Chapter 10: The Hut at the End of the Ice

I did not go back.

I took his arm instead, and he let me, and I walked him along the rope line to the nearest door.

It was the instrument hut, a low steel box at the edge of the flat with a cot, a stove and a rack of cameras.

I pulled him in and shoved the door shut against the wind.

The storm hit the hut so hard that the cameras rattled on their shelves.

"Stay here," I said. "I'll get Paloma."

"Alba, you'll lose the rope."

I opened the door a crack.

White.

There was no rope line and no station and no sky, only a solid wall of snow moving sideways.

I closed the door.

"The chief will send people when it clears," Iker said. "Eight hours, perhaps ten. There's a stove and a kettle."

"You knew the storm was coming."

"I read the forecast." He paused. "I mean, Sabina read it to me."

I lit the stove with the matches from the shelf and watched the coals take.

The little room filled with orange light.

He sat on the cot with his hands between his knees, facing the stove, and said nothing.

I made tea in two tin mugs and put one in his hands.

"Drink."

"Thank you."

"I'm still angry with you."

"I know." The corner of his mouth lifted. "You have the right."

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