Chapter 47
Five minutes later, Kasey was outside. She saw the icebreaker no more than two miles away, its bright red paint scheme unmistakable.
It was moving slowly, layers of ice driving up its hardened bow as it hammered through the pack.
On top of the Aurora’s sail three men stood watching, and Captain Khurtin was surely among them.
All had binoculars fixed on the approaching icebreaker, but they didn’t seem concerned.
And why would they be? she thought. Their boat already has the glory. They’ll be happy to let someone else do the yeoman’s work of getting the survivors back to civilization.
The pair of crewmen who’d stayed behind to act as guards were watching it all play out.
Neither had noticed Chen when he slipped to the far side of the fuselage.
Kasey positioned herself a few steps behind them—she wanted to be close enough to overhear any radio calls that came, and also be in a blocking position to keep Chen isolated.
At this point, she knew it was all down to timing. When to grab Chen and make a run for it. She wanted to give him as long as possible to connect with Langley. Ideally, the operations center would quickly come up with a rapid alternate plan.
It felt like time was compressing.
She wondered where the Chinese ship would stop. The most logical place, in her admittedly nonnautical mind, would be somewhere near the Aurora, in the tiny harbor of thin ice. But given that it was an icebreaker, the ship could theoretically drive straight up to the wreckage.
Wherever it stopped, Kasey reckoned there would be an interval—ten minutes at least—before a shore party could make its way onto the ice.
But probably not much more. She and Chen had to be out of sight before anyone realized they were missing.
In their favor, the visibility had begun to drop—the wind had lessened, and wisps of ice fog were beginning to form.
Their two Russian minders seemed transfixed by the approaching ship, and Kasey decided to risk getting an update from Chen. She quietly moved to the far side of the fuselage.
She found him typing furiously near the crumpled nose section.
“Any luck?” she inquired.
He glanced up briefly. “Yes, I have made contact and explained what’s happening. It appears they are aware of the situation.”
Kasey wasn’t surprised. Langley likely had every available space-based asset focused on this little slab of ice. The same for Russia and China. It could practically melt from the electronic barrage. “Did you tell them that you and I are about to make a run for it?”
“Yes. They said to remain connected for as long as possible while they come up with…” he paused and read from the message, “ ‘an alternate means of extraction.’ ”
“We can’t wait much longer,” she said. “We need to be gone by the time the Chinese arrive.”
Chen stopped what he was doing and looked at her with unusual directness. She saw something in his expression, something brewing in his head. If she were to guess, given his apparent level of discomfort, it was something outside his engineering wheelhouse.
“What is it?” she asked.
“There might be a way to buy more time.”
“What’s that?”
Chen looked down at Sky Fire. Then he explained what he had in mind.
“Is that possible?”
“I can’t be sure. It depends on a great many things. Software packages, signal strength, how various systems interact. But it is exactly the kind of thing Sky Fire is designed to do.”
“Then why do you look like you’re about to jump off a cliff?”
“I… I never anticipated that I would be in the field. The one giving such commands.”
“You’re facing a crisis of conscience?”
He nodded.
“Well, I can help you with that. Do it, Dr. Chen—that is a direct order.”