Under the Ice

“I doubt that, my friend. This storm has only just begun to lessen, and even now, a parachute operation would be extremely risky.”

Their gazes locked on the igloo, they watched as five individuals proceeded to crawl out of the snowhouse’s tunnel like entrance. Each of these figures wore a fur parka, though only four carried rifles.

“I’ll bet you that unarmed one is the original occupant of the igloo,” offered the Inuit.

“Look, the others are pointing their weapons at him, and seem to be instructing him to harness up that dog team.”

Jack Redmond watched this scene unfold and whispered forcefully.

“That does it, Sergeant-Major. Something’s definitely not right down there. Since our last radio fix points us directly onto this same plain, we’d better not delay any longer.”

Crawling back off the ridge, Redmond began sketching out in the snow their plan of attack.

“It’s obvious that we’ve got them outnumbered.

And since they appear to be on foot, our snowmobiles will give us the element of mobility as well.

We’ll break out the weapons and divide the squad in half. Three of the snow cats under my command will move in and circle the igloo on its northern side, while the other three under Corporal Eviki’s leadership will approach from the south. You’ll move straight in on the dogsled.”

“Sounds good to me, Lieutenant. But do you really think we’ll need our weapons?”

There was a somberness to Redmond’s tone as he answered, “If they’re indeed Soviet military, we’ll need them all right. So share this with the men, and make certain to remind them this isn’t just another exercise.”

Nodding that he understood, Cliff Ano stood and scrambled down the ridge to join the squad. Jack Redmond crawled in the opposite direction and took one last look at the assortment of armed men gathered in front of the igloo. An alien tightness gathered in the pit of his stomach, and for the first time in his twenty-year career, the commando prepared himself for real live combat.

Five minutes later, a banshee like whine filled the air as the now-armed Rangers started up their snow-cats and shot out from the shelter of the ridge where they’d been hiding. The six sleek vehicles split up as planned, with Sergeant-Major Ano following with his team of howling huskies.

The snow was deep, and as Jack Redmond drove his snow cat through a shallow ravine, he could clearly see the five armed men reacting to their surprise appearance by diving to the ground for cover.

Seconds later, a variety of exploding bursts in the snow around Redmond’s snow cat indicated they were being fired upon. The veteran commando was hoping the armed party would see that the odds were against them and would peacefully surrender.

Yet this was not to be the case, and Redmond pulled his vehicle to a halt behind an elongated hummock of ice, all the time signaling for the two snow cats that followed him to do likewise.

“Take cover behind the ridge and return fire!” ordered Redmond.

With his own M16 in hand, he crawled up to the lip of the hummock and cautiously peeked over its ice-encrusted lip. Less than an eighth of a kilometer away lay the igloo. The armed party they were after had taken cover behind some sort of circular berm that most likely had originally been used to shelter the dogs. These same terrified huskies were harnessed to a nearby sled, and were really barking up a storm. Only a stout tether kept them from taking off on their own.

A series of sharp, explosive cracks sounded to his right, and Redmond knew his own men were responsible for this racket. His squad was primarily composed of decorated Inuit marksmen, and these men utilized their rifles efficiently, their shells probing the berm for any weaknesses. Originally trained as hunters, the Inuit depended upon their marksmanship to shoot prey such as minks and beavers right through the eye if possible, so as to not ruin the pelts. With such acquired skills, the shooting of a human being was hardly a challenge.

Before putting his own rifle into play, Redmond scanned the clearing in an effort to locate the other three snow cats Hoping that Corporal Eviki had found a similar hummock to hide his men behind, he cringed upon spotting those snowmobiles zooming by the opposite side of the berm. They seemed to be drawing an inordinate amount of small-arms fire that was augmented by a series of deep, resonant explosions. These deafening blasts were most likely from hand grenades, and as the veil of debris thrown into the air cleared, Redmond spotted a thick column of black smoke rise up into the frigid air.

His worst fears were realized as he spotted the remains of an overturned snow cat engulfed in a blazing pyre.

The soldier who had been perched beside Redmond saw this sickening sight also, and cried out in horror.

“My God, Lieutenant, they got all four of them!”