Ten yards.
The man turned around, paused then waved his hands wildly.
Papa Rose’s air grew stale. He slid across the ice on the bridge, turned like a gold medal figure skater and dropped near the prostrate form. Within seconds, he was back on his feet with the body over his shoulder.
The upright man stumbled toward the door, urging him faster with universal hand signs.
An ache built at the base of Papa Rose’s skull and spread like a C-clamp to his temples. He held his breath to conserve air.
The man hit the doors and held them open.
Papa Rose caught his boot on the step and pitched forward. He twisted and hit the cement with his free shoulder. The unconscious man rolled over his head and sprawled across the floor. Someone tugged on his legs.
The door clicked shut. Water sluiced over his body, pressed him into the ground. Just a little longer and he could breathe again. The water clicked off. Foam fingers groped for his seals.
The man was already leaning over his friend and removing his hood.
Papa Rose sucked in fresh air then worked up the energy to make it to his hands and knees. He blinked. Holy shit! Audra. What was a schoolteacher doing out here?
Wet gloves slapped her cheek, left red prints.
“Shit Eddie. She doesn’t need that.” He pulled her boyfriend off her and slid her to the side. While working off the rest of his suit, he leaned over her. The suit and awkward angle of her chest prevented him from seeing if she still breathed but no air stirred by his ear. Ripping off his gloves, he touched her neck.
“Is she alive?”
A woman. Not Eddie. Papa Rose isolated the thought. First things, first.
“Pulse is thready. How long has she been out of air?” He pinched Audra’s nose and tilted her head back. Maybe her airway was obstructed.
A small Asian girl moved into his peripheral vision. “Five minutes.”
He breathed into her mouth once. Twice. He dipped down for the third time when Audra’s eyes popped open and she gasped for breath. “Welcome back.”
“Oh, Audra I was so worried.” The girl dragged Audra half onto her lap and smoothed her hair.
Rising, he shrugged out of his suit and hung it on a peg. “Wanna tell me what is going on?”
“There was an explosion. The ground moved.” Big brown eyes stared into his. “We tried to get into the mine, but we’re locked out. I didn’t see anyone alive inside.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“No. No. No!” Sunnie thumped the side of the computer. The static crackling on the screen didn’t change. This can’t be happening. It just couldn’t be. She held the earpiece, strained to detect voices. Moans. Anything to indicate the soldiers were still alive.
That Robertson was still alive.
Robertson. Her throat tightened. She didn’t even know his first name. How could that be after all the time they’d spent together? Why couldn’t they have more? They were young, healthy. They should have a lifetime.
Together.
“Robertson? David?” Silence rang inside her head. “Anyone? Please answer me. Please.”
Please. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and tugged hard. The screen remained snowy. The communication piece remained dead. Snap out of it. This isn’t helping Robertson. She inhaled deeply. What would Aunt Mavis do?
Sunnie’s knees buckled and she hit the chair with a clang. God, how was she going to tell her aunt? Biting her lip, she tasted blood. No thinking like that. She didn’t know anything. Not for sure.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she picked up the gun and balanced on unsteady legs. The weapon’s weight strained her wrist. Robertson needed her. She wouldn’t let him down. Cupping the bottom of the grip, she rushed the curtain. Plastic fluttered around her and swept over her hair before dropping free. Dust motes danced around the bare bulbs.
She faced right then twirled a hundred-eighty degrees. No one there but rocks. Lots of rocks. Her shoulders sagged. The rocks hadn’t been there before.
Duh. There’d been a cave-in. She knew that. She kicked a rock. Yeah, but this was real. It hadn’t been real before. Lowering the gun, she picked a path through the rubble. Dust and pebbles morphed into rocks then boulders the deeper she traveled. One, the size of her head, dammed up the gutter. The floor glistened where water bled across it.
The camera should be around the corner.
Sunnie followed the curved passage then stopped short. A wall of blackness slammed into her. Her hand shook when she reached up to turn on her headlamp. A cone of light pierced the darkness. The beam crept over the glistening wet wall on her right. A wire dangled from a swinging bracket.
She glanced down. The camera lens stared back at her like a fish eye from the top of a boulder.
That explained that, but what about the other?
Sunnie adjusted the mic and cleared her throat. “Robertson? David?”
Nothing. Damn. Holding her breath, she turned to the tunnel on her left.
It was gone. Boulders, rocks and pebbles filled the slit in the wall. Dust poured from between the cracks. She stuffed the back of her hand into her mouth, muffling the scream.
Then she heard it—an odd tapping noise.
She felt lightheaded. They were alive.
They were trying to communicate.
Blinking back the tears, she turned away. She had to tell Aunt Mavis.
Chapter Forty
Sally Rogers hung up the phone and tapped her stylus against her bottom lip. “That was the last atom splitter. They’re reporting normal operations.”
Mavis’s hand stilled on her laptop. The hair on her nape stood on end. Something was wrong. Shep whimpered and tried to squeeze under the bed. “Then what blew up?”
“I don’t know, ma’am.”
Neither did she and that was unacceptable. She closed the report on power usage by the computers and related systems. Before she assumed the worst, she needed to look at all the possibilities. “Any report on seismic activity in the area?”
Sally lowered herself to the wheelchair and retrieved her tablet from the air mattress. She squeezed her eyes closed for a minute then focused on the screen. “We don’t have any.”
Mavis glanced at the ceiling. Had the relay tower over their head been knocked out? Was it sabotage? Or natural? “How long until you can get them?”
“I can’t. We never maintained access when the grid crashed.”
Pressure pulsed behind her eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Was there any decision she’d made that wouldn’t come back to bite her on the butt? “So we don’t know if there’s an earthquake or Yosemite’s supervolcano erupted.”
Sally’s fingers danced over the screen. “Thermal imaging indicated the park’s caldera is intact.”
Well, that was a blessing. “Activate the emergency alert system. I want everyone checking for cave-ins. Send security to the points of entry. Make sure they’re still sealed.”
The last thing they needed was a leak.
No, the last thing they needed was the mountain to collapse.
Tucking the computer under her arm, Sally marched to the phone.
Mavis swung her legs of the side of the bed. Shep whined and set his head on her knees. His brown eyes darted to her bedroom’s entrance. She dipped her fingers into his fur. “David picked a bad time to go AWOL.”
David.
Steel banded her chest. Oh Lord, she’d missed the obvious underneath the normal. The gold diggers had blasted into the mountain. And David hadn’t reported in. Her intestines tangled into a giant knot.
David and his men had been caught in the blast.
That’s why Shep was upset. God, the dog was smarter than she was.
“Johnson!” After retrieving her emergency backpack, Mavis eased around the German shepherd and plopped down in the wheelchair. She grabbed the wheels and pushed. Momentum shoved her against the seat back. Holy crap! She was picking up speed. Her palms burned when she c
lamped down on the wheels. Where were the brakes on this thing?
The medic came gun first through the curtain. “Ma’am.”
“Tell Doctor Jay to get his crew down to level twelve, section three.”
Johnson sidestepped before she crashed into him.
The curtain rushed up to meet her. She stopped abruptly and nearly pitched out of the seat.
“Sorry about that, ma’am.”
She glanced over her shoulder. Johnson stood behind her. It was probably best if he drove. Obviously the wheelchair was a little more complicated than she thought.
“Let’s go.” She bounced in the seat. Shep cocked his head. “You too. Let’s go find David.”
The dog trotted to the door.
“Ma’am, perhaps we should send someone to investigate the Sergeant-Major’s last known position before you head out.”
“I am allowed fifteen minutes in this chair every two hours. I’m taking them now.” And the rest of the day’s allotment if necessary. She set her hands on the wheels. “Now, move it, Johnson. Or I’ll do this without you.”
He muttered something under his breath and pushed her forward.
Slowly. Too slowly. He was young and fit; he should be able to go faster than that.
Sally played with the phone cord. “Do you want me to rescind the EMS broadcast?”
“No. That blast shook this mountain. It may have caused damage.” Given all the explosions they’d had in the last two months, they were lucky their home remained hermetically sealed. “I need you to wake that mine engineer in England and the other one in Russia then find Sunnie’s camera and meet us below. If that’s the cave-in’s epicenter, we’re going to need a way to get our people out of there.”
Without jeopardizing everyone’s existence.
“I’m on it.”
Shep stuck his nose in the curtain’s opening, sniffed then eased through. Mavis lagged behind; the chair rocked and vibrated with each foot. “Get the lead out, Johnson. We haven’t got all day.”
“This isn’t as easy as it looks.”
No, it wouldn’t be. The floor was uneven rock from the blasting. And the vibrating couldn’t be good for the fetus or her chances of carrying it to term. “Stop. I’ll walk.”
He pulled the chair to the side. “The baby?”
“Will be fine.” Standing, she patted her stomach. Hopefully. But David needed her now. “We’ll take the elevator down.”
Johnson grimaced but nodded once.
“Shep. Find David.” The dog sniffed the air and loped toward the ramp spiraling down to the lower levels. He stopped at the top and stared at her. “Go.”
With a yip, he disappeared.
She shuffled forward, audited her body’s reaction. A twinge in her knee and… And nothing else. Even her stomach behaved. Maybe she could pick up the pace.
Johnson marched at her side, arms slightly raised as if expecting to catch her.
Good luck with that. She increased to an easy walk. Okay, there was the soreness from her fall. Anything else? Fingers, toes, arms, legs, chest, back. All normal. This would do nicely.
Gears whined and metal rattled.
Excellent. Someone was coming up elevator. They wouldn’t have to wait but could take it down to level twelve.
Chains clinked. The cage had arrived.
“Hold the elevator!” She rounded the corner.
Her niece stumbled into the hallway holding her side and gasping for air.
Mavis stilled. A lead ball settled in her gut. “Sunnie!”
She braced one hand on her knee and glanced up. “Robertson. David.”
Johnson darted ahead. The wheelchair clattered over the uneven ground. The medic managed to lower her into the chair and snag her wrist with one motion.
“Do you know where they were before the explosion?” Mavis held open the gate and stepped to the side.
“Your heart rate will settle once you catch your breath.” Johnson backed the chair into the elevator.
Sunnie nodded. “Uh-huh.”
That answered which question exactly? Mavis yanked on the gate and slammed it home. “Were David and his men near the explosion?”
“I don’t know.” Panting, Sunnie glanced up. “They’d…entered the…tunnel five minutes…before but…I didn’t see…them on the gold…camera.”
Mavis switched the lever to down and the elevator began its descent. That was good news, wasn’t it? “How close were they?”
Sunnie shrugged. “Don’t know. Cameras down.” She wagged her headset. “Don’t work…either.”
Johnson cleared his throat. “They could have been damaged by falling debris.”
Mavis’s nails dug into her palms. The soldiers would have been wearing their helmets. They would have protected their heads and the headsets. She didn’t need false hope. She needed facts. David and his men weren’t dead. She would save them.
“I…I think…they were trying to…get a signal. Tapping.” Sunnie squeezed her eyes closed. Tears sparkled on her lashes. “I heard tapping.”
Mavis leaned against the cage. He’d sent a message letting everyone know they were alive. When she saw that man again, she’d kiss the daylights out of him. “Do you know Morse Code?”
Johnson shook his head. “The Army phased it out before I enlisted.”
Someone somewhere would know. The message would be received and acknowledged, that’s what mattered. She slowed the elevator as they approached the twelfth level. “Sunnie can you take us to their last known location.”
Her niece nodded. “I can take you to where…the last cameras were set up…before the gold vein.”
Mavis stopped the cage once the top of it grew even with the opening. Tongue lolling out his mouth, Shep rose and barked. He trotted down the hall a couple yards, stopped then turned back to look at them.
“We’re coming.”
Johnson wheeled Sunnie out when Mavis opened the door.
“I don’t think you need me.” Sunnie pointed in the direction the dog headed. “He seems to know the way.”
“Yeah.” That dog and David shared a special bond. It would not break today. Mavis hurried after Shep. She could get shovels from the barn. If she remembered correctly, there was a wheelbarrow there too. She’d have to call for volunteers. There shouldn’t be any shortage of that. But where would she put the rubble?
“I can walk.” Sunnie quipped.
“You’ve stressed out your system.” Johnson responded above the squeak of wheels. “You don’t wanna relapse, do you?”
Mavis rounded the corner and stopped. The scent of charred flesh pushed her back a step. Someone was dead or hurt. Her eyes strained but all she saw was dark, dark and dark. Shep whimpered. Nails scratched stone. Rocks clacked together.
She swung her emergency kit around and fumbled with the zippers. Paper crinkled. Smooth plastic skimmed her fingers. She groped it. Crenelated top, flat tapering body. A cream of some kind. Not what she wanted. She delved deeper and found one six-inch tube then another.
Ah, ha! Her glow sticks. She snapped them in half and shook them while pulling them out. Orange and green glowed in the gloom. A pyramid of rocks sealed a crevice in the wall. The rest of the walls were solid rock. Okay she should be able to assemble a team, move the rock, unplug the hole and have David out by lunch.
Shep’s eyes glowed like a beetle’s belly. He sniffed at the wall and pawed the rock. An odd clattering noise swirled around her. She raised her arm, casting light toward the ceiling.
Pockets of air surrounded a boulder the size of a Mini Coop out of the mountain above her head. It shifted, knocking the rock next to it. Oh Lord.
“Shep.” Although a whisper, the word scraped her throat raw.
The dog paused, his paw on a boulder.
“Come.” She pointed to the ground in front of her.
He whined and stuck his nose into a crevice.
“Now.” Louder. The rock knocked a few more times. She held her breath.
Sunnie stomped around the corner. “See, I told you I could walk.”
“Shh!” Mavis set her finger against her lips. “Any loud noise and there might be another cave-in.”
Sunnie paled and stepped back. A rock shot out from under her sole.
Johnson caught her before she hit the ground. “Careful.”
Mavis shooed them back. “We need a little distance between us.”
She and Shep followed them to the hallway near the elevator.
The lift groaned to a stop and Sally Rogers exited. “I got the mining engineer from Wales, but couldn’t raise the guy in Russia.”
She shrugged the satchel off her shoulder and turned on the screen.
A wizened man with a coal-dust painted face and bright-white dentures stared back at her. “Doctor Spanner, how’s my favorite Yank?”
“Mr. Jernigan, I’m afraid we’re in a bit of a pickle. I’ve got people trapped in a cave-in and need a way to get them.”
He shifted his dentures against his lips then sucked them back in his mouth. “Well, I’m a bit of an expert on pickles both mining and the brined kind. Show me the mess and I’ll find you a way to fish your people out.”
“Sally.” Mavis caught the Marine’s arm before she could move. “The cave-in is just ahead, but there’s a large hunk of mountain hanging on by a prayer right above the entrance.”
“I’ll be quick, Ma’am.”
“Don’t forget the Morse code,” Sunnie whispered. “They’re trying to communicate and let us know they’re okay.”
“I know Morse code. I’ll tell you what they’re saying.” Setting her satchel on the ground, Sally left them.
“I would prefer to see the rock face, Miss. Although you can show me your lovely curves later.” Mr. Jernigan cackled.
Sally turned the screen around so the camera faced the dark tunnel.
“Any drifts or raises?”
“I don’t know what that means?”
“Rooms and raised ceilings.”
Redaction: Dark Hope Part III Page 25