The Boy from Reactor 4

CHAPTER 71





THE NOISE IN the air stopped abruptly.

The small hard-rubber spikes gripped the ice well and provided excellent traction. Nadia and Adam scampered twenty feet forward before they had to make their first jump. Although the gap was only two feet wide, the leap still unnerved her.

The water deep below was hypnotic. It lapped the edges of both blocks of ice and reminded Nadia of harsh reality. She was standing on the Bering Strait, halfway between Russia and the USA, nothing but the principle of freezing keeping her from the bottom of the sea. No one had told her there would be gaps in the ice. The strait was supposed to be frozen. This was not the plan.

The second jump came thirty feet later. This time the gap was closer to four feet. Adam took off his knapsack, bent low, swung his arms back, and leaped.

He flew through the air like an Olympic athlete, landing four feet in on the other block of ice, covering twice the necessary distance. He slipped, fell, and righted himself. He got up, rubbing his left hand.

“You okay?” Nadia said.

He nodded.

Nadia threw their bags to him. He caught them and motioned for her to jump.

She inched closer to the edge. How close should she be? Six inches? Four inches? Nadia looked down at the water.

“Don’t look down,” Adam said with authority, as though he’d done this many times before. “Look at me. Look only at me.”

Nadia set her feet. Looked at Adam. Took a deep breath. Bent her legs and swung her arms back. She vaulted.

An alarm sounded.

Her foot slipped.

She flailed forward. Her left leg sailed forward. Hit the far block of ice. Her right leg lagged behind. Would she make it?

Adam bounded forward and rammed the heel of his shoe into the ice to create a foothold.

No way she would make it. She was going down. She reached out with her hand.

Nadia’s right foot hit the water. She teetered backward.

“Help—”

Adam grabbed her hand. Braced himself against the foothold and pulled.

Nadia slid forward onto the ice beside him. Pulled her right boot out of the water as though it were fire.

Human voices shouted to one another in the distance. Startled, Nadia looked up and around. Visibility was a mere ten feet. She couldn’t see anything, but people were approaching.

The whirring noise from before started up again, multiplied by five. Helicopters, Nadia realized. Within ten seconds, they were buzzing overhead, invisible through the fog. The voices belonged to soldiers or border guards. They were searching and hunting.

For them.

“They’re here,” Nadia whispered. “They knew we were coming. They were waiting for us.”

Adam stared at her, eyes wide, looking for guidance as to what they should do next.