скачать книгу бесплатно
He nodded. “Actually, very well. You?”
“I didn’t think I’d be able to get warm, but those blankets did the trick. I was out like a light. Probably the postadrenaline dump helped a bit, too.”
Godwin nodded. “Derek was right about you.”
“Meaning?”
“You’ve been in a lot of fights.”
Annja shrugged. “I get mixed up in a lot of stuff. I’m always interested in things that most normal people wouldn’t get into. As a result, knowing how to protect myself is important.”
Godwin watched her. “Well, there seems to be a natural sort of grace to you. It’s like some kind of second skin. Very relaxed. And you can hold your own.”
If only you knew the whole story, Annja thought. Instead, she smiled some more. “Well, thanks.”
Derek entered the reception area. “Good morning. Everyone ready to get going?”
Annja nodded. “Yes. How far is the dig site?”
“Probably shouldn’t take us much more than two hours to reach it,” Derek said. “We’ll follow Hendrick’s Highway east and then get onto the dirt track. Probably won’t be the smoothest sailing at that point, but you’ll get used to it.”
“Great,” Annja said. “More sore-butt syndrome.”
“Excuse me,” a voice called out.
They turned and saw the counterman gesturing to them. “I couldn’t help but overhear. Did you say something about Hendrick’s Highway?”
Derek nodded. “We’ll be driving it today. We need to reach our other party to the east.”
The counterman shook his head. “Well, you won’t be going by Hendrick’s, that’s for sure.”
“Why not?”
“It’s closed. About twenty miles from here. They had a bad truck rollover last night in the storm. Whole highway is blocked and frozen in. They’re saying it could be a couple of days before they get it cleared.”
“A couple of days?” Derek shook his head. “That won’t work for us. We need to get moving today.”
“Where ya heading?”
Derek frowned. “Tokrak.”
The counterman smiled. “Well, that’s no problem. You can just go the other way.”
“What other way?” Annja looked at the counterman. “There’s another way to get there?”
“Sure enough,” the counterman said. “You just take the ice road.”
Annja’s stomach dropped. “You mean the river?”
The man smiled and nodded. “The Mackenzie. She’ll take you there no problem. Just hang a right at the sign for Erop and follow that east. Should hook up with Hendrick’s farther on.”
Annja sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was drive over a frozen river. She’d faced plenty of challenges before, but risking life and limb like this just didn’t feel right.
“Annja?”
Godwin was staring at her. “You okay?”
“I’m not crazy about the ice-road option,” she admitted.
“Only option you’ve got,” the counterman said. “Otherwise, you’ll be waiting here for the next few days. And it doesn’t look like your boss here is content to do that.”
Derek nodded. “He’s right, Annja. We’ve got to get going. Think of it this way—if you don’t get to the site, that’s the number of days less that you have to get the things done you need to do.”
Annja frowned. “Yeah, I know.”
She looked at Godwin. “Ever driven it before?”
“Once or twice.”
“That fills me with so much confidence.”
“Better that than me lying to you.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Lying wouldn’t be such a bad thing in this case.”
The counterman finished writing up the receipt for Derek. “Just remember that when you’re out there, the big rigs have the right of way. You have to pull over and let them pass. Trust me, you don’t want that kind of momentum coming up on your tail, if you get my drift.”
“Can’t they slow down?” Annja asked.
The counterman shrugged. “Not really a question of slowing down as much as it is about staying ahead of the wave.”
“The wave?”
He nodded. “All that weight on the ice creates a wave under the surface that rumbles along under the truck chassis. They have to stay ahead of it as they drive or it can erupt through the ice and you get a trapdoor.”
“Gosh this is sounding so fantastic,” Annja said. “What’s a trapdoor?”
“The ice, she opens up and the truck just disappears. Then the ice floe slides back into place like nothing was ever there. Incredible, really.”
“Wonderful,” Annja said. “How long will we be on this ice road?”
The counterman shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe an hour. You can’t burn like you do on normal roads. But you can go at least forty kilometers an hour.”
“That won’t be nearly fast enough,” Annja said.
“I AM SO NOT HAPPY about this,” Annja said. She sat in the front next to Godwin as he drove through Inuvik toward the entrance to the ice road.
“We don’t have the luxury of time,” Derek said. “Better we go through some discomfort and reach our destination. Otherwise, it’s time lost.”
“Discomfort is one thing,” Annja said. “Falling through some trapdoor and plummeting to our icy death is quite another.”
“Relax,” Derek said. “The company has a great life insurance policy.” He frowned. “Well, it does for Godwin and me. Contractors are—”
“Screwed,” Annja said. “Yeah, I gathered that.” She nudged Godwin. “I don’t want to die in this river, okay?”
He smiled. “I’ll do my best.”
“Do better or I’ll kick your butt.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Derek pointed between them. “Is that it?”
Godwin nodded. “Yep, it feels a little weird knowing you’re leaving dry land, but then you kind of forget about it.”
“Doubtful,” Annja said. But she looked out the window as the SUV rolled down the embankment and then the wheels slipped for just a moment before they found purchase on the thick ice. Annja tried to guess how thick it must have been.
“Probably about five feet in some places,” Godwin said suddenly. He glanced at Annja and smiled. “Everyone asks the question eventually. I figured I’d beat you to it.”
“And the heavy trucks drive on this.”
Godwin pointed. “See there? That’s one coming right at us.”
Annja stared through the windshield at the approaching rig. It was a flatbed and seemed to be carrying something square and huge. “What is that thing?”
“Generator by the look of it,” Godwin said. “Probably coming back down from the refinery project on the delta. The government has a few of them up there. I think they’re trying to extract petroleum from ice crystals of some sort. Pretty interesting actually.”
The rig honked its horn and Godwin waved as the massive truck rolled past them. Annja shuddered, praying that the ice would hold. But then the truck passed them and was gone.
Annja breathed again.
Godwin smiled. “If the ice road wasn’t mostly safe, no one would be allowed to drive out here, Annja. Just relax and try to enjoy the scenery.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll do that.” She leaned back in the seat. But there wasn’t much scenery to look at. Frozen carcasses of pine trees poked out of the snowy white landscape. Rolling hills and mountains of white surrounded the river road, and beyond that there seemed little of interest aside from the occasional sign.
She glanced at the dashboard and saw that Godwin had increased their speed to a little past forty kilometers per hour. “Aren’t you going too fast?”
Godwin shook his head. “Smaller truck means we can travel at this clip pretty well. Besides, I know how badly you want to get back onto dry land so I’m doing my best to deliver.”
“Thanks.”
“No bother.”
Derek unfolded a map and pointed out their location to Annja. “We’ve got maybe twenty miles to go. Maybe thirty minutes more on this.”
Annja took a breath. “That’s a relief.”
Godwin nodded. “I’ll get you there in one piece, Annja. I promise you that. Whatever happens from there on out is up to you.”
“You say that like you expect something to happen. Everything all right?”
“I’m concerned.”
“About what?”
“The assassin’s dagger that guy was using. I want to know how he managed to get his hands on something like that.”
Derek cleared his throat. “He said he won it in a poker game. Couldn’t it have been that innocent?”
“Actually, no. The dagger represents everything to the assassin. There’s no way it would have been wagered. And there’s no way it would have been given up without a terrible cost.”
“You think someone dispatched those guys to warn us?” Annja asked.
“Possibly.”
“But about what?”
Godwin shrugged. “Probably the dig site. I’m sure there are quite a few Araktak traditionalists who are not pleased about the prospect of relocating what they consider to be sacred burial grounds, all for the sake of some giant faceless company.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “No offense, Mr. Wainman.”
“None taken,” Derek said. “This wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened. Although usually we’re able to resolve the situations without much difficulty.”
Annja glanced in the mirror out of her window. “Holy crap, that’s a big truck.”
Godwin glanced back. Behind them, a large rig was barreling down on them at a high speed.
Godwin frowned. “He’s going way too fast. And with that much weight, he’s going to cause problems.”
Annja’s stomach sunk. “Problems?”
“Just hang on.” Godwin put his foot down on the gas pedal and the smaller truck shot forward across the ice road. But the giant truck didn’t fade into the distance. It kept coming.
“He’s still coming for us,” Annja said. She glanced back at Derek. “Would this possibly fall into the category of ‘situations’?”
“Possibly,” Derek said. He was staring out of the back of the truck. “Can we lose him, Godwin?”
“Doubtful. It’s not like there are any side streets or alleys to duck down around these parts. And he’s coming much too fast for me to lose him even if I tried.”
“He looks overloaded, even from this distance,” Derek said.
Godwin nodded. “He’s got too much load on him. Way too much. I don’t understand it.”
Annja glanced at him. “Unless someone wants that much weight around us.”
“You think?”
“I think,” Annja said, “that we need to find a way to get off of this road and soon. Otherwise that truck is going to steamroll us into oblivion.”
Godwin nodded. “Hang on. I’m going to let him get closer.”
