“And northeast?” Carrie said. “That’s Greenland. Did you get them from Greenland?”
Nuqatlak shook his head and closed his eyes. Even these simple gestures took a lot of effort.
“No…” his voice was weak and trailing.
“Then, where? Tell me where?” Carrie said.
Silence. His eyes remained closed.
“Nuqatlak, where did you get those guns?” Carrie placed her lips over his ear.
“Danish… Danish depot.” He breathed the words between gasps, slightly opening his left eye.
“Where? Where’s the depot?”
“Pig, pig…” Nuqatlak’s breathing stopped.
“What? What was that? ‘Pig’ what?”
No answer.
“Where did you find the weapons? Where?” Carrie repeated.
His blank left eye kept staring at the gray sky.
“Nuqatlak, don’t… don’t you die,” Anna muttered through her tears.
Chapter Six
“There’s at least a dozen Let Støttevåbens.” Justin held one of the brand new light machine guns. It was equipped with a bipod and a night vision optical sight.
“Enough for a small army.” Carrie examined her sample, her fingers running over the trigger and the sight on the barrel. “There’s probably two thousand rounds in the den.”
Nuqatlak’s small kitchen had been turned into their command center. Kiawak made coffee and they were assessing their situation while sitting around a white dining table.
“Holy cow,” Anna said. She almost dropped the gun Carrie gave her, not expecting it to be so heavy. “What were they planning to do with this? Shoot Moby Dick?”
“What troubles me is where these guns came from, and how many others are out there,” Kiawak said. “Slædepatruljen Sirius uses this exact kind of weapon.”
“Who’s the Sla… Sirius?” Anna asked.
“The Sirius Patrol,” Kiawak replied. “They’re one of the best units of Danish Special Forces in Greenland. They use sleds, helicopters, and boats. They have bases at Daneborg, Nord, Mestrersvig, and all over Greenland.”
“Why do I have a feeling the Sirius Patrol did not just lose all these weapons?” Anna said.
“It’s too early to jump to conclusions,” Alisha said. “We still don’t know where these guns came from.”
“Nuqatlak said he took them from a Danish depot,” Anna replied.
“Did he really tell you the truth? Or you just want to believe it?” Alisha shrugged.
“Those were his last words,” Anna said, “and I’m just repeating them. The man is dead, so that’s all we have.”
“Yeah, I know. You killed him.”
“We told you what happened, Alisha. And I’ve had enough of your attitude that nothing anyone does is good enough for you.” She got up and headed for the door.
“Wait for me.” Carrie followed Anna to the door. “For your information,” Carrie said as she turned around at pointed at Alisha, “she did well shooting him in self-defense. Otherwise we would be dead.”
Justin decided to stay out of the squabble. Kiawak, however, apparently found no reason to be impartial.
“You need to watch your mouth,” he growled at Alisha. “Those women risked their lives, but I haven’t seen you do anything useful.”
Alisha waited until Carrie slammed the door behind her. “We’re on a cold trail right now because they killed the man who could explain the mystery of these guns. Now we’re back to square one, and we have to explain the deaths of two innocent people.”
“Nuqatlak was anything but innocent,” Kiawak replied. “He was in possession of illegal weapons and was trying to fence them. We have two people who were shot at by Nuqatlak and had to respond in order to defend themselves. It’s a simple thing.”
“And now we know more,” Justin said, bring their focus back to the team’s objective. “We had no idea about a number of things until a few hours ago. Now, we have evidence: many guns, just like this one. We know they’re Danish and Nuqatlak, the gun smuggler, confirmed their origin. We need to find where this depot is located, and how this ties to the Sirius Patrol and to those icebreakers, which most likely are Danish too.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Alisha objected. “These machine guns are made by Diemaco, the Canadian subsidiary of America’s Colt. These guns may have been produced for Denmark and their armed forces, but that doesn’t mean the Sirius Patrol or Danish icebreakers dropped them in Grise Fiord. They could have come from anywhere within Canada or the US.”
“I don’t think so,” Kiawak replied. “There are way too many coincidences. Two unknown icebreakers cruising our waters and machine guns used by Danish forces pop up on our Arctic shores. Plus, the man himself said he found the weapons in a Danish hut.”
“My other point exactly,” Alisha said. “I know their huts are spread all over Greenland. Maybe Nuqatlak and his woman or other people snowmobiled to Greenland. They broke into one of these stations, which happened to be stashed with guns, instead of food or supplies.”
“You’re right about one thing,” Kiawak said, “They have depots in East and North Greenland, but these weapons are on the wrong side of the pond. Besides, Nuqatlak said he found the weapons north.”
“North Greenland?” Alisha said. “He took his last breath, so maybe he left out some words?”
“I don’t know, Alisha, but I don’t think so,” Justin replied. “If this was really a Sirius Patrol depot, I think they would be guarding them pretty well, not leave them for Nuqatlak and his friends to take their pick. Plus, at this time of year, it’s very dangerous to travel all the way to Greenland. According to Nuqatlak’s file, last year he barely left Grise Fiord, but there was one time he flew to the Pond to buy pork.”
“Pork? Pig meat? Pig?” Kiawak said. His eyes widened, and he scratched his head. “Why does the word ‘pig’ sound familiar to me?”
“Because women call you a pig all the time,” Justin replied with a smirk.
Kiawak leaned back on his chair, holding both hands over his chest. “Oh, my heart. That hurt, Justin. I can’t believe you would say such hurtful words…”
“It’s because Nuqatlak called Carrie a pig after they shot him to death,” Alisha said with a deep frown and a stern headshake. “Which was very polite of him given the circumstances, if I may add.”
“Yes, yes, we know.” Kiawak dismissed Alisha’s comments by waving his hand in her direction. He tapped his forehead with his palm, as if wanting to push his brain into action and spark up the missing idea.
“Yes,” he shouted a few seconds later, slamming his fist hard on the table. “Pig Fiord. Sverdrup, the Norwegian guy, the explorer who discovered this area more than a hundred years ago and later sold it to Canada.” Kiawak was reeling off his words like a verbal Let Støttevåben machine gun. “Sverdrup named this place Grise Fiord, which translates as ‘pig fiord’ in his native language. Walruses used to live here at the time and their grunts reminded Sverdrup of pigs. So if Nuqatlak said ‘pig’ and ‘northeast’ when Carrie asked him where he found the weapons, he meant northeast of Grise Fiord. That’s where Nuqatlak found the weapons cache. Some of the locals still call Grise Fiord by its old name, Pig Fiord.”
Kiawak jumped to his feet as soon as he finished his rattling, a big smile glowing on his face.
“You sure about this?” Alisha raised an eyebrow and pointed at Justin. “You don’t believe this nonsense, do you?”
“Well, there’s only one way to know for sure. We’ll fly northeast of Grise Fiord until we find the depot,” Justin replied.