About two-thirds of the way down the outside of the mountain, they discovered they were not alone. Antlike figures were making their way up the trail. Austin's party kept on moving. They had been seen, so there was no use hiding, but they kept their weapons ready. Austin counted six people in the unknown group. As the newcomers neared, the man leading the procession waved his arm. A few moments later, Austin was close enough to see Petrov's grinning face.

The Russian was accompanied by members of his special ops team, including Veronika and her husband. Petrov sprinted the last few steps up the path.

He was grinning. “Good afternoon, Austin,” he puffed. "You and Joe have added mountain climbing to your many accomplishments.

You never cease to amaze me.“ He turned to Karla. ”And this must be Mademoiselle Janos. Very pleased to meet you. I don't know this gentleman," he said to Schroeder.

“I'm just an old man who should be home in his rocking chair,” Schroeder said with a weary grin.

“How did you find us?” Austin said.

“We talked to the captain of the icebreaker. He said you were striking off to explore the volcano in some sort of aircraft.”

“We had a paraglider.”

“I remember now. The two large bags you brought with you.”

Austin nodded. “You missed all the fun.”

“On the contrary,” Petrov said in a cheerful tone. “We have had a great deal of fun. We encountered a group of armed men coming in on a boat. They gave us a warm welcome, but our thank-you was even warmer. The survivor said they had been sent in to help some men who were already here.” He looked over Austin's shoulder as if he expected to see someone following him.

“Those men are no longer with us,” Schroeder said.

“Yes,” Austin said. “They were trampled by a herd of woolly mammoths.”

“Dwarf mammoths,” Zavala corrected.

Petrov shook his head. “I studied American culture for years, but I'll never understand your strange humor.”

“That's all right,” Austin said. “Even we don't understand it. Do you think you can give us a hand the rest of the way down the mountain?”

“Of course,” Petrov said with a grin. He reached into his backpack and produced a bottle of vodka. “But first we will have our drink together.”

NUMA 6 - Polar Shift

32

AUSTIN WAS HAVING a weird dream in which a procession of pygmy mammoths paraded along the streets of a crystal city to the tune of “St. Louis Blues.” His eyes snapped open. The mammoths and the city had vanished, but the blues were still playing. The music came from his phone.

Vowing to stay away from crazy Russians who drank vodka like water, he dug the phone out of his pack and managed a fuzzy, “Austin.”

Trout's voice said, “We've been trying to get you and Joe for days. Have you been down in a mine?”