by Kate Pearce
Rachel took a moment to check that there were no smoldering ashes or other combustibles lying around and escorted Sean to the door. She kept hold of his arm as he stumbled along the tunnel giggling whenever he almost fell.
Cauy was waiting at the exit, so she handed Sean over to him without comment and went back to make sure Carlson was coming. His voice echoed in the cavernous interior.
“Wow, it really is snowing.”
Rachel waited for him to catch up with her and walked him toward the exit. Cauy glanced briefly her way.
“I just saw lights coming down the hill so either Roy’s back or one of your brothers has brought his truck up here to help. I left my spare flashlight outside to guide them toward this entrance.”
“Great, then we can offload these two idiots.”
“Hey!” Sean said. “I heard that.”
Cauy stepped outside, one arm holding a swaying Sean in place. Rachel nodded to Carlson to come through the opening. As Carlson stepped forward, he lost his footing and crashed heavily against the doorjamb, giggling and snorting as he attempted to right himself. Rachel staggered as he crashed into her, almost sending her to the ground. She used her strength to shove him outside.
Even as he half fell to his knees, the mine gave an ominous creak, and the wooden lintel above the entrance snapped in half.
“Rachel!” Cauy shouted, and dived toward her, taking her completely down to the floor like a sacked quarterback.
Even though his body covered hers, the roar of the wall coming down was deafening, and they were both covered in a layer of rocks and dust.
Coughing and choking, Rachel tried to push Cauy off her, and finally succeeded in rolling him onto his back. It was only then that she realized he wasn’t conscious, and that there was a pool of blood gathering on the floor beneath his head.
Rachel took off her backpack, found her spare flashlight, and set it on the ground. Her fingers were shaking so hard it was difficult to check Cauy’s pulse and release the tabs on the small medical kit she always carried with her. His hat had disappeared somewhere under the pile of debris, his cell phone was smashed, and he’d obviously been hit in the back of the head with something sharp.
Rachel rolled him into the recovery position on his side and examined the back of his head. She couldn’t see a puncture wound, but pressed a medicated pad to where his hair was most bloodied and hoped for the best. Within a minute his eyes opened, and he groaned.
“What happened?”
Rachel decided to keep it simple. “You hit your head. I’m just cleaning the cut before I stick a Band-Aid on it.”
He blinked at her, and his eyes finally focused. “We’re in the mine.”
“Yes, well, as to that . . .” She smiled brightly. “I’m sure it’s all going to be fine.”
He eased away from her and sat up, swaying so hard she braced herself to catch him again. He slowly turned his head to where the exit had been.
“Shit.”
“Yes. Exactly.” Rachel nodded. “Carlson tripped and fell into the doorjamb, and brought the lintel down.”
Cauy continued to stare at the pile of rubble while Rachel finished cleaning up the blood on the back of his head. She sprayed some antiseptic onto his skull, and he didn’t even flinch.
“I have to get out of here.”
Rachel went still, then put her medical kit away before crawling around to face Cauy. He looked perfectly composed, but there was a tightness around his mouth that worried her.
She tried to sound soothing. “I’m sure that as soon as Billy and Roy see the guys standing out there, they’ll work out what’s happened and get some help up here.”
Cauy shook his head. On closer inspection his whole body was shaking. He grabbed his phone and stared at the shattered screen. “Storm’s gotten worse again. They probably won’t come. We’re trapped.”
Rachel found her cell, which had been protected, in her backpack. “Cauy, it’s okay. We can do this.”
“Rachel.” He grabbed hold of her hand. “I goddamn can’t. Don’t you understand?”
She gripped his fingers hard. “The rest of this space looks structurally secure so we’re safe enough.”
“Safe?”
“Yes, all we have to worry about is making the exit wall secure when they dig us out from the other side.”
“What if the whole damn ridge has come down?” Cauy asked.
“It didn’t sound like it did to me.” She held his gaze. “Let’s see if my cell phone’s working, and we can get hold of Billy or Chase.”
As soon as she turned on her phone, the text icon lit up and her phone buzzed with messages from Billy and Ry, whom she assumed had seen what had happened. She picked one at random and replied, but the message wasn’t delivered. She tried again.
We’re both okay. Exit is blocked. How bad is it on your side?
She waited hopefully for Billy’s reply, her hand still locked in Cauy’s.
There was still no answer so she had to assume they were on their own until someone dug them out. At least someone out there knew where they were.
Rachel glanced dubiously at Cauy. The vibe he was giving off was not good, but there was nothing she could do about that right now. She turned slightly so he couldn’t read her screen. Could she pretend?
“Billy says the storm has picked up, and they’ll have to wait until tomorrow to try and get through to us.” She took a deep breath. There was no point in sugarcoating the issue. “It’s a good thing we’ve got each other, right?”
Cauy visibly shook himself. “Yeah, or else I would be curled up in a ball screaming my lungs out right about now.”
“You don’t like small spaces?” Rachel opened her backpack and took out two thin heat-retaining blankets they used at the end of marathons. If she kept calm maybe she could help Cauy through this. She was totally convinced that when Billy realized what had happened he’d get them out.
“Not since I got buried.” Cauy shuddered. “When the oil well exploded I ended up under a huge pile of burning debris. Between the choking fumes, the fire, and the shards of metal flying around I was lucky to be alive.”
“So this is much better then.” Rachel continued to search her backpack.
Cauy raised an eyebrow. “Like how?”
“No fire, no flames, just a piddly little rock fall that knocked you out.”
“Piddly?” He held her gaze. “Is this your way of making me feel better?”
“Is it working?”
He considered her. “Well, I’m not curled up screaming, so yeah, I suppose it is.”
“Good.” She handed him her small flashlight. “Do you want to come and explore with me?”
He recoiled as though she’d thumped him. “Are you nuts?”
She shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to come down here. I suspect that after this fiasco, Chase is going to fill this mine to the brim with cement regardless and pretend it never existed.” Cauy was still staring at her as if she might explode at any moment. “If you don’t want to come, you can sit here and keep an eye on my cell phone.”
She waited a second, but he didn’t move. She wasn’t surprised. At least he didn’t look so shell-shocked, and he hadn’t fallen to pieces when she’d told him the bad news about their delayed rescue.
“There might even be another way out,” she tempted him.
“Not working, Rachel, but nice try.”
His faint attempt at a smile made her want to high-five him. He was so much stronger than he realized.
“Okay, I won’t be long. I’m not even sure this section connects back into the main mine workings. It could’ve been an exploratory tunnel.”
“Don’t go too far.”
“I won’t.” Rachel stood and adjusted her hard hat, glad that she’d had it on when the rocks came down. “I’ll see if those idiots Carlson and Sean left anything behind that we can use. I guess this wasn’t the first time they came in here.”
She pointed at the silve
r blanket. “These are great for retaining heat. If you get cold, you can either sit on it, or wrap it around your shoulders.”
“I’m not cold.”
“Yeah, it’s actually quite warm in here so that’s one good thing.” She smiled at him. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
* * *
Cauy watched Rachel saunter down the mine corridor like she was sashaying down Main Street and wanted to shout at her, to tell her not to be so damned stupid, to sit down, and—
And what? Rock and cry along with him? He breathed out and forced himself to take stock of his situation just like his therapist had taught him. Yeah, sure he was currently trapped inside an old abandoned silver mine, but as Rachel had so kindly pointed out, he wasn’t buried alive, burning, or suffocating.
Things could be a lot worse.
Or the mine could just collapse right on top of them, and they’d never recover the bodies.... He felt the weight of it above him like a pressure in his head.
Cauy groaned and rubbed his hands over his dust-encrusted face. He’d stopped the rocks from hitting Rachel and kept her safe. That was a good thing. If the mine did come down he’d know very little about it. His breathing eased a little, and his heart rate was no longer at running-away-from-zombies level.
Taking the silvery blanket, he spread it out on the floor and sat on it, noticing the instant difference to his already frozen ass. The Morgans would get them out of here. All he had to do was spend the night in the mine....
Worrying about that ceiling coming down.
Cauy frowned at himself. Talk about negative thinking. He was the poster boy for that. Did he want Rachel to think he was a complete wuss?
“Too late, bud,” Cauy murmured to himself. “I think she already knows.”
* * *
Rachel reached the spot where she’d found Sean and Carlson and shined her flashlight around until she located the lamp they’d obviously been using. There were also two sleeping bags, one of Ruth’s patchwork quilts, and two couch pillows that should’ve been left in their cabin. If she could persuade Cauy to take a few more steps into the mine they could probably bed down here for the night in relative comfort.
But would he come this far? If he wouldn’t, she could simply take everything and make them a bed closer to the exit. In the corner of the alcove there was a metal file cabinet that looked completely out of place in the mine. Rachel approached it and tried the rusting drawers, but they were locked. She couldn’t believe Sean and Carlson had lugged the thing up from the ranch, and wondered who had. There were cigarette butts and bottle caps beside the rickety chair, but they looked older.
Rachel left the space and went farther down the passageway. The silence and warmth settled around her. How long was it since anyone had mined down here? The tunnel narrowed, and she decided to turn back. There was no point risking her safety when she’d already been lucky enough to survive one unexpected cave-in.
She walked slowly back to where Cauy was sitting with his back to the wall like a nervous gangster. He’d found his flask of coffee and set it out on the ground in front of him. She sank down beside him.
“I’m so glad you brought this. I left my flask in Chase’s truck. I only have water in my backpack.”
“Help yourself.”
Rachel took a couple of big glugs and savored the searing heat of the coffee as it went down her throat. “That’s good. Are you having some?”
He took the flask from her and had a quick drink. “I’ll save some for the morning.”
“Good idea.” She kept her voice light and encouraging. At least he was anticipating them having a morning, which had to be good, right? “Sean and Carlson left some sleeping bags and stuff back there that we can use. Would you like to come and check them out?”
“I can’t.” He stared down at his booted feet. “I know it sounds stupid, but I need to be the closest I can get to the outside world.”
“Not a problem. I can bring their stuff in here.” Rachel went to get the quilt and sleeping bags. She also brought the high-powered lantern and set it on the floor near the remains of the exit. It brightened things up considerably. “I think they finished all the weed.”
Cauy’s reluctant laugh warmed her soul as she sat beside him on the blanket and wrapped the other one around both their shoulders.
“There’s something else odd back there.”
“Like what?” Cauy asked with some effort.
“Some kind of filing cabinet, a desk, and a chair. They look like they’ve been there for ages. When Chase arrives in the morning, I’ll make sure he clears them out before the mine is filled.”
Rachel surreptitiously checked her cell, but there were no new messages or replies to her. It looked like they really were on their own.... It wasn’t the first time she’d been down a mine, but she’d never imagined she’d end up sleeping in one. Not that Cauy was going to sleep. She had a sense he was way too uptight even to lie down, but she was going to make him try anyway. Some of her can-do positive attitude would really come in useful right now.
She fake-yawned. “How about we put the quilt underneath us and join the two sleeping bags together so that we can get comfortable?”
“Comfortable?” Cauy looked at her as if she was mad. “Down here?”
She shrugged. “Might as well.” She grabbed the heavy quilt. “Can you help me?”
Cauy spread the quilt while she zipped the two bags together and placed the pillows at the top.
Behind her, the wind prowled the old mine like a living thing, making the structure sway and groan. Every time there was an extra loud crack, Cauy flinched.
“Come on.” Rachel patted the bedding.
She took off her boots, got into the sleeping bag, and scooted across so Cauy could join her. Eventually he did, removing his boots and lying alongside her, his whole body rigid. She rolled onto her side, put her head on his shoulder, and manhandled his arm around her shoulders.
His heart was beating so fast she was surprised he was able to stay still. She smoothed a hand over his open jacket and petted him, hoping he’d relax just a fraction.
“It’s okay,” she murmured.
“No, it damn well is not.”
“Hey!” Rachel poked his chest. “This is the first time I’ve ever gotten to snuggle with you without worrying about anyone interrupting us.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s true! We’re all alone and horizontal with our clothes on.”
He turned his head to look down at her. “If you think I’m capable of getting it on in an abandoned mine your optimism is misplaced.”
Rachel pouted. “Then I suppose we’ll just have to talk to each other. Unless you want to go to sleep?”
He went quiet and then sighed. “I think I’d rather listen to you talk.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Rachel said. “Even I can’t talk all night. You’ll have to contribute. How about we start with you telling me how you ended up injured?”
“You want me to revisit the worst day of my life, while I’m trapped in a freaking silver mine?”
“Yes, Cauy Lymond.” Rachel looked right into his eyes. “I do.”
* * *
Cauy held Rachel’s gaze, astounded at her nerve, and considered his options. He could go and stand by the door and paw pathetically at the rocks. He could retreat farther into the mine and go nuts, or he could stay in the warm sleeping bag with an incredibly nosy woman in his arms. There really was no contest.
“I was called in to investigate a drilling rig that was malfunctioning,” Cauy began speaking, and suddenly he didn’t want to stop. “It was a holiday weekend, and that particular crew were new and untried. I shouldn’t have let them out there by themselves, but as far as I knew there hadn’t been any problems either with that particular rig or that crew.”
Rachel eased closer against his shoulder. He couldn’t see her face, which somehow made it easier to talk.
“By the time I got to the
site, things had gotten long past being a problem and gone into critical meltdown. I didn’t know that. I stepped up to the drilling platform and the whole thing blew up in my face.” He touched the scars on his throat. “Literally. I was blown backward in the air, and that’s the last thing I remember before coming to buried under a pile of burning metal covered in crude oil.”
Rachel shivered and stroked his chest. “That must have been terrifying.”
“Yeah. I thought I was going to burn to death. Luckily, one of the guys saw which way I’d fallen, and I was far enough away from the actual rig for them to dig down and recover me.”
“Thank goodness they found you,” Rachel whispered.
“I didn’t think that way for a long time.” He swallowed hard. “I was a mess. Half my body was burned. I needed skin grafts and all kinds of pain medication just to keep me alive. There were times when it was so hard to keep going that I almost wished I’d died. If it hadn’t have been for my mom and family I don’t think I would’ve made it.”
“What about your wife?”
“She . . . didn’t do well with sickness and hospitals. They weren’t really her thing.”
Rachel’s indignant snort almost made him smile. “Her thing? If that was my husband stuck in a hospital it would become my thing.”
“She liked life to be happy and stress-free.”
“Well, she sounds like an idiot,” Rachel said.
“That’s harsh. Some people can’t deal with the darker side of life. When I came out of the hospital I was no angel.” He hesitated. “I was angry a lot of the time, I had endless appointments and medical stuff to take care of, and she just couldn’t handle it.”
“I still don’t like her,” Rachel sniffed.
“You would’ve. She’s a very happy person to be around.”
“As long as she’s happy, you mean?”
“Not everyone is cut out to look after someone who has changed so dramatically. I wasn’t the man she married. That’s on me.”
“Marriage is about all those things. For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,” Rachel argued. “You couldn’t help what happened to you.”
