‘Yes. I am very sorry —’
‘Look, I’m not some idiot who doesn’t know what they’re dealing with. If the only reason you’ve said no is because you think I’m a volcano chaser, I’d appreciate it if you could review my request. You can see I’m genuine.’
Siggi managed to stop a laugh rumbling out of him. Because this woman, her eyes flashing angrily at him, was the complete opposite of what he knew most volcanologists to look like. She was slightly over five feet tall, slim with curly hair that sat above her shoulders and was brown with sun kissed golden streaks in it, much like his own. She had an elfin face which, if he wasn’t witnessing the rage behind her eyes, he wouldn’t have imagined could look cross.
‘With respect, I do not know you are a volcanologist by how you look,’ he began.
She tipped her head to one side, thoughtfully, but Siggi could tell from her expression that she was waiting for him to make a comment about gender. And he wasn’t going to do that.
‘I have met many volcanologists and they rarely work alone. Where is your team? And you are not Icelandic, so why are you not with someone from the Icelandic Met Office, the IMO? That is what would make me think you are genuine.’
Luckily for Siggi, side-stepping the gender stereotyping that she seemed to expect had taken the wind out of her sails. Suddenly, she looked tired.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, unzipping her coat and pulling it off, dumping it on a chair while she unzipped the next layer to reveal a well-worn knitted sweater. ‘I’ve just got off a plane from Hawaii and I wanted to go and set up some equipment before a well-meaning colleague from the IMO tells me there is no need and that I can use the data they are already collecting.’
‘And their data is not good enough for you?’
She sighed. ‘It’s not exactly what I want. It’s hard to explain.’
‘Well, you are convincing me; even so, we cannot take you. That area is out of bounds because of the warnings.’
‘Like, literally, they’ve barricaded the roads in and out of the peninsula?’
‘Well—’
‘I know they haven’t. Do you know how I know? Because they’re waiting for me to tell them whether or not that ought to happen. The data they’re collecting is brilliant, and it’s got them this far, but now there’s more at stake. They need my data. It goes deeper and is more accurate. I’ve been working on my model for years.’
‘So,’ Siggi peered at the computer and brought the email up from earlier. ‘Iris. If I call someone I know at the IMO, they will know who you are?’
‘Couldn’t you just google me? I’d rather get some stuff set up before I have to start bargaining with people about whether it’s a good idea or not. Although that already seems to be happening.’
‘Would you like a coffee while I google you?’
‘Thank you. That’d be lovely.’
Iris sat on the chair opposite him on the other side of the desk and sipped the coffee he’d made for her while he looked her up.
It was incredible. She actually was a leading expert on predicting eruptions. She was working on a project that was looking not only at whether an eruption was imminent, but more detailed information about what kind of eruption, what kinds of problems might be caused by gases or ash, and even how long it might last.
‘Um, sorry, I don’t know your name. But are you still looking or have you started looking at something else and forgotten I’m here?’
Siggi looked across at her. The person he’d just been reading about seemed at odds with the woman sat across from him. Perhaps her irritation and impatience was down to jet-lag if she really had just flown in from Hawaii because the woman he’d googled was accomplished in a way that no one could achieve without a kind of quiet determination.
‘My name is Siggi and you can consider yourself verified,’ he said, smiling, and surprisingly drawing a smile from her in return.
‘Does that get me a ride to Reykjanes?’
‘I cannot decide that. I need to ask a colleague and also, I would like to check with a friend at the IMO.’ He held his hands up as she opened her mouth to protest. ‘It will be off the record, but you have not yet seen the lay of the land. I want to know what we are dealing with if I take you out there.’
‘Okay, fair enough. So you’ll take me.’
‘If it all checks out, I will.’
‘Thank you. Now, can you suggest somewhere I could stay?’
He had to stop himself from suggesting his place because if he’d heard that question from any other woman he thought was attractive, he’d have seen it as an invitation for him to ask. But she wasn’t the kind of woman he would want a casual hook-up with. He could already tell that she was very different from the women he usually had relationships with. Not that he could really call any of them relationships.
‘I have a friend who owns a hotel a few minutes from here. Does this look okay?’ He pulled up the website for Anders’ hotel and pushed the mouse towards her.
