Chapter 16
sixteen
As the days passed, Dr. Keene grew more agitated. He paced the length of the mess hall like a caged animal, his wire-frame glasses sliding down his nose with each agitated turn
“This is unconscionable!” He gestured wildly at the storm-battered windows. “Three days of potential discovery wasted because of excessive caution.”
Rue snapped up her coffee cup as his hip banged into the table, making the whole thing rattle. “It isn’t excessive.”
He whirled on her. “We’re only here for three weeks! You’re impeding our research.”
“And I’m quite sure that is not what Atlas Frost hired you for,” Camille remarked.
She’d been sulking all morning over a broken nail—who expected a fresh manicure to last in Antarctica?
—and had clearly been waiting for the right moment to slice into someone.
Dr. Keene had presented Rue as the perfect target.
Rue suppressed a sigh. “No, he hired me to keep you all safe, and that’s what I’m doing.
” The storm had everyone on edge, but Simon’s increasing agitation was becoming a problem.
He’d cornered her multiple times over the past few days, demanding that they venture out to the cave system.
“The wind is still gusting at sixty miles per hour. Visibility is less than ten feet. If you want to march out there and freeze to death, be my guest, but I’m not risking anyone else’s life because you’re impatient. ”
Dr. Keene’s face flushed red. “This isn’t impatience! It’s scientific urgency! What we found in that ice—” He cut himself off, darting a glance at Camille.
“Will still be there when the weather clears,” Elliot said mildly as he shuffled into the kitchen, always the peacemaker.
As the days passed, Rue was more and more grateful he was here with her. His level-headedness had calmed more than one scuffle over the last few days.
But this morning, he looked ruffled, like he hadn’t slept well, his hair mussed and his eyes hooded.
He wore sweatpants and a Wilde Security sweatshirt that Noah eyed with a tight frown as he crossed to the coffee pot.
“The weather is supposed to clear out, so we should be able to get out to your cave system this afternoon.
Elliot grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee that looked black as oil. She’d had to pour a ton of sugar and milk in hers to make it palatable, but he didn’t even grimace when he took a sip, which told Rue just how tired he really was.
Dr. Keene stopped pacing, his expression brightening. “This afternoon?”
“If the forecast holds,” Rue clarified, shooting Elliot a questioning look. They hadn’t discussed this, and she wasn’t thrilled about him making expedition promises without consulting her first.
Elliot gave an almost imperceptible shrug. A peace offering to the increasingly agitated scientist, his eyes seemed to say.
Which, okay, she could grudgingly admit, even if just to herself, that was the right move.
Dr. Keene clapped his hands. “Excellent. Oh, Ms. Chen,” he said as Mia walked into the room, her black hair still damp from a shower. “Perfect timing. We need to prepare for an expedition to the ice caves this afternoon. Where is Mr. Grant?”
Mia picked a pre-packaged muffin from the box on the counter and shrugged. “Still sleeping, I think.”
“Well, wake him! We have work to do.”
Mia rolled her eyes, but turned to go back to the living quarters.
“Noah will be going with you,” Camille declared suddenly.
“Oh?” Rue turned in time to see Noah’s shoulders tighten. He didn’t look happy about the announcement either. Interesting.
“I’d like to go as well,” Camille added, examining her broken nail with a frown. “I want to see what all this fuss is about.”
Rue nearly choked on her coffee. Camille in the ice caves? The woman could barely handle the trek between the station and the snowcats without complaining about the cold. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. The caves can be treacherous, especially for someone without proper training.”
Camille’s perfectly plucked eyebrows arched. “I wasn’t asking permission, Ms. Bristow. I’m funding this expedition, and I intend to see my investment firsthand.”
Rue bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something she’d regret. The investor had been nothing but a pain since they’d arrived, constantly undermining Rue’s authority and treating her like hired help rather than the expedition leader.
She gave herself a moment to cool her temper before she said, “I’m not taking you out there, Camille.”
“But—”
“Not buts. My expedition, my rules.” She looked at Noah. “You’re welcome to come if you want.” He might be handy to have in case of trouble, since he moved like he’d done more tours in Afghanistan than Antarctica.
Camille huffed and pushed out of her chair, storming toward her room in a full snit. That woman wasn’t used to being told no.
Noah glowered after Camille for a beat, then nodded before stalking after her.
He caught her by the hand. She snapped at him, eyes blazing, but he didn’t let go and backed her into the wall.
He leaned into her space with the familiarity of someone who had been there before and whispered something in her ear that Rue couldn’t hear.
Whatever it was had Camille straightening her spine and nodding curtly.
Noah’s hand lingered on her arm for a moment too long before he let go and she stalked away.
Huh. So they knew each other—like, in the biblical sense. Rue wondered how she’d missed that. And what did that mean for the expedition? She really needed to know more about Noah Braddock.
Dr. Keene was oblivious, still focused on the prospect of finally visiting the caverns. He rubbed his hands together like a kid on Christmas morning. “Wonderful! How long until we can depart?”
Rue glanced toward the windows, where snow still whipped past in horizontal sheets, though with less violence than the night before. The storm was definitely weakening, but venturing out now would still be risky.
“Two hours minimum,” she said. “But that will depend entirely on the weather. I want to see sustained winds below thirty before we even consider it.”
“But—”
“Two hours, Simon.” She used his first name deliberately, a subtle reminder of who was in charge. “I’m not losing anyone to this storm because we got impatient.”
Elliot moved to stand beside her, his presence warm and reassuring. “She’s right. Better to wait and arrive safely than rush and not arrive at all.”
The casual way he backed her up sent a flutter through her chest.
“I suppose I should prepare my equipment,” Dr. Keene said with obvious reluctance. “Tyler!” he called toward the residential corridor. “We leave in two hours!”
As forecasted, the weather cleared, but Jess warned another front was moving in, so they’d have a six-hour window at most before conditions deteriorated again, and three of those hours would be spent traveling to the ice field and back.
They had to move fast.
Rue stood at the entrance to the equipment bay, checking and double-checking their gear while the others suited up around her.
The familiar ritual of preparation helped calm her nerves—testing radio batteries, inspecting rope integrity, counting carabiners.
She’d done this dance hundreds of times before, but something about today felt different.
“Radio check,” she called out, clipping her headset into place.
One by one, the team responded—Tyler’s voice crackling with excitement, Mia’s steady and professional, Dr. Keene practically vibrating with anticipation, and Noah’s clipped military cadence.
Elliot’s voice came through last, warm and reassuring despite the tension she could read beneath his careful composure.
He was worried, too.
Her stomach knotted with dread, and for a second, she considered calling the whole thing off.
She wasn’t normally one to let fear dictate her actions.
She found fear exhilarating most of the time.
Fear meant she was pushing boundaries, exploring places others wouldn’t dare venture.
But this wasn’t that kind of fear. This was the cold, crawling certainty that something was fundamentally wrong.
She glanced at Elliot, who was methodically checking his climbing harness with the precision of someone who’d done this a thousand times before. The set of his jaw told her he was fighting the same instincts she was—the voice that whispered turn around, go back, this is a mistake.
But Dr. Keene was practically bouncing on his toes, clutching his sample collection kit like a kid with a new toy. Tyler had his camera ready, and even Mia looked eager despite her usual caution. They were counting on her to get them to the cave system safely.
And she needed to see what was down there. If these microorganisms were connected to Maren’s disappearance, she had to know. She couldn’t let fear win now, for the first time in her life. She’d never forgive herself.
“Copy, all stations,” she responded, shouldering her pack. The weight felt good—familiar. “We stick together, we follow protocol, and remember we’ve got a hard out in three hours, no exceptions. Questions?”
No one spoke up, though she caught Dr. Keene bouncing slightly on his toes like a racehorse at the gate.
“Alright then.” She pulled on her goggles and opened the bay door as everyone climbed into the snow cats. “Let’s go find your microorganisms.”