A Message for Julia

by Angel Smits

  She couldn’t leave him. Ever.

  She loved him.

  Now he just had to live long enough for her to tell him so. She couldn’t stop the sob that tore through her. Please.

  It seemed like hours before the families gathered again in the tent, though Julia’s watch told her it had been less than thirty minutes. She had to shove her way inside.

  Patrick Kelly and the mine CEO, Martin Halston, stood at the makeshift podium. She hadn’t seen Halston since that meeting at the gym. He looked like hell. Good. He needed to be as stressed as they were. He’d always been a fire-breathing dragon. Now all she saw was a withered puff of smoke.

  The crowd’s noise was unbearable. She looked around for her parents and Jace. She saw them across the tent. She met her father’s gaze but knew she couldn’t get to them. Her mother stood on tiptoe to smile encouragingly at her. Her dad gave the thumbs-up sign.

  The microphone squealed just then, slicing through the cacophony like a sword.

  “Please.” Halston held up his hands. “Please,” he repeated. “We have lots to tell you.”

  The crowd obliged, hanging on his every word. Needing to hear.

  “Now that we’ve made contact with the men—”

  Cheers filled the air and Halston struggled to regain control. Patrick finally put his fingers between his lips and let loose a whistle that hurt Julia’s ears.

  “As you know, the first drill, the air passage, broke through just a while ago. The big drill’s been fixed and the second shaft is over halfway there. We believe they are all alive. But we’ve got at least one with injuries and another with chest pains.”

  The crowd sobered, and Julia struggled to hold back tears. She wasn’t even sure whether they were happy or sad. Was Linc one of the injured? He’d looked fine in that brief instant on the computer screen. She turned and found Tricia beside her. They clasped hands. Missy appeared on her other side, holding on just as tight.

  Shirley’s face was pale. She looked stricken.

  “Gabe’s had heart problems,” she said. Shirley’s daughter had yet to arrive. Trouble getting a flight and the weather had kept her away. Now Shirley was the one here alone. Julia and Tricia stepped apart and each slipped an arm around the older woman. She refused to give Shirley the lying platitude that Gabe would be okay, but she would give her all her support.

  “We’ve spoken with the crew that’s used this equipment before,” Halston explained. “Once we finish breaking through with the large bit, the men will be brought to the surface slowly, one at a time. We’ll bring those who are injured or at risk up first. The men below know the plan and will make that determination. Once the injured are out, we’ll bring the rest up, heaviest to lightest.”

  “Ryan will be last.” Rita buried her face in her husband’s shoulder. “He’s the smallest.”

  Where did Linc fit into the list? Julia didn’t want him up first, that would mean he was hurt. But she couldn’t bear the wait if he was near the end.

  “I hate that rule,” Jack complained. “That means my boys come up last.” His anguish was too strong. He sounded ready to shatter.

  “It’s a small capsule.” Patrick stepped forward. “Anyone large may need help getting in and closing the hatch,” he explained.

  Jack nodded, though the agony on his face didn’t fade.

  Raymond, Julia’s father, asked the question everyone was thinking. “How long will it take to get them up?”

  “Ten to twenty minutes each. We can’t hurry. It’s like a diver surfacing from the ocean. We don’t want any complications from the pressure, like the bends. There are still risks.”

  Patrick didn’t elaborate and no one asked. There wasn’t room for any more worry. It would be an eternity. Seven men, twenty minutes each.

  Hours more waiting.

  Saturday Evening, Fifty-Three Hours Underground

  FINALLY, THE BIG DRILL crashed through.

  Linc breathed in the oxygen that was coming down, tried to concentrate on what needed to be done.

  “They’ll send down a metal cage,” he explained. The men all stood around the hole, peering up at what seemed like a very small opening, but a way out, nonetheless.

  “Will we fit?” Zach didn’t sound at all sure.

  “It’ll be tight, but yeah.” Once, in a training exercise, Linc had stepped into one of the capsules. At six feet, he was tall, but thin. He’d felt like a sardine. Some of these guys were broader than him. It would be worse for them.

  Moments later, the cage came down. And not empty. Food, water bottles and batteries sat in a pack on the bottom.

  “What’s that?” Ryan pointed at the pile of leather coiled on the floor of the capsule.

  Robert leaned forward first, then Linc. “Safety harness,” Linc explained. “To belt anyone in who can’t stand by themselves.” Every one of them glanced over at Casey.

  Linc dreaded the task ahead. While Robert replaced the batteries in their headlamps, the rest of them headed to the injured man.

  They couldn’t tell how much Casey understood. The man had been in and out of consciousness for the past twenty-four hours.

  Zach, who knew him best, was worried for his friend. “We have to move you, buddy,” he explained. “We’re gonna be real careful, but it’ll hurt. Sorry.” Zach’s voice broke with his regret. He gave his friend some fresh water and now that the lights were brighter they could all see his injuries, his cracked lips and pale skin.

  “’Kay,” was the weak response. They all gathered close.

  Robert and Zach hefted Casey to his feet, one man under each arm. A thin cry of pain escaped, then Casey’s head lolled forward. The men hurried to the capsule as quickly as they dared.

  Ryan stood behind the cage to steady it while Mike and Linc wove the harnesses through the metal bars. One for under Casey’s arms. One for his waist and a final one around his thighs to keep his legs from moving.

  Even unconscious, Casey seemed to know he needed to keep his weight off his injured leg.

  Zach finished closing the buckles, then latched the door. It was incredibly tight. Casey’s shoulders were hunched and his head down. There wasn’t room for any movement, which was a good thing considering his injuries.

  “See you up top, buddy.” Zach pounded on the cage to signal they were ready, and within a few seconds, the capsule lifted into the air, disappearing up the black hole in the roof.

  “Holy cow.” Ryan stared up, then they all did. His light beam reached several feet above them but there was only darkness beyond.

  Linc shivered. He’d give anything if there was another way out. But there wasn’t. He knew it. Swallowing, he put that out of his mind. Already his gut churned with the idea of the claustrophobic space.

  “We’ve got some time to wait. Here.” Robert handed them each a bottle of water and a plastic-wrapped sandwich from the pack that had come down. Rather than go back into the shelter, they sat where they could find dry ground.

  The sandwich tasted good, but sat heavily in Linc’s stomach. However, the fresh water eased the discomfort in his belly. Linc knew the bad air, lack of food and anxiety combined to make him nauseous. “Too bad they didn’t send down some Jack Daniel’s,” he said.

  “Yeah, that would have been good,” Ryan agreed.

  “Oh, come on.” Mike nudged him, and Ryan slipped off the rock where they’d perched. “You’ve never had whiskey.”

  “Have too.”

  “Really? When? Mom’s gonna love hearing about that.”

  “You shut up.”

  “Now, boys…” Gabe said and his fondness for them came through. Along with a tightness in his voice.

  “You hurtin’, old man?” Robert asked.

  “Yeah. Some. I’m all right.” He was obviously lying.

  Linc leaned his head back against the cold wall. Gabe needed to get up top quickly, but everyone else looked fairly healthy. Ryan and Mike were still teasing each other. Zach was relaxed now and even Robert h
ad a faint smile on his face.

  Linc tried, and failed, to ignore the black hole over their heads. How was he ever going to get into that cage?

  “Don’t think about it. Just do it.” Robert’s voice broke into the panic that threatened to paralyze him. Linc turned and looked at the man who had proven strongest in this ordeal.

  “That what makes you able to do this job every day?”

  “Partly. But I like my work. Gets in your blood.”

  Linc chuckled. “I must have the wrong blood.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Saturday Evening, 7:00 p.m.

  JULIA STOOD STARING at the television someone had finally brought in. The reports had been too negative and inaccurate before. But Patrick had to do something, and taking the family members to the rescue site was out of the question. The compromise had been the TV with a live feed from the local affiliate. The mayor wanted his town to benefit from the national media frenzy, so only local reporters were allowed close enough to get the exclusive stories.

  The politics drove Julia nuts. She didn’t care how or why, she just needed to see what was happening. The result was that the families remained out of the way.

  But the men were coming up. That’s all that mattered.

  She watched as the cameras panned the valley. More clouds had rolled in. Huge floodlights had been set up and it looked like the high-school football field at homecoming. She smiled. Homecoming. That’s what it would be when Linc appeared.

  She chose to ignore her worries about how they’d bridge the gap that had been between them before the cave-in.

  The huge drilling rig sat at the center, its tower shooting high into the sky. Dozens of men gathered around it. While the rescue crews were no longer needed to help search, not a man had left. Familiar faces, covered in mud, stared at the drill shaft as if they could make it go faster.

  The local news anchor looked out of place in his clean white shirt and dress pants. At least he wasn’t wearing a tie and someone had found him a pair of rubber boots. In his deep, booming voice, he announced that the first man coming up was Casey McGuire.

  Linc wasn’t the man who was hurt. Julia nearly sank to the floor with relief.

  “There’s no one here for him.” Tricia’s voice cracked around the words.

  Jace, who stood beside Julia, looked over at her. “What do you mean no one?” he asked.

  “No family,” Tricia explained. “His parents are gone and he broke up with his last girlfriend months ago.” She twisted her hands together. “He practically lives at our house on his days off. He’s part of us.”

  Julia watched Tricia’s indecision, then saw her dad, Walt Robinson, step up.

  Before he could speak, Jace did. “I’ll go with him. You stay here with Tricia.” He shook Walt’s hand and there was no missing the relief and respect in the older man’s eyes.

  “You sure?” Walt asked.

  “Oh, yeah.” Jace turned to Julia. “I’ll meet you and Linc at the hospital.” He shocked her with a brief hug before turning back to look over at Raymond and Eleanor. They stepped forward, into his vacant spot, figuratively and physically.

  Julia watched her brother-in-law, once a stranger—and now perhaps a friend? She could only hope at this point. Maybe with family here, Linc would understand…

  She refused to complete the thought. So much in their marriage had to change and part of it was her thinking, her wishing.

  Jace left the tent and headed to the parking lot where his bike still sat. Despite the noise of all the machinery, she heard the roar of the big engine and listened until it faded down the road to the hospital.

  “Oh, I hope Casey’s not too badly hurt.” Tricia didn’t bother to hide her tears and her father pulled her close, letting her cry on his shoulder yet again.

  The television announcer was speaking again. “The next man will be Gabe Wise, the chief of this ill-fated crew.”

  “Oh, I just knew it was his heart,” Shirley cried, grabbing her purse and jacket.

  “Don’t borrow trouble.” Mamie’s hand shook as she patted her friend’s shoulder while they hugged.

  “He’s alive,” Julia reminded her and tried to force a smile as they embraced. “He’s almost home.”

  “Thank you,” Shirley said to Julia and held on tight for a minute before dashing out the doorway.

  Julia turned back to the television. The waiting ate holes in her stomach.

  Saturday Evening, Fifty-Three Hours Underground

  CASEY WAS UP AND GABE WAS on his way to the surface, packed tightly into the capsule. None of them knew how long it would take to reach the surface. Linc guessed about fifteen minutes, a thought that made his gut spasm, but no one knew for sure. Linc would be last, so he’d be down here another hour and a half. Minimum.

  Sounded short. Felt eternal.

  The extra batteries that had come down with the cage helped chase away the shadows. The panic and claustrophobia Linc had fought so hard were relegated to the deep recesses of the mine. But they still lurked there, ready to pounce.

  Just another hour and a half. Just ninety minutes. He made himself take a couple of easy breaths. They were getting out. He’d be going home. Soon.

  The rising water only made the air colder, and Linc could feel the damp seeping up from the ground. He shivered as the chill soaked clear through him.

  The men scooted together, hoping for some type of body warmth. He could feel the others shivering, as well.

  “This sucks,” Ryan said through chattering teeth.

  “So tell me about it,” Mike automatically replied.

  “I just did.”

  Old habits die hard, especially brotherly one-upmanship. Linc tried to smile even though his lips felt frozen. Laughter was beyond him. It took too much energy. He let his eyes close, no longer able to fight the drowsiness.

  He knew he was dreaming.

  Home. He was home. First back in his mother’s kitchen before his dad had died. The smell of oregano in his mother’s spaghetti sauce mingled with the remnants of her perfume. She always spritzed just a bit on before Dad came through the door each night.

  Then he was back in college. The night he and Julia had first made love. The tang of the pine grove they had hidden in engulfed him, then faded as her sweet scent filled him. Her shampoo smelled of flowers as he buried his face in her hair, taking part of her deep inside his soul.

  She faded away, and he struggled to hold on to her. And then she was there…

  In the kitchen…. The dish soap making bubbles in the air. She was yelling… Angry…

  “Hey.” Mike nudged him. “Drink some of that water. You’re fading. You okay?”

  “Yeah.” Linc sat up and scrubbed his hand down his face, trying to wipe away the fear that had almost swamped him. He couldn’t seem to shake the images from his mind, as if he wasn’t quite convinced they were getting out of here.

  His subconscious clung to the memory of home. But he knew it was a defense mechanism. He was pretending there was a home waiting for him.

  What if there wasn’t?

  He’d spent more than two days clinging to the hope that Julia would be waiting for him up there. But was she?

  His mother’s kitchen had become an empty shell of a place where he’d found her crying in the middle of the night after his dad’s death.

  The kitchen where he and Julia had once made love had eventually turned into a battleground.

  Would he be going back to the house, to that kitchen, alone?

  His stomach roiled, and his claustrophobia seemed nothing compared to this.

  He’d left home on Thursday morning convinced he and Julia were on their way to divorce.

  What if they were already there and he couldn’t do anything but face the fallout when he got to the surface?

  Would it have been easier for them both if the cave-in had just ended it all in the first place?

  Linc shot to his feet. No. He wasn’t a quitter. She was worth fighti
ng for. They were worth fighting for.

  “Where you going?” Ryan asked and fell into step beside him.

  “Crazy—wanna come along?” Linc repeated an old saying of his dad’s.

  Ryan laughed, and they walked a little farther into the shadows where all his fears lurked. He wasn’t hiding anymore.

  They reached the water’s edge. It was up at least another three feet. The second barrier had given way and the water lapped at their boots. There was no stopping it now. Being rescued was their only escape.

  “We’re getting out of here, kid, and you’re never coming back down, you hear me?” Linc acknowledged to himself that Julia had been right. This kid had no business down here. He might not be able to put it in his report, but he could do this for her.

  Ryan simply nodded as they both stared at the rising water.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Saturday Evening, 9:00 p.m.

  THERE WERE ONLY THREE families left. Julia and her parents, the Sinclairs and Mamie, who waited patiently as Robert came up next. The old woman looked pale, tired and nearly done in. Hank had joined them and was waiting for the go-ahead to whisk her off to the hospital in his squad car. Julia half expected the woman to be admitted along with the men. She was strong in spirit, but three days of unrelenting stress had taken its toll on her physically.

  Rita was no longer crocheting. It was too close now. Her needles and yarn were packed away, ready to grab as soon as Ryan appeared. Rachel had gone with Mike while both Sinclair parents had remained here for Ryan. Ryan would be the last one up and neither Jack nor Rita would leave each other to face the long wait alone.

  Julia sat. Then stood. Then sat again. Her mother paced nervously and her father sat stoic, silent, watching her. Moments later, Julia heard the roar of the crowd in the valley and the echo of the sound through the TV. They all watched Robert’s ascent.

  “There’s my boy.” Mamie’s voice broke and she smiled through her tears.