Read Online Ice Rift by Ben Hammott - Free Book Online Page B

the edge. He was about to climb down when he heard a sound carried by the wind. It sounded like a small plane. His hurried glance into the sky revealed it clear of everything except dark clouds. He must have been mistaken. No pilot would venture out in this weather. Eli climbed down.
     
     
    Jack fought the controls as the strong winds playfully jostled the small aircraft in all directions. The engine screamed in protest as it was forced to keep the small craft airborne and level. Jack cursed his greed, his bad decision and the frightened passenger who'd offered him four times his going rate to risk dropping him off at the rift base camp before the bad weather struck. The blizzard had arrived earlier than expected and was currently chasing their tail. Though, to be fair, it was also the chance of meeting Jane again that had helped persuade him to risk the flight. Though he'd been accused of wearing his heart on his sleeve on more than one occasion, resulting in a few sad partings, including one he thought would break his heart, it hadn't happened for a while. But it had with Jane. This time, however, it was different. Something more than the attraction he'd felt in previous relationships. Love at first sight, perhaps?   Whatever it was, he was smitten with her.
    “Can't this damn thing go any faster?” shouted the plane's only passenger and the main cause of the danger they both now faced.
    Jack ignored the man's dumb question. Though the plane was going flat out, it was unable to keep ahead of the storm chasing them. His eyes did a quick survey of the ground below; he would have to make an emergency landing if they were going to survive, but they were still too far away from the scientists' base camp to seek refuge from the wind and cold. His eyes rested on the wide, yawning rift. It was their only chance. He dipped the nose of the plane and aimed for the rift.
    “Are we landing?” asked the passenger, hopefully, queasy from the plane's erratic movements.
    “If we land here, we won't survive. We need to shelter from the blizzard and the only place able to offer us that around here is the rift base camp. I'm going to fly in the rift as the ice walls should shelter us from the full force of the side winds. I'm hoping I'll gain enough speed to keep ahead of the full brunt of the storm until we reach the scientists' camp.”
    The passenger anxiously glanced out of a window, catching glimpses of the rift through gaps in the driving snow. He prayed the pilot knew what he was doing. “Will we make it?”
    The pilot heard the fear in the man's voice, but felt no pity for him. “You'll be the second person to find out.”
    The passenger gained no reassurance from the reply.
     
     
    Eli backed along the small ice shelf and was about to climb over the edge when he remembered he'd forgotten to anchor the Sno-Cat. The strong wind he already experienced was nothing compared to the intensity of the gusts that would follow. If he didn't climb up and anchor it to the ice, there was a good possibility the wind would carry it away. Maybe even into the rift. He cursed and reluctantly moved to the ice wall and began climbing back to the top.
     
     
    The front edge of the blizzard reached the rift base camp. Scott and Pike had just finished securing the garage and outbuilding doors and making sure anything the wind could pick up and blast through the air like missiles was safely stored away.
    Though Scott stared in the direction where the others were, the ice and snow carried by the wind prevented him from seeing that far. “Do you think they'll be okay,” he shouted to be heard above the noise of the howling wind and the fluttering flags that marked overhead cables and the camp perimeter.
    “I'm sure they'll be fine,” said Pike. “Though I'd expected Eli to have returned by now. He can't stay out on the ice in this.”
    “Let's get inside before the wind carries us off and contact them on the radio.”
     
     
    Before the wall