“Try to relax.”
She looked at him. “Sorry?”
“Relax. I can smell the fear coming off you in waves. Just let it go. I’m not even sure this thing will even show up tonight.”
“Easier said than done.”
“I know it.”
“You’ve done this before.”
He shrugged. “Some things aren’t all that tough to figure out.”
“You mentioned you were ex-military. What did you do in the service?”
“It’s classified.”
She stared at him. “I don’t think there’s a big danger of someone hearing us and running to the papers, Mick. Level with me.”
He looked at her, this time for longer. “Are you sure you want to open that box?”
“There’s nothing else to do.”
“We could sit here and play word games. We could pretend none of this is real.”
“We’d have to wake up eventually.”
“Yeah.”
She watched him wrestle with it. Eventually he sighed. “I worked in special operations.”
“What — like a SEAL?”
“I was in the Air Force. SEALs are Navy.”
“I didn’t even know the Air Force had special operations.”
“Not many people do. That’s the way we like it.”
“You saw combat.”
“I saw it. Yeah. Hell, I slogged through some of the worst fighting you could ever imagine. House-to-house stuff in Kuwait. Jungle warfare doing drug interdiction down in South America.” His voice trailed off.
There’s more, thought Julia. But how far could she push him?
“I lost a lot of friends,” said Mick. “It comes with the job. Specops is all-volunteer. No one gets drafted into the units. You want in, you know the cost might be your life. We all knew it. But we wanted in anyway.”
“Why?”
Mick shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe some of us are simply programmed for it. Hard-wired for warfare. We know we can’t fit in anywhere else in society so we find the one thing that makes us feel complete. The one thing that no one else can touch or take away from us.” He sighed. “There’s a moment, you know. In combat. When the bullets are flying and you look over at your teammate and you know he’s right there feeling the fear and the anger and the rage and the desire to get it done and over with. You look and see that and you make a vow to never let your teammate down. You carry on for each other. The rest of the world can go fuck itself. You live and die for each other. It’s the most pure form of loyalty there is.”
The air felt heavier. Julia could tell the words Mick spoke were true. He’d leveled with her after all.
He shrugged. “A lot of us paid a heavy price for serving in the units. Doesn’t matter what branch, we all know the same shit. We all know buddies who died defending what we all believed in.”
“How long were you in?”
“Long enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Mick smiled. “Julia, I’ve told you too much already. You keep pressing me for information you won’t like the answers you get. Trust me.”
“I trust you.”
“Then let it go. There are some things I won’t talk about. No matter how pretty you happen to be.”
Julia smiled now. “Flattery?”
“Call it what you want.” Mick shrugged again. “I call it like I see it.”
“Unless it’s classified.”
He smiled. “Don’t ruin the moment.”
“Are we having a moment?”
He chuckled. “Why not? We’re on some barren icescape. It’s the middle of the freaking night. And we’re waiting for some kind of creature to show up and carry off one of our teammates. Seems like the perfect time for a moment.”
“That’s good enough for me.” Julia smiled. Despite the pressure of the current situation, she felt even more at ease with Mick now that he’d shared something of himself with her. She felt even more attracted to him.
She just hoped he felt the same way.
She risked another look at him.
But something had changed.
His face wasn’t soft and relaxed any more. The edge of his jaw seemed tight.
Firm.
“Mick-”
He held up a hand to silence her.
His eyes closed and she could tell he’d stopped breathing. What was he doing? Concentrating?
Listening…
He opened his eyes.
And pointed.
Then Julia heard it.
A noise.
From the greenhouse.
Faint at first.
It was growing louder.
7
Julia looked at Mick but his eyes had hardened.
Quickly.
In his right hand, he gripped the remote transmitter that would cue the spotlights. But would they be enough to stop whatever was trying to get back into the greenhouse?
She hoped so.
Mick brought his left hand up to his mouth, urging Julia to remain quiet. The sound grew louder now. It sounded like something scratching at the glass, a fingernail down the transparent pane perhaps.
It sounded long.
Drawn out.
From their position in the hallway, neither Julia nor Mick could see into the greenhouse. Mick had positioned them out here deliberately. When they’d set up the watch position earlier, he’d told Julia it didn’t make sense for them to actually be in the room itself.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with. I’d rather not have something drop down on me once it realizes it might be walking into a trap. We’ll wait in the hallway and see what happens.”
The only place Julia wanted to be right then was back home in the United States. Safe under the flannel striped comforter that she’d had for five years, the kind where the stuffing had pooled to one edge, regardless of the waffle design. She didn’t love the comforter any less for it; she loved it all the more. And curling up under it on winter days made everything in the world seem…safe.
Instead, she thought, I’m thousands of miles from home. Down at the bottom of the world. All around me is ice. Snow. Cold.
And to top it off, some kind of creature was trying to break into the only piece of sanctuary they had.
There was an abrupt change in the sound from the greenhouse. The scratching stopped.
And a trickle of cold air issued out of the greenhouse door, tickling Julia’s hair, making shivers run up her spine.
It was inside.
She glanced again at Mick but he remained absolutely still.
Listening.
Why doesn’t he flip the switch now? Do it!
Another noise from beyond the door.
A scrape?
Another.
And another.
Julia remembered the scaffolding Mick had had to climb today to see the opening in the greenhouse roof. Was the creature climbing down it?
She stared at Mick. Flip the lights on!
Now!
But Mick stayed still. She wondered if he was breathing.
Julia tried to steady herself. Her heart sounded like thunder in her ears. The air in the hallway had grown colder now. Even with her jacket on, she still felt it.
All that Mick had on was a heavy turtleneck. How could he stand the cold?
There was a sudden thud in the greenhouse.
Whatever was in there, it had found its way to the floor.
Julia peered into the darkness of the greenhouse door. She wanted to cower in the recessed wall where she stood. She couldn’t see anything.
But she heard it now.
Moving.
Toward the door.
Toward them.
Mick never moved.
Julia stared at the blackness beyond the opening of the door. Could it see her? Could it feel them outside? Did it know it was walking into a trap?
When she finally saw the first glimpse of movement, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her because she’d been staring so hard.
It was no trick.
And gradually the head emerged from the gloom beyond the door.