The Reluctant Warrior
Read The Reluctant Warrior Online
Authors: Pete B Jenkins
THE RELUCTANT
WARRIOR
BY PETE B. JENKINS
All characters and events portrayed in this book are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to any person, either living or dead, is purely coincidence. Copyright: 2014 Pete. B. Jenkins.
All Rights Reserved
Cover Design: BookGraphics.
No part of this book may be copied, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the permission of the publisher, except for review purposes.
NOTE: There is no swearing or sex in this book.
Word Count: 87442 words
This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother Ailsa Jay Jenkins (nee: Paul) who was the first person to instill in me a love of reading.
I love and miss you more than you could ever know Mum.
Jed Rand cast his eye expertly over the satellite map before sliding it reluctantly across the table to his companion, brown eyes betraying his disappointment. “Would love to be in on the attempt,” he said wistfully, “but Cassie would go ballistic if I was gone for that long again, I don’t think you’ve forgotten how Everest nearly broke us up.”
A well built man in his mid thirties deftly folded up the map and slipped it into his breast pocket. “Pity,” he answered bluntly, “we could have done with you on this one. This Antarctic expedition is the biggest adventure we’ve planned yet.”
Jed spotted the disapproval in his friend’s eyes, Rex Ferguson was an explorer in the truest sense of the word, and the pair of them had been on every expedition together since they were twenty-something’s checking out Brontosaurus sightings in the Congo. No dinosaur had materialized, but they had walked away from the experience the firmest of friends. He knew Rex wouldn’t take his refusal to participate lightly. “Look, Rex,” Jed leaned his elbows on the desk and fixed the other man with an apologetic look, “Cassie and I have been having…problems lately.”
“For crying out loud, Jed,” Rex exploded, “problems have followed the pair of you around since the moment you first met.” He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “She’s always threatening to leave you, and you always end up giving her what she wants to keep her hanging on.” He looked Jed squarely in the eyes. “So just give her what she wants. She’ll be happy, you’ll be happy, I’ll be happy.”
Jed leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I wish it were that easy but this time I get the distinct feeling that if I go she won’t be there when I get back.”
Rex flung his chair aside in disgust and paced in an agitated fashion to the window. “Would be the greatest adventure so far,” he said hopefully. “It’ll make the Arctic look like a stroll in the park. Antarctica is a big continent and we wouldn’t be following in anyone’s footsteps.” Catching the faint gleam of excitement in his friend’s eye he went straight for the jugular. “And we’d be the first to trial the U.S. military’s new tracking devise.”
Jed sat bolt upright. “What…the G.P.S. Pathfinder?”
“I thought that might get your attention.” Sliding back into his seat he produced a folder from a drawer and tossed it casually across the desk to his companion. “This is classified you understand…but I guarantee it’ll make your mouth water.”
Jed flipped it open and scanned its contents. “If what this says is correct then with this updated model we can’t possibly get lost.”
Rex smiled slyly. “We’ll be there and back before Cassie even knows you’re gone. Seven weeks tops I’d say.” He fancied he could see a glimmer of a breakthrough in Jed’s resolve and so pressed home his advantage. “Just imagine it…you and I would be the first to do it, the first to journey into the very heart of the continent and live to tell what we’d seen. No merely crossing the outer fringes of it as others have boasted of doing.”
Vacating his chair Jed smoothed the creases out of his trousers as he thought it over. “As exciting as it all sounds I’m going to have to pass on this one.”
Rex’s face fell. “It won’t be the same without you.”
Jed’s hand closed on the doorknob. “You’ll soon get used to it. Besides, it is past time you hitched up with a new travelling buddy, I’m getting a little long in the tooth for it.”
“What the dickens are you driving at? I’m the same age as you,” Rex said, feigning offence. “Are you suggesting I’m too old for it as well?”
Jed grinned. For as long as he had known him, and courtesy of having an English mother, Rex had always used the expression, “dickens.” It was the closest Rex ever came to swearing.
“Well, now you mention it, you are beginning to look a little worn around the edges.”
This time Rex didn’t need to pretend he was offended. “You’re only as old as you feel,” he growled, “and I feel a lot younger than most fellows I could mention, worn around the edges or not.” He fixed his pal with a disapproving glare. “So you’re not coming then?”
“Not this time.”
He slumped heavily back into his chair. “Well you’ve got two weeks to change your mind. After that we’ll be off to the military base to be trained in using the Pathfinder.”
“I won’t be changing my mind,” Jed said firmly. “Cassie is more important to me than this, or any other expedition for that matter.” Swinging open the door he slipped through before Rex had the opportunity to dangle any more carrots in front of him. Blast the fellow for bringing this up, now of all times. As if he and Cass weren’t having enough problems without him racing off to the South Pole. No, he wouldn’t go and that was the end of it.
He tried to put the whole business out of his mind as he strolled tiredly down the wintry New York street, and was doing an admirable job of it until he passed a bookshop. There in the window along with all the other new releases was a book on Antarctica screaming out for him to take notice of it. It was as if Rex Ferguson had cunningly planned it his very self.
“Blast the man,” he said out loud, ignoring the strange looks from passersby. But he gazed longingly at the tall ice covered mountains and barren wilderness that graced the cover all the same. He could be the first to travel to the very heart of the continent and see what was really there, a place where no navigational instrument had ever been able to function, until now. The G.P.S Pathfinder made it all possible, and they had been given the rare privilege to test it out for the U.S. military. “Snap out of it, Jed,” he growled suddenly. “You’re not going and that’s final.” Tearing himself away from the display he stalked angrily up the street. “Blast the man,” he grumbled again, only with more venom this time. “Now of all times.”
Turning the corner he marched sullenly up the footpath towards the old house, and was still mumbling under his breath as he let himself through the door. He cast an eye up to the bedroom as he hung up his coat. “Cassie, are you here?”
As a tall leggy blonde swept across the landing and lithely descended the stairs he looked from her to the suitcases she clutched and then back to her again. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly.
“It’s not going to work, Jed.” She looked straight past him as she continued her headlong flight towards the door. “You’re not going to persuade me to stay with any of that meant for each other garbage.”
“Cassie, just tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s not going to work,” she said again.
He detected that determination in her voice that he had encountered a thousand times before, and knew she wasn’t going to be easily pacified. “All I want is an explanation,” he said tiredly, “that’s all I’m asking for.”
Putting her suitcases down she turned to face him. “All right, I’ll give you an explanation,” she answered coldly. “I have invested six long years in you and what have I got to show for it?”
He stared back at the wild blue eyes. “What did you hope to get out of it?”
“Don’t you make fun of me, Jed Rand,” she snapped furiously.
“I’m not making fun of you, sweetheart,” he said, taking a few steps towards her. “I just want to know what you want out of the relationship.”
“Nothing at all,” she answered bitterly. “I’ve finally given up trying to get anything out of it.”
“I thought we were going to try to work this all out.” As he took a few more steps towards her she fixed him with a penetrating glare that stopped him in his tracks. “It’s gone well past that.”
“Why?”
“It just has, that’s all.”
He noticed how she had suddenly averted her eyes, and the reason for it finally dawned on him. “What’s his name, Cassie?”
“What?”
“What’s the name of the guy you’re leaving me for?”
“I never said I was leaving you for anyone else,” she answered guardedly, unable to disguise the slight tremor that had crept into her voice.
“I’m not a fool your whole demeanor gives you away.”
She looked up at him angrily now, her vivid eyes flashing wildly. “Could you blame me if there is someone else? I’m thirty-three years old, and I deserve someone who’s going to treat me with respect.”
Jed shook his head in disbelief, this was typical of her. “Respect…I think you’ve got that round the wrong way, lady.”
The pretty blonde rounded on him. “I’ve never treated you with anything but the utmost respect,” she ranted. “If you’d been here a bit more often instead of away on your crazy Boy Scout adventures then maybe the relationship might have worked.”
“If you didn’t have such a violent temper then maybe I wouldn’t have had to escape on those crazy adventures,” he countered angrily, stabbing an accusing finger in her direction.
Her mouth dropped open, but only for a moment. “How dare you. How dare you blame your failure on me, John would never do that.”
“Well go to your John then,” Jed snapped, “he’s welcome to you.” As he strode purposely towards the living room he heard the front door bang loudly behind her, and with it all hopes of ever salvaging the relationship. Pouring himself a generous scotch he plonked himself down in his favorite armchair. So she was gone, gone for good, it didn’t seem possible. Six years of sharing each other’s trials and tribulations extinguished in a matter of minutes. He gazed sadly out the window. What was the fellows name again? John? The name rang a bell…ah yes, John what’s-his-name who worked at Cassie’s gym. Or did he own it? It would be just like her to ditch him for someone with money.
Swallowing hard he felt the liquid burn its fiery path down to his stomach. Perhaps it was for the best. He and Cassie had always suffered from all the symptoms of a classic love-hate relationship, so maybe she would be better off with this John fellow. He would miss her though. All except that temper of course. She had the tendency to fly off the handle at the least provocation, something he would never miss. That was the real reason their relationship had failed, and he knew it would be the reason she would fail with the new fellow too.
He took another slug of scotch. There was one good thing to come out of all this though, and so picking up the telephone he tapped out the number. “Hello, Rex,” he said, breezily, “its Jed…count me in.”
CHAPTER TWO
Jed stepped down from the plane and studied his new surroundings; McMurdo Station had most of the creature comforts of home, including its very own bar. Not that he would have much time to enjoy it; he would be leaving for the interior in three days time and until then alcohol would be the last thing on his mind.
Rex’s big hand clapped him enthusiastically on the shoulder. “Let’s get inside and meet the rest of the team.”
Jed watched him stride excitedly across the ice towards the main building and couldn’t help thinking how boyish he looked, despite his thirty-four years. Rex had never lacked for enthusiasm, especially on an expedition, but somehow, this time, he was displaying even more passion than usual. As he trudged along in his friend’s wake his thoughts were on how well equipped they were. The very latest in technological advances would be going with them. Light but unbreakable sleds, pre-packed meals with carefully calculated vitamin and mineral content, the finest in weather resistant fabrics to wear and sleep in, and of course, the all new Pathfinder Global Positioning System to ensure they couldn’t get lost. Scott and Amundsen would be drooling at the sight if they were alive to see it.
Jed would be glad to catch up with a few buddies he hadn’t seen in quite some time while he was here, in particular, Jonathon Bately. Not only were they good friends, but Jonathon’s extensive experience in polar exploration would be extremely valuable out there where the winds could reach speeds of eighty miles per hour. Besides Rex and Jonathon there would be four others on the team, all seasoned explorers, and Jed could feel a growing sense of excitement as he thought about the adventure they would be embarking on in three days time. At thirty-four years of age he knew he only had a few good years left in him before the rigors of his adventuring lifestyle caught up with him, leaving his body unable to cope with such an expedition. But for now, Antarctica, the last great mystery, it lay sprawled before him like a slumbering giant beneath southern skies, its virginal terrain beckoning seductively to him.
On departure day those skies were clear with minimal wind speeds. It was a perfect morning for trekking, and as Rex unfolded his map in the briefing room and spread it across the table something very close to euphoria had taken a hold of Jed.
“We’re here,” Rex grunted, tapping his finger down on the spot that marked McMurdo Station. “We trek from Mac Town to this point here.” His finger swept across the map to a point within the heart of the continent. “No one has been there before.” A satisfied gleam came into his eye. “Then we make the hard slog to Halley base on the Brunt Ice Shelf.”
Jonathon caught his eye, “The first to do it.”
“The first to do it,” Rex echoed excitedly, his dark eyes scanning the men’s faces. “Anyone want to pull out? Now is your chance to say.”
Six heads shook in unison.
Rex’s roughened hands grappled with the zipper on his jacket. “Well, let’s get out there and get this show on the road then.”
“Wouldn’t mind a bit of a breeze so we could try out our wind-kites,” Rex commented six hours into the trek with the good weather still holding.
“Would certainly push us along a bit quicker,” Jed agreed, his mind only partly on what his friend was saying. If the truth be known he was thinking of Cassie and whether there had been any truth to the accusations she had brought against him. Certainly, he had been away several times during their six years together, but had that really bothered her? He couldn’t really believe that it had. She had always enjoyed such a full and satisfying social life he couldn’t imagine his occasional absences would be of any great concern to her. He was vaguely aware of Rex harping on about wind speeds and their effect on a kites pulling power but he wasn’t really taking it in. No, if Cassie had really been bothered by his adventures she would have long since told him. She was no shrinking violet, and so he was confident she was just using the excuse to justify her affair with John. Anything to shift the burden of blame away from her and on to him, and wasn’t that so typical of her. He had never known her to accept the blame for anything, not ever.
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said have you?”
Jed shed his thoughts of Cassie and tuned into Rex. “No, I guess I haven’t,” he admitted.
Rex’s cynical face considered him carefully. “You’re thinking of her aren’t you?”
“What?”
“You’re thinking of Cassie.”
Jed didn’t offer a reply. There was no way he was getting into any conversations with Rex about his love life, and so keeping his head down concentrated on dragging his sled one step at a time across the ice.
Patience wasn’t Rex’s strong point. “She’s not the only fish in the sea, you know,” he said brutally.
Jed felt a sudden gust tug keenly at his jacket. “Any stronger and we’ll be able to get the kites out,” he said, in a desperate attempt to try and steer Rex away from the subject of his ex.
But Rex wasn’t having any of it. “Good looking fellow like you wouldn’t have any trouble catching a pretty young thing,” he continued. “You just have to put yourself out there.”
The breeze was more than just tugging at his jacket now, and so he cast a furtive glance over his shoulder at the direction it was coming from. “Why have you got such a strong interest in my love life?”
“Because we’re pals, and for the past six years I’ve watched you being manipulated by that hellcat and been entirely powerless to do anything about it.” Rex noticed the wind now too. “You might be right about the kites,” he said, mentally gauging the speed it was travelling at before bringing his eyes back to rest on Jed’s solemn face. “I know you’re hurting. I know that you miss her. But you really are better off without her, she wasn’t right for you.”
Jed didn’t bother to answer. What was the point? He never had been able to win an argument with Rex yet. Instead, he concentrated his efforts on unlashing his kite.
“Good steady wind now,” Rex noted, fastening himself into his harness. “I didn’t expect to be using the kites so early on.”
“Sooner the better,” Jed answered, looking around at the rest of the team. “Is everybody ready?”
They made good time for the rest of that day and used the unusually moderate wind to great advantage for the next six that followed, and by the end of the first week they were well ahead of where they had hoped to be.
“This has been a dream run,” Rex commented, as they broke camp on the morning of the eighth day. “Wouldn’t have believed it possible…but here we are.” He threw his arms open wide to take in the great expanse of icy terrain ahead of them. “And according to the G.P.S. we are on the verge of entering the zone where no man has been before.”
Jed grinned. “Captain Kirk would be proud of us.”
Rex laughed at his friends little joke. “I would have preferred to have come here in the Starship Enterprise,” he said drolly. “But I guess these kites are a pretty good substitute.”
Jed nimbly clicked the last buckle together on his harness before stealing a glance at his chum. “You’ve waited a long time for this haven’t you?”
Rex nodded. “Ever since I read Byrd’s account of his flight over the pole,” he admitted. “I suppose I couldn’t have been more than thirteen at the time. But I knew after reading it that I would someday be here myself.”
“And here you are.”
“And here I am,” he said blissfully, handing the G.P.S. to one of the team members.
“That thing’s going to revolutionize polar exploration,” Jed said, as he watched it being calibrated.
Rex scrutinized his friends face for a moment. “Glad you came now?”
A grin broke out beneath Jed’s eight day old growth. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”
“Not even Cassie?”
Jed shook his head. “John’s welcome to her. And you were right,” he said soberly, “we weren’t right for each other.”
Rex chuckled. “I don’t think anyone’s right for Cassie.”
The winds long icy fingers snatched crossly at Jed’s kite. “Looks like another good one for travelling.” He scanned the bleakness of the never-ending Antarctic sky. “Wonder what this new territory holds for us?”
“Nothing more than ice, ice, and more ice,” Jonathon said drearily, bringing his sled up alongside Jed with an air of exaggerated apathy.
Rex’s eyebrows formed an irritated scowl. “Why do you even bother to come on these expeditions?”
Jonathon sneaked in a quick wink at Jed. “Because boredom is good for a man,” he said, in mock indignation, “it makes him appreciate what he’s left behind.”
Jed winced. Jonathon liked nothing better than to wind Rex up, and his favorite ploy had always been to pretend he wasn’t having a good time. It was something that never failed to rattle Rex, and now his face displayed all the signs of an exasperated man. “Sometimes I wonder about you,” he grumped, before turning to the rest of the team. “Let’s go,” he said brusquely.
Jonathon’s attention was on Rex’s kite as it filled its wings with the polar breeze and began to lazily drag his sled across the hard ice. “Hasn’t lost any of his charm, I see. He’s still the same bad-tempered fellow I seem to remember.”
Jed shook his head in disapproval. “You shouldn’t goad him like that you know how seriously he takes everything.”
Jonathon grinned broadly. “Call me sadistic if you like, but I just can’t seem to help myself.”
“It’ll backfire on you one day,” Jed warned. “Then you’ll live to regret all the times you’ve needlessly provoked him.”
“It’ll be a truck load of fun until then,” he joked, as he followed Jed’s example and let his kite take charge.
The pair skied along in companionable silence, the sound of skis on ice the only sound disturbing the solitude.
“What do you think we’ll find beyond the point of inaccessibility?” Jonathon asked eventually.
Jed considered the question for a moment or two. “There’s bound to be a few new mountains, and maybe an active volcano or two, who can say?”
“I suppose it is exciting going somewhere no one has been before,” Jonathon conceded. “But it’s nowhere as exciting as finding a lost city in a South American jungle, or hunting for dinosaurs in the Congo like we did a few years back.”
They must have struck a particularly good pocket of air as they were rapidly gaining on Rex, and Jed cast a furtive glance ahead to gauge whether it was possible for him to overhear them.
“For goodness sake,” he whispered tersely, “don’t let him hear you say that he’ll have a hernia.”
Jonathon laughed heartily. “Don’t worry, Rex and I never…” he stopped mid sentence, deep concern clouding over his usually jovial blue eyes.
Jed tracked his friends gaze and barely stifled a gasp. A blizzard of enormous magnitude was racing across the sub-zero wasteland threatening to engulf them in the horrors of its icy cold grip.
“No time to unclip the kites,” Jonathon yelled, fear now taking over from where concern left off. “It’ll be on us in seconds.”
The last thing Jed saw was Rex’s sturdy frame being shunted savagely sideways as the first blast of cold air slammed into him. Then all was darkness, and he was aware of nothing other than the hard ice beneath his skies and the breakneck speed his kite was dragging him along. He weighed the situation up; if he became separated from the rest of the team then he was dead, for without the G.P.S. he didn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of getting back to civilization alive. The problem was he could barely see his hand in front of his face let alone spy out where the rest of the team was, so there was nothing for it but to hunker down and try to ride this beast out.
He had no idea how long he had fought to stay upright before the blizzard began to abate. It may have been two hours or it may have been four. Time held little relevance when one was being carried along in the tentacles of a hurricane. But now, with the wind rapidly subsiding, he managed to struggle free of his harness and for the first time take stock of the situation.
He was devastated to discover as he keenly scanned his surroundings that he was alone, all alone. Unless… what was that dark spot on the horizon? He hollered as loud as he could and then prayed for a response.
The faintest cooee drifted back across the barren void, and he silently gave thanks that at least he wouldn’t die out here alone. The problem now was how to gauge the distance between him and the unidentified team member. With no distinguishing landmarks to help him calculate distances it was an impossible task. It might be a mile, or it might be several. He would just have to knuckle down and urge his exhausted body to drag the sled in the direction of the other fellow in the hopes that he in turn was heading towards him. He eventually got close enough to recognize the team member was Jonathon. “Have you spotted any of the others?” he hollered.
“No,” Jonathon shouted back. “They could be miles away.” He waited until he was within easy speaking distance before continuing. “The thing is,” and Jed was close enough now to see the fear in his friends eyes, “they’ve got the G.P.S., so unless we find them soon there’s no way out of this predicament.”
Jed turned it over in his mind, without the G.P.S. they were definitely doomed. Pulling out his compass he was disappointed to see no reading, it had gone haywire, so they had obviously reached a point beyond the pole where no instrument other than the G.P.S. would give a true reading.