Opening Scene

A mountaintop in the Ural Mountains

I pulled myself over the ridge, and then turned to help the woman climbing up the mountain behind me. Ms. Partridge gratefully took the hand I offered and pulled herself up to join me.

Ms. Partridge had joined my team as a liaison for the Mata Hari Institute for Culinary Excellence, or the M.H.I.C.E. We had come to the Ural Mountains in search of a lost team from the MHICE. They had been seeking to obtain some samples of a rare herb when the team was lost. The MHICE had secured the services of my team to help them recover the lost samples and to find out what had happened to their people.

“Over there,” said Ms. Hawk from in front of us, pointing across the clearing.

I looked in the direction she indicated and saw the human-sized lumps on the ground.

The three of us moved across the clearing to the bodies and bent to examine them. There were four women and they all were frozen solid.

Ms. Partridge leaned over one of the bodies. “Oh, Elizabeth!” she sobbed.

I went to her and she quickly buried her face in the material of my coat, letting the grief flow over her.

“You were close to her?” I asked.

“She was my best friend at the Institute. We joined together.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. I turned to Ms. Hawk. “What do you make of this?” I asked.

“Judging from the way the bodies are situated, I would say that they were trying to get to a lower altitude. The sudden storm that came through here must have caught them.”

I pulled away from Ms. Partridge. “Again, I’m sorry about what happened, but there is nothing we can do for them now. I promise you that we will get them back home, but what I need you to do right now is to see if they have the samples, okay?”

Ms. Partridge nodded and wiped away her tears. Ms. Hawk had been cutting the packs away from the women and handed them to Ms. Partridge, who began to go through the contents. Meanwhile, Ms. Hawk opened her own pack and pulled out the body bags we had brought along.

“Here it is,” said Ms. Partridge, holding up a small container. Inside were several small flowering plants. Apparently, the plants had been blooming when the sudden storm had gone through and caused the temperatures to drop.

I pulled out my radio. “Falcon, Swan, this is Dove, over.” My two associates we waiting at a nearby airfield with a helicopter.

“Dove, this is Swan, over.”

“We have found the package and the couriers. We need transport for the recovery, over.”

“You need transport, roger. What is your location, over?”

Ms. Hawk finished placing the locator transmitter in the middle of the clearing.

“Beacon is set. Follow the signal to our location, over.”

There was a slight pause. “We are reading your signal. Our ETA is approximately forty-five minutes, over.”

“ETA in forty-five minutes. We will be waiting. Dove, out.”

I broke the connection and turned to the two ladies with me.

“We have forty-five minutes. Let’s make ourselves comfortable and keep warm until they get here.”