“There’s no way you could have fought him off, even if he hadn’t drugged you.”
“I begged him for a parka, a hat, gloves. I was so afraid. He told me that hypothermia was a relatively painless way to die compared to … compared to methanol poisoning.” Tears filled her eyes, anguish sharp in her chest. “He told me he kept Patty in his office to make sure she couldn’t get medical help. She suffered, Thor. She suffered while thatbastardsat there waiting for the methanol to incapacitate her. She must have beensoafraid.”
Thor’s jaw went tight, his blue eyes going ice cold. He drew her against him, held her close with his good arm. “I’m so sorry. He won’t get away with this. I promise.”
“Why? Why did he do this? Why would he betray his country?”
“I don’t know.” Thor looked into her eyes, smiled. “You need to rest and get back to huffing that oxygen. You’re still hypothermic. Lie back and let me get you tucked in with those body warmers. I’ll make more hot cocoa.”
He got to one hand and his knees to crawl out of their little tent, his left arm tucked against his chest, a bloody bandage on his thigh.
“Oh, Thor. He shot you in the leg, too?”
“I’ll be fine.” He crawled out, and she heard him rummaging around at the bar.
She went back to using the oxygen, a puff every time she inhaled, a kind of numbness settling over her. She let thenumbnesstake her, grateful just to be alive.
She was alive. Thor was hurt, but also alive.
You’ll get through this.
He returned with two cups of cocoa, one for himself and one that he insisted on holding for her. “I want you under that blanket.”
She indulged him, letting him give her sip after sip. Itdidmake her feel better, though she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel warm again.
A burst of static.
“Isaksen, this is Jones.”
Thor reached for the radio. “Isaksen here.”
“We’re doing all communication with you from the life pod’s command center—the computer room. We don’t want to risk someone overhearing and betraying us to Hardin. Can you update us on your medical situation?”
“Dr. Park is conscious. Our frostbite will heal. My shoulder still has a bullet in it. What’s going on there?”
“Lance and Charli have been working on the life pod computer system with help from Shields. They can shut down the power to the station and transfer it to the life pod, but that would cut off the power to your building and all labs around the station. All of them run off the main power grid.”
It was all surreal to Samantha.
Thor didn’t look happy about this news. “Okay, so that’s out. Can they lock him out of their system and prevent him from turning off the power to the life pod?”
“Affirmative. They’ve already done that.”
“Good. What about the doors?”
“Lance hacked those controls. We can open the doors now, but Hardin will know it. There’s no way for us to get out of here without alerting him. When the wind dies down, we could bring you one of our pistols and some medical aid, but it would likely lead him right to you.”
“Okay, then what’s our play?”
“Before we get into that, there are two other things.”
“Go ahead.”
“Steve Hardin is actually Stephen Michael Delaney. Fifteen years ago, Delaney was a researcher for Titan, the defense contractor. He did the preliminary development for the Golden Horde systems. Apparently, he had a falling out with his bosses over workplace behavior. They fired him, and then he disappeared. It turns out he created a new identity for himself. Shields thinks he wants to get back at the company.”
Samantha stared at Thor, stunned.
Thor didn’t seem shocked at all. “I wish she’d discovered that a few days ago. Thanks for the update. What we need now is a plan. It’s time to take back the station.”