Chapter Eight
Ronin watched Peri check the snowmobile. It was clear she had a lot of experience.
This machine was big and rugged, with skids at the front, and plenty of room for storage at the back. Finally, she climbed on, settling her hands on the controls. She looked back at him.
“Sure you can handle the back seat?” Her smile was pretty close to smug.
Ronin climbed on behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Even covered in her heavy-duty jacket, she felt incredibly small in the circle of his arms. As he crossed his gloved hands, he rested them over her belly, and he heard her breath hitch.
He made sure his mouth was close to her ear. “I’m pretty comfortable taking the rear.”
She swiveled her head, her eyes on him. “I can’t tell if you’re making a suggestive remark or not.”
He shot her a small smile. Damned if he didn’t like teasing her. Ronin had never teased anyone before. When he spent time with a woman, it involved a few drinks, followed by sex. There had never been teasing.
Peri shook her head. “You should smile more often, Ronin. It looks good on you.”
He blinked at her, and realized he was smiling.
She turned on the engine and revved it, letting it warm up. A moment later, Dec and Logan pulled up beside them in a spray of snow. Logan was sitting on the back of the machine, holding the handles behind him.
“Ready?” Dec asked.
“Ready,” Peri said.
Dec and Logan pulled ahead and Peri gunned it, following.
As they left Aurora behind, they split off from Dec and Logan. They had a search area slightly west of the others.
Ronin scanned their surroundings, taking in the landscape. Behind them was white as far as he could see. Ahead, the dark smudges of the Ellsworth Mountains tinted the horizon. Somewhere in there was the pyramid structure and Silk Road.
He tightened his hold on Peri. He hoped to hell that Amber Butler was still alive. Fucking Silk Road and their drive for money and power. They used whoever they wanted to use, and killed anyone who stood in their way. He sure as hell hoped Peri didn’t have to cope with the loss of her twin.
He turned his head and spotted huge, dark-gray clouds lining the sky.
They did not want to get stuck in that storm front.
He looked down at the map and checked the GPS coordinates. He leaned forward. “We need to start there,” he yelled over the roar of the engine. He reached past her and pointed. “We’ll sweep back and forth.”
She nodded, and she turned to follow his directions. As she moved the snowmobile into the search pattern, she handled the machine with obvious ease. They fell into the monotonous routine of zig-zagging back and forth, with no sign of the missing scientists, or their snowmobile.
All of a sudden, Peri cursed and yanked the snowmobile violently to the left. Ronin tightened his hold to stop from flying off.
She pointed and he saw the crevasse. The deep gash had opened up in the snow like someone had sliced it open with a knife. Peri turned the machine and they circled around the hazard.
They kept moving. Nothing. And the damn storm was getting close now. Ronin glanced at his watch and saw that it was check-in time. He pulled out the radio and tapped Peri’s shoulder. She pulled to a stop.
“Aurora Station, this is Scout Three checking in.”
“Acknowledged, Scout Three.” Mel’s deep voice came across the line. “Any luck?”
He heard the hope in the station leader’s tone. “Nothing yet. Anything from the other teams?”
“Not yet.”
“We have a bit more time before the storm will force us back. We’ll keep looking.”
“Thanks, Ronin. Stay safe.”
Peri and Ronin continued on. He knew it was hard to lose team members. He’d lost several over the years—a few fellow SEALs and a couple of CIA agents he’d worked with. None of their deaths had been pretty or easy, but they’d done their jobs. They’d believed in fighting to protect their country.
Ronin had joined the Navy to get an education, and because he’d known no one would grieve if he died in combat. Instead, he’d found a place to belong for the first time, and had brothers he’d cared about. But he’d always held himself apart. He didn’t have the genes for the easy camaraderie so many had shared.
But he’d still felt their loss when they’d died.
His jaw clenched. He’d lost plenty of sleep over their deaths, and wondered what he could’ve done differently to help save them. Or, why it hadn’t been him—with no wife, kids or family—who’d died.
“What’s that?”
Peri’s voice jerked him back. He peered ahead and spotted something dark on the snow.
She sped up and they hit a small bump, going airborne. They landed with a rattle, and it wasn’t long before he could pick out the shape. Definitely a snowmobile.
“It has to be them!” Peri said.
They got closer, and worry skated across Ronin’s nerves. He scanned the area around them. He didn’t see anything that should trip his instincts, but something definitely felt wrong.
They pulled to a stop near the abandoned snowmobile.
Peri slid off. “Where are they?” She turned her head. “Maybe they were working around here, and fell in a crevasse?”
“Maybe.” They both circled the vehicle and Ronin slammed out an arm to stop Peri.
“Oh, God.” She pressed a gloved hand to her mouth.
Ronin gritted his teeth. He slid his hand into the pocket of his jacket specifically designed to hold his Glock.
The two scientists were lying on the snow. One, a man, was flat on his back and staring sightlessly up to the sky.
The woman was on her side, blood coating the snow near her head. It was the same bright red as her jacket.
“Stay here.” Ronin lifted his Glock and moved toward the bodies. He knelt between them and pulled his glove off. He loosened their jackets enough to check each one for a pulse.
“Fuck.” He looked over his shoulder at Peri. “They’re dead.”
***
This had to be Silk Road.
Her belly churning, Peri pressed her hand to her mouth and looked away. She’d seen some bad injuries on her expeditions, but never anyone who’d died violently like this.
If Silk Road did this—killed two innocent people with no link to them, or knowledge of what they were doing—what would they do to Amber?
Peri forced herself to look back and watch as Ronin checked the scientists over. Finally, he rose. “They were shot.”
“God.” She shook her head. Those poor people.
A muscle ticked in Ronin’s jaw as he strode over to the snowmobile. He snatched up the radio and took a deep breath. “Scout Three to Aurora Station.”
“Receiving, Scout Three, go ahead,” Melinda responded.
“We found them.”
An excited sound came through the line. “Are they okay? What happened—?”
“Sorry, Mel. They’re both dead.”
Silence on the line. Then Peri heard an expulsion of breath. “Acknowledged, Scout Three—” Melinda’s voice broke.
Ronin kicked a boot at the snow. “Mel, they were shot. This wasn’t an accident.”
“Shot?” The station leader’s voice was sharp with shock.
“Call all the other search teams in now. Whoever did this could still be out here, somewhere.”
“Acknowledged. And Ronin…please bring them home.”
“I will.” He tucked the radio away, and turned to Peri. “I’ll wrap the bodies and secure one on each snowmobile. Are you okay to drive back?”
She felt acid rising in her throat, but she swallowed it down. These people deserved to go home. “Yes.”
As she watched him pull some tarpaulins and ropes out of the storage compartments on the snowmobiles, she felt cold and hollow. He took his time, wrapping the bodies and tying them onto the back of the vehicles. Peri helped where she could, feeling numb from her head to her toes.
When she was finally seated on the snowmobile again, she was very conscious of the woman’s body behind her, but Peri locked her emotions down.
As she took off, following Ronin’s snowmobile, she just focused on making it back to the station before the storm hit. Already, the light had turned to a murky gray, and the temperature was falling.
When they finally pulled into the station, she was cold, numb, and sad. The others were there to meet them. A stricken Lars stepped forward, with several other researchers, and they untied the bodies and took them away.
Melinda stood nearby, her face ravaged. Dec stood beside her.
“I’m so sorry, Mel,” Ronin said.
She nodded. “Thanks for bringing them in from the cold.” She cleared her throat and looked at Dec. “I’m guessing this could be related to the reason you’re down here?”
Dec’s face was grim. “It could be. You trust all your people?”
“I’ve worked with most of them for several seasons, but some are new.” She blew out a breath. “Down here, we depend on each other. For our work, our safety, our emotional health. I want to say yes, I trust them all, but…” She stared off in the direction the bodies had been taken.
Peri reached out and grabbed Melinda’s hand. “I promise, if this is related to our mission, the person who did this will pay.”
Melinda squeezed her hand. “Thank you.” Then the station leader looked up. “Storm’s here. We should get inside. You’ve all been assigned rooms, and dinner will be served in the dining room in an hour. Showers are limited to three minutes, but the water’s hot.” She tried for a smile. “You only get longer if you share.”
Peri saw that Melinda was trying to lighten the mood, or distract herself from the terrible circumstances. “Where do you get your water?” She knew water supply was a crucial issue for research stations.
“We have year-round snow here,” Melinda replied. “We have snow melters heated by solar panels and topped up by the generators. We store all the water in tanks in a heated tank house.”
Peri knew that freshwater could be tricky for Arctic and Antarctic stations. If you had no easy source of water, like a melt lake or snow, you needed to drill for it.
As they headed inside and stripped off their gear, Peri moved on autopilot. Just putting one foot in front of the other felt like a huge effort. A cheery young woman told them all their cabin numbers, and waved them through to the sleeping quarters.
“Communal bathroom, I’m afraid,” the woman said. “Far end of the hall. If any of you have the cabin next to Joe, I’ll apologize now. Man snores louder than a freight train.”
Dec slipped into his cabin. Then Logan. When Peri opened the door to hers, she took in the simple bunk with a dark-blue cover, built-in desk, drawers under the bed, and shelves above it. A small oval window showed nothing but gray beyond. Her duffel bag rested on the bed.
“See you for dinner,” Ronin said behind her.
She couldn’t meet his gaze, just nodded. She needed a hot shower, and some time to let everything sink in.
A hand gripped her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Just tired.”
“Death is always hard,” he said quietly.
She swallowed. “You’ve lost a lot of work mates.”
“Yes. It never gets easier.”
And when there was no one to hold you and help you feel alive, it had to be even harder. But right now, Peri knew if she held on to him, she’d break down. “See you at dinner.” She closed the door between them.
Peri unzipped her bag, pulling out some clothes, but her vision blurred with tears. Damn, she hated crying. But now the hollow feeling burst open, and she was flooded with emotions. She couldn’t stop thinking about those poor scientists. And worse, she was so deathly afraid for Amber.
Tears never help, Peridot. Her mother’s voice. But they can help purge the hurt. Yeah, well, purging would have to wait.
Quickly, Peri grabbed her things, and headed for the showers at the end of the hall. The large room contained several stalls, and she stepped inside one, pulling the curtain closed behind her.
She stripped off and flicked on the water. She let the hot water beat over her face, and then the tears came. She just stood there, crying, sobs breaking free of her chest.
The water cut off, but the sobs didn’t stop. God, she knew crying never helped and didn’t solve a damn thing. But right now, she felt so alone. The ache inside her for her missing sister was huge.
A second later, hard arms wrapped around her from behind. She jolted, and then she smelled Ronin. He reached around her and flicked the shower on again.
She stared down at his muscular arms and the dark dusting of hair on them. Strong arms that could help hold her up for a little while.
She spun to face him. He was naked, and even harder and more ripped than she’d imagined. A jolt of something else shot through her. “Make me forget, Ronin. For a few minutes, I need to forget those bodies, Silk Road, the trouble my sister is in.”
His lean face was serious. “Peri—”
She pressed her hands against his chest. He was so warm. “Come on, G-Man, just for a minute.” She went up on her toes and kissed him.
His lips were firm, and at first, they didn’t move. She nibbled at them, then scraped her teeth over his stubborn jaw.
“You going to call me G-Man now?” His hands flexed on her skin.
“It suits you.” When she went back to kiss his cool lips, they parted. With a groan, he kissed her back.
Oh, God. His tongue thrust into her mouth and sensation flooded her. His kiss was forceful, firm, and so good. It forced her head back and the deeper he kissed her, the more she forgot. She pressed against him and just felt.
The water shut off again.
“Touch me.” She heard the plea in her voice.
He lifted her arm and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. He sighed. “You’re vulnerable right now—”
She made an angry noise. “Upset, sad, afraid, and mad. But I know what I’m doing, Ronin. We both know that we’ve been attracted to each other from the first moment we saw each other.”
He stared at her for a long moment, and then turned and snatched up their towels. He slung one around his hips and then, taking his time, he toweled her off.
Her heart felt like it was dancing in her chest. He took his time and then wrapped it around her. He scooped up their clothing in one hand, grabbed her hand with his other one, and pulled her out of the bathroom. A second later, he opened the door to his cabin, and tugged her inside.
Shut in the small space, she turned and looked at him, taking in his muscled chest, bronze skin, and the barely concealed bulge behind his towel.
Peri shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold.