Free Hostage by Chris Ryan Page B

she said cautiously, looking around. Then, more confidently, 'Let's go!'
    Alex swung the snowmobile round and opened up the throttle. Li, Paulo and Hex pulled in behind and the four snowmobiles headed upriver towards the mine. At first the sun was bright and the river was wide, which made the travelling easy, but as they moved further inland, the river grew narrower and more twisted. The snow cover grew thicker, sometimes hiding the pressure ridges that corrugated the ice on every curve. The banks steepened until the low sun could not penetrate to river level, and Alpha Force had to turn their headlights full on as they travelled along the dark, cold tunnel between the banks.
    They were all well wrapped up and had the drawstrings of their hoods pulled tight around their goggles so that their faces were completely covered, but gradually the chill began to seep into their bones. The wind picked up and a bank of threatening, grey clouds rolled in. Finally, with no sign of the mine, Alex decided it was time to find a place to stop. They all needed a rest and some hot food. He began to scan the banks for a slope that was gentle enough for the snowmobiles to climb.
    And that was when disaster struck.
    If Alex had been giving his full attention to the terrain ahead of the snowmobiles, he might have spotted the danger signs in his headlight beams. Instead, he kept scanning the banks and driving straight towards a circular patch on the frozen river where the snow cover was seamed with cracks. Wisps of steam were rising through the cracks – a warning that there was open water running beneath the covering of snow. Alex was heading straight for a massive suck hole in the ice: a frozen whirlpool, twisting right through the ice to the flowing river below; the opening at the bottom of this particular suck hole was big enough to swallow a snowmobile.
    The front skis of the snowmobile tipped over the lip of the suck hole and Amber screamed in fright as, suddenly, the snow collapsed beneath them. Then everything happened with nightmare speed. The snowmobile upended and slid down the side of the frozen whirlpool with its headlight beams bouncing crazily off the walls of ice. Alex saw the rushing black water at the bottom of the slope and instinctively stuck his feet out, trying to brake in thin air. The snowmobile tipped and Alex yelled in pain as his outstretched leg scraped down the wall of ice. The added friction was enough to make the snowmobile turn sideways and come to a jolting halt, jammed across the narrowest part of the suck hole.
    The headlights still lit up the whole scene and Alex could see that they were hanging centimetres above the rushing black water at the bottom of the hole. The front of the snowmobile was balanced on the very tips of its skis and the back of the caterpillar tracks were jammed on a tree branch that was frozen into the wall of the suck hole. Alex looked up. The ice layer was just over two metres thick here, which meant that the surface was only a metre above his head, but it might as well have been a mile away. The suck hole was shaped like a shallow, wide-topped funnel, twisting and turning its way down to the water: there were metres of sloping, slick ice walls to climb to reach safety.
    The engine was still whining, making the whole machine shudder and filling the suck hole with exhaust fumes as it tried to turn the jammed caterpillar tracks. As Alex watched in horror, the tracks jumped once, twice, and the branch began to splinter. Quickly, he reached out and turned off the ignition. They were plunged into darkness as the engine cut out and the headlights winked off. For a few seconds more, the machine rocked back and forth, then steadied.
    Alex dared not move. The caterpillar tracks were still jammed on the splintered branch, but the slightest vibration could tip the fragile balance. Then the snowmobile would complete its plunge into the icy water and he and Amber would be swept under the ice to their