Egan, page 14
“Hey, it was stupid of me to make that comment. And to bring her up tonight. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, and you’re right. It would totally be her. Cherry was always the fun one, the one who was up for anything and everything,” Berry stated, a bit abashed. “I just didn’t realize what up for everything means until it turns around and bites me in the ass,” she muttered.
She gave a determined headshake, as if trying to get rid of her negative thoughts. “Anyway, we won’t talk about her. We’ll have a decent evening. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be completely different, and I can get out and do some training.”
“You and everybody else in this place,” Egan noted, with a smile. “We’re all hoping for a break in the weather.”
Day 7, Morning
As it was, when Berry woke the next morning, it was quiet. No storm raged outside. The calm was a gift of peace. She bounded out of bed, dressed, and raced to the kitchen, to find everybody else in the same positive mind-set. She smiled. “Looks as if we will all get out today.”
“Absolutely,” said one of them, returning a big smile to her. “Even you?”
She nodded. “Even me.”
“What about your sister?”
“I don’t think she’s medically released for that yet,” she replied, trying to move right past that conversation. “I’ll just grab some food and go see what Peter has assigned me to for the day.”
And that’s what she did. At least today, she had a smile on her face and hope back in her heart.
*
Egan led a group of sleds and their dogs, while Joe had a second group off to the side. They were slowly walking everybody through the lessons. They were teaching them how to move the dogs, how to command the dogs, how to switch out the dogs, how to understand when one of the dogs was getting tired and when it was time to shift the leader dog, if that was needed. All too often, the dogs didn’t change positions when pulling sleds. They were typically quite content to be where they were accustomed to being, so change wasn’t always a good thing. Queenie deserved her name, as she was one of the best-trained dogs in the group and was so patient with the newbie trainees.
As they walked their way through the day, Egan smiled and laughed to see everybody in a much better mood. It was really nice outside, and everybody seemed to be at the top of their game.
When they broke for lunch, they all milled around in a group. Egan had twelve trainees in total outside today. It made him feel better that Berry was one of the other group of twelve trainees, working with Joe’s group. When Egan heard a shout, he turned to see one of the men pointing in the distance, where another dogsled came toward them.
As they approached, Egan realized it was from the local village.
Several of the military men got off their sleds and walked over to greet the villagers, and two of them on skis were shortly at their side. They all sat and visited for a little bit.
Egan asked the villagers if they had seen anybody from the scientists’ camp and immediately got lots of headshakes. He noted one person wouldn’t look at him. When he got a chance to get closer, he asked that person in a low voice, “What about you? Have you seen anybody?”
The young man, who couldn’t have been more than twenty, jumped up and shook his head, then walked over to stand with the elders. Yet something seemed off in his mannerisms. Egan continued to study him, but the young man still wouldn’t look him in the eye and wouldn’t say anything.
When the group from the village left fairly soon afterward, everybody smiled and waved.
Joe walked over to Egan. “There’s something to be said for living out here.”
“There is,” Egan acknowledged, “but an awful lot more to be said about going home.”
Joe burst out laughing. “Yeah, I hear you there, but they didn’t seem to know much.”
“No, but that young one? … I’m not so sure, and he didn’t seem very forthcoming.”
“He may not understand our language. They’re also not used to people like us,” Joe added, with half a grin. “So, keep that in mind.”
“Right, and I wouldn’t want to terrorize him any more than he already seemed to be. They don’t see many foreigners, and I’m not sure they particularly like the ones they do see,” he noted. “Not everybody here is in favor of us coming up and doing trainings and running tests or science experiments either.” He shook his head in annoyance. “So far they’ve been very amiable and generous with their time and energy, so we’re trying not to piss them off anymore.”
“Yeah, asking that young man any more questions would do exactly that,” Joe warned.
“I know, and yet—”
“He’s hiding something. You’re right,” Joe confirmed. “My suggestion would be to let Mountain handle it. He’s getting closer to them, without pushing it, from what I hear.”
Day 7, Dinnertime
When the training day was over, and Berry and Egan were sitting in the cafeteria later, having dinner, Sydney walked in, right over to Berry, and sat down beside her. Sydney hadn’t even stopped to get food. Berry stiffened and looked at her. “Problems?” Just enough fear filled her voice that nearly everybody here could understand where she was coming from.
Sydney shook her head. “No, but she is asking for you.”
Berry stared off in the distance and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do about that.”
“Only what you’re okay to do,” the doc stated in a low voice. “Forgiveness doesn’t have to happen today. Remember that. It can happen over time. However, even a little bit would go a long way right now.”
“Yeah, but for her or for me?”
“Considering the fact that it’s her health I’m working on right now, and you appear to be physically fine,” Sydney clarified, “it would be appreciated if you could find a few moments to talk to her.”
“Oh, I will,” Berry declared, “but I can’t make any guarantees on how that talk will go.”
Sydney laughed. “None of us ever get what we really want in life. All we can do is get something that we’re happy with. And I’ll take a compromise on your part any day.”
“Fine,” Berry muttered. “I’ll stop by after dinner.”
“Good. I’ll stay here a little bit longer then. That’ll give you two some private time to talk.”
“If talking is something we need to do,” Berry whispered, “I’m still not sure what to say.”
“Berry, I’m not pressuring you to do anything, other than acknowledge that your sister is still an important part of your life. As for the rest of it? … You’ll work it out over time. None of that has to be today.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Berry admitted, “because I’m really not ready.”
“I get that,” Sydney murmured, “and I totally understand. I’ve seen a lot of people destroy themselves for nothing, and your sister is already in a bad place. She feels she’s done something completely unforgivable, so, if you can at least give her a little hope, it might help.” Sydney looked around and added, “I’ll go grab some dinner.” Then she quickly disappeared.
Egan looked over at her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, … just really sad.”
“Sad sounds normal. Sad sounds good,” he shared. “Do you want somebody to come with you?”
She looked up, then smiled and shook her head. “Cherry might have been unpleasant to deal with throughout my life in some circumstances, but that’s not happening right now. So I’m fine. But I think I will go deal with it now, so hopefully I don’t have to take it to bed with me, and it stops me from sleeping,” she murmured.
“Got it. If you want to connect afterward, let me know.”
“Will do,” she replied appreciatively.
Then she got up and headed to see her sister. When she opened the medical center door and stepped in, Cherry looked up, her expression guilty as hell, as she sat at the computer.
Berry closed the door with a snap. “What are you doing there, Cherry?”
She got up, walked over to the bed, and sat down with a shrug. “I’m bored. … I was just looking at files.”
“Private medical files by any chance?” Berry asked, with a narrowed gaze, her voice deadly soft.
Cherry flushed. “I couldn’t get in,” she snapped in a waspish tone. “Sydney logged off before she left.”
“Gee, I wonder why?” Berry muttered. “Something about trust, maybe? And someone not being trustworthy enough to leave confidential files unprotected?”
Her sister glared at her. “If that’s all you came to say, you can leave any time.”
“Thank you for yet another mess,” Berry snapped. “I came to see how you were, but, if that’s the way it is, I’ll be happy to leave.” She glared at her sister. “I was really looking forward to putting this all behind me, but Jesus, Cherry, trying to access Sydney’s computer? That’s another huge betrayal of trust.”
“You don’t know what I was doing.”
“No, but you just told me that you couldn’t get in, which means you tried.”
Her sister flushed and then glared at her. “I’ve been stuck in here, bored all day, and you don’t know what that’s like.”
“I think most of us are feeling pretty caged-in these days.”
“But you got out today,” she snapped.
“I did, and it was great,” she admitted. “It definitely went a long way to help ease some of the tensions people are feeling.”
Her sister suddenly started to sob. “But I didn’t get to go.”
“No, you didn’t, and I’m not so sure you’ll ever get to go again. I will tell Sydney what you did,” Berry declared. “The way you keep nuking yourself at every turn, I have no idea what’s happening with you.”
“Neither do I,” Cherry muttered, “and being in limbo really sucks.”
“Have you tried to talk to anybody about it? Have you talked to the colonel?”
“No,” she said, with a shudder. “I would just as soon skip that visit.”
“Then how do you expect to get anything resolved?” Berry asked curiously. “Obviously I can see why you would be reluctant, but he’ll need a first-hand accounting of what was going on. The fact that he hasn’t even come by yet surprises me.”
“Whatever,” Cherry quipped. “According to Yegorahn, nobody respected him.”
“And yet you better not show that attitude,” Berry said, as a word of warning to sister. “Respect is everything here.”
“Sure, but you have to earn it, and he’s put everybody at risk by not letting any of us leave.”
“Are you sure it’s even him who’s not letting anybody leave? Everybody’s got a boss,” Berry stated. “Maybe he’s under orders too.”
“It doesn’t matter. Somebody killed Yegorahn,” Cherry replied, tears coming to her eyes again. “How is that fair?”
Berry didn’t say anything because she wasn’t sure bringing up that whole mess again would help anybody, since her sister had done so little to help at a point in time when that information could have made a difference in solving the case. She sat down on the spare chair and looked at her sister. “How are you feeling?”
She shrugged. “Like shit,” she muttered, “but I’m okay.”
“I’m glad to hear that. As long as you’re doing better, then you should get out of here okay.”
“Maybe, and maybe not.”
“Meaning?” Berry asked.
“It just feels as if I’ve been completely ostracized, and it’s not fair.”
Berry stared at her sister in shock. “Not fair? Did you really just say, not fair?”
“No, it’s not fair,” Cherry snapped angrily. “It wasn’t my fault Yegorahn got me hooked on drugs.”
“But you took them,” Berry snapped back, staring at her sister, wondering if Egan was right about her. Maybe she shouldn’t be let off the hook so easily, since she hadn’t seemed to learn anything.
“Sure, I took them, but he told me that it was just to help me calm down. You know how I felt about being here.”
“Sure, I also remember you being the one who got me to come because you were so excited about this Arctic training. You wanted to be here then.”
Cherry immediately flushed at that. “Should have known you’d bring that up,” she grumbled, with a decided pout in her tone.
“Look, Cherry. I came to say hi and to keep you company for a few minutes, but, if we’re just going to fight, then I’m leaving. I thought you would have learned something by now and would have toned down your attitude. Yet it’s just more of the same.” With that, Berry got up and headed to the door.
“Wait,” her sister cried out. Berry stopped and looked over at her and waited. It took a moment, but finally Cherry spoke in a whisper, “I didn’t tell them everything.”
“You didn’t tell who everything?” Berry asked, turning to walk closer to her sister. “What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t tell them everything about what Yegorahn said.”
“What Yegorahn said? You’re kidding. Why not?” she asked in astonishment.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I felt as if I was being punished.” That was almost more than Berry could handle. She stared at her sister, her jaw working, as she tried to figure out what to say before finally letting the words blast out of her.
“Oh, you were being punished, and you were being accused, and this will just make it worse because you didn’t tell them everything that would have been helpful in the first place.”
“I didn’t know whether it would be helpful or not,” she snapped, glaring, “and don’t you start. But if I’m trying to clear the air, then Yegorahn did make a couple comments about some people here. I didn’t want to cause undue harm to other people’s reputation, but nobody seems to give a crap about mine now, so—”
“So now what? You’ll throw other people under the bus?” she asked in a wry tone.
She flushed. “That’s not exactly what I’m doing.”
“I’m glad to hear that. So what exactly are you doing?”
“Yegorahn had some concerns about a couple people here, and I didn’t mention them,” Cherry stated. “I didn’t tell Ted the whole story.”
“In that case, it sounds like you should. Particularly if Yegorahn had any thoughts or fears about his life.”
“I don’t think so, but he thought it was suspicious, and he was going to go talk to somebody about it.” She winced at that.
“Talk why?”
“I don’t know why.” But then she caught Berry’s glance and groaned. “Okay, fine, so maybe he wanted in on it.”
“Oh hell,” Berry cried out, staring at her sister. “And you didn’t tell anybody about this?”
Cherry shook her head, nervously chewing on her bottom lip.
After a moment, Berry threw up her hands, pulled out her phone, and quickly called first Magnus and then Egan. When Egan heard, he sucked in his breath, and she asked, “Can you come to the clinic, please?”
As they waited, her sister was still chewing nervously on her bottom lip. “Will you ever forgive me for this?”
Berry looked at her and nodded slowly. “Eventually … I hope to.” Relief washed over her sister’s face, making Berry realize just how important it was to her.
“But this isn’t easy for me, Cherry. Finding out all the things you’ve done to hurt me over the last decade, and knowing you did it maliciously, intentionally impacting my ability to make friends, keep friends, and just …” She was at a loss for words. Reaching up, she scrubbed at her face. “The hurt and the betrayal runs pretty deep,” she finally said. “I will forgive at some point, but it won’t be today.”
Just as her sister started to say something, the door opened, and Magnus walked in, with Sydney. Sydney looked at the two of them and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Just wait till Egan gets here, please,” Berry said.
At that exact moment, Egan announced his presence. “I’m right here,” he murmured, as he stepped inside. Walking toward Berry, he put an arm around her shoulders in a show of support.
Her sister saw that and sneered. “You two were pretty quick to hook up, weren’t you?”
At that snide comment, Berry stared at her sister. “Did you have something more specific you wanted to say, or are you just going to insult me in front of everybody?” she asked, her voice flat.
Her sister had the decency to flush. “Christ, I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
“Neither do I, but that’s not the point of bringing them here. So maybe you could repeat what you told me.”
She glared at her. “I can’t believe you just brought them in without discussing it.”
At that, Egan declared, “Look. I don’t have time for this. I’ve got meetings, and I have to head out soon, so what’s going on here?”
Cherry looked over at Berry expectantly, but Berry just glared back. “It’s your story. You tell it.”
“Fine. I didn’t necessarily tell you everything that Yegorahn told me,” she admitted. At that, both men stiffened. “I know you’ll just say I was withholding evidence again, but in all honesty you didn’t ask.”
“No, we wouldn’t have asked about things we didn’t know about,” Magnus snapped, “but obviously you haven’t been very forthcoming either. So, what is it that you think that we should now know that we didn’t ask about before?”
She glared at him, aware of the sarcasm in his voice, but he just glared back at her. Finally she groaned and continued. “Oh, fine, since you all obviously think the worst of me anyway,” she replied, taking a defensive stance. “Yegorahn told me that there was some illegal activity going on among some of the other crews, and he wanted to talk to them about getting in on it himself.”
*
Egan stared at her in shock. “And you’re just now telling us this?”
She spun and glared at him, taking a step toward him, which he answered by taking a step toward her. She backed up quickly and glared at her sister. “Might need some protection from this one, sis,” Cherry snapped, with a bite to her tone.
