Ice Station

laser beam was directed. When something crossed the beam, it triggered a flashing red light on Kaplan's forearm guard.

Moments ago, something had crossed the beam.

From his post on A-deck, Kaplan had immediately radioed Schofield, who, sensibly, had ordered a visual check. After all, it might have just been Buck Riley and his team, returning from their check of that disappearing signal. Schofield had set follow-up time at two hours, and it had been nearly that long since Schofield's team had arrived at the station. Buck Riley and his crew were due here any minute now.

Only this wasn't Buck Riley.

'Where is it, Snake?' Schofield's voice said over Snake's helmet intercom.

'Southeast corner. Coming through the outer circle of buildings now.' Snake watched as the hovercraft slowly made its way through the station complex, carefully negotiating its way between the small snow-covered structures.

'Where are you?' Snake asked as he stood, picked up his rifle, and started jogging back through the snow toward the main dome.

'I'm at the main entrance,' Schofield's voice said. 'Just inside the front door. I need you to take up a covering position from the rear.'

'Already on it.'

With the driving snow, visibility was limited, so the hovercraft proceeded slowly through the complex. Kaplan hurried along parallel to it, a hundred yards away. The vehicle came to a halt outside the main dome of the ice station. It was slowly beginning to lower itself from its cushion of air when Shake dropped into the snow forty meters away and began to set up his sniper rifle.

He had just put his eye to his telescopic sight when the side door of the hovercraft slid open and four figures stepped out of it into the snowstorm.

'Good evening,' Schofield said with a crooked smile.

The four French scientists just stood there in the doorway to the ice station, dumbstruck. They stood in two pairs, with each pair carrying a large white container between them.

In front of them stood Schofield, with his MP-5 held casually by his side. Behind Schofield stood Hollywood and Montana, with their MP-5s raised to shoulder height and their eyes looking straight down the barrels of their guns. Guns that were pointed right at their new visitors.

Schofield said, 'Why don't you come inside.'

'The others are safely back at d'Urville,' the leader of this new group said as he sat down at the table in the dining room alongside his French colleagues. Like the others, he had just passed a thorough pat-down search.

He had a lean face, hollow, with sunken eyes and high cheekbones. He had said his name was Jean Petard, and Schofield recognized the name from his list. He also remembered the short bio that had appeared under the name. It had said that Petard was a geologist, studying natural gas deposits in the continental shelf. The names of the other three Frenchmen were also on the list.

The four original French scientists were also there in the dining room?Champion, Latissier, Cuvier, and Rae. The remaining residents of Wilkes were now back in their quarters. Schofield had ordered that they remain there until he and his squad had checked out the occupants of this newly arrived hovercraft. Montana and Lance Corporal Augustine 'Samurai' Lau, the sixth and last member of Schofield's team, stood guard by the door.

'We hurried back as fast as we could,' Jean Petard added. 'We brought fresh food and some battery-powered blankets for the return trip.'

Schofield looked over at Libby Gant. She was over by the far wall of the dining room, examining the two white containers the Frenchmen had brought with them.

'Thank you,' Schofield said, turning back to face Petard. 'Thank you for all you have done. We arrived here only several hours after you did and the people here have told us how good you have been to them. We thank you for your efforts.'

'But of course,' Petard said, his English fluent. 'One must look after one's neighbors.' He offered a wry smile. 'You never know when you yourself might be in need of assistance.'

'No, you don't.'

At that moment Snake's voice crackled over Schofield's earpiece: 'Lieutenant, we have another contact crossing the trip wire.'

Schofield frowned. Now things were starting to happen a little too fast. Four French scientists he could handle. Another four and the French were starting to show a little too much interest in Wilkes Ice Station. But now, if there were more of them?

'Wait, Lieutenant; it's all right. It's one of ours. It's Riley's hovercraft.'

 Schofield let out a sigh of relief that he hoped nobody saw and headed out of the room.

Over by the wall of the dining room, Libby Gant was sifting through the two large containers that the French scientists had brought with them. She pushed aside a couple of blankets and some fresh bread. There was also some canned meat down at the bottom of the container. Corned beef, ham, that sort of thing. All were packed in sealed cans, the kind that has a key attached to the side that you use to peel back the lid.

Gant pushed a couple of the cans aside and was looking for more beneath them when suddenly one of the cans caught her eye.

There was something wrong about it.

It was a little larger than the other, medium-sized cans? about fourteen inches in length?and it was roughly triangular in shape. At first Gant couldn't tell what it was that struck her about this particular can. It was just that something about it didn't look right...

And then she realized.

The seal on this can had been broken.

 The peel-back lid, it seemed, had been opened and then set back into place. It was barely visible. Just a thin black line around the edge of the lid. If you were only giving the cans a cursory glance, you would almost certainly miss it.

Gant turned to look back at Schofield, but he had left the room. She looked up quickly at the French scientists, and as she did so, she saw Petard exchange a quick glance with the one named Latissier.

Schofield met Buck Riley at the main entrance. The two men stood out on the A-deck catwalk, about thirty feet away from the dining room.

'How was it?' Schofield asked.

'Not good,' Riley said.

'What do you mean?'

'That signal we lost, it was a hovercraft. French markings. From d'Urville. It had crashed into a crevasse.'

Schofield looked up sharply at Riley. 'Crashed into a crevasse?' He looked back quickly at the Frenchmen in the dining room. Only moments earlier, Jean Petard had said that the other hovercraft had arrived safely back at d'Urville.

'What happened?' Schofield said. 'Thin ice?'

'No. That's what we thought at first. But then Rebound got a closer look.'

Schofield turned back around. 'And?'

Riley gave him a serious look. 'There were five dead bodies in that hovercraft, sir. And all of them had been shot through the back of the head.'

Gant's voice exploded across Schofield's helmet intercom.

'Sir, this is Fox. There's something wrong here. Their food containers have been compromised.'

 Schofield spun around and saw Libby Gant coming out of the dining room. She was walking quickly toward him, carrying a food can of some sort, peeling the lid back.

Behind her Schofield saw Petard, in the dining room, rising to his feet, watching Gant, and then watching