Page 18 of Gunn's Mission

“We travel in pairs anyway,” she said. “But thanks.”

The radio clipped to her jacket squawked. “Maddie, Eric here.”

She unclipped her radio. “You all heading out?”

“Sun’s out. We’re all hitting the ice. Is Gunn enjoying the sightseeing tour?”

Maddie grinned at Gunn, whose smile stretched. “We’re almost done. I’m just going to let him take in the view from the ridge before we come back to base.”

“Roger that. See you two later.”

She clipped the radio to her jacket and raised her eyebrows. “Ready to see our mountain?”

Gunn glanced into the distance and laughed.

Gunn stoodon the edge of the ridge that ran north and south on the floe. Or north and south today, anyway. It was hard to remember that the floe was drifting and turning in the ocean, albeit slowly.

The ridge wasn’t very high, but it did serve as a good landmark.

“Everywhere else looks pretty flat,” he said, gazing out over the floe. “What’s up with this ridge?”

“Ice floes bump and, sometimes, smoosh together. One can get pushed up over another, and that’s how the ridges form. As more ice forms over where they meet, it glues them together.”

“Is smoosh a technical term?” he asked, a smile lifting one side of his mouth.

“It is for me. Remember, I’m not the ice specialist. That’s Hanna.”

From his vantage, he could see all the platforms and some neighboring floes in the sea. “Makes you feel small, doesn’t it?”

Maddie nodded.

His gaze went to the far horizon. “We have clouds rolling in,” he said. “Anything we need to be concerned about?”

She sighed. “Winter is coming. It’s nice when the weather’s like it is now. Getting around is easier. The darker it gets and the murkier the sky…” She gave a little shudder. “We depend on each other and our GPS devices to get us back home.”

“You check the forecast?”

She aimed a glare at him. “Every morning. The storm will hit sometime tonight and will linger for days. It’s a big system and might bring a blizzard.” She wrinkled her nose. “No maybe about it. It will bring a blizzard. We’ll have limited visibility, which means we have to be extremely careful when we’re moving around outside.”

“Must be easy to get turned around.”

“That’s right, Minnesota boy. And if you don’t know where you are, what do you do?”

“I stay in place until I do know or someone finds me.”

She drew in a deep breath. “I guess we should head back. We’re wasting precious daylight, and I still need to show you our outbuildings.”

Gunn followed her back down to where they’d parked their snowmobiles. Soon, they were flying across the terrain. He followed Maddie’s slim form as she ably sped along. Everything about her fascinated him. She was curious about everything. Noticed everything. She wasn’t some lazy management type who spent her time counting beans. She was in the field, understood her team’s assignments, and figured out ways to keep them safe and on task.

Someone with her skills could find work anywhere in the world. And she had. But he still didn’t get why she’d accepted a job here on the top of the world.

To Gunn, this was an interesting assignment, but the monotonous scenery and relentless cold would eventually take their toll, and she’d had several rotations on this site.

The camp came into view long before they arrived. He felt a relief all out of proportion to the reality. The open ice could easily cause some unease in people. This hint of civilization was a very welcome sight.

She parked in front of the garage warehouse. He quickly dismounted and rushed to help her raise the garage door of the building. They drove closer and quickly used a dolly to move the machines inside before bringing down the door to preserve the meager heat.

Then they reviewed the items that were stored there—the vehicles and kayaks, the foodstuffs neatly stacked on shelves in large boxes, packed nearly to the rafters. She said they’d be left with a single long shelf of food by the end of the season.

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