“It’s Delta! She’s in there!”
Josh studied the camp for a split second before nodding slowly. “What’re we waiting for? Let’s go get her.” As Josh turned, Sal grabbed his arm. “Josh, if she was in there when those rocks gave way, she’s not alive. Not this time. Not even Delta Stevens could have survived that.”
“No!” Connie screamed, pulling away from Josh. “I will never believe it. Not until I see her bloody corpse will I ever believe she’s dead. I’m going after her!”
“Whoa,” Sal cried, grabbing Connie’s arm with her free hand. “Reaction, my friend, is not your bag. You’re the thinker. The planner. Right now, we need to think and plan. Connie, right now, we need to keep our heads together. Capische?”
Connie’s jaw ground back and forth, and she swallowed hard before nodding slowly. Breathing in slow, measured breaths, Connie tried to get control. “Okay, then. You want me to plan, to think? I say we kill all those fuckers once and for all and get Delta the hell out of there!”
Josh stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight, his face sullen. He’d left Sal’s father behind, at the cost of his inner peace. He would not do the same with Delta “If she’s alive in there Sal, she ain’t got much time. She could be outta air in an hour or a week.”
Carducci nodded and said softly, “If she’s alive.”
For a silent moment, no one moved as the soldiers began making their way out of the foxholes.
The first one to speak was Sal. “Con, this is going to sound bizarre, especially coming from me, but, with all that mumbo jumbo about warrior spirits and soulmates and shit, can’t you somehow tell if Delta is still alive?”
Slowly turning from Carducci, Connie looked hard at Sal. For a long minute, she just stared at her, as if she hadn’t heard a word Sal had said but was still trying to puzzle it out.
“What?”
“I mean, you either buy into this spirit thing or you don’t, right?”
When Connie finally spoke, her voice was barely audible. “You’re right, Sal, that’s bizarre even for you.”
Sal bowed her head. “I know. But we’re on the edge of desperation here.”
Connie nodded. “You’re right, though. You either buy into it or you don’t, and I do. My heart tells me she is alive. My head tells me there are thousands of tons of rocks blocking that entrance. There’s no way we’re going to be able to dig her out of there. Even if we had a backhoe, there’s too much that would have to be moved. It would take days, weeks, even.”
“Which means what?” Josh growled.
“It means it’s time for us to double-time it to the boat and get help.”
“Help? But you just said—”
“I said a backhoe might not help. Dynamite is one solution. A better topo map of this region is another.”
“A topo map? How the fuck is a topo map going to help Delta and Taylor and Megan?” Josh asked, keeping an eye on the soldiers as they peered cautiously around the camp.
Connie hoisted her rifle to her shoulder and shot two men who had slipped out of their foxholes. “I learned a thing or two from our little jewel thief when she was playing around on Delta’s beat. There’s always more than one way in or out of anywhere. Always. And I don’t give a damn how many governments we piss off. Megan, Taylor, and Delta are in there, and we’re not leaving here without them.”
Megan silently wondered if she should have just left without them. If she had, Delta wouldn’t be covered under a small mountain of rocks. If only she hadn’t made that promise to Siobhan.
As Megan and the hostages furiously clawed at the fallen debris atop Delta, she realized that Delta had just missed being crushed by a boulder the size of a small car.
“Be careful!” Megan ordered. Megan estimated three; maybe four feet of rocks covered Delta, who had run just far enough in to escape the larger, more powerful explosions that had dislodged the supporting walls. Still, it took them a further twenty minutes beneath the flickering flame of their lone torch.
When Delta was finally uncovered, Megan knelt down and cradled her head gently in her arms. Delta’s body was limp and lifeless, and Megan pressed her face closer to see if Delta was breathing. When she felt Delta’s breath against her face, Megan closed her eyes and sent a small prayer to the heavens. Not even hundreds of pounds of rocks could stop her Delta Stevens.
“Delta, wake up,” Megan urged, surveying Delta’s body for signs of broken bones. She did not see everyone frantically pulling and pushing rocks from Taylor.
“Delta, you’ve got to wake up,” Megan commanded, slapping Delta’s face. Oh, how she wanted to gaze once more into those emerald green eyes that could say so much with a single glance.
After several long moments, Delta’s eyelids began to flutter, and she slowly opened them. Wiping dust from Delta’s face, Megan peered closely into Delta’s eyes. With the single torch now barely burning, Megan could just make out Delta’s features. “Honey, it’s Megan. Are you okay?”
Delta blinked twice before slowly nodding her head, which felt as if hundreds of tiny jackhammers were beating different tunes. “I think so.” Looking at her arms and then at her hands, scraped and torn from acting as a shield for her head, Delta turned her hand over and stared at her open palm. Something was missing.
“I thought I’d lost you,” Megan cried, wrapping her arms around Delta and pulling her closer. “Thank God you’re okay.”
Delta buried her face in Megan’s chest and breathed in Megan’s familiar scent. She could not believe how good a hug could feel. “Miss me, did you?”
Megan pulled back and smiled into Delta’s face. Tears rolling down her dusty cheeks made muddy track marks. “You have no idea.”
Pressing her lips to Delta’s, Megan kissed her hard and deep, a kiss Delta eagerly returned. Megan’s scent may have been familiar, but Delta would have known those lips if she’d kissed a thousand other women in a contest.
The idea of kissing another woman jarred Delta’s memory. “Taylor!” She cried into Megan’s face as she withdrew prematurely from the embrace.
“Easy, hon,” Megan said, putting her arms around Delta. “The others are digging for her now. Have a seat for a min—”
Shaking Megan off, Delta stepped toward the massive pile of rocks the other hostages were busy clearing, ignoring the throbbing of her body and head. She felt like she’d been steamrolled. “I have to get her out.” When Delta bent over to help, her world swam before her, and she fell face first into the rocks.
“Baby, let the others do it. You just sit still for a minute.” Megan slipped her hand into Delta’s and gently pulled her from the group furiously pawing at the rocks covering Taylor.
“We don’t have a minute,” came Delta’s answer. “This whole fucking cave is going to go.” Delta pointed to the roof of the cave, where huge crevasses poured dust like a waterfall.
Megan looked up at the enormous cracks in the ceiling above them. “Will you just rest for a second then?”
Delta nodded. Her head felt like one of the boulders lying at her feet. Turning to Megan, Delta reached out and lightly touched her cheek. “When did you get so bossy?”
Megan grinned and stepped into Delta’s arms. “When have you let me be?”
Delta kissed Megan softly at first, paying no heed to the stares of the hostages. As she crushed Megan to her, Delta’s kiss became penetrating, consuming, as if it might be the last kiss they ever shared. “I’ll let you now. How’s that for starters?”
Taking Delta’s hand in hers, Megan kissed the back of it. “I suppose it will have to do. You scared the shit out of me, you know. Plunging into the water like that.”
Delta nodded, casting an anxious glance to where Taylor was. “You knew I was alive, didn’t you?”
Megan nodded. “Not as much as Connie did. She’s a wreck.”
“Well, she’s not gonna be the only wreck if we don’t find a way out of here before this whole thing falls on our heads.” Delta use
d Megan’s arm to steady herself as she returned to Taylor.
As everyone continued digging, a section of the cave ceiling fell into the underground river where the prisoners had panned for gold. Picking Taylor’s flashlight off the ground, Delta made a mental note to tell the department just how well their mag lights held up under pressure. Shining the light up at the ceiling of the cavern, Delta saw the streams of dirt and sand running the length of it from foot-long cracks.
“Damn,” she muttered, shaking her head.
“What?”
“See those cracks? See the dust falling in one steady stream?”
Megan looked up and nodded.
“There isn’t much time. That ceiling is going to come tumbling done any moment now.”
Megan turned to Delta with a puzzled look. “And you know that because…”
Delta grinned. “Because…” Delta considered her answer. “Because me and the land are one. It is what the Bri believe, and I’m one of them.”
In the light from the flashlight, Megan reached up and wiped a stream of blood from Delta’s forehead. She had waited so long to have Delta back, and there was so much she wanted to say, but nothing would come out of her mouth except the fear that was building inside her. “Indeed, my love, you are. You’re not going to let us die in here, are you?”
Taking Megan’s hand and kissing it, Delta shook her head. “Not if I can help it.”
Megan watched a drop of blood fall off Delta’s chin. “You know, women all over the world dream of having a superhero like you for a partner. Will you stay mine always?”
Delta kissed Megan’s mouth tenderly. “Eternitas.” Delta pulled slowly away and surveyed the situation. “But there’s not much time.”
“At least we’re together,” Megan whispered.
Delta turned and kissed Megan’s cheek. “We will always be together. Don’t you lose faith in me now, kiddo.”
“Here’s her hand!” one of the diggers cried.
Delta and Megan climbed over the rubble to help clear the rest of the rocks.
“Get a pulse,” Delta ordered, praying to the gods who had saved her countless times to save Taylor now. She was not ready to let Taylor slip away into nothingness.
“Got vun!” came a voice with a distinctive German accent. “Faint, though, but then, I’m no doctor.”
Delta knelt by Taylor’s side and checked her vitals. “Taylor, can you hear me?”
Before Taylor could respond, another section of the ceiling plummeted into the water, splashing all of them.
“Del?” Megan quietly reached for Delta’s hand, but Delta wasn’t listening. Instead, she watched a piece of straw bob with the current. As the straw floated toward the fall of the cavern, it spun around three times before disappearing beneath the surface.
“That’s it,” Delta cried, clapping her hands together.
“What?”
“There may be a way out.”
“No, honey, there isn’t. Not unless we can dig.”
Delta shook her head. “Not that way. This is an underground water source. It goes somewhere.”
As the third section of the ceiling fell dangerously close to them, Megan looked up at the cave roof, then back at the water before turning to Delta once more. “You have got to be kidding.”
“It’s our only hope, Meg. This whole cave is going to collapse. We stay here much longer, we’ll all be crushed.”
“We don’t know that it goes anywhere.”
“And we don’t have time to find out.” Turning to the diggers, Delta asked, “Are any of you above-average swimmers?”
Dropping a football-sized rock, Siobhan raised her hand. “I used to swim in college.”
“Would you be willing to swim under that water and lead these women out of here?”
“Delta,” Megan said softly. “You have no idea what you’re asking.”
Delta squeezed Megan’s hand. “Megan, that water is our only way out. It goes somewhere. Anywhere is better than here.”
“But the next air pocket could be hundreds of yards away. We could drown before we reach the other end.”
“Drown, suffocate, or be crushed, honey. Those are our options. But if we stay here, we are all dead.”
“Hey! We got most of her free!”
Delta went back and shone the light on the tiny, frail body of Taylor. She was completely uncovered from debris except her left leg, which was pinned by a boulder the size of a refrigerator.
Suddenly, the cavern rocked, and more dust began to fall.
“There’s no time.” Delta took Siobhan by the shoulders. “Listen, you lead them out of here. You swim close to the surface looking for places where you can come up for air. I’m not saying those will even be there, but the possibility is far better than the chances of living through a cave-in.”
Siobhan nodded. “I understand.”
“Surface as soon as you can and help the others.” Taking her belt off, Delta hooked it around Siobhan’s waist and handed it to the next woman. “All of you do the same! You must stay together.”
As a succession of small rocks plinked into the water, the hostages finally realized the hopelessness of staying in the cave.
“The rest of you, follow her!”
“You’re crazy,” one of them said. “I’m not going under water not knowing if I’m ever coming out.”
Delta knelt down to check Taylor’s pulse. “I’m not going to argue with you,” she said over her shoulder. “Stay here and die. That’s your prerogative.” Feeling Taylor’s breath on her hand, Delta rose, just as a huge boulder crashed in front of Siobhan, kicking up a lungful of dust and causing a ripple-effect on the rocks from the original cave-in. “Get going!”
Siobhan stepped into the water and motioned to the others to gather around. “I for one am willing to put by life in their hands. It’s better than dying here. Anyone who wishes to save their own life comes with me.” Siobhan turned to Megan and hugged her. “Thank you, my friend.” With that, Siobhan disappeared into the same depths the straw had vanished into.
One by one, the others followed suit, stopping to inhale deeply, before going under. When the last person was submerged, Megan turned to Delta, just as the entire left side of the cavern gave way, splashing a wall of water across them.
“You’re not coming, are you?” It was a flat statement, devoid of emotion. Megan knew Delta. She knew what Delta would and wouldn’t do under most circumstances. And what Delta would never do was leave a friend to die alone, especially one who had risked her life to save her.
Delta looked away from Megan and shook her head as larger rocks began falling. “No, baby, I’m not.”
“Then, neither am I.”
Rising, Delta brushed Megan’s hair from her face. “You have to. Someone has to get those people to safety. You’re the only one who can. Without you, they’ll all wind up shot in the back, or worse. They need you.”
“And you?”
Delta looked hard into Megan’s eyes. There was so much to say; so much she wanted Megan to know. The Delta standing before her was not the same woman Megan had fallen in love with a lifetime ago, yet here they were again, in the familiar and painful place of doing what was right over doing what was best. And again, Delta’s life, her woman, her love of Megan took a back seat. But she was Delta Stevens, after all, and anyone who understood her knew she wasn’t about to leave Taylor to die alone.
“She saved my life, Megan. I can’t aban—”
Putting her fingers over Delta’s mouth, Megan smiled softly. She could only hope that, someday, Delta would have the chance to see just how much Megan had grown and changed, just how much Megan now understood why Delta did the things she did. She could only pray that the lessons learned were not too late to be put into practice, and that she and Delta would live to love another day. “I wouldn’t expect less of you, Delta Stevens.”
There was so much more to say, so much more for them to share, but time was not their ally, an
d Delta could feel the rumbling of the cave in the soles of her feet. It was time to let go. “I love you, Megan. I will love you always.” Delta pulled Megan to her and kissed her with a passion borne out of intense love, fear, and desire. She wanted to die in that kiss. If their time together was to be extinguished, let it be snuffed out in an embrace even the Gods of Olympus would have envied. Delta didn’t want to let Megan go, but she didn’t want her to stay, either.
The decision was an easy one.
Pulling away, Delta lightly brushed her fingers across Megan’s lips one more time. “Go, before it’s too late.”
Megan kissed Delta softly on the lips before stepping into the water. “Del?”
“Yes, love?”
“Know one thing for me.”
“What’s that?”
“You are now, and shall always be, the one true love of my life.”
The ceiling was really falling now.
“I know, sweetheart. I’ve always known.”
Nodding, Megan inhaled deeply and dropped beneath the surface, leaving Delta and a partially covered Taylor alone to face the burial the others may have just escaped.
Looking around, Delta realized that only the six-cell flashlight could be used for leverage. Placing it in a crack in the boulder, Delta moved around to Taylor’s other side. As she did, Taylor’s eyes began to flutter.
“Taylor?”
Taylor groaned and coughed. “Fuckin’ A, it hurts.”
Delta knelt beside her. “I know. There’s a boulder on your left leg I’m gonna have to roll off you.”
Taylor slowly, gingerly sat up and looked around her, and then at her pinned leg now drenched in her own blood. “I think my head is going to burst open.”
Delta didn’t answer as she tried to move the rock. It wouldn’t budge.
Taylor watched her for a moment before shaking her head. “You can’t seriously think you’re going to get that off me, do you?”
“I’m going to see if I can use the flashlight as a lever. When the boulder moves, slide your leg out. Can you do that?”
Taylor nodded. “I can try. There’s a machete in my bag, if you think that might help.”
Delta reached over to retrieve the machete. “Cutting your leg off isn’t an option, but this might come in handy later.”
Storm Surge (Delta Stevens Crime Logs Book 6) Page 16