A polar pursuit the vaga.., p.1
A Polar Pursuit (The Vagabond Series), page 1
A Polar Pursuit
S.E. Rose
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Stay Connected
About the Author
Also by S.E. Rose
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To all the amazing people I met on my own Antarctica adventure. And to all the amazing people that I haven’t met but share in my wanderlust. May you always find adventures and may you always make new friends.
Chapter One
Julia
Two hours. Who knew it only took two hours to fly from the tip of South America to Antarctica?
Julia looked out the window as the plane began its descent. Two hours and it may have well been a completely different planet. King George Island looked more populated than she had imagined it would. Small buildings dotted the jagged coastline. There was snow but there were also spots of brown and rocky outcroppings exposed through the blanket of white.
The specialized high-wing aircraft landed on the short runway and turned to the side to allow passengers to exit. She took her small bag that she was allowed to bring with her. Her other slightly larger bag would be brought out to the ship.
The crew had warned them the wind would be fierce, but nothing prepared her for the bone-chilling breeze that greeted her as she stood at the steps leading to the ground. She pulled her hat down and gripped her small bag tightly as she made her way in a single-file line with other passengers. There were fifty-nine of them. Most were world travelers, checking the seventh continent off their to-do list, others were having a bucket list trip, and some had come to specifically see penguins. They had all met at dinner last night while awaiting word of whether the weather would allow them to make the short trip across the ocean.
Her mother was supposed to be with her, after all, it was her mother’s idea, to begin with, yet here she was, alone. She was the only passenger here by herself. Her mother had fallen two weeks ago, breaking her leg and needing surgery. She had insisted, though, that Julia still go.
“Don’t miss a trip of a lifetime because I’m a klutz. Go, enjoy it. Take pictures!” she had told her.
The wind gushed around her as she walked down the steps. She braced herself, gripping the metal railings as she stepped down. The sky was a dark gray. She could make out a ship parked in the middle of the cove past a small group of buildings and a larger building that looked to be an aircraft hangar.
“OK, we are going to walk down to the shore where you will get a safety briefing and then we will board the inflatable boats and head out to the ship,” a man named Chris said. She had met Chris and a woman named Monica back in Punta Arenas. They would be leaving them here in the hands of the crew and returning to board another group of passengers.
One by one, they began to march the mile walk down the hill to the water. It seemed much farther than a mile. A few of the older passengers were transported in a van that was specially fitted with special little treads like a tank that look like triangles where the wheels should be. She watched as the van drove slowly down what might be a road, but it was nearly impossible to tell with all the snow on the ground. Her feet weren’t cold, but her legs started to burn as they crept down the hill. The snow was slushy but deep. She slid a little with each step. It took nearly half an hour, but eventually, they made it to a rocky shoreline where a giant box containing life jackets sat next to a tall, thin man.
“Come around, everyone. I’m Danny and I’ll be one of your guides this week. Leslie and I are going to walk you through a few safety requirements before we board the inflatable boats and get you situated aboard Nova Sol.” Danny rattled on about safety as Julia looked at the water. It was rough out there. Halfway through Danny’s talk, a giant warship entered the cove. He explained that it was part of the Chilean navy. They were standing on the Chilean base. A Russian one was next door and across the cove was a Chinese research station. She focused back on Danny who was now ushering small groups of people into little boats. She watched as the boats bobbed in the choppy water. She’d been on boats before in bad weather, but this looked particularly treacherous.
She approached the water and took a few steps into what she assumed was an icy cold ocean, but special boots provided by the tour company kept her feet dry and warm. Danny held out a hand to help her in the boat.
“There you go,” he said to her as she scooted down and gripped a rubber handle on the seat surrounding the vessel. It only took two minutes to get out to their ship, but then they missed their approach to the loading platform on the ship. Ten minutes later, after circling a half dozen times, the crew on the ship were able to get ahold of their small vessel long enough for the eight people on board to safely climb out and head inside the ship out of the way of the howling winds and rough seas.
A young woman with bright red hair stood in the hallway as she entered the ship.
“You’ll need to wash your boots in there,” she said with a smile, pointing to a small bath of liquid.
Julia stepped into it and then out into the narrow corridor.
“I’m Cora McKinny. I’m one of the naturalists. Now, what’s your name?” she asked with a smile.
“Julia Wallace.”
“OK, let’s see. Here we go. You are room 212. Up the stairs, turn right, and head down the hallway. Your room is on the right, the second door. Here’s a packet of information for you, including a map of the ship. We’ll be meeting as a group in the gallery in thirty minutes. Your bags should be in your room already,” she said.
“Thanks,” Julia replied as she started up the stairs. The ship swayed slightly, and she gripped the railing harder. She made it up the flight of stairs and into the hallway before another wave rolled the ship. She dropped her bag as she reached out to steady herself against a wall.
“I got this,” she muttered, bending over to reach for her bag just as another wave hit the vessel. This time she wasn’t prepared, and she started to stumble forward as she raised herself back up to try and plant her hand on the wall again. Her eyes closed on reflex and she braced herself for impact into the wall to her right but instead she was jolted into place by two large hands on her shoulders. Her eyes flew up and her vision was greeted with well-defined pectoral muscles behind a tightly fitted t-shirt bearing the logo of the tour company that ran the ship. She slowly raised her face. It was a man with a chiseled jawline wrapped in a neatly trimmed beard, high cheekbones, a perfectly straight nose, and dark eyes rimmed in even darker lashes.
“Sea legs,” the man said in an accent that she couldn’t quite place. He grinned as he slowly released her, revealing perfectly white teeth. How come everyone she had met from the tour company was so attractive? Was it a hiring prerequisite?
She managed to put a hand on the wall. “Thanks,” she responded in a breathy voice.
“No problem. You’ll get used to it soon enough. Which room is yours? I can help you there,” he said in a cheerful voice.
She pointed to the door that read “212.”
“Allow me,” he replied as he took her bag from her and walked to the door. He opened it and she followed him inside her cabin for the next six days. The room was small but had everything she needed. There was a tiny desk with a chair and closet to her right and a small bathroom to her left. There were two beds secured to either side of the room with a small tabletop attached to the wall next to them. A tiny window was above the bedside tables. It was sparse but provided her with all the necessities.
“They aren’t much to look at, but you’ll only be in here to sleep,” he added as he set her bag on a bed. She noted her small duffle bag was already sitting on the other bed.
“I’m Mateo.” He extended his hand to her and she shook it. She couldn’t help noticing how large his hand was in comparison to hers. His skin was rough, not like the smooth hands of the last man she had dated whose idea of adventure was trying a new tapas bar.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Julia.”
“Welcome aboard, Julia. I’ll see you in a few minutes up in the gallery. You know how to get there?”
She glanced down at the folder in her hand that she had managed to hold on to in the hallway. “I think there’s a map in here.”
He held out a hand and she passed him the folder. Opening it, he pulled out a piece of paper and turned it around to face her.
“Here’s your room. You walk down the hallway, past our little shop here, and then up this stairwell. The top floor is the gallery. There’s a drinks bar there, too,” he explained
“Thanks. And thanks for your help. I guess it’ll take a bit to get my sea legs,” she said with a laugh.
He gave her another panty-dropping grin. “You’ll get there. See you soon.” He opened the door, closing it quietly behind him as she looked around what would be her home for the next week.
She quickly unpacked the few belongings she was able to bring with her. The remainder of her things were stored in a second suitcase at the hotel in Punta Arenas. She cursed herself for not bringing more underwear. She peeked inside the tiny closet-size bathroom. There was a drying line that could be hung across the shower half of the room. She shrugged and put away the last of her things, stumbling with a few of the larger waves that rocked the boat. This was going to be a long week if the waters were always this choppy.
She heard the engines of the boat start and checked the time. Grabbing her folder, a pen, and her camera, she made her way up to the gallery. There were doors near the stairwell that went out to the decks of the boat, but they were secured shut. She passed what looked like a little gift shop that also sold some adventure gear. She continued down another narrow corridor. At the end of it, there was a small staircase on her right, and step up to a door in front of her that was marked bridge. She followed the stairs up two flights. She could hear people talking as she walked the last few steps, popping up into a large room with sofas, comfy chairs, small tables with chairs surrounding them, and a bar in the corner. Here goes nothing, she thought as she made her way to an empty table.
Chapter Two
Mateo
The first tour of the year was starting with a storm. Mateo looked out the window at the choppy water. Captain Sosa was going to try to get them out of the way of it by heading out while they started their introductions. Normally, he’d come up and greet the guests, but not today. The unexpected change was par for the course here in Antarctica. If you weren’t adaptable, you wouldn’t make it a week here.
He kept his eyes on the woman from 212. It wasn’t completely unusual for them to have solo passengers, but it certainly wasn’t the norm. She intrigued him. She was also beautiful. He hadn’t missed her long, wavy hair or haunting blue eyes. His eyes scanned the rest of the people filing into the room and taking seats as Leslie started her introductions. Juan, Cora, Danny, and Finn stood near him at the front of the room. They ran through the safety requirements and they showed their projected route over to the peninsula and down and then back over the channel along the islands, returning here to King George Island.
He felt the Nova Sol begin to move. The passengers looked at each other as the boat listed one way and then another. They were in for quite a voyage.
Leslie had them all introduce themselves. Each of their guiding crew had an impressive background. Danny Gunther was a naturalist that specialized in birds. Juan Gomez was a geologist who was new to their crew. Leslie Hannigan was a naturalist and ecologist who had spent a summer studying gentoo penguins at the Port Lockroy research station for two years. Cora McKinny was another naturalist who had spent time both in the Arctic and Antarctic. And Finn Kennek was a former fisheries biologist who was also a professor that ran a research study on whales at the Chilean research base on King George Island. And then there was him. He had studied photography and biology in college, but he was always drawn more to photography. It was hard to make a living off his photographs, so he started taking jobs in the tourism industry. He worked in Peru for a while and Patagonia. He even tried a year in Costa Rica. Then, his friend Danny had talked him into taking this job three years ago. He hadn’t been disappointed. No day was the same here, and you never knew what was around the corner. Like right now, for instance, they could get ahead of this storm or it could follow them right across the channel.
“There will be a light dinner served in twenty minutes for those who are hungry,” Leslie added. He could already see some of the passengers turning green.
“And for the rest of you, Dr. Sergio Damarco will bring around some medicine. We’ll see you for breakfast at eight tomorrow,” Leslie announced. Slowly the passengers began to leave. He noted that Julia was one of the last to remain. She walked over to Pete Smith, the bartender, and ordered some ginger ale.
Mateo couldn’t resist the magnetic pull and sauntered over to her. “Ginger ale, huh?”
She shrugged. “Worth a try.”
“You look a little green,” he teased.
“I feel a little green. Is it always this bad? It makes me not want to come back here ever,” she asked in a hushed voice as she looked over at the last few remaining passengers.
“Nope. This storm is going to be intense. Seventy-mile-an-hour winds. That’s hurricane force. We don’t often get storms this bad. Getting another storm like this on your first day would be like lightning striking twice in the same place,” he explained.
Her eyes widened. He gave her a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry. We routinely run into storms along the way. Not usually this bad, but it can happen once in a while. Our captain will get us around it and tomorrow will be calmer once we reach the peninsula.”
“I hope so,” she muttered. “I think I’ll try to get some sleep.”
“Good idea,” he agreed as he watched her try to walk in a straight line over to the stairs. She swayed with each movement of their vessel. He decided to follow her back to her room. All the other passengers had moved in groups, confirming what he had guessed, she was their only solo traveler. Someone needed to look out for her.
As they both walked down the corridor, she was thrown from one side to the other. He held out a hand and grabbed her arm. “Sea legs,” he said.
“I’m going to look like I made it to round ten tomorrow,” she lamented.
“You’ll get better at it. It takes a few days to acclimate.”
They made it to her room, and she grabbed her door handle. “Thanks,” she said to him as she opened her door and rushed to her bathroom.
She barely made it to the toilet. He reached over and grabbed her hair to keep it out of the way.
“Oh God, this is miserable. I’m so sorry,” she moaned as he handed her some toilet paper with his free hand.
“I’ll get the doc. He’ll give you some medicine that will help you feel better,” he said. “Stay here.”
He watched as she sighed and leaned her head against the wall. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”
He found Doc Sergio in the hallway. “Miss Julia in room two-twelve could use some medicine.” Doc followed him back to her room and knocked. The door opened and Julia quickly returned to her bathroom.
“I hear we have another sick passenger. My name is Doc Sergio, Miss Julia. Would you like some medicine?”
Wiping her mouth, she nodded. Even with her wild hair and looking positively miserable, she was still gorgeous. He kept trying not to stare but couldn’t resist it.
“I’ll need to inject it,” he explained.
She held out her arm.
He laughed. “Uh, in your posterior.”
She glanced down at her ass, before pulling herself up and stumbling over to her bed. She pulled down the top of her pants. Mateo tried to look away, but he couldn’t. Her ass was perfect. He wondered if the rest of her body was perfect, too. Fuck, he chastised himself. He shouldn’t be thinking of guests like that.
“OK, all set. Now, just lie down and you should fall asleep soon. I promise that you’ll feel better in the morning,” Doc said as he headed out of the room to attend to more sick passengers. It was particularly bad. Even Mateo, who never felt sick, didn’t feel great.
“She’ll be OK,” Doc said with a wink from the doorway before he disappeared down the hallway.
