Page 14 of Gunn's Mission

In his mind, he went through possible scenarios. Was it personal? Had Mateo run crosswise with another of his team? The only motive Gunn could imagine that would drive a person to kill would be jealousy. Had it been a lover’s quarrel? Or had someone been jealous of Mateo’s interest in someone here?

Or it could’ve been related to his work. He’d been running a secret project for the military. Was it possible someone else was working with the Russians to prevent Mateo from sending his data to Navarro because there was a sub in the area?

Gunn wasn’t here to investigate. He was here to prevent another attack. Still, he would keep his eyes open. The best way to keep everyone safe would be to identify the threat.

He stood and reached to turn on the lamp on the small bedside table.

Lord, he needed to get out of this room. Prison cells were more spacious, and his room had no window. He stood and went to the small cupboard where he’d stored his clothing. He dressed in fresh thermal leggings and a long-sleeved top, then pulled on a fleece shirt and pants over that because Maddie had promised him a tour of the site, and he wanted to be ready. Lastly, he donned thick thermal socks before heading out the door.

The scent of coffee led him down the hallway to the kitchen. Perry and Nate were busy preparing breakfast while Maddie sat at the table, drinking coffee and working on a tablet.

“Good morning,” he called out as he entered the room.

“Mornin’,” Nate said, waving a large spoon. “I’ve got the first batch of biscuits in the oven. Should be done in a minute.”

“You’re an early bird,” Perry said with a yawn as he whisked eggs in a metal bowl.

“Grab some coffee,” Maddie said, pointing her stylus toward the pot. “It’s fresh. Not sludge-like at all.”

He retrieved a cup from the cabinet and poured fresh coffee. Casting a glance outside at the darkness, he noted a faint gold rim on the far horizon.

“You won’t see the sun peek out for a while,” Maddie said, following his gaze. “Not that we’re going to wait until we have full sun to head out. We have headlights on the snowmobiles.”

He sat opposite her. “I’ll want to go over this camp and where you found Mateo in full daylight,” he said quietly.

“You figure to search for something we didn’t find? We were pretty thorough. I showed the RCMP guy where we found him, but he didn’t have time to do more than interrogate us and have his belongings—everything but his computer—carted back to Cambridge Bay.”

“I need to familiarize myself with the site, and while I do that, I’ll keep an eye out. Just in case something was missed.”

She gave a little nod and turned off her tablet. “I was just finishing writing yesterday’s daily report to send to operations at Polardyne. All the excitement put us all behind schedule.” She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. “I know you have to have questions now that you’ve seen a little bit of this place.”

Gun leaned his elbows on the tabletop. “Tell me about comms here. How do we communicate with the outside world?”

“Well, we have a satellite dish I’ll show you that’s on the perimeter of our camp. It’s connected by a coax cable to a router in this building. Our devices,” she said, tapping her tablet, “connect with the router via Bluetooth.”

“Phones?”

“Our cell phones use the Wi-Fi capability provided by the satellite dish, and I have a satellite phone in case the satellite itself goes down.”

“You found him near the satellite dish…”

She nodded. “Yes, outside the enclosure. I don’t have a clue why he was out there. It makes no sense.” Her lips pursed for a moment. Then she shook her head as though shaking away dark thoughts. “We also have radios, which is how we communicate with each other when we’re away from this facility.”

“All good to know,” he said with a small smile.

Her gaze fell to his mouth, then quickly darted back up. “I’m assuming you have cold weather gear…?”

“I do. Minnesota boy, here, remember?”

The pink in her cheeks deepened. “If we had to medevac anyone out of here for frostbite or whatever, it could take time to organize. Helicopters can make it out here in the dead of winter, but it requires a lot of coordination, and the weather has to cooperate.”

“Do you have a medic on site?”

“That’d be me,” Nate said as he placed a plate of steaming hot biscuits on the table. “I wasn’t always a science geek. I was a combat medic in the Army before I used my GI bill to further my education.”

“We’re lucky to have him,” Maddie said.

Gunn glanced up at Nate, internally acknowledging that the information gave him new respect for the man. Which he knew was a prejudiced view, but they’d shared similar training and experiences. He’d have an ally if he needed him in a fight—if he wasn’t the killer. “Army, huh?”

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