Ice Station - Matthew Reilly [105]
Schofield just stared at Snake.
Mother said softly, ‘He said he was ICG.’
Book and Rebound turned instantly at Mother’s words.
‘Well, Sergeant?’ Schofield said.
Snake said nothing.
Schofield said, ‘Not very talkative, huh?’
‘He was pretty fucking talkative when he was getting ready to fillet me,’ Mother said. ‘I say we cut his balls off and make him watch as we feed ‘em to the fucking whales.’
‘Good idea,’ Schofield said as he glared at Snake. Snake just sneered smugly back at him.
Schofield felt the anger well up inside him. He was furious. Right now he just wanted to slam Snake up against the wall and wipe that smug look off his fucking face –
As a leader, you simply cannot afford to get angry or upset.
Once again, Trevor Barnaby’s words rang through Schofield’s head.
Schofield wondered whether Barnaby had ever had an infiltrator in his unit. He wondered what the famous SAS commander would have done in these circumstances.
‘Book,’ Schofield said. ‘Opinions?’
Buck Riley just stared sadly at Snake and shook his head. He seemed to be the most deeply affected by the revelation that Snake was an ICG plant.
‘I didn’t think you were a traitor, Snake,’ Book said. Then he turned to Schofield. ‘It’s not for you to kill him. Not here. Not now. Take him home. Send him to jail.’
As Book spoke, Schofield just glared at Snake. Snake stared defiantly back at him.
There was a long silence.
Schofield broke it. ‘Tell me about the Intelligence Convergence Group, Snake.’
‘That’s a nice wound,’ Snake said softly, slowly, looking at the stitched wound on Schofield’s neck. The wound Snake himself had inflicted. ‘You ought to be dead.’
‘It didn’t suit me,’ Schofield said. ‘Tell me about the ICG.’
Snake smiled a cold, thin smile. Then he began to laugh softly.
‘You’re a dead man,’ Snake said quietly. Then he turned to face the others. ‘You’re all going to die.’
‘What do you mean?’ Schofield said.
‘You wanted to know about the ICG,’ Snake said. ‘I just told you about the ICG.’
‘The ICG is going to kill us?’
‘The ICG will never let you live,’ Snake said. ‘It’s not possible. Not after what you’ve seen here. When the United States Government gets their hands on that spaceship, it can’t possibly allow a handful of grunts like you to know about it. You’re all going to die. Count on it.’
Snake’s words hung in the air. Everyone on the deck was silent.
Their reward for arriving at Wilkes Ice Station so quickly and defending it against the French was to be a death sentence.
‘Wonderful,’ Schofield said. ‘That’s just wonderful. I bet you’re pretty fucking proud of yourself,’ he said to Snake.
‘My loyalty to my country is greater than my loyalty to you, Scarecrow,’ Snake said defiantly.
Schofield’s teeth began to grind. He stepped forward. Book held him back.
‘Not now,’ Book said quietly. ‘Not here.’
‘Lieutenant!’ a woman’s voice yelled from some-where high up in the station.
Schofield looked up.
Abby Sinclair was leaning out over the railing of A-deck.
‘Lieutenant!’ she yelled. ‘It’s time!’
Schofield strode into the radio room on A-deck. Book and James Renshaw came in behind him. Rebound had stayed down on E-deck to keep an eye on Snake.
Abby was already seated at the radio console. She did a double take when she saw Renshaw enter the room.
‘Hello, Abby,’ Renshaw said.
‘Hello, James,’ Abby said, cautiously.
Abby turned to Schofield. ‘The break should be over us any second now.’ She flicked a switch on the console. The sound of static began to wash out from two wall-mounted speakers.
Shhhhhhhhhh.
‘That’s the sound of the solar flare,’ Abby said. ‘But if you wait just . . . a . . . few . . . seconds . . .’
Abruptly, the shooshing sound cut off and there was silence.
‘And there it is,’ Abby said. ‘There’s your break, Lieutenant. Go for it.’
Schofield sat down at the console and grabbed the microphone.
He hit the talk button, but just as he was about to speak, a strange, high-pitched whistling sound suddenly blared out from the wall-mounted speakers. It sounded like feedback, interference.
Schofield