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The big man struggled to his feet and tugged at his beard. “Must’ve happened on landing. We get this all the time. The cold makes the metal brittle.”
Fenn studied Kate’s face, looking for any hint of guilt or satisfaction. But her expression was carefully neutral, revealing nothing.
Graham, their former sniper instructor and the newest member of Redemption Inc., walked over, his boots thudding on the concrete. “How long?”
The team eyed McCoy, who squinted up at the ceiling. “Best case scenario, it’ll take a day to get the part off and send in the order. Then we’re looking at a week for a delivery. That’s if I can find the part and the weather cooperates.”
Fenn’s stomach twisted. A week. Minimum. In this godforsaken place, with a storm brewing on the horizon.
He glanced at Kate, trying to read her expression. But her face was a mask of professional concern, revealing nothing of her true thoughts.
Tai, their second in command, shifted uneasily, his dark eyes darting to the sky. “If we don’t leave now, we might not make it home for Christmas.”
Graham nodded, his jaw tight. The man had only recently repaired a fractured relationship with his daughter, Tai’s new lady love. Graham had missed too many holidays with Tenaya to miss another. Plus Bridger had a new wife and the nine-year-old son they’d recently adopted. Christmas wasn’t for another week and a half, but out here, that could go by in an instant as they waited for another decent weather window.
From what he’d read of the Arctic, they could easily wait months for another opportunity to bug out.
Burl shook his head. “Storm’s coming. You don’t get out today, you’re not flying anywhere for at least a couple days. There’s not enough time for a charter flight to fly in and grab you.”
Bridger pressed a gloved hand to the belly of the beefy plane. “Looks like we’ll be imposing on the good folks of Endurance for a while longer.”
No kidding. The settlement, more of a cluster of buildings than an actual town, was generally accessible only by sea, or air. The nearest real road began fifty miles to the south, at the territorial seat. From there, they could rent a vehicle and make the two-day drive down to Iqaluit. There they’d be able to rent another plane, or fly commercial.
Not that it mattered. No way to get from here to there. They might manage to rent a snowmobile or two from the locals, but no way people here had five machines they could spare. Plus, the team had no way to get the machines back to Endurance.
The mechanic snapped his fingers. “I’m heading down to Nunaviksiaround noon. Got myself a new snowcat last year. Pistenbully. Top of the line. Thing’ll carry all of you. I’m happy to give you a lift.”
Bridger brightened. “Seriously? That would be fantastic. I’m fine leaving the plane here if you have room. I could head back after the New Year and fly her home.”
Fenn’s heart sank. He knew what was coming next.
Kate squared her shoulders, her voice calm and confident. “You guys go ahead. I’ll stay with the plane, make sure the repairs get done right.”
Paige frowned, her eyes narrowing. “Are you sure? We can wait?—”
Kate cut her off with a shake of her head. “No, you need to get back. I’ll be fine.”
Fenn’s mind raced. He couldn’t let her stay here alone. Not when he knew she was up to something.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll stay too.”
Kate’s head whipped around, her eyes narrowing. “What? Why?”
Fenn shrugged, keeping his voice casual. “I got nowhere I gotta be. Plus, two sets of hands are better than one. We’ll get the job done faster.”
Their teammates watched the exchange, arms folded, as if they were watching a tennis match.
Kate’s lips thinned. Annoyance flickered in her eyes. But she couldn’t refuse him, not without drawing attention to herself.
The mechanic was watching, too. He took a long sip of coffee. “Whatever you folks decide, it’s gotta be soon. Trip takes a coupla-three hours. I need to head out by eight a.m. sharp if I’m gonna make it to town in time for the tournament. The wife loves her bowling. I promised I wouldn’t be late.” He made a sound. “She’s little, but she’s fierce.”
The team looked from him to Kate and back again.
“Fine,” she bit out, her tone clipped.
Fenn nodded, ignoring the curious looks from the rest of the team. He grabbed his bag from the plane, then turned to face them.
“We’ll catch up with you guys as soon as we can,” he said, his voice steady.