Outcast (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 2) (11 page)

Eden again clasped her golden heart.

“What do you want to do?” he asked her. “The snowcat is already filled with emergency supplies, plus we have McMurdo’s sat phone. As long as you can lead us to where you think your old cave may be, we can go have a look, calling for backup along the way. If we find your dad, great. If we don’t, at least we’ll know where he isn’t. Sound like a plan?”

A thump sounded from a few rooms away. Followed by a metallic bang.

“What was that?” Eyes wide, Dane stepped behind the door.

“Wait here with Eden,” Jasper said. “I’ll check it out.”

9

“I’M SORRY,” DANE said once Jasper left to inspect the hall. He reached out to hug Eden, but she stepped away.

“Don’t touch me. I don’t understand how you could be so cruel. I believed you when you said my father was safe—at least he might have had a better chance with the elements than with a killer. Now, he could be anywhere.” She poked her head out from behind the door. “Jasper? Everything okay?”

When he didn’t answer, her heart pounded. If something happened to him, she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

She crept out to the lab.

“
Eden
!” Dane whispered. “Get back here.”

“No. I’m not leaving Jasper to fend for himself.”

“Are you implying that’s what I did with your dad? If so, it’s not true. You know what it was like when Leo and his men were here. Utter and complete chaos. It’s a miracle any of us are alive.”

“I know. Now, hush. With you yammering, I can’t hear a thing.” She crept closer and closer to the hall door but didn’t hear a sound. “Jasper?”

“Look what I found.” Jasper appeared. He held something, but from where he stood in the hall’s shadows, she couldn’t tell exactly what.

When it moved in his arms, she leaped backwards, clutching her hand to her chest. “Hope you know CPR. I need it.”

“Sorry. Check him out. I didn’t know pets were allowed?”

“They’re not.
At all
.” Yet he held a gorgeous white Persian with ice blue eyes. She stepped closer, holding the tag on his collar. “According to this, his name is Yeti.”

“Who does he belong to? And how in the world did his owner keep him a secret? I can’t even begin to imagine how they smuggled him in. On a supply ship?” She took the purring cat for a cuddle. “Poor, baby. You must be starving.”

“I caught him jumping from table to table in the lab across the hall. He must have knocked over a stool.”

“Who in their right mind would smuggle a cat down here?” Dane emerged from the office.

“No clue,” Eden said. “But now that we found him, we need to feed him, then track down what he was using for food and a litter box.” To the cat she said, “Your mommy or daddy must be seriously creative.” Too late she remembered whoever the cat belonged to was dead. Tears stung her eyes, and in the moment, she felt inordinately grateful for the small luxury of cuddling the giant fluffball. “I’ll take care of you, okay?”

For how long she couldn’t promise, but maybe Jasper would care of him once she was gone.

The thought was macabre, but Eden had watched her mother gift her most loved possessions to her most cherished friends. Because Carl was always traveling, her college roomie took Coconut the Pomeranian. When her mom died, Eden split her time between boarding schools and her father’s Antarctic station. She’d never had a pet again.

Was it selfish of her to take on one now? Yes. But it wasn’t as if fate had given her a choice. In this moment, maybe she needed the cat as much as he needed her.

In the dormitory pod, they all fanned out to locate the cat’s hidden home.

“Found it!” Jasper called ten minutes into their search.

Eden met him toward the end of the second floor hall.

“Looks like he scratched his way out of the room. Good thing these prefab walls are thin.” A ragged hole had been clawed near the door. Piles of single-serve tuna packets were mounded in a suitcase. An empty plate and water bowl sat alongside it. A makeshift litter box had been made of a cardboard box, lined with a recycling bag, then filled with dirt. The smell wasn’t exactly pleasant. “If you want to feed him and get him water, then get his food suitcase ready to go, I’ll get rid of this mess, then rig up a portable box for him to use once we’re on our way to the cave.”

“Thank you.” She stood on her tiptoes, crushing the cat between them while stealing a kiss.

The cat meowed.

“You’re welcome,” Jasper said. “But I think someone would rather eat than cuddle. Clearly, I’m going to have to find him a good woman when we get back to town.” His wink produced a flutter low in Eden’s tummy. Just when she thought she could manage fine without him, he went and showed his sweeter side—that side of him, she’d never been able to resist.

“So this is where you two scurried off to.” Holding his shirt collar over his nose, Dane waved his free hand in front of his face. “Smells like it’s for good reason pets aren’t allowed. We’re leaving him here, right?”

“He can’t help his circumstance. And no, we’re taking him. What if the heat goes down? Or he runs out of food or water? Or, God forbid, we run into Leo and never have the chance to send help. We’d be horrible people to leave him.”

“Maybe so, but our primary focus should be rescuing your dad—not a contraband cat.”

Eden ignored his harsh words in favor of feeding the starving creature.

By the time Yeti had eaten his fill, Eden had his food supply zipped and ready to go. She scooped up the cat and then wheeled the bag out into the hall filled with the ghosts of her lost friends.

Everywhere she looked were signs of the horror.

Blood splattered on a wall. A lone shoe, sweater or book.

The knot lurking at the back of Eden’s throat made it tough to breathe. But for her father, for Jasper and Dane and now, even this cat, she had to keep her head clear and resolve strong.

Thirty minutes later, all new supplies had been loaded into their ride—including the cat. Jasper topped off the fuel, and Eden refreshed her memory on the meteor valley’s location with the help of laminated topo maps.

Jasper had added six more cases of canned goods and spare propane canisters for the stove. He’d even found backpacks in the rec hall storage closet that would be ideal for hauling supplies, should they have to go far on foot. He’d also insisted on two complete changes of clothing for her and Dane. For his own needs, he raided a dorm room closet.

As worried as Eden was about the fate of her father, she was also that encouraged about this lead. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner?

“That’s the last of it.” Jasper closed the vehicle’s rear cargo door. “Ready to roll?”

“Only if you’ll let me drive,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time you slept.”

“Me, neither, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s get going. We’ll sort out who drives along the way.”

“I’ll drive,” Dane said. “It’s only fair. I had plenty of sleep on the way here.”

“That’s a great idea.” Eden hopped in back with her fluffy friend. “Jasper, you can ride shotgun.”

He shot her a death-ray stare.

“Please.” She blew him a kiss. “I’m worried about you. Please, get some rest.”

“I concur.” Dane climbed behind the wheel. “It may have been a while since I’ve been at the helm of one of these cantankerous things, but I’m sure it’s like riding a bike.”

Jasper asked, “When’s the last time you rode one of those?”

“Give or take a few dozen years.” Dane winked, then laughed. “Relax, would you? Promise, if we stumble across anything of note, I’ll wake you. Eden can stay awake to keep me company.”

“If that’s the case,” she said, “how about Yeti and I ride in front? That way, Jasper can stretch out.”

He reluctantly agreed, and then they were finally off.

Before falling asleep, Jasper had programmed the GPS with the valley’s coordinates. Eden worried her memory might be off. After all, she hadn’t been to the place in years, but she knew from a few familiar landmarks that she had to at least be in the right vicinity on the map.

Once Jasper had fallen into a deep sleep, Dane said. “He’s good for you. I see why your dad likes him.”

“He does?” They’d only met that one time at a Denver steakhouse while her father had been at her college for a fundraising campaign.

“Oh, yes. He’s spoken of him many times, wondering if you two were anywhere near wedding bells.”

Her cheeks warmed. Once upon a time, thoughts of those happy bells consumed her. Now? Considering her diagnosis, there wasn’t much point. “We’re both fine maintaining status quo.”

“Young people today . . .”

“You never married,” she jabbed.

“Ah, but I never had a woman as obviously smitten with me as our young Jasper is with you.” He patted her knee, then focused on driving.

The day was one of those rare arctic gems when the sky was so blue and clear it seemed close enough to touch. The temp hovered near the teens, making it practically beach weather. According to her remembrances of the long ago trips she and her parents had taken, they drove due north from the station, then rode up and down over a series of small foothills before settling onto a higher, windswept plain. Much of the snow had been blown away, leaving the rough volcanic soil exposed.

The drive continued as pleasantly as if time had returned her childhood.

She and Dane shared happy memories.

Once Jasper woke, he entertained them with harrowing stories about his days as a SEAL.

Through it all, Yeti purred on her lap.

By the time they stopped for lunch, Eden was more than ready to stretch her legs. Clouds had rolled in, and the temperature had dropped back to its normally frigid negative digits.

Jasper set up the camp stove for her, and she used boiled water to prepare their freeze-dried meals.

“Dane,” Eden said after her first bite. “Your hamburger beat the crap out of this beef stroganoff.”

He chuckled. “I’m not too thrilled with my mac and cheese, either.”

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about.” Jasper had already finished his teriyaki chicken, and held the bag to his mouth to get the very last drop of sauce. “Compared to some of the crap I’ve eaten, that was five-star dining.”

Eden and Dane shared a laugh.

Yeti gave two paws way up for his tuna.

With lunch a memory, Eden behind the wheel, and Jasper holding the cat beside her, miles rolled by. The scenery changed from a stark, arid plain to an ice field strewn with eerie creature-like formations. Snow began to fall and Eden struggled to tell the difference between the sky and the horizon.

“Want me to take over?” Jasper asked.

“Thanks, but not quite yet. What time is it?”

“Eight. Past time for you to get some shut-eye.”

She yawned at the mere suggestion. “You’re probably right.”

The whole time they’d traveled, she wondered if somehow Leo and his men were watching. If there was treasure at this cave—a ridiculous notion, but for her father’s sake, one she was willing to entertain—was she now leading them to it? She didn’t recall the hollow even going further back than maybe ten feet.

“Babe, slow down.” Jasper pointed ahead. “What’s that?”

She braked.

A deep cut in the ice loomed maybe fifty yards in front of their vehicle. It was at least five feet wide and stretched as far in each direction as blowing snow allowed them to see.

Her stomach twisted. “What should we do?”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I honestly don’t have a clue.”

Dane snored in back.

“Let’s gear up,” Jasper said. “We’ll walk it a ways to see if it narrows or we can find a snow bridge.”

Five minutes later, feeling like the abominable snowman in her heavy winter gear, she walked next to Jasper, squinting from the assault of icy snow. Each flake stung her exposed cheeks like pointy tacks.

“Even if we find a snow bridge, how do we know it would hold the cat’s weight?”

“We don’t. Which is why I’d be doing the driving.”