CONDOLENCE ON THE EVEREST

Dr. Isla Vance is the best thing that ever happened to Halcyon Genetics. A brilliant xenobiologist with ice in her veins and fire in her fists, she has spent six years building a career, a reputation, and a life with the only man who could match her storm for storm.

Dr. Kael Navarro.

He was the agency's golden boy. A high-altitude scientist who laughed at death and loved Isla with the same ferocity he brought to every summit. Together, they were unstoppable. Until they weren't.

Fourteen months ago, Kael led a small team into the Nepalese Himalayas. The objective: investigate anomalous thermal signatures deep in the Khumbu region. The cover story: a routine glacial study. The truth: something had been found. Something buried in the ice for centuries. Something that should not exist.

Kael took two American scientists, three Sherpas, and a Pelican case full of equipment he refused to let anyone else touch.

He never came back.

An avalanche swallowed the Western Cwm. Kael pushed his team to safety and disappeared into the white. No body. No report. No evidence.

The Pelican case - containing every scrap of proof, every photograph, every impossible data point - vanished with him.

The agency closed the search. Declared Kael lost. Filed the insurance claim. Patted themselves on the back for limiting liability.

His mother signed the death certificate through a fog of sedatives.

The world moved on.

Isla did not.....

Authors Note:

This is not a romance. Though love runs through every page like a frozen river.

This is not a horror. Though the mountain has teeth.

This is not an adventure. Though they will risk everything to reach the truth.

This is a story about condolence.

This story is a work of fiction. The Himalayan setting is real. The grief is real. The Yeti? That's between you and the ice.

Dedication: For everyone who has ever climbed their own Everest just to say goodbye.