The Power of Five Oblivion

But Matt was already getting to his feet, reaching for his weatherproofs that he had taken off when he came in. Scarlett did the same. Lohan shook his head, an ugly look on his face, but he wasn’t going to be left behind on his own. He muttered something in Mandarin and dragged on his jacket.
    The four of them followed Greyson out of the plane and back across the ice shelf. Even now, the doctors were still working. Matt saw movement behind some of the tents and he could smell blood and antiseptic in the air. Two stretcher-bearers walked past, carrying a body covered in a sheet. He glimpsed a hand hanging down streaked with blood. From somewhere, they heard a man groaning. Outside one of the wooden shacks, a group of uniformed soldiers stood together, sucking on cigarettes, the smoke and their own misting breath indistinguishable from one another. They glanced at Matt as he went by but said nothing. They were probably waiting for orders, even if they didn’t fully trust the people who were giving them. Their eyes were haunted. None of them was speaking.
    Eight officers were waiting for Matt and the others inside the tent. Cain was one of them and Matt recognized most of the others. The Russian, Shubniakov, and the Argentinian, Sabato, had both died. But some of the other military men who had attended the morning briefing were there. The British commander, Johnson, was supporting himself on a crutch. Others were bandaged. Almost nobody from the day’s assault had escaped completely unscathed. The mood in the tent was quiet and subdued. It was as if they all knew that they were responsible for what had happened but none of them wanted to blame themselves.
    There was a stranger sitting in a chair, the centre of attention. He was West African, muscular, dressed in rags with a gash in the side of his head and dried blood running all the way down his cheek. He had short hair, in dreadlocks, and a tattoo of some sort of animal around his neck. He had recently been in shackles. His wrists were raw and there was more blood on his arms. He looked up quickly as Matt came in. His eyes were large and staring. Matt saw a spark of hope and yet, he thought, at the same time, fear.
    “What’s happening?” Richard asked.
    David Cain stepped forward. Something had gone out of him since he had made his speech that morning. There was a waxy quality to his face, a sense that he was only holding himself together, being himself, with an effort. And the men around him knew it too. They were uneasy in his presence. They probably weren’t even aware they were doing it but they were avoiding each other’s eyes.
    “We took this man prisoner,” Cain said. “That is, he came back with our forces after the attack. It’s not clear how he made it across the ice before it cracked but the point is he came here deliberately, of his own free will. He says his name is Omar and he’s originally from Senegal. He was working for the Nightrise Corporation in New York and they brought him down here. He says he’s a Christian and that he has no loyalty to the Old Ones. He fought with them because he had no choice but he took the first opportunity he could to desert. According to Omar, a lot of the people in the fortress wanted to do the same but they’re too afraid.”
    “What does he want?” Matt asked.
    “He wants to talk to you.”
    “I bring you a message,” Omar said. “It comes from a friend of yours. He told me to find you. His name is Scott.”
    “Scott!” Scarlett muttered the single word.
    “That’s right.” The commander was holding a scrap of paper. He turned it in his hands as if unwilling to part with it. “Scott wants to meet with you. At least, that’s what he says.”
    He handed the note to Matt, who unfolded it. There was a brief message, handwritten presumably by Scott, although Matt had never seen his writing before. He read it out loud:
“Matt – I hope this reaches you. I’ve made a bad mistake. I know that now. But if it’s not too late, if you’ll trust me, we can beat the Old Ones. I’ve learnt things about this place and I know its weaknesses. Will you at least meet with me and let me explain? There’s a place called Skua Bay, about a kilometre down the coast. be there alone at midnight tonight. Come alone … just you and me. We can work this out, I promise you, and we can win. Whatever you may think, I’m still one of the Five. Scott.”
    Matt lowered the page.
    “It’s a trap,” Richard said.