Chapter 31
Arctic
Crash Site
Kasey lowered the Winchester.
“I think you missed,” Sharpe said sarcastically.
She frowned at his assessment.
The polar bear had appeared out of the gloom, a hulking figure meandering closer with the species’ distinctive swaying gait.
Kasey had seen her share of bears before, in the Eastern mountains and the Rockies.
This one was in a different league. It had to weigh half a ton, and its size was accentuated by the dim twilight and desolate backdrop of ice.
The bear wasn’t moving aggressively, but it was definitely headed their way. When it was half a football field away, Kasey fired three rounds into the air, hoping to scare it off.
It seemed to work. The creature startled and scurried away, but it stopped before disappearing. After a hundred-yard retreat, the bear half-turned and lifted its nose into the air. Then it lumbered away and disappeared in the swirling snow.
“He’ll be back,” she said.
“I agree,” Sharpe seconded. “It’s the bodies. Bears are as much scavengers as they are predators. He also might not be alone.”
“Actually, polar bears tend to be solitary. Conditions out here are tough and there’s not enough food to support competition.”
“Does the CIA teach all its agents about polar bears?”
“First of all, I’m not an agent, I’m an operations officer. And what I know about polar bears came from a report I wrote in middle school biology.” She dropped the Winchester to a low ready position. “Anyway, it’s a good thing you found this.”
“It might come in handy.”
“Are you a good shot with a rifle?” she asked.
“When you grow up in Texas and your last name is Sharpe, you really don’t have a choice.”
She couldn’t suppress her grin. “Okay. Bottom line, this shit’s getting real. On top of everything else, we’ve now got an apex predator lurking out there. With only one gun, it needs to be immediately available to either you or me at all times.”
“Agreed. Why don’t you keep it for now. I’ll double-check the cargo bay to see if there’s more ammo.”
“That would be helpful.”
He pointed to Sky Fire. “Are you going to leave that powered up?”
Kasey considered it. Chen had told her battery power wasn’t an issue—he had charged the system during the flight.
On the other hand, batteries didn’t like extreme cold, and further charging was out of the question.
“It’ll take some time for Langley to come up with a plan.
I told them I’d check back in a little over an hour, so I think it’s best to shut down until then. ”
She began typing, and Sharpe headed toward the cargo bay. As Sky Fire’s screen blanked, Kasey recalled his anger. He seemed to have recovered, but she wanted to be sure.
“Brett…”
He paused and turned.
“I told you that the Chinese were probably behind this crash. But if I’ve learned one thing in my years of intelligence work, it’s that you can’t let emotions cloud your judgment.”
He thought about that and said, “I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Because people who can’t… a lot of them end up dead.”