Chapter 30 #2
“Good.” At least one thing was working in their favor. “That’s good.”
Before anyone could say more, the door opened again. Two soldiers shoved Koos into the room. The mechanic stumbled, caught himself, and turned to glare at the closing door.
“Barbarians,” he muttered, his South African accent thickening with anger. “No respect.”
“What did you do to piss them off?” Noah asked.
Koos snorted and jerked his chin in Rue and Elliot’s direction. “Helped these two get inside. They didn’t like that.” He shrugged, seemingly unbothered by his captivity. “Worth it. Someone needed to do something.”
Several seconds stretched by in silence until Mia asked, “Now what?” She’d also shed her mask and gloves and now stood at Irina’s side.
Something about Mia’s small, terrified question finally broke through to Elliot.
He exhaled hard and shook his head slightly, then scanned the room, taking everything in, his lips pressed together into a grim line.
“Now we figure out how to get out of here, take our station back, and call for help.”
Thank God.
Relief flooded Rue’s system. She needed Elliot present, needed his strategic mind if they were going to get out of this mess.
“And we keep each other alive,” she added.
Camille looked up from examining her now-ragged nails, her gaze going to Tyler as he coughed.
“How? They locked us in here like lab rats, just waiting for us all to get sick.” Her voice wavered, and tears flooded her eyes.
“This wasn’t what I thought would happen when I invested in this expedition.
You have to believe me. I didn’t want this. ”
Noah was beside her in an instant, smoothing a hand over her hair. “Shh. They know.”
“Actually, we don’t know,” Elliot said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why are you two here?”
Rue winced at the ice in his tone. Okay, so he wasn’t all the way back to her warm, sweet Elliot. He was still brittle, and she couldn’t blame him for it, but he needed to reel it in a bit if they were going to get any information out of the pair.
She set a hand on his arm, felt the hard coil of muscle twitch underneath. He stared down at her for a beat. So much anger behind those beautiful eyes now. So much hurt.
She silently called Cade Wilde every unflattering name she could think of and rubbed Elliot’s arm until his eyes finally softened.
Then she turned back to Camille and Noah. “What did you think you were investing in?”
Camille glanced up at Noah, who gave a slight nod. She sighed. “Rare earth elements. Antarctica is rich in the metals and minerals used in all of our technology. We were hoping to stake a claim before anyone else.”
Koos glowered at the pair. “The Antarctic Treaty prohibits commercial mining and resource extraction.”
“The Treaty expired two years ago, and the so-called extension is tenuous at best,” Noah said. “All of the nations involved are getting antsy about dwindling resources, and know this continent is chock full. It’s only a matter of time until the Treaty is dismantled completely.”
Well, that explained why Atlas was so interested in Antarctica.
He partnered with Praetorian to stake his claim, but he hadn’t banked on them going all doomsday mad-scientist with the pathogen.
Which also explained why he’d shown a rare moment of conscience and warned Davey and Rowan that there were things in the world even he wouldn’t sell.
Koos stared at Camille and Noah in disgust. “Are you even really a geologist?”
“Yes, and fuck you,” Noah said. “Not all scientists are bleeding heart environmentalists. I work for Camille.”
Okay, so maybe calling Noah a “good” guy was a stretch. But he still wasn’t the enemy.
“That’s not all you do for her,” Koos muttered.
Noah lunged, his fists bunched as if he planned to take a swing, but Elliot jumped between them, arms out to keep them apart.
“Enough! We’re not fighting each other.”
Her Elliot, ever the peacemaker.
Rue also moved between the two men. “He’s right.
And this is good, getting all our secrets out in the open.
My turn.” She paused and drew a breath. “I only took this expedition to find out what happened to my friend Maren. She disappeared last year under suspicious circumstances. And I didn’t trust any of you, so I asked Elliot to come as my backup. ”
“So he’s not really your fiancé?” Mia looked crestfallen. “But you’re so cute together.”
“We’re just friends,” Elliot said.
Ouch.
Rue didn’t want to examine why those words felt like a knife through her heart. It was true. They were friends. But also… more. She just didn’t know how to put that “more” into words.
Maybe he didn’t either.
“I came looking for my wife,” Moretti said softly into the silence, and everyone turned to look at him. He was sitting woozily up on his cot, his complexion an alarming shade of gray-green. Blood had seeped through the bandage on his head.
Irina rushed over to him. “You need to stay still. You have a concussion.”
He waved her away and focused his bleary eyes on Rue. “Did you find them? Maren and Helena?”
“I did.” Heart in her throat, she unzipped her jacket pocket and pulled out the stack of photos she’d taken from Helena’s room at Takahe. She crossed to him, holding them out.
“Oh.” Tears spilled from his eyes as he flipped through the photos and paused on one of him and his wife hugging under the Southern Lights. “What happened to her and her team?”
“Same thing that’s happening here,” Elliot said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Irina stepped forward, her face drawn with exhaustion. “I should tell you what I know.” She glanced at Tyler’s quarantined area, then back to the group. “I came here because my family has a history of… unsavory associations and actions.”
Rue couldn’t help her snort. “That’s what you want to call it? Your uncle and his paramilitary group tried to kill my father thirty years ago. Multiple times.”
Irina winced. “I know. I don’t associate with that side of the family if I can help it, but my cousin wants to restore Volkov Group to their former glory, and he bragged about partnering with Praetorian for something that would make the world fear the Volkov name again.
He’s a dumbass, but he’s also vicious. I knew it was nothing good, so I questioned him about it, and he let it slip that a pathogen had been found in Antarctica, and Praetorian planned to weaponize it.
I needed to see if he was telling the truth, so I approached Atlas Frost about joining the expedition. ”
Mia made a small, distressed sound and looked over her shoulder at Tyler. “Are you actually a medical doctor?”
Irina grasped her hands. “Yes, I promise you I am, but I don’t usually treat patients. I work mostly in a research capacity.”
“Jesus,” Koos grumbled. “Any other secrets to share?”
Everyone looked at him.
After a beat, he lifted his hands. “No, no, I am exactly who I told you I was. I love it here, and I couldn’t get on an over-winter crew, so when Dr. Moretti needed a guide, I jumped at the chance.”
The betrayals layered on betrayals made Rue’s head spin. She glanced at Elliot, hoping to see him analyzing the situation, formulating a plan—but his gaze was fixed on the door, as if he expected Cade to walk back through it at any moment. The hurt radiating from him was almost tangible.
“What about Keene?” Noah asked and focused on Mia again. “What’s his story?”
Mia shook her head. The poor girl looked completely shell-shocked. “He was my professor. My advisor. I had no clue…” As if her legs gave out, she sank to the nearest cot and buried her face in her hands. “I just want to go home.”
“You will,” Rue said, injecting as much certainty into her tone as she could manage. “We all will.”
She glanced at Elliot for confirmation, but he’d retreated into himself again.
Fine. If he couldn’t be strong right now, she would be strong enough for the both of them.
They wouldn’t die here, like Maren and Helena, locked away and forgotten.
Not if she had anything to say about it.