Egan, p.1
Egan, page 1
Books in This Series:
Magnus, Book 1
Rogan, Book 2
Egan, Book 3
Barret, Book 4
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About This Book
Prologue
Day 1
Day 1, Evening
Day 2, Midmorning
Day 2, Afternoon
Day 2, After Dinner
Day 3, Morning
Day 3, Late Afternoon
Day 3, Dinner
Day 5, Two Days Later, Early Morning
Day 5, Later That Morning
Day 6, Early Morning
Day 6, Early Afternoon
Day 6, Dinnertime
Day 7, Morning
Day 7, Dinnertime
Day 7, Evening
Day 7, Nighttime
Day 8, Later That Morning
Day 8, Late Morning
Day 8, Afternoon
Epilogue
About Barret
Author’s Note
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
Deep in the permafrost of the Arctic, a joint task force, comprised of over one dozen countries, comes together to level up their winter skills. A mix of personalities, nationalities, and egos bring out the best—and the worst—as these globally elite men and women work and play together. They rub elbows with hardy locals and a group of scientists gathered close by …
One fatality is almost expected with this training. A second is tough but not a surprise. However, when a third goes missing? It’s hard to not be suspicious. When the missing man is connected to one of the elite Maverick team members and is a special friend of Lieutenant Commander Mason Callister? All hell breaks loose …
Shit happens but at the arctic camp, it’s happening too much and too often for Egan. The mess from the scientist camp has left a pall over the training camp. And still there is no sign of Teegan, Mountain’s brother. The surrounding tundra has been gridded and searched but so far, nothing… except another body…
Berry’s sister convinced her to try a new experience and apply for this training camp with her. Except none of her training prepared her for what lay ahead. Being in close quarters and cooped up due to the ugly weather, several people struggle to stay calm and in control. When her sister shows a side of her personality she’d never seen before, she’s wondering what she can do to fix this, but was it even fixable?
And if she’d been taken in, how many other team members had been as well? And did it have anything to do with the nightmare happening right under their noses. Egan and Berry need to find out, before they become the next victims…
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Prologue
Mason stared down at the phone. “Damn.”
Mountain responded, “I know. I know.” His voice booming through the phone. “The trouble is, we’re still not getting to the core issues,” he said, with a brewing anger deep inside. “Plus we’re still missing the other scientist team. At this point, although we don’t have any answers, I have a suspicion that Anna may have done something to that team, taking them out as well.”
“Christ,” Mason muttered, running his hands through his hair. “This is not what we expected.”
“No way we could have known there would be these problems,” Mountain noted. “I understand that the university is planning on sending somebody to clean up the scientists’ camp. They’ll stay with us, unless we can get their camp up and running soon. However, they really don’t want to engage with any of us, as they have suspicions of their own about the entire base. Regardless they want a few days, four, five, maybe six days up there. I think they’re also looking at sending out their own search-and-rescue team. They have different coordinates and are potentially looking at finding Dr. Amelia. She’s an important member of that community but has ties up here and is a bit of a wild card. I did try to get them to share those coordinates with me—maybe they will but later—and to promise that they would alert me if Amelia and her coworker were found.”
“So, either she’s got powerful friends or somebody else is financing this?”
“Her brother is some dot com wizard, and he doesn’t believe she’s dead. And I have to admit that, if there’s a chance she’s alive, I’m encouraged to believe there’s a chance that Teegan’s alive too. I know there isn’t another soul up here who believes that, but, in some way, this missing Dr. Amelia is giving me hope.”
“Good,” Mason said. “It’s not that late for her yet. Teegan has been longer though,” he added gently.
“No, it isn’t too late for Amelia. Again that’s not our main problem. And I’m not shifting on Teegan,” Mountain growled stubbornly.
“Fine. And, no, Dr. Amelia sure as hell isn’t our main problem, yet it’s not that easy.” Mason groaned. “Anyway, thanks for the update. Have you had any luck with the new arrival?”
“Hardly a new arrival.” Mountain laughed. “But Egan has been pretty busy being friends with everybody. He enjoys socializing with everyone.”
“Sometimes that’s a good thing too.”
“Sometimes, and, as long as he can get information from people, … I am good with it.”
“That’s Egan’s specialty,” Mason noted, “and exactly why he was assigned to be there. Give him a chance.”
“Yeah, believe me. He’s got all the chances he needs up here. People are more than interested in something to take their minds off the hell that’s been going on all around them,” he shared, “and everybody is more than happy they’re not the ones involved.”
“Of course,” Mason agreed, “but we’ve still got several dead people and too many who have gone missing. So, short of something else going wrong, how about the next time you call me, it’s with a positive update?”
“Yeah, I’ll try that next time.” Mountain gave a hearty laugh. “So, besides Magnus, Rogan, and now Egan, do you have anybody else up here?”
“I do …” Mason hesitated. “Yet I won’t tell you who that is right now.”
“Great,” Mountain muttered. “You really think I don’t need to know?”
“I think that this person is not the person you would expect, but they’re very good at what they do.” And, with that, Mason hung up.
*
Mason eyed his wife, a small smile playing at his lips.
“What is that look for?” Tesla asked.
“Rogan’s one thing, and Egan is the newest addition to our SR team,” he began. “However, Mountain also has a covert female operative up there, which Mountain won’t like. It will supercharge his instincts to protect, maybe even to overprotect and to distract him. So better to keep that secret from Mountain for now.”
Day 1
Arrived. Weather is a bitch. Shit, it’s cold. Taking a snowcat to the base. Will check in soon.
Egan Crosok hopped up into the snowcat, tossed his duffel bag behind the seat, sat down, and slammed the door shut. He looked over at the driver and recognized Magnus. He gave him a hard grin. “Lovely weather you’ve got up here.”
Magnus snorted. “We haven’t had lovely weather since I arrived,” he muttered. “Mother Nature hates us.”
“I don’t think she gives a damn, to be honest,” Egan noted cheerfully.
“Yeah, that’s obvious,” Magnus grumbled.
“Any more problems?” Egan asked, looking over at him in concern.
Magnus shook his head. “No, not since the last bout, but that’s been bad enough. We’ve had our own troubles, without the scientists’ camp running amok.”
“Did you ever find their missing team?”
“No, and now we’ve been asked by the scientific community, specifically the research department at Dr. Amelia’s university, to look for her. They sent us a new set of map coordinates too, which we hope are more accurate than what we had, which wasn’t much. She is well-known for living off the land, having spent a lot of time in the Inuit communities. From what I hear, she’s got a solid reputation, but still, being totally out of communication isn’t normal for her.”
“Great,” Egan uttered under his breath. He couldn’t imagine being out here isolated for weeks.
“Right, but your job is completely different.”
“Hey, my job is whatever it needs to be,” Egan admitted in a quiet tone. “Plus, I understand search and rescue in these temperatures.” When Magnus glanced at him, Egan nodded. “Another reason I was chosen to come up.”
“Who gave you the okay to be here?”
Egan knew what Magnus was asking but gave a clipped nod. “Let’s just say not the normal division.”
“Mason?” Magnus laughed.
“Yes, Mason,” Egan confirmed, “but I’m very short on information.”
“We all are,” Magnus stated. “You probably know as much as I do.”
Surely they had better intel than just this. Particularly after Magnus had been the first one up here—other than Mountain, searching for his missing brother, Teegan, for the last two and half weeks or so. “In which case, we’re in trouble.” Egan eyed Magnus.
“Yeah, we are in trouble all right. We’ve got somebody dangerous on the military base, and nobody knows exactly what the problem is. Trouble is, there is no indication of who it could be or what it’s about at all. So far we’ve had a killer nurse named Joy stealing drugs, and then a psycho scientist called Anna trying to kill all of them at their camp. And we’re still no closer to
“And are these guys who have gone missing, are they missing on their own, or is this a case of having gone missing without a vote in the matter?”
“If we could find any of them before they die, we could ask them,” Magnus replied in exasperation and then pointed up ahead. “Regardless of the whiteout happening all around us, the base is up there.”
They came to a rise, and Egan saw the lights down below. “Interesting little valley.”
“It works well for us here,” Magnus stated. “It keeps us out of the worst of the wind, and it helps us to somewhat control this little valley here.”
“Valleys are good,” Egan admitted. “Except for when you have planes that need to come in. Or avalanches that could bury us.”
“That was taken into account when they set up the base. The airstrip is on the flats up here. Most supply runs are done by airdrop, unless we have fuel or people brought in. We’re on short supplies now, unless it all came with you.”
“Please tell me that they have coffee,” Egan replied in mock horror. As he’d helped load the snowcat, he knew a lot of the supply orders had come with him.
“They do”—Magnus laughed—“but it is one of the things we tend to run out of when supplies get low.”
“I brought a couple pounds in my personal gear,” he shared comfortably.
Magnus shot him a look. “Glad to know that.”
“Oh no, you didn’t hear me say a word about my private coffee stash,” he added, with a big cheerful smile. “Besides, hopefully I won’t be up here all that long.”
“Oh, so before your personal coffee runs out, you’ll come in, solve our problem, and get out, huh?” Magnus asked in a dry tone.
Egan winced. “Sounds arrogant when you put it that way.”
“Yeah, you’ll be here for a month probably,” he murmured. “Yet, depending on what you end up sussing out in this place, it could be longer.”
“Oh, I hope not,” Egan stated. “A month would be okay though. Besides, it goes by quickly.”
“And not fast enough sometimes,” Magnus noted in an odd tone.
“I hear you and the doc paired up.”
“We did.” Magnus grinned.
“And that’s working out for you?”
“It is at the moment, yeah. Can’t wait until this is over, and we get some time to enjoy it. Someplace warm sounds awfully good about now.”
“Yeah, to you and me both.” Egan laughed. “However, I’m heading back to Norway for a few weeks after this.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Family, there’s always family.”
“As long as it’s a happy family issue, then it’s all good.”
“It is, at least it’s supposed to be.” Egan hesitated. “Any news on the latest missing man?”
“No,” Magnus replied, his tone hard. “Not a word on Ron. Nobody has seen him anywhere in the most probable locations and that—”
“Why am I thinking we’ll find an ice cave somewhere, with all these bodies stacked up?” Egan muttered.
“We sure as hell better not.” Magnus shook his head vigorously. “We’ve checked with all the locals, and nobody’s seen him either.”
“I understand that the others didn’t take any equipment or safety gear, so those missing guys probably didn’t head back home the hard way then, huh?”
“No, they sure as hell didn’t,” Magnus confirmed. “And if anyone had stolen some equipment or supplies, we would have noticed.”
“So, we presume that Ron and the others are lost out there in the Arctic tundra?”
“Theoretically, but I’m not so sure. Yet we’ve seen stranger things happen. However, I’m afraid Ron’s already dead. We just need to find his body to confirm that suspicion. I’m beginning to wonder if we ever will find him. Sure would help to have more answers. And that is taking too long to please me.”
As they made their way closer to the military base, Egan added, pointing to the back of the snowcat, “Those boxes are supplies for the kitchen.”
“Yeah, I saw that,” Magnus said. “I’ll get them in to the chef.”
“And an envelope is there for the colonel.”
“You can hand deliver that,” Magnus stated, with an evil grin, “on your own.”
He rolled his eyes. “Thanks. I heard this CO’s not the easiest.”
“No, he’s not, but then he’s been given this shit job here, and, so far, it’s been nothing but hell for him.”
“Yeah, that sucks, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does. Everybody expected a clean house, and instead? … Colonel’s got people dying and disappearing on his watch, left, right, and center.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t been replaced.”
“I’m thinking this job might be his intended punishment already.”
“We hear about those things, but I wonder if it’s something the brass does.”
“I think it is,” Magnus suggested, looking at his newest Shadow Recon member. “Wait till you meet him.”
It didn’t take long, as the colonel was waiting for them to show up. Egan walked into the colonel’s office and handed over the envelope. The colonel accepted it, then asked him how his trip was. “It was fine, sir.”
“Good. Get to your room, take some time to recuperate and settle in,” he noted in a businesslike tone. “Tomorrow we’ll start off with a bang.”
And, with that, Egan was dismissed.
Not sure where his room was, he looked for someone by the name of Dave who was in charge of accommodations. It didn’t take long to roust him, and the room assignment included comments on the previous occupant, Myles. Egan already knew for a fact what had happened to that scientist. The name Myles had come up in Egan’s briefing, and the fact that Egan was given a dead man’s room just made the situation on base all a little creepier.
As he walked into it, the chill was unmistakable, but it was his room and his alone, and that was good enough for him. As he dropped his bag, he turned around to see another guy staring at him, a grin on his face.
“You get the haunted room, huh?”
“I wasn’t given a choice.”
“Somebody’s got to stay here. Everybody else has been avoiding it.”
“Right, that’s nice to know.” Egan shrugged. “Can’t say ghosts have ever bothered me.”
“Maybe not, but not all ghosts are harmless.”
Surprised that he would say that, Egan stared at the guy with a raised eyebrow and got a shrug in return.
“I was raised with a lot of voodoo in my family,” the stranger explained, with a half smile. “My beliefs and thoughts are a whole lot different from most people here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Egan replied, with a laugh. “Anyway, you want to show me where the kitchen is?”
“That I can do.” He held out a hand. “Garry,” he introduced himself. “Garry Boon.”
“Nice to meet you, Garry Boon. I’m Egan Crosok,” he responded, with a smile, stretching his name out a bit as he pronounced it.
Garry looked at him with interest. “Part of the Russian team?”
“No, I’m as American as they come,” Egan stated. “I was born in Norway though.”
“Interesting.” Garry eyed Egan intently. “Why the hell would you be on the American side if you were born in Norway?”
“Dual citizenship.” He shook his head. “Sometimes I often wonder what our families were thinking. Then again, sometimes I don’t think they were thinking at all, at least not at the time of conception.”
At that, Garry laughed. “God, isn’t that the truth. Anyway, come on down. The kitchen is this way.” He pointed it out up ahead.
They walked through the hallway, multiple closed doors on each side.
“We all gather in this room over here.” Garry nodded toward a dining area, where people huddled together. “The kitchen has a serve-yourself buffet area. It’s small but has just enough room if we all squeeze in close.” He shrugged. “For that reason a lot of us tend to eat in staggered groups, so it’s not so crowded at the chow line. Then there’s a common area nearby where they don’t really want us eating, but, hey, with everything else going on, nobody gives a shit anymore.”
