, or at least thinks she has.”
“Do you think that was a good idea?” Maddock took another sip of the hot, bitter liquid.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but it’s probably best to keep her close. Maybe she can speak Russian maybe that’s exactly why she’s here, but I’ve got this sneaking suspicion there’s more to it than that.”
“It doesn’t make her one of the bad guys though,” Professor said.
“Ah, Professor, don’t let legs that go straight on ‘til morning distract you,” Bones said, a sly smile spreading across his face.
“It’s not that, it’s just…”
“Don’t rise to it. He’s yanking your chain.” Maddock stretched, easing the kinks out of his back, then took another slug of coffee. The Cheshire Cat smile on Bones’ face seemed to stretch even wider. It was a miracle he didn’t disappear into a puff of smoke, leaving nothing but that toothy grin behind. Professor’s expression didn’t change.
“So what do we do now?” Bones asked.
“We didn’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves until you were back in the land of the living,” Professor said.
“We wait until the others get back. Unless they have anything to report, we establish this as our base, then we send out a scouting party to look further afield. We can’t afford to be hanging around.”
“Roger that.” Bones gave him a level look. In his eyes, Maddock read an unspoken question.
“I’m fine. Really.” Privately, Maddock hoped that was the truth.
SIX
They moved from building to building, securing one point before moving onto the next.
Leopov was already convinced that there was no one else in this godforsaken ninth circle of hell, but the men were methodical, following a routine that had been drilled into them. This was not part of her world, not something she had been exposed to before, at least not in any kind of meaningful way where there was the risk that one mistake could leave you, back turned to a real live gunman. She had been through basic training, but nothing that could have prepared her for this. She had been recruited into intelligence before any risk of being thrown into a combat zone ever became a reality. To the other men around her this was, or at least had been, a way of life.
She was in their hands.
She had no intention of doing anything other than what they told her to do, and doing that to the letter.
The door of the next shack along hung open.
Snow and ice had drifted inside giving the whole floor a covering of white that crunched underfoot as she entered. She saw no sign of life inside, no sign of anyone having been there for weeks, months, perhaps even longer. A single stool lay upturned beside the sink.
“Stay there,” Willis said.
She waited for the few moments it took him and Shaw to check the rest of the building while Lewis waited outside with her. There was very little to check. She would have preferred to have stayed inside the room where the fire was starting to win the fight to stay alive, but she knew that would be failing in her mission. She had been tasked to discover whatever she could about the Russian operations on the island provided she could do it without putting herself in danger. And she wanted Maddock’s team to trust her. Trust wasn’t automatic. You earned it. Hence coming out here. The rest of the team were more than capable of carrying out the mission, but she was acting as the eyes and ears of those higher up the chain of command. She didn’t like having secrets from the men to whom she had entrusted her life, but her orders had been clear. It was need-to-know and they didn’t need to know.