trees but he enjoys money more. Plus we have leverage on him."
"What kind of leverage?" Vaughn asked.
"You don't need to know that," Royce said. "Suffice it to say I have a strong enough carrot and a powerful enough stick that Logan will do whatever you need."
"Where's he now?" Tai asked.
"Australia," Royce said. "Saving kangaroos or something." He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a sleek satellite phone. "You can call him on this." He slid a piece of paper across. "Here's his number."
Royce dialed in the number, then punched the speaker-phone option and put the phone on the wood table.
"Hello?" a voice with a rich Australian accent answered.
"Is this James Logan?"
"Who are you?"
Royce spoke up. "It's Royce, Mr. Logan. Calling with two friends of mine from Hawaii."
"Fuck. Hawaii. Must be early in the morning there, isn't it?"
Tai rolled her eyes. "It's a little after eleven."
"It's a little after midnight here." The voice waited for an apology, and getting none, moved on with a sigh. "All right. What do you want?"
Tai spoke. "Royce tells us you've been to Antarctica several times."
"Yes. I've been there four times. I also wintered over at the Earth First base there three years ago. Why? What's up?"
"We've received information about something," Tai said, "and we were wondering if you could give us some help."
"'Wondering'? Do I have a choice, Royce?"
"No."
The voice was resigned. "What's the information?"
Tai continued. "We've discovered that the United States military built a secret installation, called the Citadel, in Antarctica in 1949."
"What kind of secret base?"
"We don't know," Tai said.
"Where exactly was the place built in Antarctica?"
"We don't know," Tai repeated. "That's why they call it a secret, Logan."
"Well, I've been down there and I've also talked to a lot of people stationed down there, especially at McMurdo, and I've never heard anything about a place called the Citadel. It would be pretty difficult to cover something like that up, although 1949 was a very long time ago."
Tai waited in silence, prompting Logan to speak again. "Even though it was built in 1949, it would still have broken the 1959 treaty, as the treaty was retroactive. Any base that is built down there, even if it's temporary, has to be open for inspection by any of the other signees of the treaty. If a base is hidden, well, then it certainly isn't open for inspection.
"Second, if the U.S. military built it, then it's probably some sort of military base, and if it still exists, that would be a gross violation of not only the letter of the current 1991 accord governing things in Antarctica, but also the spirit. Tell me what you have on it so far."
Tai gave a quick summary of the engineers, the photos, the planes, but left out the information about the atomic weapons. When she was done, Logan asked her to describe the photos carefully. He was silent for a little while before speaking again.
"Well, High Jump Station evolved into McMurdo Station, which is the largest base in Antarctica. So we have a start point. You got this Citadel being a four-hour flight by MARS Boxcar from there, so we have a radius. But we don't even know if it's south, east, or west. Most likely south or east, though."
"Why do you say that?" Tai asked.
"If the U.S. military built this thing and wanted to keep it a secret, as you've said, then they'd probably want it to be far away from any other countries' potential stations, based on how Antarctica was sliced up for research. The Russians eventually had a base in Leningradskaya, about five hundred miles to the west of McMurdo, and the French built one farther along the coast in that direction. South from McMurdo there's nothing until you hit the South Pole itself. So that would seem like a good place to hide a base. Maybe in the Transarctic Mountains.
"East from McMurdo is Marie Byrd Land, and there was nothing permanent out there for almost two thousand miles until '71, when the
"What kind of leverage?" Vaughn asked.
"You don't need to know that," Royce said. "Suffice it to say I have a strong enough carrot and a powerful enough stick that Logan will do whatever you need."
"Where's he now?" Tai asked.
"Australia," Royce said. "Saving kangaroos or something." He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a sleek satellite phone. "You can call him on this." He slid a piece of paper across. "Here's his number."
Royce dialed in the number, then punched the speaker-phone option and put the phone on the wood table.
"Hello?" a voice with a rich Australian accent answered.
"Is this James Logan?"
"Who are you?"
Royce spoke up. "It's Royce, Mr. Logan. Calling with two friends of mine from Hawaii."
"Fuck. Hawaii. Must be early in the morning there, isn't it?"
Tai rolled her eyes. "It's a little after eleven."
"It's a little after midnight here." The voice waited for an apology, and getting none, moved on with a sigh. "All right. What do you want?"
Tai spoke. "Royce tells us you've been to Antarctica several times."
"Yes. I've been there four times. I also wintered over at the Earth First base there three years ago. Why? What's up?"
"We've received information about something," Tai said, "and we were wondering if you could give us some help."
"'Wondering'? Do I have a choice, Royce?"
"No."
The voice was resigned. "What's the information?"
Tai continued. "We've discovered that the United States military built a secret installation, called the Citadel, in Antarctica in 1949."
"What kind of secret base?"
"We don't know," Tai said.
"Where exactly was the place built in Antarctica?"
"We don't know," Tai repeated. "That's why they call it a secret, Logan."
"Well, I've been down there and I've also talked to a lot of people stationed down there, especially at McMurdo, and I've never heard anything about a place called the Citadel. It would be pretty difficult to cover something like that up, although 1949 was a very long time ago."
Tai waited in silence, prompting Logan to speak again. "Even though it was built in 1949, it would still have broken the 1959 treaty, as the treaty was retroactive. Any base that is built down there, even if it's temporary, has to be open for inspection by any of the other signees of the treaty. If a base is hidden, well, then it certainly isn't open for inspection.
"Second, if the U.S. military built it, then it's probably some sort of military base, and if it still exists, that would be a gross violation of not only the letter of the current 1991 accord governing things in Antarctica, but also the spirit. Tell me what you have on it so far."
Tai gave a quick summary of the engineers, the photos, the planes, but left out the information about the atomic weapons. When she was done, Logan asked her to describe the photos carefully. He was silent for a little while before speaking again.
"Well, High Jump Station evolved into McMurdo Station, which is the largest base in Antarctica. So we have a start point. You got this Citadel being a four-hour flight by MARS Boxcar from there, so we have a radius. But we don't even know if it's south, east, or west. Most likely south or east, though."
"Why do you say that?" Tai asked.
"If the U.S. military built this thing and wanted to keep it a secret, as you've said, then they'd probably want it to be far away from any other countries' potential stations, based on how Antarctica was sliced up for research. The Russians eventually had a base in Leningradskaya, about five hundred miles to the west of McMurdo, and the French built one farther along the coast in that direction. South from McMurdo there's nothing until you hit the South Pole itself. So that would seem like a good place to hide a base. Maybe in the Transarctic Mountains.
"East from McMurdo is Marie Byrd Land, and there was nothing permanent out there for almost two thousand miles until '71, when the
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