“Yes, and fuck you,” Noah said. “Not all scientists are bleeding heart environmentalists. I work for Camille.”
Okay, so maybe calling Noah a “good” guy was a stretch. But he still wasn’t the enemy.
“That’s not all you do for her,” Koos muttered.
Noah lunged, his fists bunched as if he planned to take a swing, but Elliot jumped between them, arms out to keep them apart.
“Enough! We’re not fighting each other.”
Her Elliot, ever the peacemaker.
Rue also moved between the two men. “He’s right. And this is good, getting all our secrets out in the open. My turn.” She paused and drew a breath. “I only took this expedition to find out what happened to my friend Maren. She disappeared last year under suspicious circumstances. And I didn’t trust any of you, so I asked Elliot to come as my backup.”
“So he’s not really your fiancé?” Mia looked crestfallen. “But you’re so cute together.”
“We’re just friends,” Elliot said.
Ouch.
Rue didn’t want to examine why those words felt like a knife through her heart. It was true. They were friends. But also… more. She just didn’t know how to put that “more” into words.
Maybe he didn’t either.
“I came looking for my wife,” Moretti said softly into the silence, and everyone turned to look at him. He was sittingwoozily up on his cot, his complexion an alarming shade of gray-green. Blood had seeped through the bandage on his head.
Irina rushed over to him. “You need to stay still. You have a concussion.”
He waved her away and focused his bleary eyes on Rue. “Did you find them? Maren and Helena?”
“I did.” Heart in her throat, she unzipped her jacket pocket and pulled out the stack of photos she’d taken from Helena’s room at Takahe. She crossed to him, holding them out.
“Oh.” Tears spilled from his eyes as he flipped through the photos and paused on one of him and his wife hugging under the Southern Lights. “What happened to her and her team?”
“Same thing that’s happening here,” Elliot said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Irina stepped forward, her face drawn with exhaustion. “I should tell you what I know.” She glanced at Tyler’s quarantined area, then back to the group. “I came here because my family has a history of… unsavory associations and actions.”
Rue couldn’t help her snort. “That’s what you want to call it? Your uncle and his paramilitary group tried to kill my father thirty years ago. Multiple times.”
Irina winced. “I know. I don’t associate with that side of the family if I can help it, but my cousin wants to restore Volkov Group to their former glory, and he bragged about partnering with Praetorian for something that would make the world fear the Volkov name again. He’s a dumbass, but he’s also vicious. I knew it was nothing good, so I questioned him about it, and he let it slip that a pathogen had been found in Antarctica, and Praetorian planned to weaponize it. I needed to see if he was telling the truth, so I approached Atlas Frost about joining the expedition.”
Mia made a small, distressed sound and looked over her shoulder at Tyler. “Are you actually a medical doctor?”
Irina grasped her hands. “Yes, I promise you I am, but I don’t usually treat patients. I work mostly in a research capacity.”
“Jesus,” Koos grumbled. “Any other secrets to share?”
Everyone looked at him.
After a beat, he lifted his hands. “No, no, I am exactly who I told you I was. I love it here, and I couldn’t get on an over-winter crew, so when Dr. Moretti needed a guide, I jumped at the chance.”
The betrayals layered on betrayals made Rue’s head spin. She glanced at Elliot, hoping to see him analyzing the situation, formulating a plan—but his gaze was fixed on the door, as if he expected Cade to walk back through it at any moment. The hurt radiating from him was almost tangible.
“What about Keene?” Noah asked and focused on Mia again. “What’s his story?”
Mia shook her head. The poor girl looked completely shell-shocked. “He was my professor. My advisor. I had no clue…” As if her legs gave out, she sank to the nearest cot and buried her face in her hands. “I just want to go home.”
“You will,” Rue said, injecting as much certainty into her tone as she could manage. “We all will.”
