Page 52 of Enemy Within

Four-wheelers sat in the road, parked in haphazard order like the drivers just stopped and hopped off. A line of beer bottles sat on a fence across the road. Shotguns leaned against the side of the chairs the men sat in.

Adam’s hackles rose. He flared his shoulders, straightened his back. Faisal slid closer, just a hair.

“Qanuippit?” One of the men waved, smiling.

“Ullukuut,” another said with a nod.

Adam’s spine uncoiled. He smiled back. “Hey there. My friends and I are here to study some bears. The brown bear, and hopefully we can even see a polar bear.” He grinned. “We’re looking for some wheels. Do you have any ATVs that I can rent?”

The men shared long looks over the trash fire. “Bears are no camping experience. You boys are looking for trouble if you’re going after bears.”

“We’re academics. We’re just doing a field study. Nothing crazy.”

“The other academics came with big helicopters. Lots of equipment. Lots of people.” He stared at Adam, his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, we’re a smaller organization. Just looking for some basic research, really.”

One of the men said something in their language, and the others barked out a laugh. Adam smiled with them. “We won’t be here long. Just need a way to get around the island.”

“You can have these.” The oldest man pointed to the four ATVs in the street. Mud covered, they once were green and black, but were now a mottled shade of speckled brown. “They’re even fueled up.”

Adam dug in his pocket. “How much?”

The man waved him off. “Your money is no good here. Keep it. Search and Rescue will take it from you after they find your remains.”

He smiled tightly. “Thanks. I think we’ll be all right, though.”

One of the others unloaded chains from the back of an ATV and started stringing them together, a make-do towing system that looked more dangerous than even Adam’s team could come up with: Marines were the all-time masters of shitty, dangerous ideas.

“Don’t worry about bringing them back,” the old man said, grinning wide. “They have GPS. We’ll go get them wherever you drop.”

Were they still being kind, or were they playing with him? Adam just kept grinning. Playing a dumb American had worked for him more than once.

The men finished wrapping lengths of loose chains around the rears of the ATVs, and then gestured for Adam and Faisal to hop on the two leads.

“Thanks,” Adam said, hopping on. Faisal slid onto his ATV and zipped up his jacket, almost to his nose. He’d gotten cold in Seattle, and traveling even farther north didn’t make him any warmer. In Anchorage, he’d bought a thick, puffy jacket at the airport, and under that, he had the hooded sweatshirt he’d borrowed from Adam on the plane from Seattle.

“Good luck,” the old man called. He winked and then waved when Adam revved the engine and pulled out, heading back to the airport.

Doc looked terribly unimpressed when they arrived with the ATVs chained together, but he kept his mouth shut. “Get these unchained,” Adam ordered as he hopped off and pulled a map out of his backpack. For days, they’d been moving around the world to get to this island, and soon, to their rendezvous point. The questions from his team had started coming. Where were they going? And why? What was the plan?

And in their eyes, deeper, darker questions shone. He’d have to say something, and soon.

No. Mission first.He pushed everything away, grounding himself with the memory of Faisal’s fingers ghosting through his hair.

He plotted out their route quickly and then went back to the team, waiting around the ATVs. “All right, we double up on these. I’ll take the lead. We’re headed fourteen miles east by southeast, to this cove between Sevoukuk and Sevoonga villages.” He pointed to the map and the sheltered bay on the north side of the island. “We stop there.”

Silence. He stared them down, waiting for them to question his orders. He’d given them reason to doubt him at the airport, with Faisal. When would everything start to unravel? When would they stop listening to him? When would the team crumble?

No one spoke.

“When we’re there, start setting up camp.” They each had a sleeping bag in their backpacks, a tarp, and the basics for living in the field. Doc had his med kit, and Coleman and Wright each carried a false-bottom bag of Faisal’s with their disassembled and untraceable weapons. “Full brief when we’re settled in. I know you all want answers. You’ll get them soon.”

Nods, and then they broke apart, doubling up for the ATVs.

Adam saw his problem immediately.

Coleman grabbed Doc, hauling him by his neck over to one ATV. Wright and Park were fiddling with another, and Ruiz and Kobayashi on the third. He and Faisal were going to be riding together, it seemed. He passed Faisal his backpack and slid into the front of the ATV. Faisal hopped on behind him, settling in at his back, and his arms wound around Adam’s waist.