Egan, page 21
“Do you think Yegorahn may have had something to do with the other Russian deaths?”
“I don’t know, but now that you’ve mentioned that the bottle is half empty, and, since I didn’t touch it, it’s obvious that somebody’s been using it,” she said, with a shrug. “Unfortunately the minute anybody knew it was here, they could have taken it anytime. Whenever I was having a meal or on a training session outside, it’s just been sitting there.”
“How many people would have known?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea but too damn many.”
Day 8, Afternoon
Berry sat on her bed, curled up in a ball, her arms wrapped around her knees, just rocking back and forth. So much horrific information so fast, and all of it so confusing that she didn’t even know which way to go or where to look anymore. She wanted to find the goodness in it all, but she didn’t see any. She wanted to find the joy she had felt last night with Egan, but she didn’t know how it was possible now.
She wanted to find something, something she could hang on to in some way to move forward and to make peace with her sister, but Berry didn’t see how.
When a knock came on her door, she called out, “Come in,” certain it would be Egan. However, when one of the Russians stepped in, with an apologetic look on his face, she was a bit taken aback.
“Hey, sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t want to disturb you, but I understand they’re doing another investigation.”
She nodded and wrinkled up her face. “Yes, but, if you’re asking me for any answers, I don’t have a clue what’s happening here.”
He nodded. “I don’t think anybody has any answers right now, and it’s pretty-darn frustrating for all of us.”
“I know.”
He held out a cup of coffee for her. “I saw you come in, and they had just made fresh coffee,” he murmured, “so I brought you one.”
Surprised at his kindness and at the fact that he had always been easy to get along with, she thanked him and clutched it in her cold hands. “I’m sorry about your teammates,” she murmured. “This assignment is hard enough as it is, but I can’t imagine losing the lives of your teammates on top of it.”
“I know, but Yegorahn was not a good man.”
She looked at him. “Why do you say that?” she asked, curious.
“He had drugs. Drugs he would use on you.”
She winced. “Yeah, my sister just told me.” She rubbed her free hand on her face. “I can’t believe everybody knew.”
“Yegorahn told me, and I got angry at him, told him it wasn’t right, how it wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t the way that things should be done. He told me to knock it off and that he hadn’t decided if he would do it or not. It was just something he was contemplating.”
“Great. So nice to know people were planning all this crap behind my back.”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, yes, I know, and I’m sorry about it,” he said.
As he stepped back, she asked ruefully, “Did Yegorahn tell anybody else about it? Do you know?” she asked, looking up at him, worried.
He shrugged. “I think just me, but I don’t know for sure. It’s just very sad.”
She nodded. “That I would agree with. Thanks for the coffee.”
He nodded and stepped out and closed the door . She just sat here, hugging her coffee. When another knock came on her door, she groaned. “Come in.” Although why she wanted anybody in her room, she didn’t know. As it was, Egan stepped in and smiled at her.
“Hey, feeling any better?”
She stared up at him. “To even think that my sister would have brought that drug, knowing what it did, and what it could do to somebody like me makes me sick. Then knowing in the back of her mind how she had planned to get somebody to use it on me? What the fuck?”
He winced and nodded. “Believe me. We’re all of the same opinion.”
“And yet she’ll walk away, free as a bird.”
“No, she won’t.” Egan shook his head. “She might think she will, but, no, she isn’t.”
“You sure about that?” she asked, staring at him. “Not that I’m trying to get her in any more trouble because God only knows she’s in enough trouble as it is, but, man, I don’t even know how to deal with her latest admissions.”
“No, and you shouldn’t have to think about it,” Egan noted. “That’s the thing. Nobody should have to consider such a thing happening in your life.”
“Yet how do you not, when it was a very real possibility?” she whispered.
He walked over, sat down on the bed beside her, and held her close.
“Hey, at least you got coffee. I came to suggest we go get some together.”
Berry smiled. “Yegorahn’s teammate Raffi just brought me this cup.”
He frowned at her and asked, “Really?”
She nodded.
Egan asked, “Why?”
“He offered condolences over my sister and told me that he’d heard about the plan.”
Egan stared at her for a long moment, then told her to hang on a second and snatched the coffee and quickly disappeared.
She stared after him, crying out, “I could have used that, you know?”
“I’ll get you another one,” he called back. And, just like that, he was gone.
She sat here, still curled up, wondering what the hell that was all about, yet not really caring. Life was a lot of things right now, but none of it made sense.
When Egan returned a few minutes later, he asked her, “Which guy was it?”
“Raffi. I told you that already,” she said, frowning at Egan. “You know. The one with the brush cut. Well, everybody has short hair up here, but he’s the one with the broken nose.”
He nodded and quickly stepped out again.
She cried after him, “Why? What happened? What the hell is going on?” When she got no answer, she decided to follow Egan.
Egan headed down the hallway to Raffi’s room and found Magnus getting there first. They knocked on the door, but, when nobody answered, they opened it up and stepped inside.
Berry peered around them, but the room was empty. She looked at the men. “Okay, do you want to explain this?”
“We’ll explain it after we find him.”
“He gave me coffee, so maybe he went and grabbed himself one.”
And, with that, they headed down to the kitchen area, and, sure enough, he was standing there with a coffee, speaking with somebody else.
He turned and saw them and immediately shook his head. “No, no, no.”
She looked at him and asked, “What’s the matter?” Then he objected even louder. She turned and stared at Egan. “Somebody needs to explain to me what’s going on,” she declared in a loud voice.
With the two men now flanking Raffi, Egan turned to look at her. “That coffee you were given was laced with a heavy dose of GHB.”
She frowned, then spun to look at Raffi. “You did that to me?”
He stared at her, then seemed to crumble in front of them. “I didn’t mean to,” he cried out. “I didn’t want to do it.”
“You didn’t mean to what? You didn’t mean to lace it with enough drugs to knock me out?” she cried out.
He sighed. “I was hoping it would take the suspicion off your sister.”
Dumbfounded, she stared at him. “What, and put it on you? How was that a good thing?”
“Because I love her,” he said sadly, “but she won’t have anything to do with me.”
“Good God.” Berry studied him. “You’re the one who killed Yegorahn.” He looked at her in shock, but she nodded. “It was always about jealousy, wasn’t it?”
He nodded again. “If he had loved her, I would have left him alone,” he cried out. “But, when he started talking about maybe using the drug, and I could see that it both fascinated and repulsed him at the same time, I knew he was getting closer to wanting to use it,” Raffi said, trembling with emotions. “And, if that was the case, then he didn’t care about Cherry and shouldn’t be with her,” he stated immediately.
Berry let out a hard exhale. In shock, she asked, “Jesus, Raffi, were you trying to kill me?”
“No, no, no,” he argued, “I just thought that maybe it would look as if you had done it deliberately.”
“So I commit suicide because of what? Because I’d been the one out there killing people?” She stared at him, stunned.
He winced. “I didn’t have much time to think it through.”
“You didn’t think anything through,” she cried out. “All you thought through was saving my sister.”
“At least I did that. You were ready to throw her to the wolves.”
“Do you realize she brought that drug here to be used on me?” she bellowed, causing a ripple all around her. Hearing a collective gasp, she realized they’d amassed quite the crowd.
“She’s the one who brought that date-rape drug here and was toying with the idea of having Yegorahn use it on me,” she declared bitterly. “My own sister, my twin, who absolutely does not in any way, shape, or form give a crap about me, tried to get someone I couldn’t stand to drug me and to rape me.” Berry was on the verge of tears again. “Good God, what is wrong with people?” And with that, she looked over at Magnus. “There’s your answer to that question, at least.”
“Yeah, to that question, but I don’t know about anything else.”
Raffi immediately shook his head. “No, no, not me. I didn’t do anything else. It was only Yegorahn.”
“Yeah, so you say,” Magnus muttered, as he hauled him up and headed down to the back locker room with him. “I’m not sure anybody believes you anymore.”
Berry turned and ran to her room, then threw herself onto the bed, sobbing her heart out. To even think that this had just happened was beyond anything she had ever imagined.
When the door opened, and she was pulled into Egan’s arms, she shifted to bawling into his heavy shirt.
When she finally had no more tears and lay quietly against his chest, he whispered, “It’ll take time, a lot of time to get past this.”
She looked up at him, her face covered in still-drying tears, and whispered, “Why does she hate me so much?”
“I don’t know that she does,” he suggested. “I just don’t think she has anything left to give to anybody, outside of herself.”
“But to bring a date-rape drug to be used on me?” she cried out in horror. “I still can’t believe it.”
“I know,” Egan agreed, “and the trouble is, there’s a lot of this still to go over yet.”
“And it’ll be ugly, won’t it?”
“It could be, yes, and we need to get several people airlifted out of here, just to keep the peace.”
“And you also need to interview Raffi to see if he had anything to do with the rest of it.”
“I know,” he replied, “but tonight I’m not doing anything but holding you close. We’ll figure the rest of it out as we go.” Then he added, “Given what you’ve been through, you’ve got a good reason to leave, if you want to.”
She looked up at him and slowly shook her head. “I probably should get out and run away as far and as fast as I can,” she muttered. “Yet it feels like bailing out in the middle of this training session, and I don’t want to do that. Will the brass keep my sister here?”
“No,” Egan stated. “Your sister will be one of those removed and shipped out—in handcuffs or restraints. Sorry, Berry, but she will face a court-martial for her drug use, insubordination, bringing an illegal drug to this base, all for starters. No telling what all she’s done here—or before in her life. She most likely will be ordered to be held in a psychiatric hospital, pending her dishonorable discharge, losing all her military benefits.”
“Oh my God. She doesn’t get away with anything this time, does she?” Berry asked.
“Nope. About time, is all I can say. She’s a danger to herself and others, Berry. And has been for many years, as you have now found out. I hope you can see how a stay in a psych hospital is the best thing for Cherry.”
“I’m sorry this all lands on her all at once. She’ll have a hard time adjusting. … And I can’t help her with any of this. Not effectively. … However, yes. The psychiatric ward is probably where she needs to stay. Is it wrong of me to say, thank God she’s getting help?” she asked, trembling.
“Not at all,” Egan said. “Believe me. Everybody here would understand.”
She looked up and smiled. “Are you staying for the full term of this training session? You were brought in to deal with this mess, and you’ve managed to sort out at least some of it.”
“I’m staying here for sure.”
She smiled at him. “Then I’m staying too.” He frowned, looking worried. She placed a finger against his lips. “No, you’re not responsible for me, but it will be good for me to stay here and to see this to the end,” she whispered. “There’s just enough going on that I don’t want to leave it as is.”
He pondered that and nodded. “I can put in a recommendation, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be allowed to stay.”
She nodded. “If that’s the case, then I’ll see you when you get back stateside. Otherwise I highly suggest we work on our relationship here.”
“That sounds good to me.” Egan smiled. “God only knows what the next stage of this investigation will bring.”
“That’s okay.” She curled up against him, wrapping her arms around him, cuddling closer. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it just fine—together.”
Epilogue
At dinnertime Barret Dillinger walked into the dining area of the Arctic military base and stopped, surveying his surroundings. He understood from Mason some of what had just gone down. Sure enough, off in a corner, he saw four heads, two males and two females, huddled together at a table. Smiling, Barret walked over and sat down beside them, without any warning. Immediately the nearest woman stiffened, but he gave her a reassuring smile. “The name is Barret,” he greeted her gently, then turned and looked at the men.
Magnus smiled at him. “You’re here to help, aren’t you?”
“If that’s what you call it,” he replied, with a casual glance around. “Not that anybody is supposed to know that,” he added, with a warning.
Magnus nodded. “However, you’ll find out very quickly that nothing stays quiet in this scenario.”
“Of course not.” Barret looked back at the women. “Which one of you is Berry?” Immediately the smaller of the two held up her hand.
“I’m Berry. This is Sydney. She’s the doctor here.”
“Honored,” he said, “to meet you both.” He looked around and added, “Sounds as if you guys have been having fun. You should share all those good times.”
“Now you can take over. I’ve had all the fun I want,” Berry declared, with a shudder. “Personally I’m okay to just have some peace and quiet for a while.”
“And yet you’re staying.” Barret frowned, his gaze intent as he studied her.
She took a deep breath. “Yes, I am.”
He nodded, not arguing with her at all. People had all kinds of reasons for staying after trying times such as this, and maybe she was in the right of it after all.
As another woman walked in and headed to the table, the woman grew nervous, her steps choppy. She looked over at Magnus. “May I speak to you for a minute?”
Magnus immediately stood. “Of course.”
She pointed him toward the hallway.
At that, Barret joined him. “I’ll come too, if that’s okay.”
She hesitated and frowned. “Sorry, but you’re new.”
“I am, indeed. Therefore, I’m not connected to anything already going on.” He watched as that worked its way through her thoughts, then she ignored him.
“Fine, as long as he says it’s okay.” She pointed to Magnus, who nodded.
“It’s fine,” Magnus murmured. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t been able to find Scott anywhere.”
Magnus stared at her. “Scott, as in kitchen assistant Scott?”
She nodded. “We’re both new here, having come in a few weeks ago as replacements. Scott was here to help Chef, and I’m mostly doing reports and supplies for the compound. The base isn’t very welcoming, so Scott and I just stuck together. Scott wasn’t expecting this weather or the isolation. It’s really bothering him, so I check on him throughout the day,” she shared, with a side glance at Barret. “I step into the kitchen sometimes to give him a hand, but, when I went there a couple times already today, I saw no sign of him. Now I just talked to Chef, and he hasn’t seen Scott all day.”
“All day?” Magnus repeated.
She nodded. “Chef told me that Scott wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down. I talked to him this morning, and he said he just needed some fresh air. This place, the isolation, being stuck inside, … he found it very claustrophobic.”
“Ah, shit,” Magnus said, as he turned toward Barret. “Nothing like jumping into the deep end.”
“I’m all for it,” Barret replied, still studying the woman. “What’s your name?”
“Avalon Pritchard,” she said, with a smile. “Please help Scott. He’s a nice guy, and honestly he’s not like a lot of the men here.”
“When you say that, what do you mean?” Magnus asked.
She shrugged. “He’s definitely not the alpha type. He’s quiet, studious, shy, and a really nice guy. I’d hate for something bad to happen to him. Since arriving, we’d heard all kinds of horror stories. With all the shit that’s been going on around this place,” she explained, “when somebody goes missing …”
“If anybody goes missing,” Barret corrected her immediately, then turned to look at Magnus. “I suggest we do a full-scale internal search and then head outside.”
“Yeah, already on it,” Magnus noted, with his phone up. “We’ll set up the sirens and send out a full search party,” Magnus added for Avalon’s benefit, with a smile.
Barret turned to face Avalon. “Thanks for letting us know.”
