winter in greenland

Iceland, Husa Bay, port, on a somewhat dilapidated boat.

A tall man sat in the cockpit, his Coast Guard uniform seemed to overwhelm his physique, and the brass buttons on the waist and belly looked a little precarious.

He was yelling at the other end of the radio communicator in his hand: "...What? Can't find anyone? Are you all pinning your heads to your trouser waist? We invited others to come over for a joint exercise, but they were fooled around? Tell me! Do you want the face of this captain? What? You are more embarrassed to make excuses for this kind of battle loss than you? Idiot! We have already lost! Tell everyone under your command to withdraw from the team!!"

Seeing him getting angry, the adjutants behind him looked a little apprehensive. He glanced back at the people behind him, with a look of resentment: "What are you still doing? The exercise is over! Let me teach you What should I do next?!"

Those few people hurriedly saluted and ran out.

An hour later, on the gravel beach of the port.

Two teams of people wearing snow camouflage are shaking hands. The leader of the team on the left is the one who roared in the cockpit just now. Without any superfluous expressions, it was August, with a group of Sirius players standing behind him.Their faces were all camouflaged with oil paint, only a pair of eyes were amazingly bright.

"Captain Hook, thank you for your hard work." August stretched out his hand first.

Hook shook hands with him, with a sincere smile on his face: "You are very good, Major Field, we have learned a lot from this exercise."

"Hey, Hook, we have cooperated for so many years, so don't talk too much about the scene." Behind August, Heath greeted him with a smile.

Hook also shook hands with him, and squeezed his eyes: "Captain Iblon, I heard that you have been running a lot to the headquarters of Copenhagen and the Royal Academy of Sciences recently. It just so happens that the Global Meteorological Symposium was held in Reykjavik recently. I know if you are interested in going to see it?"

A trace of unnaturalness flashed across Heath's face, and he muttered something, but didn't answer.

August's face was a little tired: "We will arrive in Reykjavik tonight, and we will fly back to Greenland early tomorrow morning."

Hook was a little surprised: "So rush? These days happen to be our Midsummer Festival, and the capital will be very lively. Why don't you stay for a few more days to relax?"

August simply shook his head, without further explanation, turned and walked towards the armored vehicle beside him.

Hook looked at his back thoughtfully, and turned to Heath: "What's wrong with your captain? I haven't seen him for more than a year, and I always feel that he is a different person."

Heath curled his lips and said "tsk": "Don't talk about you, we can't understand him anymore. In the past year, he has been training us like his life."

Hook put Heath on his shoulder and winked, "No wonder we lost so badly in this joint exercise."

Heath didn't say anything, and walked to the assembly point with him, but he sighed silently in his heart.

When he first heard what Newman said, he felt disapproving. He always felt that Dan was making too much of a fuss. As for August, he might regret the loss of an excellent player, but he would not overreact.

However, a month later, when August returned to the base after finishing his collaborative mission, he immediately noticed the low air pressure on that person.Especially after learning that Dan had left Sirius that night.

August was originally a serious person, and they were all used to his expressionless face, but since that day, Heath has always subtly felt that something is different.One of the most noticeable changes was that he was smoking more and more, and whenever Heath went to his office, it was always smoky.At the same time, he found that August's face stretched less and less, his jaw line was always tense, and there was always a shallow crease between his eyebrows.

After about 3 months like this, no one in the base mentioned Dan's existence, as if the accident had never happened, until the annual summer training resumed, and they reported their needs to the headquarters according to the usual practice , August stopped him for the first time.

The climate has slowly warmed up, and the sunshine mixed with the early summer breeze seems to have a light sweet fragrance.After finishing the training that afternoon, he showed August the drafted budget report for this year, and if there were no problems, he planned to report it.Unexpectedly, August paused after turning the first page. He pondered for a few seconds, as if he had decided on something: "There will be no new hires this year."

Heath stared in surprise, "What?"

"There will be no new recruits this year." August simply repeated.

"But...but we only have less than 30 people now...the higher ups don't always ask us to expand the scale, and this is also the usual practice..." Heath stuttered in surprise.

"No recruiting this year." August repeated, flipped through the report back, and handed it back to him: "There is nothing else, just delete the recruiting item, and just report it."

Heath took it in a daze, still not turning his head, turned around and walked a few steps in the direction of the door. There was a sound of a lighter behind him, and August lit another cigarette.

Suddenly feeling panicked in his heart, Heath turned around and strode back to him.

"What?" August looked at him suspiciously.

"Is it because of Dan?" Heath said in a low voice.

August paused for a second with the hand holding the cigarette, and turned his eyes nonchalantly: "Why did you mention him all of a sudden?"

Seeing the expression on his face, Heath was so angry: "Don't act stupid in front of me, you know how many packs of cigarettes you have smoked in these three months alone! I don't understand , is there anything that cannot be explained clearly? One must hide far away, and the other must make himself a ghost or a ghost?"

August raised his head and looked at him, his tone indifferent: "Who do you say is neither human nor ghost?"

Heath stared at him for a while, then turned around resentfully: "Pretend I didn't say anything! My mother's kindness is like a donkey's liver and lungs!"

There was silence behind him.

……

The joint exercise with the Icelandic Coast Guard is a common practice, and it will be held every one or two years. They go to Iceland or the other side comes to Greenland.The duration of the exercise is not long, usually 1 to 2 weeks, usually to exchange some technical issues.After the general exercise, both sides will stay in the local area for a few days, as a short vacation for the team members.It was the first time that August was so anxious to go back.

It was already past 10 o'clock when the group returned to Reykjavik, the sky had already darkened, and the night sky was full of stars, echoing the colorful lights on the ground, making Reykjavik even more like a fairy tale world.

They lived not far from the city center, and August had a single room.As soon as he came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, the doorbell rang, and when he opened the door, Heath stood sneakily at his door.

August raised his eyebrows, and looked at the watch on the cabinet beside him: "It's so late, what's the matter?"

Heath squeezed in without saying a word, and slammed the door behind him. In the quiet corridor outside, the doors of several rooms where their team members lived were opened a crack, and several expectant heads poked out.

"I said, are you really going to leave early tomorrow morning?"

August walked back to the living room and poured himself a glass of water: "I look like I'm joking?"

"You really don't think about staying a few more days?"

August sat on the sofa leisurely: "Give me a reason."

"According to past practice, don't we all want to take a few days off here to relax?"

"You also said that was 'in the past'."

Heath struggled with the last hope: "Have you contacted the base?"

August raised his eyebrows, but did not speak.

"Okay, okay, I said, damn reason." Heath cursed in a low voice, walked to the chair opposite him and sat down: "Just now Hook said that the Global Meteorological Conference will be held in Reykjavik these few days. The meteorological research team of the Royal Academy of Sciences will definitely attend the meeting as a representative, Murphy is their team leader, and she will definitely come too, I haven't seen her for several months..."

August was a little surprised: "Professor Murphy? She has agreed to your pursuit?"

Heath rubbed his head angrily: "It's not like this is not yet, so I will try my best to create opportunities to see her more often."

August looked at him for a few seconds, with a faint smile on his face: "It's better to say no."

Heath was startled: "What do you mean?"

August stood up and walked to the window: "I contacted the base earlier, and they sent a plane to pick us up in three days."

"Damn it, August, did you mean it?!" Heath jumped up from his chair.

August turned his head, with a smile still in his eyes: "It's rare for you to fall in love with a girl. The ten thousand-year iron tree is about to bloom. Of course, I have to see who can subdue you."

Heath muttered something and sat back in the chair.

"I asked Hook. Their annual Midsummer Festival opening ceremony is tomorrow, and there will be fireworks in the Old Port. Can you seize this opportunity, um..."

Heath had a rare tinge of red on his face: "I really can't see it, you will ask this too."

August looked at him with a half-smile: "Is there anything else?"

"It's gone." Heath stood up and walked towards the door as if fleeing. When he got to the door, he turned his head as if remembering something, and said sincerely: "Thank you, August."

August raised the glass in his hand to him, but said nothing.

Same time, same street.

Dan declined Harvey's offer to send them off, and walked down the street with Ralph, who was already half drunk.

He was slightly shorter than Ralph, and it was difficult to support such a big man. After the fourth unsuccessful attempt to ask for the address, he sighed and planned to take him back to his apartment.

When he passed a hotel, he glanced at several conspicuous military jeeps parked by the side of the road. After a casual glance, he hailed a taxi that happened to drop off the guests at the entrance of the hotel and was about to leave.

On the sixth floor above his head, by the window facing the street, August drank the water in the glass, put the glass on the bedside, and lowered the window curtain.