we came here to do: get a look at the crash site." Smith glanced out of the lab window. The snow had slackened for the moment, but the wind still gusted uneasily. "We've got enough daylight left to reach the saddleback. Major, Val, you're with me. Get your gear together and plan for a night on the ice. Doctor Trowbridge, as you've stated, this station is your responsibility. I think it's best you stay here. Randi, if you could step outside with me for a moment. I need to talk with you."
Garbing up, they pushed out through the snow lock, making the transition from the enclosed warmth of the hut to the piercing cold of the outdoors. Smith led Randi up the packed snow trail between the cabins until there was no chance of being overheard.
"All right," he said, turning to her. "We have a problem."
Randi produced a wry ChapSticked smile. "Another one?"
"You might think so," Smith replied, the mist of his breath swirling around his face. "Here's the situation. I'm going to have to do something I don't want to do. I have to split my forces, such as they are, to cover both the station and the bomber. I'm going to need both Professor Metrace and Major Smyslov with me at the crash site. That means I'm going to have to leave you here on your own. I don't like it, but I'm stuck with it."
Randi's face went dark. "Thanks so much for the vote of confidence, Colonel."
Annoyance cut across Smith's features. "Don't cop an attitude with me, Randi. I don't need it. I suspect the minimum you'll be confronting down here is a mass murderer. Your only backup will be Professor Trowbridge, who, I also suspect, will be about as much use in a fight as an extra bucket of water on a sinking ship. If I didn't think you were the most survivable member of this team, I wouldn't even be considering this scenario. As it stands, I estimate you have the best chance of coming out of this job alive. Are we absolutely clear on this?"
The cold words and cold focus in those dark blue eyes jolted her back momentarily. This was a facet of Jon Smith Randi had not encountered before, either in his time with Sophia or in her chance encounters since then. This was the full-house soldier, the warrior.
"I'm sorry, Jon, I got off base. I'll cover things here for you, no problem."
The look on his face disengaged, and Smith smiled one of his rare full smiles, resting a hand momentarily on her shoulder. "I never doubted it, Randi. In a lot of ways this will be the tougher job. You've got to verify our suspicions about what's happened here while watching your back to make sure it doesn't happen to you. You've also got to find out how the word was passed off the island and who it was passed to. Trowbridge may be of help to you there. That's one of the reasons I brought him along. Anything you can learn about the identities, resources, and intents of the hostiles could be critical."
She nodded. "I have some ideas about that. I'll try and get the big radio working, too."
"Good enough." Smith's expression closed up again. "But while you're about it, remember to stay alive, all right?"
"As long as it doesn't interfere with the mission," she replied. Then she tried to lighten the Zen of her statement. "And while you're up there on that mountain I suggest you watch your own back with that scheming brunette. I think she has designs on you."
Smith threw his head back and laughed, and for an instant Randi could see what had enraptured her sister. "An arctic glacier is hardly the environment for a romantic interlude, Randi."
"Where there's a will there's a way, Jon Smith, and I have a hunch that lady has a lot of will."
Standing outside the laboratory hut, Randi watched the three small figures trudge up the flag-marked trail, the one that led eastward along the shoreline toward the central peaks. The snow had stopped altogether, but the mist, the near-perpetual "sea smoke" of the poles, was closing in. The arctic camouflage her teammates wore blended them into the environment until, abruptly, they were gone.
"What now?" Doctor Trowbridge stood beside her in the lee of the hut, garish in the Day-Glo orange cold-weather gear issued to the science expedition. Randi could see that the academic was beginning to regret his momentary burst