Outcast (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 2) (2 page)

Jasper caught himself holding his breath.

He wasn’t sure what to expect.

The only thing he knew for sure was that in this moment, his heart damn near beat out of his chest with anticipation. Screw his Joe Cool act. He couldn’t wait to hold Eden in his arms. After that, he’d assess their relationship status.

He dropped the satchel holding his personal belongings to the vinyl floor.

“Strange . . .” Doug stepped deeper into the rectangular, white-walled space that looked like a rec room. Four long tables sat at one end while a pool table, sofa, big screen TV, and four pinball machines occupied the remaining space. A white plate holding a half-eaten sandwich and chips sat on an end table. Coffee cups, two jigsaw puzzles, and a few beer cans littered the other tabletops. “Usually, this place is hopping.”

Jurassic Park
played on the TV with the volume muted.

A splatter of red stood out on the nearest white, prefab wall. Blood?

Warning bells clanged in Jasper’s head. Maybe his trip down here hadn’t been so foolish, after all.

“Guess they must have pulled an all-nighter. Everyone’s crashed.”

“Meaning we should do a bunk check.” Jasper gravitated toward the splattered wall for a closer inspection, but then opted to save that for later. A more pressing issue was finding Eden—
now
.

“Yeah.” Doug scratched his head. “Sure, I guess.”

“Lead the way. I’m seeing two options.” The station had been built with modular pods connected by short, dark spindly corridors that looked more like creepy tunnels.

“Let’s take the one on the right. It leads to the labs. If the crew’s not there, we’ll check their rooms.”

“Sounds like a plan. How many crew members are here?”

“Last count was thirty-seven. Most share rooms.”

“Is that counting Eden and her dad?”

“Uh huh.” They’d reached the hall and Doug flipped a switch that immersed the space in cool, florescent light. “Usually, these overheads are left on twenty-four seven.”

Jasper didn’t like where this was going. Why were thirty-seven people suddenly silent? The question made him rub the back of his neck.

A communal office area was empty, as were the first two labs. Each area sported signs of occupants—half-empty coffee mugs, an unfinished poker game and a worn paperback copy of
How to Win Friends and Influence People
.

“I don’t know what to make of this . . .” Doug shook his head. “At first, I thought your concerns were screwy, but now I’m not so sure.

Jasper had opened his mouth to reply when a barrel-chested man emerged from one of the as yet unexplored labs at the end of the pod. His bulbous nose was red as if he’d blown it one too many times. Despite a large smile, his high forehead made his blue eyes appear mean.

Startled, the man lurched back, then laughed. “Doug, you scared the shit out of me. Why didn’t you call?”

“Been trying for days. How’s it going?” The two men shook hands.

“Couldn’t be better. Up until this morning, the weather has been strangely cooperative, so most of the crew are camped at the beach.”

“That explains it.” Doug nodded. “Why this place is a ghost town.”

“That’s the reason. Sorry, I don’t have a more exciting answer for you. I’m expecting them back any time.” The giant man winked. His pale blue eyes looked almost white. Laugh lines at the corners led Jasper to place him in the forty to fifty age range. Short, spiky blond hair stood at attention. Jeans and a khaki, long-sleeved Columbia PFG made him look more like an explorer than science-type. He extended his right hand for Jasper to shake. “I’m Leo—resident marine biologist guru extraordinaire. And you are . . .”

Jasper introduced himself, then explained, “I’m a friend of Eden Marabella. She around?”

“As a matter of fact, she is. But she worked so long last night on her great American novel that about thirty minutes ago she hit her bunk for a nap.”

“A nap?” The Eden he knew was a powerhouse. Always full of energy and ready for her next adventure. “Point me toward her room. She won’t mind me waking her.”

“Afraid I can’t do that,” Leo said with a clucking sound and slight shake of his head. “You see, she really has overdone it lately. As her supervisor, for her own well-being, I think it would be best if you—”

“Know what I think best?” Jasper asked with a less-than-cordial tone. “If you’d show me the way to her room.”

“Of course.” Unfazed by Jasper’s attitude, he turned back toward the lab. “Give me a moment to wrap up my latest project. It’s time sensitive.”

“Whatever.” Jasper waved him along. “Hurry.” He hadn’t meant to come across like an ass with Eden’s coworker, but the guy rubbed him the wrong way. Something was hinky down here, and before he left, he’d figure out what. In the meantime, he’d feel a whole lot better once he saw for himself that Eden was all right.

“Thank you for your patience,” Leo said with an uber-polite formality that made Jasper’s teeth hurt. The guy was up to no good. Jasper’s gut typically never steered him wrong. “A few more seconds and . . .” A timer dinged. “There we go. All done. As soon as I jot down the results, we’ll go.”

A glance beyond a triple-paned window showed the landscape had vanished.

All that remained of the outside world was white.

Though it was plenty warm inside the station, Jasper shivered. The sooner he got out of here, the better. The whole place gave him the creeps. Even more than he hated being duped, he hated being cold. Experiencing both in the same day had him twitchy—never a good thing when he’d been forbidden to carry firepower on what was supposed to be a scientific expedition.

“It’s looking pretty bad.” Doug folded his arms. “Should you radio the crew? What if they’re lost in that whiteout?”

“No worries.” Leo rose from his workstation stool. “I’m sure they’re safe and sound.”

“How can you say that? It’s a mess out there.”

“Trust me . . .” Leo’s smile held all the warmth of the nearest iceberg. “They won’t feel a thing. And neither will you once you join them.” He pulled a 9mm out from behind test tubes and a Bunsen burner.

“Hey, whoa . . .” Doug raised his hands and backed away. “What the hell? There are no guns allowed down here. And we’ve been friends for like what? Six years?”

Leo shrugged. “We’ll part as friends.”

Was this actually going down
?

“Both of you,” Leo waved the gun to herd them toward the door. “Into the hall. I don’t want blood in my workspace.”

With his Glock stuck back in New Zealand, Jasper opted for the next best thing. The moment Leo averted his gaze, Jasper grabbed a test tube, flinging the contents in the guy’s ugly face. He’d hoped to get lucky with a shot of acid, but the benign liquid merely pissed Leo off.

“That wasn’t wise.” Their host used the back of his shirtsleeve to wipe down his face.

“Where’s Eden?” Leo’s inattention became Jasper’s advantage. He leapt toward him, wrenching the gun from his hand.

Leo lurched forward to take back the weapon, but Jasper used the man’s momentum to swing him around. With one arm securing Leo in a backwards chokehold, Jasper used his free hand to grind the gun’s business-end against his temple. Whispering into his ear, he asked, “
Where is she
?”

“You’re outnumbered,” Leo said. “My associates will be here momentarily to dispense with you.”

Jasper tightened his hold. “Where. Is. Eden?”

Leo had the nerve to laugh, so Jasper choked the air from his throat long enough to cause him to pass out.

Pinning him to the floor, Jasper asked Doug, “Find me something to tie him up with.”

For a precious few seconds, Doug appeared dumbfounded, but then surged into action. Furiously opening drawers, only to slam them closed. He finally held up a roll of duct tape. “Will this work?”

“Yep. Thanks.” Jasper rolled the tape around Leo’s wrists and ankles.

Finished, he tucked the 9mm in the waistband of his jeans.

“Who are you?” Doug asked with a tremble to his voice.

With a half laugh, Jasper dragged the unconscious Leo to a storage closet. “I could be your best friend or your worst enemy. Choose.”

“Look, man,” he backed toward the door. “I’m in way over my head. Let’s grab Eden and hop in my ride. Once we’re back at McMurdo, we’ll report this to the authorities and figure out what to do from there.”

“Sorry, pal. At the moment, I’m the closest thing to an authority you’ve got.” Jasper surveyed the mess even the brief struggle had made. “Unless you have an arsenal stashed on your ride, once this guy’s friends show up, we might be in a world of hurt.” He jogged for the hall, brushed past Doug, then shouted, “
Eden
! Babe, where are you?”

Doug chased after him. “Have you considered the possibility that he killed her?”

“No.” Through room after room, Jasper searched. “
Eden
!”

“You should have asked why Leo had a gun.”

“
Eden
! Answer me!” In the two-story dormitory pod, Jasper kicked in door after door. If something had happened to her. . .

He didn’t like thinking of the violence he was capable of doing, but if he discovered that bastard had hurt Eden, he’d annihilate him.

“Think about it,” Doug persisted. “Why would a world-renowned scientist who’s been studying in Antarctica practically longer than I’ve been alive be waving a gun around? And what did he mean about all those team members not
feeling
anything? You don’t think he killed them, do you? I mean, you hear about people going off the deep end down here, but that usually just means too much booze or sleeping around. I’ve never encountered anything like this.”

“
Eden
!” His companion talked too damned much.

Jasper tried the next door on the right and found it locked, so he kicked it in, only to freeze.

Eden lay stretched across a twin bed with her neck crooked at an unnatural angle. Her wrists and ankles had been bound with zip ties. He felt like he was going to puke.

Am I already too late?

3

“TALK TO ME, babe . . .”

Eden was vaguely aware of Jasper’s take-charge tone, but it drifted to her on a foggy dream.

“You still have that sat phone in your cat?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Then don’t just stand there—get outside and call McMurdo. She needs medical help, and God only knows what that sicko did with the rest of the crew.”

“Right. Sure.”

Who belonged to the second, unsure voice? She couldn’t place him.

“Eden, talk to me. Did Leo do this to you?”

Tugs at her feet and wrists told her the restraints that had forced her muscles to seize had finally been removed. She groaned in relief, only to wince when her limbs painfully tingled at the sudden movement.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and she licked her dry lips. She took in her surroundings and then it all rushed back—screams. Chaos. Painful silence and uncertainty as she struggled to decide if she were dead or alive. “Jasper? W-what are you doing here?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” He perched on the edge of the bed, cupping his hand to her cheek. “I’m here to rescue you, and from looks of it, not a moment too soon. What the hell happened? When your message ended so abruptly, I figured something had gone wrong, but this . . .” He whistled.

He offered her a freshly opened bottled water. She drank it all.

“Leo—he lost it.” Her breakup with Jasper had been hard enough, but what had happened since didn’t seem possible. Like she’d wake to realize it had all been a nightmare. “He’s been one of my father’s closest friends and coworkers forever. The day I called you, I’d wanted to explain why I broke things off, but then . . .” Crushing memories returned. “W-we found an entire pod of dead Orcas washed ashore. Penguins, too. My father was inconsolable. He wouldn’t eat or sleep for two days. Then he and Leo and Dane—his other partner—locked themselves in Leo’s lab, and there was arguing, but none of us could make out much of what they were saying.”