“Wellwhat? Tell me.”
He pulled in a long breath. “The drills don’t work.”
“I provided you with engineers as requested. Have they not—”
“They were unable to acquire a sample at the original site. Apparently, they melted straight through the ice. The engine overheated and the entire mechanism died.” He paused, enjoying this just a little. “Seems the design wasn’t as simple as they’d assumed. The engineers didn’t have time to—”
“And it’s too late, I suppose? Were they left at—”
“I had the men retrieve them and load them into the plane, so we’ve got the drills here at the Facility.”
He cringed, ready for another dressing-down, but she surprised him. “Smart.”
“Anyone would have done the same, ma’am.” Which wasn’t strictly true. If Sampson had been in charge, the drills would have stayed at Burke-Ruhe, smashed to smithereens, no doubt. Instead, Tenny had made sure the team worked all night to retrieve them.
“Have that man fix them. The glaciologist. They’re his drills after all.”
“Ah.” His hand tightened on the phone. And he sucked in another breath, wishing he had an actual drink in his other hand instead of cold coffee.
“Pleasejust spit out whatever it is.”
“Cooper. The researcher. The one who retrieved the virus and designed the dril—”
“You’veexplainedwho Cooper is, for God’s sake, Clive. Now get to the point.”
“He’s still there.”
“There?” The word dropped into the phone like a stone into water. The ripples reached him, even here at the bottom of the earth.
“At Burke-Ruhe.” Clive swallowed audibly. He wasn’t made for this nonsense. He was a virologist, an immunologist, and a physician, not some covert operative. “Apparently Sampson was unable to locate him. And…”
Sampson shifted at the other side of the room.
“There’s more.” Not a question.
“There has been some unexpected collateral damage.” All thanks to Bradley Sampson. The man was a wild dog, a barely domesticated mutt who, in Clive’s opinion, ought to be put down. He was uncomfortable in the same room with him.
“We’ve lost four, counting Cooper.” He dreaded this part. “One of them was summer crew.” When she didn’t speak, he went on. “The, uh, station’s cook was left behind. The two scientists questioned by Sampson are—were—winter researchers, but they did not…” He dragged in a shaky breath. Not at any point during his long, difficult climb had he foreseen his career winding up this way. An accessory to murder? No. No, he was—
“Yes?”
“They didn’t make it.”
“I’m extremely disappointed.” An understatement, obviously.
“I understand that, Madame Director. We’re not sure how—”
“You weresloppy. That’s how. Inexcusable.”
Clive tightened his lips. A hot flush spread up his neck and face as he fought the urge to hang up on her. There was no point reminding her that he hadn’t been present at Burke-Ruhe. His job had been to oversee the Harper Facility, ensuring that everything was in place for the trials. And it had been perfect. He’d taken her millions and turned what was once a poor excuse for a research station into a state-of-the-art vaccine research facility. That, of course, wasn’t something she’d remark upon.
And it didn’t matter anyway, because he couldn’t run trials on a vaccine if he didn’t have the damned virus.
The director sniffed and he waited, needing this to work—the virus, the vaccine, the bonus.
He wiped a hand down his face and forced a tight, bitter smile.
Whatever happened, he’d continue to do as he was told. Though he hated to admit it, his career would have been long over if Katherine Harper hadn’t allowed him to keep this position. The money certainly sweetened things. It would be a hell of a lot sweeter if those damned mercenaries hadn’t ruined everything.
