Monk, too. “Out of the way,” he yelled as he closed the distance. “Kowalski, cut him loose.”
Kowalski yanked a dagger from a sheath, while Monk dropped to a knee.
He checked for a neck pulse. “He’s alive. In shock.”
As Monk quickly bandaged the damaged hands, the priest stirred. He lifted the ruins of his face and stared with his one eye. His features were sunken with despair and agony.
“I... I couldn’t stop...” he moaned through cracked lips, his voice hoarse from screaming. He searched around him, as if seeking absolution. “I told them... I told them where Gray and the others went.”
34
May 14, 4:25A.M. ANAT
Aboard thePolar King, East Siberian Sea
From the bridge of the icebreaker, Seichan gazed out at the expanse of ice shining in the moonlight and the dazzling curtains of the borealis. She had a panoramic view from this tenth level of the ship’s superstructure.
Closer at hand, the bow lamps illuminated the frozen seas immediately in front of the ship. ThePolar King’s red-painted bulk moved steadily across the landscape, curling plates and rafts of ice to either side of its spoon-shaped prow.
“How fast are we going?” Jason asked at the navigation station, watching the radar scan of the region. Sister Anna stayed next to him.
“Three knots,” Captain Kelly reported from the helm. “For now, we can maintain a steady pace. But the ice is only two meters thick. It’ll get worse before much longer.”
“How much ice can theKinghandle?” Gray asked.
“Three times what we’re traveling through right now. Up to six meters by ramming the bow and using the ship’s weight to crush our way forward.”
Seichan tried to picture a wall of ice twenty-feet high. She had a hard time imagining a ship cutting through it, even one as massive as theKing. Concerned, Seichan turned her back on the sea and crossed to the group.
She challenged the captain as she joined them, “What’s the likelihood of us being trapped by that ice?”
Kelly shrugged. “We can travel backward nearly as well as forward. And we’re currently only usingoneof our reactors to drive the ship. The second is on standby mode.”
Seichan frowned at him, letting him know he hadn’t answered her question.
“Low but not zero,” he admitted. “Ice is fickle and can shift unexpectedly by currents, closing behind a breaker, trapping it. Happened to a Russian scientific ship in Antarctica a few years back. Everyone had to be ferried off by helicopter.”
Gray turned to the ship’s navigator. “Mister Murphy, how long until we reach the search zone?”
“We’re making good speed,” Byron answered. “Another three hours, maybe less. But that ice will grow heavy quick. Once we’re in the zone, it’ll be slow going.”
“What about the radar?” Seichan pressed the man. “Anything showing up yet?”
He shook his head. “Like I said before, there’s never been an island found out here.” He cast an apologetic look toward the Chukchi native.
Omryn Akkay remained stoic, arms crossed, clearly unswayed by the technology aboard the ship.
Even Bryon expressed similar doubts. “The solar storm continues to muck up our systems. We’ll have to hope it clears once we’re in the search area.”
Jason glanced to the neighboring radio room. For the past hour, he had traveled back and forth between there and the bridge, trying to raise Sigma Command or Monk’s team at Severodvinsk. He had no luck reaching either one of them.
“If your radar is compromised by the solar flare,” Gray said, “maybe somethingcouldstill be out there?”
Anna nodded and stepped closer. “How well has the Arctic even been mapped?”
“The surface? Fairly well. Satellites are constantly tracking the size of the polar cap. But under all that ice? Little is known. Only a fractionof the world’s ocean floors has been mapped to modern standards. Around twenty percent. And the Arctic Ocean is far worse. Less than five percent.”
“What about the East Siberian Sea?” Jason asked.
