White Heat (41 page)

    When,
some while later, the guard reappeared with a breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee,
she asked how long it would be before they were in Autisaq waters and got a
shrug in response. He wasn't sure how close to Autisaq they were going. The
patrol was already late - they still had to make a scheduled stop at the
science station before heading south - and the captain was keen not to delay
the hand-over so had arranged for the authorities to rendezvous with the ship
in mid-channel. Which authorities, the guard didn't know and he didn't care. He
hadn't seen his kid for two months and he didn't appreciate having to stop to
pick up people who should know better than to steal launches.

    He
came back for her not long after. He was sorry, but the rules specified that
Edie would have to be cuffed during the transfer. Personally, the guard said,
he thought that was crazy, but then she couldn't really say she hadn't brought
it on herself. Edie held out her wrists and went along with it.

    At
the wheelhouse, the cuffs came off and a couple of men she hadn't seen before
took another statement from her and asked her to sign some forms. At the end of
the process, the guard re-attached the cuffs and led her out onto the deck.

    Another
man Edie hadn't seen before emerged from the wheelhouse and came over to where
they were standing. He spoke softly to the guard for a moment or two then the
guard turned to Edie and took her firmly by the arm. 'We're going back,' the
guard said. She felt his hand tighten its grip on her arm as he swung her away
from the rail.

    A
feeling of foreboding cast a shadow in her mind. Weren't they just going to
make a routine transfer? What had happened to make them change their minds? She
thought of resisting, even jumping overboard, but she knew she couldn't survive
in the water long enough to make it to shore and, besides, they'd surely send a
launch out to pick her up or, worse still, pick her off as she struggled in the
water. Edie closed her eyes. To lose sight of Autisaq was unbearable when they
were so near. She felt her throat swell and the breath fluttering in her chest
like a trapped moth.

    The
guard opened the door to the wheelhouse and guided her inside. Captain Jonson
was standing with his back to her and, hearing the door, turned briefly.

    'Have
a seat. No point in keeping you out in the cold,' he said, returning to his
business.

    I
belong in the cold, she thought, but didn't say.

    They
waited. From time to time men came in delivering information. Jonson barked
instructions back. At one point he radioed someone with an update. Console
lights blinked on and off. Edie's nerves grated. She sensed she was still being
processed. The feeling of being in
a
stranger's hands so close to home
made her profoundly anxious.

    Then
Jonson unexpectedly announced that the Mounties were on their way. The word
alone sent panic blading through her body. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
had a fearsome reputation on Ellesmere. It was they, after all, who had tried
to corral her grandma Anna and others into Alexandra Fiord and, when that
proved impossible, dumped them on a beach on the Lindstrom Peninsula and left
them there to die. She tried to keep the panic down and think. The nearest RCMP
post was a thousand kilometres away. Why would the RCMP get involved? Was this
because the case crossed national boundaries? Her spirits sank. If it was true,
she was screwed.

    Jonson
turned again, His face bore a look of impatience. He wanted her out of his
jurisdiction as soon as possible. Just then the door opened, a man entered and
saluted. Jonson wheeled about and acknowledged the greeting. Two men in a
different uniform followed behind. With a thump of relief, Edie recognized the
first as Constable Stevie Killik. Behind him, bringing up the rear, was Derek
Palliser.

    Derek
caught Edie's eye and winked. In that moment, Edie could have jumped up and
kissed him.

    Back
home Derek insisted she get her jaw looked at by Robert Patma at the nursing
station and took her there, in case she was tempted not to bother.

    'How'd
you do this?' Robert probed the jawline gently with a thumb and finger. Edie
shot Derek a warning glance. 'Fell off the snowbie.'

    Robert
handed her some anti-inflammatories and a few strong painkillers.

    'Lucky
you didn't have a really serious accident,' he said. 'Drinking and driving.'

    'She's
got the obligatory lecture coming right up,' Derek said.

    The
moment they were alone in the police office with the door shut, Derek shrugged
off his professionally cheery air.

    'What
the hell were you thinking?'

    'I
guess I wasn't.'

    'If
Jonson wasn't such a maverick, you could easily have ended up in an RCMP jail.'

    Edie
did her best to look humbled. She wanted to tell him what she'd uncovered in
the fews days she'd spent in Greenland, but he hadn't yet finished scolding
her. 'We got enough on our plates, Edie, what with the election, and now the
old man going missing.'

    Edie
said: 'I forgot about the election.'

    Derek
took a long draw on his cigarette and flipped his eyes skywards.
Lucky you.

    Edie
backtracked. 'Koperkuj?' Somehow, she already knew.

    'Didn't
show up to collect his welfare. Seems like he hasn't been at home for a while
and no one seems to have seen him.' Derek's eyes narrowed. 'How did you know I
meant Saomik Koperkuj?'

    'Women's
instincts.'

    'Edie,
I just dragged your sorry ass out from under a whole heap of shit, but I can
just as easily put you right back in it.'

    For a
moment they looked at one another, an exhausted woman and a washed-out man.
Then he said, 'I have to go organize the search.'

    From
the police office, Edie went directly to the store and was relieved to see only
Mike at the cashier's desk. She bought an envelope and a stamp for Greenland.

    'I
heard about your ride from the coastguard, Edie,' Mike said. He tapped his face
to indicate he'd noticed her injury. 'I hope you know what you're doing.'

    'As
much as I ever do,' she said.

    Mike
gave her a worried smile.

    She
put the memory card from the Russians' camera in the envelope and addressed it
to Qila at Blok 7. Maybe she could do something with it, send it to a foreign
newspaper that might run the story.

    At
that moment Minnie Inukpuk came in and began weaving her way towards the booze
display. Etok emerged from behind the post office counter carrying copies of
the latest edition of the
Artie Circular
and hurried after her, Mike
following close behind. Edie knew what this meant: Minnie had started stealing,
Etok was about to give her a rough time over it and, in his usual peacenik
fashion, Mike was going to see if he could prevent a flare-up. The sound of
voices ensued, and moments later Minnie burst out from behind the aisles and
made for the door, keenly pursued by Etok, scattering newspapers as she ran.
While Etok watched Minnie disappear down the street, Edie bent to pick up the
mess. Restacking the newspapers, her eye was drawn to a picture of a black
seabird on the front page. Beneath it was printed the word Zemmer. She slid a
copy into her pocket, returned the remainder in a pile to Etok, and made her
way home in double time.

    The
house was just as she'd left it, unpleasantly warm and a little lonely. She
pulled out the
Circular
and unfolded it. Almost the whole of the front
was taken up with news of a huge fire at one of Zemmer's drill platforms in the
Sea of Okhotsk, off the east coast of Russia. It had happened two days ago and
the seabird was only the latest casualty. Forty-three rig workers had been
killed in the initial blast and another twenty-seven were unaccounted for. A
vast slick had already begun to form around the platform and experts were
predicting that it could spread to an area the size of Delaware. A spokesman
from Zemmer insisted that the security systems on the rig itself had been
breached and a piece of pumping equipment tampered with. A Russian-made
detonator had been found at the site but the spokesman refused to speculate who
might have been responsible. At the bottom of the page there was a link to the
editorial comment page:

    The
start of a new oil terrorism?

    The
commentary went on to speculate that the explosion was the work of Chechen
separatists.

    Edie
put the paper down. Was it too much to imagine that this was Beloil's way of
killing two birds with one stone, of drawing attention away from whatever they
were doing in the Arctic and at the same time taking out the competition, in
the certain knowledge that the spotlight would not fall on the corporation
itself? What was the saying: war is the continuation of politics by other
means. What if here war was the continuation of
business
by other means?

    She
unpacked the few things she'd managed to retrieve from the Zodie, made some tea
and stuck a bowl of frozen seal stew in the microwave to cook. While it was
heating, she took a shower and oiled and replaited her hair. The old man popped
into her mind and she pushed him back out. Everything in its own time.

    The
outside door swung open. Her heart lurched. She leapt up and sprang towards the
utility room where she stored her rifles. Moments later, Sammy burst through
the door to the snow porch, his face split in a broad smile.

    'What
a great smell.'

    He
was just the person she wanted to see.

    'Dinner,'
Edie said, 'for one. Don't tell me you and Nancy split already.' She motioned
him to sit. 'You scared me,' she said. This had to be the first time in her
life she had been spooked by an arrival.

    
'Scared
you?' Sammy seemed shocked. He took her hand and patted it in a brotherly
fashion. 'Whatever you're up to, I get that you have to do it, but Edie, look
at yourself.' He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. The swelling was
beginning to go down, but the whole of her jaw was livid with bruising. In spite
of her efforts with her hair, Edie knew she didn't look her best.

    'Don't
put yourself in harm's way. Joe wouldn't have wanted that and I don't either.'

    She
took this in. How she wished she could confide in Sammy, good old Sammy, but
this was her responsibility now and she didn't want to drag him into it.

    'You
want some stew? I can put some more in the microwave.'

    He
shook his head. 'Nancy's heating pizza.'

    'Oh,'
she said, swallowing her disappointment. For a moment, they both sat and
absorbed what needed to be absorbed.

    'I
guess I should be getting back,' he said.

    At
the door to the snow porch he turned. 'I fed your dogs while you were away,' he
said. 'Bonehead, the others, like you said.'

    'Thanks,
Sammy.' He still had the capacity to touch her.

    'When
I went around the back I noticed you got a bit of ice heave. Nothing serious,
but you might get someone to check out the piling at the back of the house.'

    She
thanked him again. For an instant their eyes met and she felt an intense
pressure, then he turned and went back through the door.

    That
night, for the first time ever, she slept with the doors locked.

    As
Edie made her way to the Northern Store to call the Rasmussen sisters, it
snowed for the first time since the spring and though the last remnants of the
sun melted the sprinklings along the shoreline as they fell, a dusting remained
up on the cliffs as a reminder of what was to come. At the store Etok was in
the office and Mike was occupied with the arrival of a new delivery from the
supply plane. Edie waited till no one was looking and picked up the phone.
Since losing her job, and then her wallet, the only money she could lay claim
to was the few dollars Sammy had lent her.

    'Ai?'

    'Qila?

    'Hey,
Edie!' Qila laughed. 'We sent your Russian friends' pictures to
Sermitsiaq,
the Greenlandic language newspaper, and they printed the story. Can you believe
it, the police actually did something! They're being deported back to Russia
next week.'