Page 8 of Gunn's Mission

“He was tracking submarines. Russian submarines,” Gunn said. “Am I right?”

The commander gave a curt nod. “None have been detected in this area, but he didn’t send a data file in a week—and he routinely uploaded every night. When I asked him about it, he said something about needing to replace the battery on the box, but that’s a quick fix. I was already planning a visit when your call came, telling us he’d been murdered.”

“I was unaware of this…detection device,” Maddie said. “Our guys have been all over his equipment that’s studying salinity and dissolved oxygen in seawater. Nate’s up for taking over those observations.” She turned to Gunn. “That work is important. Studying the changes that occur, the mix of ice to seawater will help us figure out what happens as we lose more of the ice cap. It’s complicated, but nothing Nate can’t add to his very full plate. I have folks already doing the work of two or three scientists since we had to trim our staff.”

Gunn nodded. “I don’t doubt that what they’re doing is important, but perhaps the stress of working two or three people’s jobs led to what had happened to Mateo, not some Russian conspiracy theory.”

Maddie turned back to the commander. “Is this magnetic detection device attached to the same cable as his other device?”

Commander Navarro nodded. “Same cable, and it uses the same computerized collection device on the tripod. It produces two separate files. One that you’ll be unable to open without the password.”

“But Mateo could open it.”

“He reviewed the data and knew how to interpret certain spikes. I won’t require that of you. It would take too long to train you anyway. Just collect the data from his platform and plug the card into the reader on this device,” he said, pointing at the computer, “and we’ll be back in business. And I don’t want Nate touching the device. You can retrieve both disks and give Nate the disk for the salinity study. You’ll upload the MAD data onto this computer to send it to me yourself.”

Maddie sighed. “Okay. I can do that. Do you think someone knew about him taking readings for you?”

“I don’t know how, but it’s possible.”

“If I continue the work, won’t I be placing myself, and possibly my team, in more danger?”

The commander’s mouth pursed. “It’s why we’ve hired Mr. Neilson here.” He opened the door. “If I could have a few minutes alone, I’ll reinstall the hard drive and run some diagnostics to make sure everything’s working optimally. Before I leave, I’ll show you how to upload the data you’ll be collecting.”

Maddie and Gunn stepped into the hallway, and the doorway closed.

Gunn’s brow rose, and he indicated with a sweep of his hand that they should return to the common area.

When they were several feet from Mateo’s office, she reached out to grab Gunn’s forearm. “I don’t like this,” she whispered. “But you’re used to this, aren’t you? Doing things without knowing everything you need to know…?”

Gunn nodded. “I knew what the objective on the ground was but not always how it fit in the big picture of the overall battlefield strategy. What we can assume here is that the military thinks Russians are running their submarines in this region. They want to track them because they could be outfitted with nuclear weapons, and we like knowing where they are in order to calculate how deep into our country they can reach with a nuke.”

“I get that. But was Mateo’s role so important someone had to kill him?”

He shrugged. “If his death has something to do with the data he collected for the commander…maybe.”

When they returned to the common area, Eric was back and looking angry. He stood beside Em, whose eyebrows were lowered and cheeks were red.

“Was the interview rough?” Maddie asked Eric.

“Since we don’t know the time of death for sure,” Eric said, “I had to account for every hour since we all headed to bed after the movie last night.”

Em shook her head. “We’re more upset about the fact Mateo’s room is being emptied out. I don’t like the idea of strangers doing that.”

Maddie sighed. “Are you packed?”

Em nodded. “The commander said I won’t be released from HQ for a while if I don’t want to stay here. I’m thinking I should stay. It’s been hard since Mateo was found, but I have my work. I’d rather be busy than sitting around there with everyone thinking I killed my boyfriend.”

“No one here thinks that,” Maddie said.

Em arched an eyebrow. “Someone killed him. None of us are off the hook—except you,” she said, looking at Gunn.

Maddie closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was starting to get a headache. “So, is Eric the only one the officer has interviewed?”

“Eric, Perry, and I are done. Nate’s in there now,” Em said.

She looked at Eric. “You and Perry still need to check your equipment and take your readings. We’re burning daylight, which is in short supply these days.”

Eric nodded. “It’ll be a relief to get out of here.” Maddie started to open her mouth, but Eric quickly added, “I’ll take a rifle.”

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