Couldn’t open it on the ice.
“Ford…” She shut her mouth, swallowed, and tried again. “Tell him he’s…”Everything, she wanted to say, but no sound came out.Tell him I love him.
Chapter 48
“Aren’t you supposed to wake him up?”
“Let me worry about Coop.” Pam eyed her with a squint. “You need to rest.”
Angel shook her head, which made the room spin.
“I’m not asking. As your doctor, I’m telli—”
“You weren’t there, Pam. You weren’t there.” She grabbed the woman’s hand and leaned forward, intense in that way she’d been since they’d gotten here. Or, if she was being honest, since she’d hidden in that ice tunnel back at Burke-Ruhe however many days ago. Weeks ago. Alifetimeago. “Won’t leave him.”
Pam must have seen something stubborn in Angel’s face, or maybe it was the fists she’d made with her bandaged hands, because she backed off. “If you’re not going to sleep, at least lie down in this cot. It’s for you. Yours. Use it.”
“You got the tubes?”
“Yes, Angel.” Pam spoke slowly, as if she’d already said this a million times. Which, in fact, she had. “The virus is safe. It’s safe.”
“’kay.” Deaf to whatever Pam said next, Angel turned to look at Ford, so pale and still in the bed beside hers.
Angel knew this was kindness, she understood it, felt it, but she couldn’t appreciate it. Couldn’t care for a damned thing while a piece of her lay shriveled, half-dead in the bed with Ford. Until he woke up, she couldn’t revive it.
“Eat this, or you’ll—” Pam stopped, her head at an angle. “What’s that?”
It took a few seconds, but eventually Angel heard it, too.
Fear churned through her immediately.I’ve been here, she thought.Out on the ice, more than once.
“Sounds an awful lot like a plane.”
“Oh God.” She sat up too fast. “They’ve sent reinforcements, they’ll—”
“They’ll nothing.” Pam put a hand on Angel’s arm and reached for one of the two guns she’d set on a counter. “You think we’re going down without a fight?” She squeezed once and let go, hefted the handgun, and handed it to Angel. “We’re ready this time, remember? We’ve got their weapons, we’ve got their stupid virus, and we’ve got each other. They shouldn’t have messed with a crew of hardened Poleys like us.” Were those tears in Pam’s eyes? “You proved that more than anyone, Angel. Got that?”
The panic ebbed and Angel nodded. “Okay.”
Yesterday, a few of the Poleys had taken snowmobiles out to the site of her face-off with Sampson. They’d returned with the bodies and weapons, along with a newfound respect for Angel.
She’d gotten along fine with these guys back at Burke-Ruhe, before everything had happened, but the way they looked at her had changed. She wasn’t just a colleague anymore, they’d told her, but a South Pole legend, like Shackleton or Scott.
“I’ll head out to see what the hell’s going on.” Pam moved to the door. “You hold down the fort here.”
“Got it.” Angel nodded, gun gripped in her hands.
Pam left her alone with Ford, whose stillness made her want to shake him. Of course that would be the crazy thing to do. Then again, crazy had pretty much saved her life over the last few days, so…
Awkwardly, she stood and shoved her cot right up against his in a way that so closely resembled their time in the hut that she could almost smell it. Vodka, canned stew, and him. Him, all over her, in her, next to her at night.
She rolled onto the cot and got as close to his heat as she could, her back tight to his side, while her front faced the door, ready to protect him.
With her life, if need be.
* * *
Retired Navy SEAL Eric Cooper wasn’t the type of man to ask for permission before acting. Nor was he the type to ask for forgiveness. He just did what needed to be done. It had been his job once. Now it was his personal mission.
