There was, Una Morrel groggily noted, a sort of sun in the sky. Behind the undifferentiated ceiling of low, scudding clouds, out of sight but present as a warmth on her exposed skin.

"I'm alive, then," she said, blinking away a snowflake. Magruder nodded solemnly, his face comic and expressionless behind green-tinted goggles.

"We're out of danger for the moment," he said, pre-empting her next question, "and we didn't lose anyone. Although we thought we might lose you."

Una sat up shakily. "Where are we?" she asked. On a glacier, obviously - only a kreigsmarine wool blanket separated her from the smooth blue ice. Magruder smiled.

"Same place," he said, pulling a flask out of his overcoat and carefully filling the shot-cap with brandy. "Something happened. Some kind of storm. We thought you might be able to fill us in."

She shook her head and accepted the brandy, drinking it gratefully. "I saw a vampire," she said. The major shrugged. "This is getting weirder by the minute," he muttered, taking a drink himself. "Anyway, about the time I lost sight of you and you, uh, saw the vampire, a lot of weather moved in real fast. Unnaturally fast, actually. Winds you couldn't stand up in, hail, rime started forming and then ice, people were getting blown around, buildings falling down. Are you OK?"

Una nodded. "My ribs hurt, but I'm fine. Go on, Major."

"Well, the ice built up quite fast, I couldn't stay in the air and lost track of everyone, there was a total whiteout like I've never seen before. Lasted 45 minutes. When it was done," he spread his arms out and patted the glacial ice, "the base was under a dozen feet of this stuff. Some Germans got away in those man-portable helicopter things, heading east, but we were in no condition to harass them. Rook - Lieutenant Kessel - took a hit and was immobilized for a time. And Fuller is hurt pretty bad."

"Where are they?"

"Digging a hole."

Una nodded. "A bloody deep one, I hope."

"Deep enough. Kessel is back in fighting trim and clearing out their infirmary. We need shelter, and possibly medicine for Fuller."

"Dark soon," Una said, stretching her arms experimentally and wincing.

"You take it easy. Everything is under control. There's a storm - a natural one - moving in off the Weddell sea, and we'll be sealed up tight for a few days. Plenty of time to decide what to do next. Right now I need to get some fuel from our Cessna."

"You're a good man, Major," she said, and the two agents looked at each other for a strange moment. Then Magruder nodded, shouldered his satchel, and took to the sky.