In Cold Pursuit (34 page)

“Slick,” said Cal. “We got her input on Dave Fitzgerald and the search and rescue, and then we got her gone. I like the way you guys operate.”

Skehan’s face darkened ever so slightly. “I don’t like to
operate
, Cal. I prefer to do science.”

Point to Skehan
, thought Valena.

Skehan said, “In fact, it’s time to end this little gathering. Cal, Valena, you are excused. I don’t mean to be abrupt, but the rest of us need to meet on project matters.”

Wondering what Skehan’s prior urgency had been, Valena
stood up, nodded to each person, and headed for the door. She was relieved to be excused. Cal’s manner had gotten under her skin and she was angry. She slipped through the heavy fire door at the top of the stairs and waited. She knew that he would be the next to exit. A moment later, Cal opened the door and nearly bumped into her.

“Hey,” he said.

“You said you needed to talk to me.”

“Right—uh, but that was before this came up.”

“You mean, this meeting?”

“Yeah. Imagine. They’re having a strategy meeting and trying to make it look like an accidental coffee klatch.” He shook his head. “They got rid of Cupcake, so why shoo us away?”

“You don’t have to second-guess everyone, Cal.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“And why are you still here?”

“Emmett’s my best friend! They should let me help.”

“Did you help Emmett look for the Gamow bag?”

Cal lowered his gaze to the floor. “We tried, but in that blizzard? We couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces, so we went back to the tents.”

“So you stayed at the camp.”

“Yeah. I helped with the patient. We were trying to keep that man alive!”

“And the others? Schwartz and Lindemann?”

“Those putzes stayed in their tent. Regular Akbar-and-Jeff team. No help whatsoever.”

“And Sheila? And Dave and Willy?”

Speaking to himself, Cal said, “Shit, they can’t keep me from trying to help Emmett.” He turned and pushed the door open, heading back into the library.

Valena headed down the stairs and into the lab equipment storage room, looking for a pad of paper and pen to write up some notes for Jim Skehan. While she searched through the shelves, the lower fire door opened again and Cal Hart walked out. Not seeing her, he stepped across the hallway into the doorway of Brenda Utzon’s office. Looked around. Stepped
quietly inside. Valena heard the sounds of drawers opening and closing. Two minutes later, he came out eating a handful of chips and headed down the hallway toward the main entrance to the building. She heard the doors open and close.

Easing out from her hiding place, Valena stepped out into the hallway.
So you are an opportunistic little filcher
, she mused.
Not as lily-white as you put on!

The fire door to the stairwell opened again and Skehan stepped out. “Valena?” he called. “Are you still here? Come back upstairs.”

Valena emerged from the storeroom and followed him back up the steps. “I thought you wanted me to leave,” she said.

“I wanted to keep you out of the limelight,” said Skehan. “Make you seem incidental to this investigation. Just in case.”

“In case of what?”

“Call me paranoid, but I’m going to stick only with those people who I know well to trust with my life.” He opened the upper door and strode into the room.

“But you don’t know me,” said Valena, “and—”

“I know you better than you might suppose,” he replied. “You had the guts to argue with me.”

“Does that make me trustworthy?”

“It’ll have to do.” He sat back down on the couch. “Okay, what have we got?”

“I like the program you laid out before Cal and Cupcake joined us,” said Bill.

Valena remained standing. Turning toward her, Skehan explained, “We’re each going to request through our universities that NSF make a formal inquiry into what has happened to one of our most distinguished scientists. He’s been treated like a thug, whisked off the ice like some support staffer who’s gotten into a fight in a bar. And we’re each doing what we can here, and we need your help. Valena, you’re the most flexible, being at loose ends, as it were, and NSF will hardly notice what a graduate student is up to. That is, if you keep your head down. You can do that, can’t you?”

“It would have to be what help I can provide from New
Zealand or the US,” Valena said cautiously. “If the weather holds, I’m on my way to an early morning departure.”

Skehan tossed one hand to the side in a dismissive gesture. “We’ve already taken care of that. Your stay has been extended.”

“It
has?”
A shock ran through Valena. For the first time, she was not so certain that she wanted to stay.

“The strings weren’t all that difficult to pull. Kathy asked for your assistance over the next week because one of her people is down with the crud, I said I needed you the week after that, Bill said he might need you as well, and about then Bellamy caved and just told us to get back to him when we didn’t need you anymore. So that’s taken care of. Now, don’t thank us,” he said. “You have not yet begun to comprehend the long hours we work down here.”

He grabbed at the beeper mounted on his belt, which was again summoning him. He read the instrument and then leaned toward the phone on the coffee table and dialed. “Skehan,” he said into the instrument. “Yes, she’s here.” He passed the phone to Valena.

Valena gripped the receiver, wondering who would know to contact Skehan in order to reach her. “Hello?” she said.

“Hi, Valena? This is Lulu over in Mac Ops. I have a message for you from the guys out on Cape Royds.”

“Who?”

“Nat the penguin guy, and there are some Kiwi archaeologists working out there at Shackleton’s hut. They’re nice enough guys, but they were hitting the sauce, and something about someone stealing artifacts and penguin eggs. If that’s true, I suppose they were getting stinko because wow, that would really bother them, you know? Anyway, the message is that you’re supposed to come visit if you like.” She giggled. “But I’d watch out if I were you, because…well, it sounded like they thought you were pretty cute.”

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks for the message. And for the heads-up.”

“Hey, we gotta stick together! Southern girls rule!”

“You got that one, sister,” said Valena, and added, “Over.”

“Mac Ops clear!” sang Lulu.

The connection ended. Valena took her time hanging up the phone. It was one thing to burn off her disappointment at Emmett’s colossal change in plans by thinking that she could clear him, but she was over that now, convinced that sticking her neck out was not such a good idea. And here was a group of PIs—full-scale grantees—who wanted to use her as a probe or a decoy, and they had her staying right here where things didn’t seem safe. She need time to think, to figure out how to protect herself.

“Who was that?” asked Skehan.

“Lulu in Mac Ops,” said Valena. “She said I’m invited out to Cape Royds and that someone’s stealing artifacts and penguin eggs.”

“Someone’s
what?”
asked Kathy. “That’s not only theft, it’s against treaty protocols!”

“They’ve got to be hallucinating,” said Bill. “How could anyone get out there without anyone knowing it?”

Skehan said, “How indeed? Anything out of the ordinary around here is grist for this mill.”

Ken Phelps said, “I agree. Kathy, you’re headed out there tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I could take Valena along, and it would fit inside our cover that she’s working for me. You have a tent and sleep kit, don’t you, Valena?”

Now you’re talking
, thought Valena.
I can go out to Cape Royds and mind my own business, stay out of trouble, not have to wonder who my friends are and who is my enemy …
She said, “George Bellamy had the people at Berg Field Center retrieve all the field gear out of Emmett’s office.”

Ken Phelps said, “No problem, have BFC put a replacement set on my account.”

“Get that gear and meet me here ten o’clock tomorrow morning,” said Kathy. “You’ll need a tent, too. Make sure to ask for a mountain dome. Those other ones take too long to set up, and they make a lot more noise in the wind.”

“I’ll be here,” said Valena. “And I’ll be ready.”

“Okay, getting her to Royds is taken care of,” said Skehan. “Now, how about getting her out to the Dry Valleys to talk to Dan Lindemann. Anyone?”

The Dry Valleys?
thought Valena.
I’m going to the Dry Valleys?

Julia Rosserman said, “I’ll get a message to Naomi. She’s in charge of their project. I could have Helo Ops pick Valena up at Royds and continue across to their camp on Clark Glacier, drop her off there. I’ll let Naomi know she’s coming—tell her it’s part of my transect or something—and get Helo Ops to add her to the manifest under my account.”

“That’s great,” said Skehan. “How and when are we getting her back?”

Bill Williams said, “Naomi is bringing up a lot of core. I’ll bet they’ll have a helo coming back every couple days to pick up a load, and they can pull Valena out as accessory pax when they do that.”

In spite of her newfound caution, Valena began to tremble with excitement.
I’m going to a penguin colony and the Dry Valleys, just like that! How life can change!

Skehan shook his head. “That’s too open. If there’s a problem there, she needs to be able to make a pullout on her own. And we’ll need a signal to send through Mac Ops.”

Julia said, “Hey, I’m not made of helo hours! I don’t know about you, but NSF really put the limits on my flight time this year. I’m stretching it to pick her up at Royds and drop her at Clark.”

Ken said, “I’ll supply the backup. I’m not flush, either, but it’s the least I can do. If Emmett goes down, we can all kiss the freedom to do science in an honest, straightforward manner good-bye. It’s the camel’s nose under the hem of the tent: don’t like the results a scientist is getting? Attack him in the press, drag his butt before Congress, and then, if he still doesn’t get the message, accuse him of murder!” He shook his head with fury.

“Congress?” said Valena.

“There’s more to the story,” said Kathy. She glanced at Ken,
who was calming himself, and artfully changed the subject. “So what did you learn from Sheila while you were up at Black Island?”

“That she can play the cards even closer to her vest than you can, Jim.”

One corner of Skehan’s mouth almost curled into a smile, but he caught it. “Just as I thought. Okay,” he said. “I think we all have our tasks well in mind. Now, from here, let’s all wander off separately, or in groups no larger than two or three. This meeting never happened, are we clear on that?” He stood up and looked at his watch. “We can still make it to dinner.”

“Absolutely,” said Ken. He stood up and headed for the door without further discussion.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” said Kathy. “I like coming down here.” She was twiddling her pencil now, batting it nervously against her clipboard. “You know, the NSF is in a bad situation here. I can understand why Bellamy has tried to put a lid on this.”

“You understand this how?” asked Skehan. “Our colleague has been arrested like a common criminal. You’re telling me you can understand that?”

Kathy said, “I don’t think Emmett hurt anybody any more than you do! But everybody wants to hang this on the middle manager, or on management in general. You know the old adage, ‘Shit from above, shit from below.’ George is out here at the end of a very long chain of command, assigned to keep a town full of rebels in line while serving a raft of scientists, all of whom think that their work is the most important work in the world.”

Skehan gave her a wry smile. “I happen to think that whether the climate is going to heat up so far that we get intense species die-off is important, yes.”

Kathy went on. “And of course George Bellamy can’t know what we’re doing, or he would be required to try to stop us, but I think that in this case what he doesn’t know would rather please him.”

“You might be right,” said Skehan. “Let’s leave our egos
at the door and presume that he would be a member of this team if he could. Okay, we’re done here.”

Several of the others nodded, and they all stood up.

“Ones and twos,” repeated Skehan. He watched as the assembly sifted out of the room. When everyone else had left, he turned to Valena and said, “Well, sorry to say it, kiddo, but a lot rests on your shoulders. As grantees, we have a lot of stroke around here, but just in case you hadn’t noticed, McMurdo is not a part of the United States.”

“Can you enlarge on that statement, please?”

Skehan awarded her a sardonic smile. “I like you, Miss Walker. You’re smart. Really, really smart. I meant only to suggest that this little patch of humanity does not operate as a democracy.” He put a hand on her shoulder to steer her toward the doorway. “And please be careful. I’ll do everything I can to cover you, from buying wine for Cupcake to getting you around to see the people you need to see without Bellamy half noticing that it’s happening, but there are so many ways to die it doesn’t take a wizard to weigh the risks. Okay, now get going. I don’t want to be seen walking with you.”

D
AVE
F
ITZGERALD HEADED ACROSS THE ROAD TOWARD
dinner in Building 155 with his hair still wet from the shower. He liked to think that the soap he had used made him smell like springtime, which was exactly how he felt. Two hours in the cab of the Challenger with Valena Walker had been quite the tonic. He was in an exceptionally good mood after his sojourn along the trail to and from Black Island, and the pleasure of a clean shirt and the possibility of bumping into Valena in the galley were like extra toppings on a sweet dessert.

He met the Boss coming the other way. “Oh, there you are, Dave,” he said. “I left a message for you at Building 17. Did you get it?”

“No, sir. What’s up?”

“You asked if you could help me out if any good boondoggles came up, didn’t you?”

Dave gave him an appreciative smile. “I just had me a perfectly fine boondoggle, but I wouldn’t turn down another. Why, do you have another one up your sleeve?”