Pandora's curse

inevitable.

“This ain’t bad,” Harry admitted.

Mercer took it from him, twisted part of the handle to release a secret catch, and pulled a gleaming thirty- inch sword blade from the cane.

Harry’s face lit up. “All right!”

“And the best part,” Mercer said, and twisted the sword near where the tang went into the handle. The blade came free, leaving a nine-inch-long wand with a screw cap set in the top end. Mercer opened it and gave it an appreciative sniff. The cane maker had gotten his final instructions before shipping his creation.

Harry took the handle, smelled its open end as Mercer had done, and laughed. The cane/sword was also a flask filled with Harry’s version of mother’s milk, Jack Daniel’s.

Harry’s eyes were bright blue and they were usually filled with mischievous sarcasm. Now they clouded over, unguarded, and showed how much Mercer’s gift meant to him. He looked up. “Thanks, Mercer,” he rasped quietly. “This is something else.”

“Happy birthday.” Mercer handed over five twenty-dollar bills and took a seat, muttering, “You still have to pay back the hundred.”

They played poker until midnight, talking mostly about Mercer’s upcoming trip. Mike was the only driver sober enough to get behind the wheel, so he said he’d give Tiny a ride back to his condo after dropping off Pidge. He offered the same service to Harry, but he’d already staked his claim to the couch. Harry lived only a dozen blocks away, yet he slept at Mercer’s at least once a week and never used either of the small guest rooms at the back of the house.

Orphaned when he was twelve and raised by his grandparents who were now also dead, Mercer had no family, which made his friendships all the more precious. His father had been a mining engineer as well, and he and Mercer’s mother, Siobhan, had died in one of the countless uprisings in central Africa. During his training for the Iraq mission, an Army shrink had told Mercer that his early loss had created in him an acute fear of abandonment and an overdeveloped sense of loyalty and responsibility. Mercer agreed and knew that, despite the more than four decades separating them, he valued Harry more than anything else in his life.

Mercer usually woke at dawn. However, he slept an hour later the following morning. He showered quickly, threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and went down to get the Washington Post from the stoop. He’d set the timer on the coffeemaker behind the bar last night. The brew was thick as tar, and the steam rising from it was strong enough to scald his eyes. He poured the pot into a carafe and made more coffee for Harry’s less masochistic tastes.

“Do you mind not making those pounding noises over there?” Harry grumbled as he came awake.

“That’s not me. It’s your head.”

Sitting up, Harry looked around the room, his mouth scrunched up as he tasted the aftereffects of a pack of cigarettes, a couple of cigars, and more whiskey than was strictly necessary. He coughed viciously. “Yeah, you might be right.”

Before getting off the couch, Harry rolled up his pants leg and strapped on the flesh-colored prosthetic limb. He slid his thin arms into the sleeves of an over-laundered blue oxford, buttoning it over the undershirt he’d slept in.

“I’ve always wondered,” Mercer said, pouring a cup of coffee for his friend and adding several spoons of sugar, “if you slept in your clothes at home.”

“Only on those nights I pass out.”

“Every night, huh?”

“Let’s just say most nights and leave it at that.” Harry went off to use the guest bathroom and Mercer scanned the newspaper.

A scandal involving Washington’s school board couldn’t hold his interest for more than the headline. Because so much of his work took place overseas, Mercer was more interested in international news. He read about the upcoming Universal Convocation. The article had a photograph of the Sea Empress, the ship the pope was using for his meeting. Although the vessel was the largest cruise liner ever built, she was as sleek as a race yacht, with raked decks and funnels on each of her two hulls. Somewhere he’d read that a lap around the enormous catamaran was half a mile. Harry returned as Mercer was finishing another piece about a German company that had agreed to pay $1.2 billion in reparations to slave laborers they had used in their factories during the war.

“Hey, last night you never said when you were leaving for Greenland.” Harry sat at the bar near Mercer. He’d taken the time to shave the silver stubble from his lantern jaw.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Mercer replied, sliding the crossword puzzle over to him.

Seated or standing, the two men were the same height, but this news made Harry slump in disappointment. He preferred Mercer’s company more than the use of his house. He took a gulp of coffee and lit a cigarette.

“I know, the timing kind of sucks,” Mercer added. “This is an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.”

“I guess I can’t blame you. Joining the Surveyor’s Society must be a hell of a thing for you.”

“How many childhood dreams really do come true?” The question was asked seriously.

“Besides losing your virginity? Not many.” Harry’s wrinkled face broke into a smile. “I’m glad for you, but I don’t envy you. What’s that place like this time of year?”

“Believe it or not, spring is just starting. July is when the ice packs that surround Greenland break up. We’ll probably be one of the first ships over this year. The weather should be in the low twenties though I think storms can blow up at any time and the temperature can drop below zero in about five minutes.”

“You’re nuts.”

Mercer laughed but didn’t argue.

While Harry worked at the crossword, Mercer grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from his office and began a list of things he wanted to bring. For a job, he usually knew exactly what items were needed. This was the first time in a while, however, that he would work in such harsh conditions and he wanted to be prepared.

“Ten down,” Harry White interrupted. “A five-letter word for friend? Middle one’s ‘o.’ ”

Mercer looked at him pointedly. “Mooch.”

“Bastard.”

“Try crony.”

An hour later, as Harry thumbed through the rest of the Washington Post, Mercer was getting together some of the equipment on his list. Later, he would need to go to a specialized outfitter’s store for the things he’d need, but many of the small items he had lying around the house. Some were elusive though.

“Harry, have you seen my glacier glasses?”

Twisting on his bar stool, the octogenarian shot him a withering look and his voice dripped sarcasm. “Don’t you remember? I borrowed them the last time I climbed Mount Everest.”

“Just for that, I’m going to lock up my liquor when I’m gone and ban you from smoking in here.” Such clean living would probably kill him in a week.

“Hey, I was kidding.” Harry backpedaled quickly. “There’s no need to get nasty. When you’re done today, you going over to Tiny’s? It’s two-for-one night, which means double-fisted drinking.”

“No. I want to do some research on the Internet. I’d like to find out more about Project Iceworm and this Camp Decade we’re going to reopen.”

During his lunch at the Society, Charles Bryce had also told Mercer about an Air Force plane that had crashed a few months before the base closed. The search for the wreckage had been extensive and it should have been easy to spot the plane on the ice, but no trace was ever found. He hoped to find something about that as well, just for curiosity’s sake.

“Suit yourself,” Harry said, grabbing his new cane for the walk home. “You leaving from Dulles or National?”

“Dulles. You mind giving me a ride?”

“That’s why I asked.”

“Thanks. Come by around noon.”

Harry left, and a few minutes later Mercer went on his shopping trip. Considering the list of items and the work he had to do tonight, he realized that he shouldn’t have stayed in New York for an extra day. However,