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“Poligus is a two-day drive,” Ethan said, tracing a winding path through the forest northward to the village. The map’s index claimed the road wasseasonalandunpaved. Considering the map thought their current route was paved, Jack didn’t have high hopes for the route to Poligus.
“Krasnoyarsk is half a day’s drive.” He pointed to the city, the capital of Krasnoyarsk Krai. “We’d have access to much more resources there.”
“Don’t you want to track down the general?” Ethan frowned, leaning his hip against the SUV hood. “What’s our next step if not following him?”
Jack sighed. His breath puffed in front of him, a wet cloud misting his face. A moment later, ice formed where the humidity had kissed his skin. “I don’t know, Ethan. The more we dig, the more questions we find. Which way do we go from here? What are we even looking for anymore? A virus outbreak? A general in charge of black projects for the Soviets? A rogue satellite?”
“All of the above, I think.” Ethan shrugged. “It’s clear there’s a cover-up going on. Something happened in Uchami. Something killed those tribesmen in Sakha. Are those two things connected? That’s what we need to find out.”
Jack looked away, into the snowy forest. Siberia was less a place than a state of mind, he was realizing. Why was it every time he was lost—not just physically, but deep in his soul—he was in Siberia? Siberia was his personal cross to bear, it seemed. “Any ideas where to go from here?”
“I think we need to follow the general. He’s the best lead we have. And now we know he worked on black projects for the Soviets.”
“We have enough fuel to make it to Poligus, but not back out again,” Jack said. “What if we get there and there's… nothing?”
“We could go to Krasnoyarsk and charter a flight.”
Jack sighed. “I’m concerned about our exposure. We barely escaped Tomsk. Ilya knows we’re here now.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Were you enthused by his explanations? Did he give you a warm fuzzy about what’s going on here? Convince you all was well and we could trust him?”
Ethan pursed his lips. He looked away.
“We can make one more move, I think, before we have too big a target on our backs. Do we head straight for Poligus and try to find a new lead? Go off the grid as much as we can? Or…” Jack trailed off. “Do we head for Krasnoyarsk and get out of Russia?”
“And then?”
It was Jack’s turn to be quiet.
“We’ve never not finished a mission before.”
“I didn’t say we weren’t finishing,” Jack said quickly. “We just need to find a new direction.”
Welby joined them, leaning on his forearms on the hood. “Luke? What do you think—” Jack started.
Ringing shattered the stillness of the forest like a mirror falling to the ground. Jack thought he saw snow crack, ice split in the drifts beneath the trees.
Ethan fumbled in his jacket for the satellite phone. He pulled it out, frowned at the display, and passed it to Jack.
“Hello?”
“Jack.” Dr. Mendoza’s warm voice poured over the line, bringing with it Mediterranean breezes and sun-drenched orchards, terraces of oranges and figs and olives. Jack almost felt the rays brushing over his cheeks. “I have something for you.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “We’re kicking the tires over here. Hopefully you have something that gives us a new direction.”
“It’s about the bones you sent.”
He and Ethan had packed the skeleton they’d pulled out of Uchami in a dozen layers of plastic and sent it to Dr. Mendoza, all the way out in the Sakha Republic. They’d used the same courier she had, someone who kept under the Russian radar.
“The skeleton is definitely not Russian,” Dr. Mendoza said. “The ethnicity of the bones is more consistent with one of the native peoples than someone of European or Slavic ancestry.”
Katina’s delicate, fine-boned features came back to Jack a moment before he saw her blood-drenched face and the bullet hole in the center of her forehead. He closed his eyes, steeled himself. “Most military officers were Slavic.”
“Also, your skeleton was a young man. He was maybe twenty when he died. His growth plates were still closing.”
Jack frowned. “Any idea how long he was in the ground?”
