16

IRIS SPENT MONDAY morning immersed in data from the IMO's monitoring sites. She and Bjarkey had mapped her own data onto it and had come up with what they hoped was a solid prediction of what might be about to happen on the Reykjanes peninsula. Bjarkey had run it past her bosses, making them aware that while it pinpointed the timing of a possible event much more accurately than the current data they were using, it wasn't yet reliable until it had been proven by the thing actually happening.

What was becoming apparent was that there were lava tubes forming underneath Hraunvik, fed by the Sundhnúkur volcano. The data that Iris and Bjarkey now had, was predicting the activity increasing until an eruption of the lava that was currently travelling underneath the ground, in less than a week.

‘They already have construction workers building lava walls to try and protect the town if the worst happens,' said Bjarkey. ‘This data gives them a timeline that we didn't have before.'

‘If it's right,' said Iris.

‘I think it is,' Bjarkey said, her eyes shining. ‘I think we should go out to Hraunvik today. We could take the two extra seismometers and site them and we can see if anything has changed since our last visit. If we are right about the timing, we should be seeing shifts in the surface by now.'

‘Today? That's great.' Iris loved working with Bjarkey. It was a fantastic mixture of crunching the data, which Iris loved, and the fun of actually going out to see where the data was coming from. And if they were right, seeing the changes in reality would give extra weight to Iris's report.

‘Okay. Do you have everything with you, or shall we call at your hotel on the way?'

‘I have my stuff with me.'

‘Let's go, then!'

It wasn't as cold today, but the skies were granite grey and there was a constant drizzle in the air. As they drove towards Hraunvik, the landscape looked less enticing in the gloom, and even in the short time since her first visit with Siggi, Iris could see the snow had receded and there was more of the black lava rock landscape that had peeked out from beneath the snow. It wasn't spring as it would look in England, but it was a start.

They drove straight to Hraunvik, the road looking familiar this time, and parked on the outskirts of the town.

‘Oh, look.' Bjarkey pointed at the road. They hadn't walked far. There was a crack in the road's surface. It wasn't big, but it definitely hadn't been there before.

‘That's what we were expecting.' The data that they'd put together had indicated that there would be physical evidence of a volcanic event and this was it. Iris was thrilled that her method had helped to predict this, and now it had been proven. Yet seeing the beginning of what could be terrible for the people of the town was sobering.

‘Yes, it's fantastic for us,' Bjarkey said. ‘But it means that we need to notify the civil authorities. I am not sure they were expecting this kind of timeline. They will need to bring the evacuation plans forward.'

That brought it home to Iris. If the crack in the road wasn't enough, that there were evacuation plans said everything. ‘It's terrible. These people are going to lose their homes.'

‘They may not. But it is a possibility.'

Bjarkey took some photos of the road and they measured the crack to use as a baseline in the days and weeks to come.

As they carried on into the centre of the town, they saw further evidence of movement. Similar cracks in the ground, mostly visible on the roads since the surface was normally smooth. But then they went to check Iris's seismometer and came across more cracks. This time the crack ran from the street, through the garden where her equipment was and from what they could see, underneath the house.

‘Oh my god,' Iris said. ‘We should warn them.'

‘They will know,' said Bjarkey, gently. ‘And they know what it means.'

Iris couldn't imagine living somewhere so precarious. She'd never been anywhere before where people lived so close to a volcanic event she was monitoring. The joy that she normally felt when something was about to happen had been lost to a feeling of dread for these people.

Again, they took photos and measurements of what they could see. They both knew that the house would be compromised within the next day or so. And that this house wouldn't be the only one. If Iris's equipment hadn't been in the garden, they wouldn't have noticed that particular fissure, so it was likely there were others, just as dramatic, that they'd missed.

Using the same technique that Iris had used when she'd first arrived to choose the site of her original seismometer, they chose two new sites. One north of the town and one further to the south. They could see that the fissures would most likely occur on a loose north-south line, so this extra monitoring would help to give them better data about how that might play out.

Iris was quiet on the drive home, contemplating what they'd seen and finding it difficult to feel happy that her theory had finally begun to be proved. Because at what cost?

Her phone rang. It was Jay.

‘I was expecting your report today,' he said, with no preamble.

‘I've been out in the field. There's firm evidence that the theory is correct. We estimate it'll be less than a week until the activity emerges. I'd really like to stay until it does.'

‘Not possible.'

Iris took a breath, knowing that she needed to stay calm to make a persuasive argument for staying. ‘But it'd be better for the report if we can show that the culmination in activity matches what we predicted.'

‘You don't need to be there for that. The IMO can send the information on.'

‘But —'

‘Iris. I expect the report tonight and you back in the UK on Wednesday.'

Iris caught Bjarkey's expression out of the corner of her eye. She could probably hear Jay, but if not, she'd caught the gist of the conversation, anyway.

‘What would it take for me to stay?'

‘It's not an option.'

He rang off, leaving Iris staring at her phone in disbelief.

‘Who was that?'

‘My boss.'

‘He wants you to leave? Now?'

Iris nodded.

‘Wow,' Bjarkey said. ‘What's gone on? For him to insist you leave when you could leave in a week with a thousand percent more information and data, there has to be something.'

‘It's a long story.'

‘Come on, we have time,' Bjarkey said, smiling. ‘Share the drama.'

‘I was at university with him. I was going out with someone else, a guy called Patrick. One night, I got really drunk. That's not an excuse for what happened, but it is the reason it happened.'

‘What happened?' Bjarkey still had her eyes on the road, but they were wide in anticipation.

‘I kissed Jay, and Patrick saw.'

‘Jay is the one who is your boss now?'

‘Yes.'

‘And did you secretly like Jay? Is that why it happened?'

‘No! God, if you ever met Jay, you would understand why that repulses me. Actually, that conversation we just had is a fair representation of what a dick he is most of the time.'

Bjarkey laughed, then Iris carried on.

‘We were at a party and it was dark. Jay came up behind me and slipped his hands around my waist. I turned, thinking it was Patrick, because he used to do that all the time. I was drunk and tired and my eyes were closed and I ended up kissing him, thinking it was Patrick.'

Bjarkey shrugged. ‘That is not so bad. It was an accident.'

‘It was an accident, but Patrick didn't believe me. I don't know whether he was using it as an excuse. Maybe he'd wanted to end things anyway. But that's what he did.'

It still hurt to think back at how mortified she'd been when she'd realised what she'd done. How dismissive Patrick had been of her, making her realise he hadn't been in love with her the way she was with him.

‘And then you ended up working for the man who ruined your relationship.'

‘It feels wrong to blame it on him, and if he was a nicer person, maybe I wouldn't have.' She gave Bjarkey a rueful smile. ‘But from that day on, he's lorded it over me. You know what I mean?'

‘I think so. He has never let you forget it and is smug. Is that the right word?'

‘That's it exactly.' It was a relief to explain it to someone who understood. ‘And now that he's my boss, he tries to control me, even though I have more experience than him in monitoring and especially in this field of experimenting with frequencies.'

‘That is what he doesn't like. That you are more knowledgeable than him. He cannot control that, so he has to try and control you in another way.'

‘But making me go home now is bad for the project. That's what I don't understand. It's as if his rivalry, or whatever, with me, is forcing him to make poor decisions.'

‘A man like that will always put protecting his ego ahead of anything.'

It made total sense what Bjarkey was saying. Jay was jeopardising what she'd been working towards for his own reasons, not for the good of the project. And his priority should be the work as much as it was Iris's.

‘Perhaps I should take a stand,' she said. ‘I'm not going to hand the report in and leave Iceland. I'm going to stay. I need to see it through.'

‘The man is an idiot. If he cannot appreciate that this research could change the way we monitor this kind of activity forever, he has no business running a lab.'

Iris couldn't help grinning. Bjarkey's belligerence against Jay was contagious and had given Iris the courage she'd been lacking for so long. It had taken her years to be in the position of being allowed to do her own fieldwork for her project. Years of biting her tongue and kowtowing to Jay, hoping his attitude might change if only he could see what they might achieve. But he would never change. Bjarkey was right. He saw everything through the prism of what he saw as her rejection of him that night at the party.

‘I might lose my job.' The thought of that was actually exciting. In reality, there weren't geological labs in every town begging for a volcanologist with a specialism in monitoring. It would be hard to find another job, but with the completed project under her belt, she'd have a better chance than she might have before.

‘You might lose what's been holding you back,' Bjarkey said, patting Iris's hand. ‘What you have discovered is incredible. I don't think anyone has told you that. Don't let this man allow you to believe anything less. He will take the credit for this if you are not careful, Iris.'

As they arrived back at the IMO, Bjarkey said, ‘I can take you back to your hotel. Do you mind waiting while I finish up here? It will be ten minutes.'

‘No, that's fine. I'm happy to wait. Thanks.'

Iris sat with her laptop open, intending to make a start on her report. Though she now had no intention of writing it as quickly as Jay had wanted, it made sense to track the events every day to make sure she didn't miss anything.

‘Iris, do you have a moment?' Bjarkey called to her from the doorway of an office on the other side of the room.

She closed the lid on her laptop and went over to the office. Bjarkey held the door open and then closed it behind them.

‘Iris, this is Emil. He is the manager of the team here at the IMO.'

‘Good to meet you, Iris. Bjarkey has been telling me about your project and what it could mean for the data we are looking at in Hraunvik.'

Iris nodded, ready to explain what she'd been doing with her seismometer, while Emil continued.

‘We have a large team here at the IMO and we are always looking for talented scientists. Bjarkey has told me that you may be in the market for a change and I would like to say that if that is ever the case, we would like the opportunity to be considered.'

‘Thank you,' said Iris, looking at Bjarkey, who was standing there smiling. This wasn't what she'd been expecting when she'd walked into Emil's office. It was overwhelming. He spoke as if she'd be doing them a favour by considering working at the IMO. Never in her wildest dreams would she ever have thought an internationally renowned place like this would want her as part of their team. Half an hour ago she'd been thinking how tough it would be to contemplate having to look for another job and now one had all but landed in her lap. ‘I'm still not sure what my plans are, but I'd love to talk to you more about what a job here might look like for me.'

‘Bjarkey can fill you in,' Emil said with a smile. ‘She knows what we are looking for and can answer any questions you have about what the role would involve.'

‘Thank you,' Iris said again, realising that the meeting was over. She stood up and held out her hand to Emil. ‘Great to meet you.'

‘And you,' he said. ‘I look forward to seeing more of you in the future.'

Iris was floating when she walked out of Emil's office. Bjarkey followed her. ‘You see? You are valuable to our world, Iris. You don't need to work for that man if you don't want to. We would not be the only organisation wanting to work with you. The world is your oyster.'

Bjarkey dropped Iris at her hotel and said goodbye, urging her to think seriously about the offer. ‘Think about what you want. Where do you see yourself? Even if it is not in Iceland, you know now that there are other options.'

Iris watched her drive away, thinking that for the first time in her career, she could be the master of her own destiny. She'd allowed herself to believe that she had nowhere to go, but that was because Jay had kept her chained to the lab. She'd never had the opportunity to work with other organisations until recently. It was only the modifications that she'd made to the seismometer that had got her noticed by other people who mattered, and they'd seen the potential in her and had gone over his head when he'd suggested she hand over to someone else for the field work. That's when she should have realised. When she should have shouted louder, stood up for herself and been confident in the value of what she'd discovered.

And whatever she did, whether it was stay in Iceland and go for a job at the IMO, or go back home able to confront Jay with a renewed sense of her own value, finally, she felt like the future was hers for the taking.