To The Stars

During the second night, even though the going was easier, they covered less distance than they had the previous one. Uri was losing blood, too much of it, and even with the pain-killing injections he found it harder and harder to go on. They crossed a frozen loch about an hour before dawn and came to a sheltered cove with an overhanging rock ledge. Jan decided to stop. The place was ideal and it wasn’t worth the few kilometers more to force Uri any further. “I’m not doing too well, am I?” Uri asked, sipping at a steaming mug of tea.

“You’re turning into a good cross-country skier. Be winning medals soon.”

“You know what I’m talking about. I don’t think I’m going to get there.”

“After a good night’s sleep you’ll feel better.”

It was sometime in the afternoon when Uri’s voice dragged Jan from a deep sleep. “That sound. Can you hear it? What is it?”

Jan lifted his head free of the sleeping bag, then heard it clearly. A distant whine, far down the loch.

“A snowcat, he said. “It sounds like it might be coming this way, along the loch. Keep your head down and he won’t see us. Our tracks have filled in so he can’t follow them.”

“Is it the police?”

“Probably. I can’t think of anyone other than the authorities who would be running mechanical equipment out here in the winter. Stay quiet, we’ll be safe.”

“No. When he gets close, sit up and wave, draw his attention.”

“What? You can’t mean it

“I do. I’m not getting out of these woods, not on foot. We both know that. But I can do it with transportation. Let him get as close as possible before you make your move.

“This is crazy.

“It is. This whole mess is crazy. There he comes.

The whining rose in volume as the snowcat came around a headland jutting into the loch. It was bright red, its spinning tread throwing a spume of snow behind it, the goggled rider looking straight ahead. He was paralleling the shore and would pass an easy ten meters from them. Concealed as they were, in the snow under the ledge, there was very little chance of his accidentally seeing them.

“Now!” Uri said, and Jan rose up out of the snow, waving his hands and shouting.

The rider saw him at once and throttled down, turning at the same time, swinging toward them. He reached down and unclipped his microphone and was raising it to his mouth when Uri’s shot caught him in the chest. A shot from a rocket pistol. It fired a silent, self-propelling projectile that tore right through the man.

He went over backward, arms wide. The snowcat fell on its side, skidding forward, track churning, until the tumble switch cut the power.

Fast as Jan moved, Uri was faster. Out of his bag, his feet making red prints in the snow, rushing toward the fallen man. There was no need.

“Dead as soon as he was hit,” Uri said, opening the officer’s jacket and peeling it from him. “Look at the hole that thing punched right through him.” Uri wasted no time as he pulled on the man’s clothing, stopping only to mop blood from the fabric. Jan walked over slowly and righted the snowcat.

“The radio is still switched off. He never sent a message,” he said.

“Best news I have had since my bar mitzvah. Will I have any problem making that thing go?”

Jan shook his head no. “Almost a full charge in the battery, two hundred kilometers at least. The right handlebar is switch and throttle. They’re fun to drive. The front steering ski will tend to go straight unless you lean your weight into the turn as well. Ever ride a motorcycle?”

“Plenty.”

” — Then you’ll have no problems. Except where do you go?”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Dressed now in uniform and boots, Uri stamped over to their packs and took out the detailed map. “Can you show me where we are now?”

“Right here,” Jan pointed. “At this inlet in Loch Shin.”

“This town of Durness, on the north coast. Are there any other places in Scotland with the same name?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Good. I had to memorize a list of towns with safe contacts in case of trouble. I have one there. Can I make it?”

“You’ll make it if you don’t run into trouble. Go this way, following the streams. That will keep you well away from these two north-south roads. Take a compass and follow this heading. Stay on it until you hit the coast. Then double back and lay-up in hiding until dark. Put on your own clothes and see if you can’t drive the machine off the cliffs into the ocean — along with the uniform. After that — you’re on your own.”

“No problem then. But what about you?”

“I’ll go on. Have a nice cross-country trek, something I enjoy. No worry about me.”

“I didn’t think so. But what about our friend the corpse here?”

Jan looked at the man’s pink, bloodstained flesh, obscenely sprawled in the show. “I’ll take care of him. Cover him up back there in the forest. The foxes will find him, and then the crows. By spring there’ll only be bones left. It’s not very nice…”