A moulin, the kid had called it.
Kowalski shook his head.
More like a half-frozen whirlpool.
“You’re going down that hole on a rope?” Kowalski scoffed.
Nuka had already donned a dry suit that covered his entire body, even a mask for his face. “I’ve made such climbs before.”
Maria shifted closer. “How do you know this moulin connects to the same river that had been flowing out of Helheim?”
“Dr. MacNab told me,” Nuka said. “When I’m not running tourists, I sometimes help Mac chart the flows and channels up here. It’s a job that never really ends, with everything melting and moving all the time.”
Kowalski straightened. “If you’re right about it leading down there, then I should go with you.”
Nuka crinkled his nose with disdain. “You’re too fat.”
Kowalski stared down at his stomach, both insulted and shocked at the kid’s bluntness, which made him almost like the kid. “It’s all muscle.”
“Uh-huh. Even if you could fit through any tight squeezes down there”—he pointed to Kowalski’s exposed wrists—“my spare suit will never fit you.”
“What about me?” Maria asked. She stood up next to Nuka. “You and I are about the same size.”
He eyed her up and down, then shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
“Like hell.” Kowalski literally put his foot down, blocking her.
She ignored him. “Grab me a suit,” she ordered the kid. She then turned to Kowalski. “My sister and I caved for years, as part of our research. My rope work and rappelling skills are more than up for this task.”
Kowalski pointed to the moulin. “Does that look like solid rock to you?”
“Joe, I’m not letting Nuka go down there by himself.”
He understood her concern, but he wasn’t happy about it.
Nuka passed Maria an insulated dry suit. She lifted it up and stared across the men huddled in the shelter. “And it’s not like any of you are fitting in this thing.”
Recognizing a battle he could not win, he held out a hand. “Fine. Let me help you into the damned thing.”
Maria danced a bit in the cold as she stripped her outerwear and snuggled into the thick suit. She combed back her hair and pulled the hood over her head. “How do I look? And be honest.” She waved to Nuka, who was hunkered against the wind, feeding a rope into the moulin, letting the current carry the weighted end down its throat. “Who’s wearing it best?”
Kowalski pulled her into a hug. “You both look like stranded seals.”
He felt her shiver in his arms and knew it wasn’t all due to the frigid winds. For the millionth time, he couldn’t believe this woman gave him a second look, let alone two years of her time.
“If you don’t let me go, I’ll never get to save anyone.”
He held her at arm’s length. “Don’t be a hero.”
She smiled. “Add a cape to this spandex, and I bet I’d look like Wonder Woman.”
“You’re always Wonder Woman to me.”
“That’s swee—”
“Especially in bed.”
“Okay, now you ruined it.” She stepped away. “Hold the fort until I’m back. We’ll radio our progress.”
Kowalski watched her cross out of the shelter of snowmobiles and walk awkwardly toward Nuka, her boots locked into steel crampons for the climb down. When she reached the moulin, she glanced back.
He and Maria were fluent in sign language. Knowing he wouldn’t be heard over the wind, he raised a hand with his pinkie and thumb outstretched, then pointed at her.
[I love you]
She turned away, clearly missing his message. Nuka had already rigged a second line. He hooked the new rope’s belay to her hip harness. He then double-checked all the knots and gear. Once satisfied, he lowered himself down into the moulin on his line, bracing his legs and spiked feet against the walls.
Maria followed, vanishing after him.
Kowalski stared at that frozen whirlpool. He hoped this wasn’t a waste of time, and a risky one at that. While he certainly wanted the others to be rescued, he held fast to one prayer.
Just come back to me.
7
June 21, 1:18 P.M. WGST
Helheim Glacier, Greenland
Maria’s foot slipped off the slick side of the moulin. As she fell, the belay and rope caught her. She swung wildly until her hip hit the ice.
“You okay?” Nuka called from five yards below, hanging on his own line, his words muffled by his face mask.
She reestablished her foothold. “Yep,” she said with more confidence than she truly felt.
She realized she might have exaggerated her skill to Joe. She hadn’t rappelled in years, and apparently it wasn’t like riding a bike. She was rusty. Or maybe it was the unusual nature of this descent. She did her best to avoid the thin stream corkscrewing around her. Still, water constantly sprayed her mask, making it hard to see. Also, the ice proved to be both rock-hard and slippery. To her, the descent was less like rappelling and more like ice-skating.
“Tunnel angles away from here,” Nuka called up. “Should make it easier.”
She wiped the spray from her mask and looked down. The first section of the descent had been nearly vertical, but the light attached to Nuka’s mask revealed the shaft heading off at a thirty-degree angle.
Thank god . . .
She happily dropped to that section, closing the distance to join Nuka. The tunnel ahead squeezed to half its size, but it was still manageable if they stayed single file.
But for how long? And would their ropes even reach the bottom?
They both had ice axes strapped to their backs, but Maria had no desire to attempt a free descent beyond the end of the rope.
As they continued, the chute grew steadily less steep, but the water also deepened underfoot, requiring them to brace their legs to either side of the strong current.
After another several yards, Nuka stopped and shifted his mask aside and sniffed the air. “Is that smoke?”
Smoke?
Maria stopped and did the same. The fresh air froze the hairs in her nostrils, but she noted a hint of woodsmoke. She knew there could be only one source of combustible material down here. She pictured the ancient ship.
Had it been set on fire by whoever took Elena?
She didn’t know, but the scent suggested they must be close. She waved Nuka on. “Let’s keep going.”
“Um, that’s gonna be a problem.” Nuka reached down and fished the loose end of his rope from the frigid current. He held it up. “We’ve reached the end of the line.”
She scooted next to him. “What now?”
But she knew what his answer would be.
He began freeing his harness from the belaying device. “Like you said. We’re close.” Once free, he unhooked his ice ax. “And it’s not too steep. I can probably just hike the rest of the way if I’m careful.”
“Not alone, you’re not.”
Despite her earlier trepidation, she felt confident enough to go a bit farther. If the tunnel became any more treacherous, they could always use their axes and crampons to reach the rope again.
“Help me off my line,” she said.