Arctic Wargame (Justin Hall # 1) Read Online Free Page A

than 124 miles from Ellesmere’s coast.”
    Anna stopped taking notes on her yellow pad. “You mean these ships could be American?”
    Carrie shrugged. “Why not? The Americans have never accepted our sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, and they still cruise it without our permission. They always anchor an icebreaker or two in Thule, and their claims over the Arctic are as aggressive as those of the Russians.”
    Johnson nodded. “I will seek clarification from the US liaison officer in Thule.” She wrote something down in her notebook. “But of course, the honesty of their reply will depend on the icebreakers’ flag. I’m afraid if it’s Stars and Stripes, we’re out of luck.”
    Justin stared at the Arctic map. A red dotted line indicated the suspected route of the two unidentified icebreakers. It was around the southeast part of Ellesmere Island. At the bottom of the page, he noticed the cape’s coordinates: North Latitude: 76° 59' 00''; West Longitude: 78° 15' 00''. How far is that from the North Pole? A thousand miles? Seven, eight hundred?
    Johnson rapped her blue pen on the table. “What are you thinking, Justin?”
    Her voice brought him back from his calculations. “I was . . . I was just reading the map. I know we have few facts, since radio communications were inaudible and RADARSAT-2 was experiencing problems—”
    Johnson interrupted him, “Yes, I’ve already given hell to DND, no offense to you, colonel.” She shifted in her chair, turning toward Alisha, whose face remained expressionless. “DND blamed the thick layer of clouds, the whiteout, and an unexpected satellite upgrade for the blurry pictures in their report.”
    “Judging by their route,” Justin said, “I’m trying to figure out something, anything, about the motive of this . . . this visit, if you will. See, initially, the icebreakers were sailing up to Smith Sound, north of Baffin Bay.” He leaned closer to the map as his hand traced the icebreakers’ course. “It resembles a patrol mission or an attempt to reach the North Pole. But at this point, almost halfway through Nares Strait, the icebreakers turn around, heading back.” Justin’s fingers stopped by Cape Combermere. “Here, they cross into our waters. This is the only place where this happens. Then they vanish.”
    “And your point is?” Johnson asked, a slight tone of impatience lingering in her voice.
    “Perhaps the icebreakers had an accident and needed to anchor off our shores for repairs. Or maybe it was easier to navigate our waters. The visibility was better, fewer icebergs, a thinner layer of ice, so the need arose to steer around and zigzag to our side of the ocean.”
    Johnson frowned.
    Justin scrambled to correct his reply before Johnson gave him a dismissive headshake. “I’m not trying to justify their behavior in anyway. I was drawing a deduction that may help us to better understand this situation.”
    “But their motives for crossing into our waters will not tell us anything about their identity.” Anna raised her glasses to the bridge of her nose.
    Johnson leaned forward before Justin could say a word. “I have to side with counsel on this one.” She placed her copy of the CSE report back into one of her folders. “All deductions in the world simply don’t hold water in the face of empirical evidence.”
    Justin lowered his head and avoided Johnson’s gaze. He threw a quick glance at Carrie, whose weary eyes had already accepted their fate. We’re up the frozen creek, her expression said. And without a paddle.
    Johnson looked at each one of them. “Since we’re helping Marty and his Arctic Division these days, I’ve decided to dispatch a small team for a fact-finding operation.” She stressed the last words a little more than necessary. “Because of our shared jurisdiction over national security and intelligence and because of DND’s great assistance to our operations, I’ve accepted the colonel’s offer to join this team.