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“And we ended up on a floating island in the middle of freaking nowhere.”
Her mouth slid into an easy grin. “You can say the F-bomb here. No one will be offended. Nate’s quite fluent in cusswords. When he gets going, it becomes an art form.”
“Thank fuck.”
She liked his smile. The deep grooves beside his mouth were there from years in the sun, as were the wrinkles beside his pale eyes. His teeth were lovely, too. Bright white… Why was she admiring the man’s teeth?
She widened her eyes and pushed up from her seat. “I think I’m heading to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”
“You showing me around?”
She’d planned to let him shadow Eric and Perry, but she changed her mind. “Yeah. We have to hit Mateo’s platform anyway. I’ll be sure you make it around to every place we’re doing data collection. You’ll get a better feel for what we do. And you’ll get to see the ocean. Makes you feel really small and insignificant when you stand on the ridge and gaze out. We’re surrounded by smaller ice floes, and we get polar bears. You might see bears or seals on the edge of the ice. We all have to keep an eye out for them and be sure we don’t leave anything behind, like sandwich wrappers or food scraps, to attract them.”
“Sounds fun,” he said. “It’s been a long day for me, too. I think I’ll turn in as well. I was in Yellowstone this morning. Feels like forever ago.”
“Yellowstone? That where your agency is based?”
“One of the groups is there. We have offices in Eagle Pass, Montana, Fool’s Gold, Colorado, and West Yellowstone. I just signed on to work there. You’re my first assignment.”
“Well, hopefully, it won’t be too memorable,” she murmured. “I’m hoping whoever killed Mateo is long gone, although thenotknowing makes me uneasy.”
“If we don’t figure out who it was, I could be here all winter.”
Her gaze fell away as she considered that. Then she looked back at him. His gaze was locked on her. “Would it be so bad? Being stuck on an ice floe all winter?”
Gunn cleared his throat. “The thought is…intriguing.”
Maddie headed over to Em and Eric to let them know she was heading to bed. Then she went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water.
Perry yawned and laid down his cards. “It’s been a long damn day,” he said. “I’m out.” He pushed three toothpicks toward the center of the table.
Nate sat in front of a healthy stack of toothpicks. “Guess we should all hit the sack. Maddie, who’s got breakfast in the morning?”
She moved to the fridge. “It’s Saturday tomorrow.”
Perry groaned. “My turn. How do you want your powdered eggs? Scrambled or omelets?”
“You making biscuits?” Nate asked.
“You going to lend me a hand? You know I’m not good at multitasking.”
Nate chuckled. “Get me out of bed, and I’ll help you.”
Maddie glanced around the table. Hell, she really liked these guys. She hoped like hell one of them wasn’t a killer.
CHAPTER5
Gunn woke at 6:45—latefor him, but he’d stared at the dark ceiling of his room until after midnight the previous night.
This research site had a strange vibe. Maybe it was the atmospherics—the constant wind, the clear, wide horizon, the muffled sound of the generator that powered the site, and the cutting cold—that were different and unsettling. Likely, it was the isolation and forced proximity with a group of people who were completely alien to him. Obviously highly intelligent, they were also kind of stunted, almost childlike in their excitement about their work. They seemed to celebrate their geekiness. Except for Maddie. She was down-to-earth, a stabilizing presence inside the facility.
And pretty in an understated way. She wore her dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and no makeup to enhance her pale skin. Her cheeks were perpetually pink like they were slightly, constantly wind-chapped. Her hazel eyes were framed with thick, dark lashes, and her eyebrows were wonderfully expressive of her thoughts, arching when she was amused, pulling together when she was carefully studying something, like his scarred face and hand.
Gunn had been cautious the first time her gaze had stilled on his cheek, but she hadn’t seemed put off by his scar. And her face had only reflected curiosity when she’d noted the back of his hand with its rippled red scar.
Gunn liked her and trusted her instinctively, while he held reservations about the rest of her crew—although, he had to tell himself that any one of the other six inhabitants could be a killer. It was far more likely that one was, given where they were. The thought of an enemy intent on hiding the presence of a submarine seemed much less likely. But what would be the motive for killing Mateo Schild?
He rubbed a hand over his face and flipped back his bedsheet and blanket to sit on the side of his bed, which was nearly as narrow as a cot.
