“No, I’m awake.” She yawned. “I don’t think I’ll get back to sleep again.”

  “In that case, I’ll pick up some coffee on my way back,” he muttered.

  He let himself out and quickly locked the door, checking the hallway. No sign of anybody. He used the facilities, grabbed his gear, had a quick shower, then headed to the dining area, where he poured two coffees and brought them back to the clinic.

  He didn’t care who watched at this point in time and was pretty sure that the news would be all over the base that she’d been attacked. That wouldn’t go over well with most people here; that was for sure. He didn’t see a sign of anybody all the way back.

  He had to put down the coffee in order to unlock the door, so he did, quickly unlocked the door, and pushed it open. Picking up the coffee, he stepped in.

  Sydney was sitting up in the bed, looking at him, and then smiled. “I really didn’t expect room service, you know?”

  “That’s all right,” he hip-checked the door closed behind him.

  “Anybody say anything?”

  “No, but I didn’t see anybody.”

  “Not even in the dining area?”

  He shook his head. “The staff were working in the background, and nobody was around. I got in and out without encountering anyone.”

  “Good,” she replied. “I’m not really looking forward to getting the third degree from everybody.”

  “Nobody should do that.”

  “No, maybe not, but you also know what most people are like.”

  He nodded, then sat down. “I know we asked you last night, but I’ll ask you again.”

  She held up a hand. “I didn’t see my attacker,” she repeated firmly. “I didn’t hear anything either. I opened the door, came in, then turned around to lock up, and boom.”

  “Right. So he was here waiting for you then?”

  “Yes, although presumably, if you’ve changed the locks, that can’t happen again.”

  “Not in theory,” he stated, holding up the keys and handing them over to her. “You’re once again safely inside a locked door, but you’re still on a base where a multitude of people are very adept at picking locks.”

  She stared at him grimly and then nodded. “Nice reminder, thanks.”

  “I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news,” he noted quietly, “but I won’t tell you that all is okay, when obviously it isn’t. We don’t know who did this, but we’ll find out today.”

  “Sure you will.” She sent half a look in his direction. “And I suppose you’ll look at the Russian first.”

  “I really don’t think it was him,” Magnus offered, lost in his thoughts. “Unless you think he could have been the one you saw running away that morning.”

  She pondered it and then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. He’s too big. I highly doubt we have two different people breaking into my clinic.”

  “But, in that Russian guy’s case, … I think he was after you, not so much after what you’re protecting here.”

  “Nice thought,” she said, half under her breath.

  He smiled at her. “I understand that you don’t want to consider that, but we won’t be allowed to forget it regardless. And we must be prepared for any possibility.”

  “Right. I can’t believe they’re allowing him to stay,” she muttered.

  “I know, and that will hit a lot of us raw, … so you don’t need to worry about him. He will be under watch himself on a regular basis, so not to worry. Whether he goes or stays, … that is on the colonel.”

  Just then an alarm rang out through the base. He burst to his feet, frowning.

  “What is that?” she asked, as she put down her coffee, struggling to her feet.

  “It’s an emergency. Stay here,” he barked, “and lock yourself in.”

  And, with that, he bolted out the door.

  Day 5, Midmorning

  Again Sydney stared at the door, wondering what the hell was going on. She felt better, had remade the beds, and was up and moving around, when a knock came on the door. Joy announced herself to Sydney. She walked over, unlocked the door, and opened it, letting Joy in. She looked at Joy and asked, “What’s going on with the alarm?”

  Joy’s face was a mix of macabre interest and horror. “That Russian, the one who attacked you, he was murdered overnight. They found him dead in his bed.”

  Sydney stared at her nurse in shock. “What?”

  Joy nodded. “Yes, that’s what the alarm was about. Somebody had just found him.”

  “Good God.” Sydney turned to look around her clinic. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “I don’t know, but there’s talk of dismantling it.”

  “And yet a lot of time and effort went into creating this place,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “So it would be far better to figure out what’s going on and continue. Just packing it up is not the best solution.”

  “Maybe, unless, … you know, we can’t continue because of it.”

  Sydney knew what Joy was trying to say, even though she seemed incredibly distracted. Sydney added, “Everyone will be asked if they have an alibi for last night.”

  Joy stumbled and looked at her in shock. “Not me,” she squeaked.

  “They’ll have to check out everyone because how else will they find out who was where? That way they can narrow down who could have been available to kill this poor man.”

  “Poor man? He’s the one who was pushing himself on you.”

  “Yes, he did. He wanted something from me that I wasn’t prepared to give him, but it’s not as if he beat me up or anything. He used poor judgment. Let’s put it that way.”

  She stared at her. “You really don’t hold it against him?”

  “No, of course not,” she muttered, sitting in her chair and massaging her temples slowly.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m okay—a little groggy still.”

  “I’m surprised they don’t ship you out.”

  She opened her eyes to stare at Joy. “Why would you say that?”

  Joy frowned at her. “I mean, … you are a part of this whole thing.”

  “Part of what?” she asked in exasperation. “One crew member got a little too amorous, but how does that make me part of anything?”

  Joy’s jaw opened, then closed, as she shrugged. “I don’t know. I just figured that you were likely to be shipped out, as he was.”

  “And yet he wasn’t being shipped out,” she said quietly. “After the investigation they all decided that he would have a second chance, so he was allowed to stay.”

  Joy exploded with shock.

  Sydney sighed. “Come on, Joy. You’ve got to remember that this place isn’t here to cause trouble. The whole purpose of this facility is to create an environment of peace, where all these countries and their teams can get along. And sending the Russian back early to Russia wouldn’t work out so well for him.”

  “I think somebody forgot to tell the Russians that,” Joy replied waspishly.

  “Maybe. At the same time, it’s also important that we stick together and not turn on each other, as if we’re on some mission to kill off everybody,” she muttered.

  Joy laughed. “I forgot what a softy you were.”

  “Am I a softy?” she asked, looking at her nurse.

  “Yeah. I mean this guy jumps you, and, while you could insist on him being shipped out—or insist on being shipped out yourself—here you are defending him. As for me, I can’t see why anybody would want to stay here beyond a couple weeks. I mean, … hell, it was fun for the first week, but I’m so over this weather.” She moaned. “I just want to go outside. I’m getting stir-crazy.”

  “I think that’s part of the problem overall,” Sydney stated in a firm tone. “Everybody needs to get out and to get some fresh air, but it’s not as if the weather has been very conducive. This blizzard is a problem, and we’ve all become rats in a maze at the moment.”

  Joy stared at her and swallowed. “Yeah, but you know, those rats in a maze, … over time all they do is turn on each other, until only one is left.” And, with that, she turned and walked out of the clinic, leaving Sydney to stare after her in shock.

  *

  Magnus walked into the meeting with the investigators and sat down. They immediately looked at him and asked, “What the hell’s going on?”

  He told them about what happened last night, and they were not only shocked but disgusted at the behavior of the Russian.

  “But, if you’re looking to see if I had anything to do with the Russian’s demise, I stayed with the doc and stood watch over her all night.”

  “Of course you did. Can you prove that?”

  “Unless you’ve got cameras in every one of the hallways,” he said lightly, not wanting to bring up the camera in the clinic if he didn’t have to, “how could I possibly confirm it?”

  “What about the doc? Did she sleep all night?”

  “As far as I know, yes,” he said, with a firm tone. “We woke up, me first, and I got up and had a shower, went and got coffee for the both of us, and, when I returned to the clinic, she was awake. I was checking to see how she was doing, when the sirens went off.”

  Ted nodded. “It’s a bit of a shitshow right now.” He shook his head. “I mean, there are a lot of rumors, but nobody’s really talking. I have to tell you though. You were number one on the list of suspects. You still are.”

  “Which is exactly why I’m here telling you that I didn’t have anything to do with it.” Magnus stayed calm; inside he wanted to roar about them wasting time. “As far as I was aware, last night there was a good chance he would get shipped out or put on watch, which resolved my problem totally.”

  “Are you in a relationship with the doc?”

  “Not sexually, if that’s what you mean. If we weren’t here, I might pursue it,” he said cheerfully. “She’s a fascinating woman. I just met her—five days ago—when I arrived.”

  The men studied him intently and then sighed. Ted and Jerry looked at each other and then back at him, asking, “So who else would want to take out the Russian?”

  “His teammates,” Magnus replied immediately. “For them, … to go home early would be to go home in disgrace, which is no small thing, considering where they are from.”

  “No, of course not,” Ted agreed. “Their punishment would be pretty extreme, I’d imagine.”

  Magnus nodded. “Complete failure in that sense, but I can’t say for sure that it was them. I don’t know where they were all night.”

  “According to them, they were both sleeping in their room for the whole night.”

  “So, they alibied each other?”

  Immediately Ted nodded. “Yeah, and that’s what they’ll say about you and the doc.”

  “Of course.” Magnus gave a half nod. Another thought occurred to him. “I get that everybody here is on a peacekeeping joint-training program, blah-blah-blah.” He waved his hand. “But what are the chances that somebody might have done this, all of it—the accidents, missing personnel, injuries, break-ins, all of it—just to cause trouble between our countries?”

  “You mean, once this Russian guy proved to be an asshole, they took advantage of that fact because it seemed maybe you would go after him?” Ted asked.

  “That’s what I’m wondering,” Magnus agreed. “I don’t know any other reason, and I don’t know what his relationship was like with his team. I don’t know anything about it really,” he admitted, with another wave of his hand. “But when you think about it, that is a pretty strong motive.”

  “It’s not a very good one though,” Ted noted quietly.

  “No, and, when you put it together with the rest of the events going on here, I guess it doesn’t really line up. But, since the first two deaths were ruled ‘accidental,’ this is the first actual murder we have had so far, isn’t it?”

  Ted nodded. “Yes, it is—but only because we don’t know what happened to the three missing men.”

  Day 5, Lunchtime

  For the rest of the day, Sydney rested quietly in the clinic. Several people came, mostly to see how she was. She was surprised and pleased to see that almost all were concerned about her, having heard the news of the attack on her, and several asked if she knew anything about who her attacker was. She kept her answers fairly noncommittal, letting everybody know that she didn’t have any clue. The last thing she wanted was the attacker thinking she could identify him.

  Gossip, and especially that kind of gossip, had a tendency to morph into some other message entirely, especially depending on who was passing around the news. So Sydney definitely didn’t want to get into it any more than necessary. It was hard enough to get through the day, since her head had already started pounding again around noon.

  She made sure she stayed well hydrated, and, by the time 1:00 p.m. came around, she looked over at Joy and asked, “Any chance you can handle the clinic while I take a nap?”

  Joy nodded. “Absolutely.” She pointed to the files in her hand. “This is moving at a pretty slow pace anyway.” Frowning a bit, she looked carefully at her boss. “You’re looking a little peaked.”

  “It goes along with the head right now.” She reached up, wincing as she patted the goose-egg-size bump on the back of her head.

  “Not a problem. You go get some rest. I’ve got this, and, if we need to get you, we will.” She shrugged. “In the meantime, I’ll hold down the fort.” Hesitating, she looked at the beds and asked, “Did you want to go back to your quarters or just nap here?”

  Sydney hesitated. “I’m tempted to just lie down here and crash. At least then, if anybody comes in, they’ll see me here. If they need something, either they can get it from you or they can come back later, when I’m awake. That’s an optimal solution, I guess.”

  And, with that, she walked over to the bed she had slept in before, pulled back the single sheet that covered the bed, and stretched out. Within minutes she was sound asleep. She woke to hushed voices. Without taking a peek or shifting, she listened to the conversation. Magnus had stopped in to check up on her.

  She smiled and murmured, “I’m awake.”

  Magnus walked closer and gently stroked her cheek. “Hey. How’re you feeling?”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Better, I think. I was feeling a little rough earlier and thought maybe a nap would help.”

  “And did it?” he asked, his gaze questioning.

  She tilted her head. “I think so.” She slowly shifted upright, pleasantly surprised when her head didn’t pound and the room didn’t spin. “Actually that seems to have done the trick.” She yawned, then got up and did a few simple stretches. “Everything okay here?” She looked over at Joy, who nodded.

  “Honestly, nobody even stopped by.” She smiled. “It’s almost as if they knew.”

  “Maybe,” Sydney replied, with a concerned tone. She looked at Magnus and asked with a searching gaze, “Is everything okay elsewhere?” She tried to keep her tone even, but, at the same time, tried to get him to understand what she was asking.

  He nodded and responded in a low tone, “The investigators are working on it. We already have one team in place, which is aggravating, because if they were investigating, how did this happen in the first place?”

  “That’s what I don’t understand,” Joy replied to what Magnus had implied. “I mean, it makes all the other accidents look even more suspicious.”

  “It does at that,” Sydney admitted, looking over at her nurse, since she’d heard Magnus. “It’s a matter of just staying safe.”

  “Staying safe and maybe not staying alone.” She pointedly looked over at Magnus.

  “Maybe. And maybe if Magnus had been here, it wouldn’t have happened. There’s always that consideration.”

  Joy nodded.

  Sydney sighed and added, “It’s hard to know just what it means.”

  Joy stood. “Now that you’re up, I’ll go grab my lunch.” She stopped, turned back to her, and asked, “You want me to pick up something for you?”

  She frowned. “I’m sure our foodstuffs are pretty low, and I don’t know what they’re serving, but something fresh—like a salad—sounds good.”

  Joy laughed. “In your dreams. I think it’s stew or spaghetti.”

  “Right.” Sydney winced. “I’ll wait for dinner.”

  “I’ll see if there’s any yogurt for you.”

  “That would be good.”

  With that, Joy took off, happy to do something at least.

  Sydney looked over at Magnus. “Any news?”

  He shook his head. “No, none. I’ve been cleared, but be aware that the investigators will come and talk to you.”

  “Great,” she muttered. “More questions.”

  “Of course.”

  “And you’re on the official investigation team?”

  “I’m unofficially on the official team,” he corrected and burst out laughing at the look on her face. “Crazy, right?”

  “But I’m not supposed to know, and they won’t want me to know, right?” she clarified.

  “Exactly. However, if you do say anything, don’t feel bad about it. No need to push it. I’ll just explain it to them.”

  “Okay, you are—” Her words were left unsaid because a knock came at the door.

  Magnus opened it to see Ted there, letting him in. “Hey, I was just checking up on the doc,” Magnus noted. He quickly introduced the two of them. “Doc, meet Ted.”

  She looked up to see an older man, with what seemed to be years of service, though she didn’t know what exactly. Army maybe, it was hard to say. A bit of everything was represented here. She smiled. “I understand you’re handling the investigation of the murder.”

  “Actually I’m handling the investigation into all of it,” he noted calmly.

  She nodded. “I presume that means the attack on me.”

  “Absolutely,” he confirmed in an even tone, as he walked closer and eyed her critically. “How are you feeling?”