Jack Higgins by East of Desolation

was waiting to take me ashore. He dropped me on the beach and started back to the Stella straight away and I got ready to leave.
    I did the usual routine check then started the engine and ran the Otter down into the sea. I took up the wheels and taxied down-wind slowly, leaning out of the wide window and checking the water for ice floes before making my run.
    When I was about a hundred yards north of the Stella, I started to turn into the wind and found the whaleboat bearing down on me, Desforge standing up in the prow waving furiously. I cut the engine and opened the side door as the whaleboat pulled in alongside. Desforge tossed me a canvas holdall, stepped on the nearest float and hauled himself up into the cabin.
    â€œI’ve got a sudden hankering to see some city life for a change—any objections?”
    â€œYou’re the boss,” I said. “But we’ll have to get moving. I’m trying to beat some dirty weather into Frederiksborg.”
    The whaleboat was already turning away and I pressed down the starter switch and started to make the run. Twenty seconds later we drifted into the air and climbed steeply, banking over the Stella just as Ilana Eytan appeared from the companionway and stood looking up at us.
    â€œWhat about her?” I said.
    Desforge shrugged. “She’ll be okay. I told Sørensen to make tracks for Frederiksborg tonight. They’ll be there by tomorrow afternoon.”
    He produced the inevitable hip flask, took a swallow and started to laugh. “I don’t know what you did back there, but she was certainly in one hell of a temper when I went to her cabin.”
    â€œI’d have thought you’d have wanted to stay and console her,” I said sourly.
    â€œWhat that baby needs is time to cool off. I’m getting too old to have to fight for it. I’ll wait till she’s in the mood.”
    â€œWhat’s she doing here anyway?” I said. “Don’t tell me she just came to deliver that letter. There is such a thing as a postal service, even in Greenland.”
    â€œOh, that’s an easy one. She’s hoping for the female lead in the picture I’m making.” He grinned. “That’s why I’m so sure she’ll come round—they always do. She’ll be sweetness and light when the Stella arrives tomorrow.”
    He leaned back in his seat, tilting the peak of his hunting cap down over his eyes and I sat there, hands steady on the wheel, thinking about Ilana Eytan, trying to imagine her selling herself, just for a role in a picture. But why not? After all, people sell themselves into one kind of slavery or another every day of the week.
    Rain scattered across the windscreen in a fine spray and I frowned, all other thoughts driven from my mind at the prospect of that front moving in faster than they had realised at Søndre. I pulled back the stick and started to climb.

FIVE
    R ain lashed against the glass in the hotel door, driven by a sudden flurry of wind and I turned and walked to the desk where Desforge was booking in.
    â€œI’d say we just made it in time.”
    He grinned. “They can keep the great outdoors on a night like this. You’ll have dinner with me?”
    â€œI’ve one or two things to take care of first. I’ll see you in about half an hour.”
    He went upstairs and I phone through to the air-strip to see if they had any messages for me. There was one—an extra charter job for the following day. Nothing very exciting—a short hop of forty miles down the coast to Intusk with machine parts for the canning factory. I checked the flight time, made a note of it and turned away.
    â€œOh, Mr. Martin.” The receptionist came out of heroffice quickly. “You’ve forgotten your mail.”
    She held out a couple of letters. One was a bill, I could tell as much without opening it. The other was postmarked London and carried the name and address of a firm