“I’ve heard he’s also made a small fortune of his own finding lost treasure, like a pirate?”
Matthew very nearly blushed. “The Maria Helena’s running costs aren’t small and Sam has kept his promise to his father to fund Deep Sea Projects out of his own work.”
“You trust him very much, don’t you?” she asked.
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t work for him if I didn’t. No one would. The type of work the Maria Helena’s exposed to requires a high degree of trust.” He smiled at her. “You too appear to have placed a large amount of trust in a man you only just met a few hours ago.”
“I wasn’t really given much of a choice, was I?”
“It’s all right. He’s that sort of man. Some people are good at public speaking; others have a natural head for mathematics; James turns money into more money — Sam is a born leader; he’s the real deal. He’s a good guy, extremely competent in the work he does, and people naturally trust him with their lives.”
“Thanks.” Somehow Matthew had come to understand what she was thinking — could she really trust a man who she’d just met, with her life?
Elise and Sam walked out onto the deck surrounding the bridge four levels above them. A casual glance showed the two were setting up an external radio or satellite connection.
“They look pretty close,” Alexis said out loud.
“Who?” Matthew asked.
“Elise and Sam.”
Matthew leaned back and looked at Elise outside his bridge. “They are close. Go back a long way. Been through a lot together, and I don’t know what Sam would have done without her.”
“That’s obvious. He barely tries to hide his feelings.” Alexis didn’t even know why it irked her that Sam should like another woman. Particularly a woman he’d known longer and was younger and prettier.
Matthew stood up. “I have to get back to work. I’d better plan the route between here and McMurdo Bay, if we’re going to leave soon.”
She wondered if he was brushing her off because she was asking sensitive questions about Elise and Sam. Either way, she wasn’t going to get an answer from him, so she ignored it. “Okay. Thanks, again.”
Alexis watched Tom and Genevieve working together tying down the armaments that threatened to sink the Zodiac under their weight. They were efficient and professional, but there was definitely something more to their relationship, too. She was almost certain they were romantically entangled. She made a mental note to ask Sam about it later. She trusted her own instinct. For some reason, she had always been able to tell when people were honest; what they were thinking, and who she could trust. It was because of that additional sense, she was willing and confident to entrust her life in Sam Reilly’s hands — a man she’d met only hours previously.
It’s the one area of my life that I naturally just get right. The last statement wasn’t entirely accurate though. She used to look at women who were having relationship troubles and think, of course they picked the wrong guy. They were such fools.
Except she had been the greatest fool of them all, hadn’t she?
Chapter Twenty Three
Sam ended the call to the Secretary of Defense.
Elise then broke the connection, which she’d woven through a complex series of proxy servers that would take the best hacker hours to unravel — by which time Sam hoped the Maria Helena would be nowhere near the original place of the call.
Elise closed her laptop. “What did she say?”
“That if Randy Olsen’s still alive and behind this, we need to be worried.”
“Why? What’s so important about him, and why should we be frightened about a man who faked his own death?”
“She didn’t say.” Sam shook his head. “Just that she’d send help immediately — and that we’re to secure the Antarctic Solace at all costs.”
Elise secured her laptop inside her slim backpack. She then slid her arms through the shoulder straps and tightened them until it molded with the natural contours of her back. “Do you still think it’s a good idea to go to the Pegasus station?”
“No.”
Elise removed her computer glasses and folded them into a case. She slid that case into the side pocket of her laptop bag and smiled at him. It was patronizing and he’d seen it before. “But you’re going anyway, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Tom’s going to be pissed.”
“I know.” Sam knew it, too. “But if we can reach them in time, we might just save their lives.”
“You should be bringing Tom instead. Alexis’s not going to be much use to you if this thing goes bad.”
“No. I want him on the Antarctic Solace.” Sam was emphatic. “I’m still working on the principle that no one else knows where the Pegasus science station is — for now. If we can beat whoever’s responsible for all of this to the Pegasus station, then we can have the scientists out within a matter of hours. Then we hold up on board the Antarctic Solace until reinforcements arrive.”
Elise stood up to leave. One of the things Sam had always liked about her was the fact she made a decision quickly and kept to it. In this instance, she’d decided she wasn’t going to change his mind, so moved onto the next step — reducing the risk, which meant it was time he left.
She stood on her toes, wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “Don’t do anything stupid while you’re away. Tom and I will remain on board the Antarctic Solace, so that leaves only Alexis to stop you from being yourself and doing something that’s likely to get you killed.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll behave. I’ll be careful and won’t take any unnecessary risks — even if I have to,” Sam lied. “You just concentrate on getting me the missing parts to the security tape and gaining access to the crew’s levels of the Antarctic Solace.”
“I will, Sam.”
He caught Alexis’s eye as she approached. She looked slightly upset but said nothing. Sam broke the hug and squeezed Elise’s right hand.
“You should go.”
“Okay,” Elise said and she turned to leave. On the side of her right thigh, over the top of her skin tight leggings, Sam noticed she wore an Uzi like another girl might wear a pair of designer shoes.
Elise looked at Alexis who walked towards them. “Take care he doesn’t do something stupid, will you?”
“I’ll try my best.”
Chapter Twenty Four
The zodiac disconnected from the Maria Helena. It was no more than a dozen yards away before Matthew waved goodbye and increased power to the Maria Helena’s twin propellers and steered a course for McMurdo Bay. Inside the bridge, Alexis found herself holding onto a side handle trying not to fall backwards under the increased pressure.
Sam looked at her. He had a warm smile that put her at ease. “What do you think of her?”
“Who?” Alexis knew damn well who he was talking about, but she wanted him to be clear about it.