Arctic Rising

30

Roo dragged Anika out of the kitchen. He was, as she remembered, surprisingly strong. She tried to twist free, and he moved with her, fluidly, easily, and redirected her movement so that she spun all the way back around and kept walking out with him.

“This is not good,” Anika shouted. There were a handful of performers outside still. They all looked up. “We shouldn’t be doing this. Not Vy.”

Inside the kitchen, a loud smack dribbled out through the doors. Anika flinched.

“There was a girl, once, running weed up and down the Alaska corridor. She made good money, right?” Roo said, holding Anika back by the shoulders. “But one day, off the Bering Coast, she was picked up by Russian Coast Guard. And she disappeared into the prison systems. You understand?”

“Yes.”

“I got her out a year later,” Roo said. “By then … she’d learned some things. Like when she started out in Baffin, a short, blond woman dealer would have to be tougher, more brutal, than a man, or people wouldn’t listen closely. It took a while for things to settle.”

“No.” Anika tried to push past Roo, but he held her. “Roo!” She shouted that loud enough everyone openly stared.

“Anika, let her do it.”

Anika held her hands up. “No. We won’t leave her to do it alone. So let me go, and quit trying to be protective. You are my friend, let go of me.”

Roo did, and Anika marched back into the kitchen. She ran into Vy with her shoulder, shoving her aside, and looked down at Gabriel.

He looked up, face bruised and bloodied. A tear rolled off his cheek. “It’s okay, Anika.” Blood dripped from his lips. “It’s okay. It’s repayment. I deserve this. We all know it. I’ve done worse. You’ve seen some of the things I’ve done. I’ve cost enough lives, I knew this would come some day. But I cannot give you what you want. And I’m sorry.”

She thought about the sadness in him. And the disgust and regret in his voice when he’d talked to her about torture back on the Canadian Patrol Boat.

He was not an immoral man.

And also, not a masochist. He was suffering.

“Gabriel, please. Please answer a question. Just one. We’ve stopped. It’s me.” A thick rivulet of blood dripped down the side of his left eye as she looked right at him and leaned forward, half hugging him. He rested his head, wires and all, on her shoulder. “When that nuclear bomb explodes, will it hurt people?”

She could feel him pause. It was the muscle language. He was refusing to answer, one way or another, but she could feel him gather himself to resist more torture.

“A moral man can condemn innocents to death in war,” she said softly, letting him go. “The religious, the righteous, those getting ready for war, they agree to sacrifice innocents caught between them. The lives are filed under ‘collateral damage.’ That is the price,” Anika said. “I’m not so innocent either, Gabriel. And I know that even they, when forced to stare into what they’re about to do, flinch slightly.”

“Anika?” Vy asked. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s trained for resistance,” Roo said, squatting in front of Gabriel. “No one survives torture forever. He’s hanging in there, long enough so that whatever he’s hiding, it will be over soon. But he doesn’t like it.”

“He’s conflicted about his mission,” Anika said. “Regret, guilt. That’s why he almost welcomes this.”

“He’s conflicted, but determined,” Roo said. “We could beat something out of him, with the help of that machine, but how long will that take?”

They all looked down at the beaten man, who remained slumped, looking down at the floor.

“Fuck,” Vy spat. “Just … fuck.”

“The nuclear weapon was on what we presume was a Gaia-chartered ship,” Anika said. “And Gaia headquarters is docked in Thule. The man running away from the UNPG is in Thule. Everything, it seems, leads to Thule. Doesn’t it, Mr. Garret Dubuque?”

Gabriel didn’t answer.

Anika leaned over and slid the brass knuckles off Vy’s fingers, and gently pushed them onto hers.

“All I want is a yes or no answer, Gabriel, for the machine. You don’t have to tell us where the bomb actually is. But I wonder if you might point us in the right direction? Because there are a lot of people who live their lives in Thule. Innocent people. You yourself asked me a question—about what I would do, if I could get information that could save lives. Now I know.”

He shook his head.

She hit him. They both flinched. Her own body shuddered in empathy, and she wanted to throw up. But he was a killer. He knew where this bomb was.

This could save lives.

He wouldn’t break. But he could let her know if Thule was the right direction.

She hit him again—in the ribs, the brass knuckles digging hard into the palms of her hand—thinking of the people who could die. Thinking of Tom.

Tom. That made it easier to punch again, this time hearing something crack. To hit the face and see the blood and spit and not even care.

Think of the man who tried to kill her.

Think of being tied up, helpless on the ship, wondering what would happen to her.

And yet. If this was vengeance, the blood didn’t feel very good. Even the blood of a dangerous man like Gabriel. Something in the back of her brain screamed stop, that he was tied-up, defenseless, no longer a threat.

But that was her lizard brain. A poor moralist. Gabriel was no longer a threat directly. Like a caged lion, he had been neutered. But the greater machine of plans he was a part of, something the back of her brain struggled to literalize, that was still a threat.

Gabriel’s body twitched with sobs. “You wouldn’t be able to find it. It’ll be hidden. Shielded.”

He was convincing himself, she knew. Convincing himself that he could make the pain stop, but that he wouldn’t be betraying whatever it was he was a part of.

“But it’s in Thule, right?” Anika asked, out of breath.

Gabriel nodded. Ashamed. For being weak, for giving this up. “But that’s as much as I’ll tell you,” he grunted. “Any more, any more, and it would be better for me to die. Maybe … maybe you can get some people to leave Thule. Evacuate.”

He looked up at her with pleading eyes.

“Vy?” Anika pulled the knuckles off and let them drop to the floor, relieved. She was ready to cry herself. “Can we get to Thule quickly?”

“We’re owed favors,” Roo said. “I’ll get on it.”

“Vy, call your doctor back,” Anika said. And she kneeled in front of Gabriel.

He looked at her through blood and puffed skin, coughed, and leaned further forward. “It’s okay,” he said.

Anika shook her head. “No, it isn’t. I don’t know what the fuck you’re involved with, Gabriel. But it was far from fucking okay. It’ll never be okay. I won’t be okay.”

He started laughing, a wet choking sound that ended with a cry of pain. The ribs. “Please stay away from Thule, Anika. Send them a warning, tell them to leave. But don’t go. I’m sorry you’ve lost friends. But no good will come of going to Thule. I promise you.”

“Good-bye, Gabriel.” You weird, strange, little old man, she thought.

And then: I’m so sorry. She’d have nightmares about what she’d just done for the rest of her life.

Outside the kitchen doors, Roo was on his phone. He gave her a thumbs-up. “We have transportation into Thule,” he said. “Courtesy of the Dutch Navy. They’ll also pick up Gabriel. Various people are very interested in him now. For one, we’re all really interested to know who he’s working for.”

Anika could imagine. “How long?”

“They land in fifteen minutes. Grab what stuff you need and let’s run. And yes, I am definitely flying out with you. I’ve been officially attached to you by the Caribbean Intelligence Agencies.” Roo left to find a bag for the laptop he’d somehow acquired and some spare phones.

Anika looked over at Vy. “You don’t have to come any further. You’ve done too much.”

But Vy shook her head. “With all the trouble you’ve already gotten into, you’ll need someone who knows Thule. And who can watch your back. Besides, this has gotten somewhat personal. They killed Chernov. I owe them.”

Deep down, she’d been hoping Vy would come. “Thanks.” She let out a breath she’d been holding in.

“It’s going to get ugly, I think.” Vy crossed her arms.

“I know,” Anika said. “I’ve seen ugly. But I’m not backing down, either.”

Vy nodded.

And Roo returned. He threw a duffel bag that clanked loudly down on the floor. He unzipped it to reveal semiautomatic weapons, pistols, several grenades, and an assortment of very large knives.

“Pick your weapons of choice. Seeing what happened the last few times we ventured out, I think from now on, we stay heavily armed.” He looked at Anika. “Get ready to get back outside, you’ll need to fool the cameras again, just to be safe.”

Anika picked up a pistol, checked it over, and then found an ammunition clip in a separate part of Roo’s arsenal. She tucked it into the back of the waistband of her newly acquired jeans.

“What about you, you getting made up?”

Roo nodded. “War paint for the digital world.”