Alex touched her headlamp. By some miracle, the light flickered then came on. She began exploring their chamber. The main tunnel had collapsed behind them creating a wall of rock and dirt. She went to the wall to check to see if she could hear anything or see any light.
Nothing.
They were not going to get out through the main entrance. Turning in place, she assessed the area they landed in. The mine had used this area for mine trash. Seventy-year-old wooden dynamite boxes, broken ore cars, rebar, and general mine trash littered the space. There were also the piles of newer trash. The boy’s captors had stored their trash here. The FBI would be so very happy.
About a hundred yards from where Colin and Raz lay was another wall of rock, dirt and debris. There was a hole, no bigger than mail slot near the top of the wall. This was where Bestat entered the tunnel. Through the hole, she could hear men yelling. Lights flashed as if vehicle headlights were passing over the hole.
“At least, we’re not completely cut off,” Colin said. “I’d lose it if we were.”
“You’re not alone this time.”
Alex hugged her younger brother. Hearing a Black Hawk fly over the opening, their head jerked to look for the helicopter. Shrugging to Alex, Colin turned away to put a piece of wood on the fire.
“Nice fire,” he said. “Matches?”
“Sure,” she said.
“The fire will keep us toasty in this small space. I found Daniel Joiner over there by that pillar.”
Alex turned to look.
“There’s not much to look at. He had a road ID on his shoe with his name on it.”
“We should cover him,” Alex said.
“I put my jacket over him,” Colin said.
Alex smiled at her kind, thoughtful brother.
“God, Alex, your arm!”
He took her arm to look more closely.
“You’ll need surgery,” he said. “Are you in pain?”
“I’m all right,” she said.
“Your hand is swelling again. How’s your hip? Abdomen?”
Alex swatted him away from her like he was a fly. He raised an eyebrow.
“We don’t have the medical pack. Do we have anything to use for a sling?”
“A sling?”
Alex followed Colin back to where Raz lay.
“Do we have meds?”
“Yep.”
They went through all of their possessions for something to use for a sling. Finally, Alex agreed to let him modify her sports bra. She stripped off her long sleeved T-shirt, tank top, and dragon body armor.
“It’s not like you need the support,” he said. “You should see Julie. Ever since she got pregnant, they’re huge. Now that she’s so close to having the baby?”
She threw the bra at his face at his gesture of how large his pregnant wife’s breasts were now. While Alex dressed, he made a loop out of her sports bra. He hooked her left wrist through one end of the loop and the other around her neck.
“How’s that?”
“Better.” Alex smiled.
Looking around their little cavern, Colin shivered.
“Anxious?”
Colin nodded.
“Would you like a Xanax?”
Alex gave him a pill then reached for her water bottle.
Fuck.
She’d left her water bottle on the floor of the mining office. They drank the last of Raz’s water before they reached the mine. She’d signed that she would ass-ist Raz with her water.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
“Do you have water?”
“Lime Vodka.” Colin shrugged.
“COLIN!”
“Hey, I’m a civilian on spring break. I know it’s pretty stupid.” He shrugged. Imitating his father’s voice, Colin said, “Preparation beats rescue.”
Alex smiled.
“I don’t have a fucking clue what it means to be a civilian,” Colin said.
He washed the Xanax down with a swig of lime vodka then coughed. Alex laughed at his disgusted face.
Raz groaned. His left arm waved in the air as he tried to find a way to get up.
“ALEX! ALEX!” Raz screamed.
“I’m right here.”
Alex and Colin dropped to either side of Raz. Alex took his left hand. While Colin checked his vitals, Alex cleared the sand and dirt from his mouth.
“I can’t move my legs,” Raz said. “Since the first bomb. Where are we?”
“We’re stuck in the side tunnel, Josh,” Alex said.
“Josh?” Colin asked.
“My name is Joshua Peretz,” Raz grunted.
“Craig. Joshua Craig Peretz,” Alex said. “We found an opening and they know we’re here. We’ll probably be out by morning.”
“Douglas, that’s my middle name. Generals. We all have a General’s first name as our middle name.” Colin continued checking Raz for fractures or injury. “Ironically, none of us took our confirmation saints as our middle name. You’d think we were smorgasbord Catholics.”
“We are smorgasbord Catholics, Colin,” Alex laughed.
“Speak for yourself. I’m a proud member of the C and E Catholic club.”
“C and E?” Raz laughed then yelped with pain. “Fuck Colin.”
“Christmas and Easter,” Colin said. “Now Alex and Max, they share a middle name but it’s spelled…”
“Differently, yes,” Raz laughed. “STOP DOING THAT.”
“What?”
“Making me laugh. It hurts like hell.”
“Identity is important, Mr. Joshua Craig Peretz. Especially to third graders,” Colin said. “This conversation is a show stopper in my classroom.”
Giving Colin the space to work, Alex began collecting fist sized stones from around the cavern. She set the stones along the edge of the fire.
“We need to get you a little more situated. Your back is straight but your legs are a little twisted from when we dragged you,” Colin said. “Alex, can you grab a leg?”
Together, Colin and Alex straightened out Raz’s legs. Raz grunted with every movement.
“How’s your pain?” Colin asked.
“Yes, pain.”
“Well my Daddy always said...” Colin started.
“Safety, first aid, warmth, and water in that order,” Colin and Alex said together.
“What does that mean?” Raz asked.
“We have work to do,” Colin said.
F
CHAPTER TWENTY-Six
“Are you hanging in there?” Alex asked Raz.
“Yes.” Raz gasped.
Colin and Alex wandered the area looking for supplies. Alex continued to pick up rocks while keeping an eye out for boards. Alex whistled to Colin when she saw a set of ten inch wide planks tucked behind a support beam. Setting her rocks in the fire, she went to help Colin with the planks.
“This must have been some kind of ramp to the exit. I bet the hole was a trap door of some kind.” Colin pointed to shatter pieces of what might have been a trap door. Testing the boards, he nodded. “These are perfect.”
Alex took one end of the plank and Colin took the other. One at a time, they carried the planks to where Raz lay. As they had as children, Colin and Alex fell into the natural rhythm of setting up camp.
Alex fed the fire and looked for palm sized stones while Colin put Raz’s back boards together. Using his long sleeved T-shirt, Colin cut the fabric bottom into long strips. Colin laid the boards out together.
“Any wire?” Colin asked.
“I didn’t find any,” Alex said. “Ready?”
“I need your shirt.”
Stripping to her tank top, Alex threw her long sleeved T-shirt to him. He cut additional strips of cloth then began tying them together. In quick, efficient steps, Colin braded the strips together until he had four tight ropes made out of T-shirt material. He made a tight knot at the end to hold the ends together. With Alex’s help, he slipped his ropes under the planks.
“Ok Josh,” Alex said. “We�
�re ready to roll you over. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Raz grunted.
“One... Two... Three...”
With Alex on one side and Colin on the other, they turned him onto his side. Closing her ears against his cries of pain, they rolled him onto the planks.
“Still with us?” she asked.
“Barely,” he gasped.
One at a time, Colin moved Raz’s legs to the boards then checked for fractures. Raz’s powerful muscles were flaccid and soft but the bones seemed to be intact. Colin nodded and Alex tied his legs to the boards. Colin moved to check Raz’s arms and situate his back. He pointed to Raz’s broken arm. Alex nodded.
While Colin continued to check Raz, Alex centered Raz’s head onto the boards. She moved his left arm onto his chest.
“I’m going to give you something for pain,” Alex said. “We don’t have water. Someone brought vodka.”
“That’s exactly perfect,” Raz said.
She placed two Vicadin in his mouth then gave him a swig of vodka.
“I feel an addiction forming,” Raz said.
“Your right arm is broken, Josh,” Colin said. “We’ll need to brace it to get you out of here effectively. Alex, can you find a...”
Alex smashed a wooden dynamite box. She sorted the pieces into kindling for their fire and to use to brace Raz’s arm. When she brought the wood to Colin, he held up another set of shorter T-shirt ropes.
“You ready?”
“I think so,” Raz said.
Raz passed out from pain. One break at a time, Colin straightened the bones and used the dynamite box as a splint. To keep his arm stable, Colin tucked it next to his side. Alex helped Colin tie his T-shirt ropes around Raz’s body and the injured right arm. Colin used one final strip of T-shirt over his forehead and tied his head to the board.
Colin stood back to evaluate their work.
When Raz’s eyes opened they looked like black pieces of coal in the semi-dark. They searched Alex’s face then ran down her body. He glanced at Colin.
“Are you in pain?” Alex asked.
“Yes, pain… yes,” he whispered. “I’m cold.”
Alex nodded to Colin. Together, they went to the fire where Alex’s rocks had been warming. Using what was left of their T-shirts as gloves, they carried the hot stones to Raz. They set the stones between his legs, along both sides of his torso then one in each hand. He squirmed at first then relaxed into the heat.
“Col, can you find us some water?” Alex asked.
“Water?” Colin’s face registered relief.
“You don’t mind?”
“Better than dealing with…”
His blue eyes traversed the dark tunnel. He shook his head as if to keep the nightmares of another dark tight space, another time from creeping in.
“Go ahead,” Alex said.
Colin smiled his thanks then set to work to find something that would work as a divining rod. She sat down near Raz’s head. She held his left hand between her hands.
“What’s he doing?”
“He’s going to divine water,” Alex said. “Dad had a guy teach me, Max and Colin how to do it when we were kids. He’s really good at it.”
“I thought that was a Fey story… a fairy tale.”
“What was?”
“The Fey ran out of water during his Special Forces field training. Rather than allow his team to go even a day without water, he divined water forming the ‘Fairy Well.’ Colin showed me the well on the map.”
“The ‘he’ part is the only lie in the story. You should rest.”
“I’m too frightened. Alex, what am I going to do? I have no family. I have nothing and now I can’t move… I can’t walk… I can’t work… I’m completely disabled.”
“Shh… You have me. You have Max and John too. We’ll care for you… always. There’s no question that it sucks to be immobile. You’ll get better. You’ll see.”
Even in the semi-dark, her eyes glittered with sincerity.
“I’m going to turn this off to save the rest of the battery.” Alex turned her headlamp off.
“You can use mine.”
“Your headlamp broke in the first blast. It will take a second but my eyes will adjust.”
Alex watched Colin dig through a pile of mine junk for his divining rod. There was a 50/50 chance they would find accessible water in this tunnel. At least, Colin was busy looking for it. She felt a tug on her hand. Looking down at Raz, she noticed that he was staring at her.
“I…”
“What can I do?” she asked.
“Will you kiss me?”
Alex leaned over him and kissed his lips.
“Thank you for saving me,” he whispered. His left hand stroked her face. “I forget how soft your lips are.”
They kissed again. Alex smiled at him.
“Hey you two! Knock it off,” Colin yelled from a junk pile near the wall. “I don’t care what you say. Friends shouldn’t kiss each other on the lips. Or sleep in the same bed. Any third grader knows that!”
Alex laughed.
“Found it!” Colin exclaimed.
Turning, Alex watched Colin pull a piece of rebar from a pile of junk. Raz tugged on her hand.
“How will anyone ever find us? Joseph removed all of our GPS locators. The Boy Scout destroyed the one in your hip. Alex, we are lost and stuck in this hole and I’m...”
“Shh… there is a hole to the outside. They are moving equipment here to dig us out. We’ll be out in a matter of hours. We have to wait.” To distract him from his anxiety, Alex asked, “Tell me about your back. You’ve dealt with so many huge things, why is this such a big deal?”
“You know I played football.”
“Recruited as a running back to play for the Giants.”
“To start for the New York Giants. I was drafted in the second round. Big contract, signing bonus. My future was set,” Raz said. “One false move, my second game in the NFL, and a helmet hit me in the back. I don’t think he did it on purpose. The player was devastated. My vertebrae broke. I lost everything. I had… no one. Momma was dead. The Giants pulled out of the contract. I didn’t even get the signing bonus. I had no money. No family. My high school coach let me stay in his spare bedroom until I was walking. I was supposed to have surgery but I… couldn’t.”
“Why? Why has surgery been so impossible for you?”
“I…” he snorted a laugh. “I didn’t want to be paralyzed. I’m terrified of this… this very thing. Trapped and unable to get out; I have nightmares about being paralyzed and alone.”
“You’re not alone anymore,” Alex said.
“Well hello sweetheart,” Colin yelled. “Bring the empty bottle, Alex.”
Alex hopped up to help. Wandering around an ore cart, she saw that Colin had found a small spring streaming along the wall of the tunnel.
“It was under this junk,” Colin said. “No divining necessary.”
Alex hugged him.
“Take one more swig,” she said.
Colin took a long drink from his vodka then gave her the bottle. While Colin filled Raz’s water bottle, she pour the rest of his vodka onto the ground. He filled his bottle then took a drink.
“Have another Xanax?” he asked.
“You’ve had a lot of alcohol.” Looking up at her six foot five inch brother, she whispered, “I don’t want to lose you.”
He smiled.
“I’m sleepy enough now,” he said. “Do you mind taking care of everything while I nap?”
“Easy,” she said.
Colin lifted her off the ground in a hug.
“You’re the best second sister twin a guy could want,” he said.
“You’re the best bigger little brother a girl could want,” she repeated her usual response.
He kissed her cheek. They walked back to Raz.
“We have water!” Colin said.
Raz gave a weak cheer. While Colin made himself comfortable next to Raz, Alex helped
Raz take a drink of water. She watched Colin sigh then fall asleep.
“How does he do that?” Raz asked.
“Childhood training, military training,” she said. “You have to learn to sleep on demand because you never know when you won’t be able to sleep. Would you like some water?”
“I need to urinate,” he said.
“I can help,” she said.
She opened the buttons of his jeans then led his left hand to the gap in his white boxer shorts. She turned her back to give him some privacy.
“Ok,” he said.
Alex helped him button his pants. She held the bottle for Raz to take a drink of water.
“I think I’ve been underground more in the last week than I have in ... Well, ever,” Raz said. “Why have we been underground so much?”
“I’ve wondered if it’s supposed to trigger me to the room or maybe to the vault.”
“Before we left Ben said the weirdest thing,” he said.
“And?”
“Right.” Raz laughed. “Much of what he says is strange or obtuse.”
“It’s how he thinks. He says a part of some puzzle he’s working on. I usually ignore him until he has a cogent thought. What did he say?”
“He told me Antigone was buried alive underground. I think he meant you.”
“I’ll do my best not to kill myself,” Alex said.
“We are buried alive.”
“She was buried alive as punishment for burying her brother against the wishes of the king. I haven’t buried anyone.”
“Alexander.”
“An empty grave doesn’t really count,” Alex said.
“I’m stretching back to high school English here, but I thought she was buried because she followed her own moral code. Her defiance of the King is an act of civil disobedience. And she was never sorry she did it. She felt her moral code was more valid than the King’s law.”
“Okay,” Alex said.
“You’re like that,” he said.
Annoyed, Alex rubbed her head creating a dirt smudge across her forehead.
“Who’s the King?”
“Good question,” Raz said.
“Since we’re talking about good questions,” Alex said. “Who called you to tell you the Fey Special Forces Team was killed? Ben never said.”
“Someone who is no longer living,” Raz said.
“That’s what he’s told everyone. I tried to search your phone records but they were deleted when all of the Fey Special Forces Team files were deleted. Why is this a secret?”
Learning to Stand Page 22