It’s a brick of C4 plastique explosive, neatly taped into a dark corner with a timed detonator already counting down.
“All tunnel teams, listen closely. We’re looking for C4, check high and low, remote corners. They could be fitted with a timed detonator. Check for trip wires that might set the C4 off,” Cormac is speaking softly, urgently into his headset.
“This one is set for ninety minutes,” I show him, “we don’t have much time.”
“Pull in more teams,” he tells the others, “we have seven more tunnels to cover and less than an hour to do it. Disable the C4 and bring it to the security building. Bolt the tunnel doors as you clear them. Weld them shut if necessary.”
I hold my bag out and he gently pulls the detonator from the brick of putty. “That’s it?” I asked, “No tricky cutting of wires?”
“You almost sound disappointed,” he raises a brow.
“No,” I say fervently. “I’m happy. We don’t need anything even more complicated.”
Another team is there to weld the door shut as we move on to the next tunnel. I’m keeping a light on the floor for tripwires while he’s scanning the walls and ceilings. “Time is running out, can you feel it?” I whisper, “There’s a clock ticking down somewhere. It’s tonight, isn’t it?”
Cormac cupped the back of my head, “Listen to me. I will give my life to keep you safe. But we must get these tunnels cleared. They can drop the entire campus if this C4 goes off.”
“Okay. Okay… how many tunnels are left?”
He listens on the comm, “Two more after we clear this one. We’ll take one, Jake and Van will take the other.”
My skin is ready to crawl off my body. We can’t run, we have to check every inch of this tunnel and the dark is stretching before us, the exit feeling further and further away.
“There it is!” I aim my light at the C4 taped to the ceiling, and his long arm pulls it down. “Pull the detonator,” I mumble like I’m reciting a recipe for sugar cookies, “Separate the C4…”
Cormac is gazing at me, his headlamp illuminating his attempt to quell a smile. “You think this is funny, mister?” I hiss defensively.
He kisses me quickly and it is the best fifteen seconds of my day. “One more, love. Hurry now.”
Following after him and trying not to trip, all I can think about is what he called me. He calls me little fox, bad girl, lass… Is love just another nickname, or does it mean more?
It can’t. My nausea is back. It can’t mean anything because I can never belong to him.
One more tunnel… just one more…
The sun is setting when we descend into the last tunnel, that constant sense ofhurry hurry hurrypushing at me like a fist in the small of my back. This is one of the main tunnels that ends at the Dean’s building, into the basement there.
“Anything?” Cormac’s voice is tight and controlled.
“Checking for tripwires,” I reply, “two more turns, and we’re-”
A massive explosion shakes the ground above us, rocks dropping from the ceiling, showing rusted iron mesh that cracks just as quickly under tons of rocks and dirt.
I’m thrown forward on my face, scrambling to stand again, squinting through the clouds of dirt. My nose is bleeding andI absently wipe at it as I call out. “Cormac! Where are you?Cormac!”
The dust clears enough to show the tunnel collapsed into this section, blocking it completely, and I can only pray he’s safe on the other side.
“Feckin’ hell, Mala. Why did it have to be you?”
Squinting, I see Liam in front of me with two men I don’t know. And they’re all pointing guns at me.
“Liam…” I feel tears making tracks in the dirt on my face. “Liam, not you. You’re taking back your family, you don’t need these assholes-”
“There’s not gonna be anything to take back without them!” he shouts, veins bulging in his neck. He chuckles mirthlessly and holds up the brick of plastique. “The last C4, unless that feckin’ MacTavish found ‘em already.”
“We did Liam, we found them all. Please. You can stop now, you don’t have to do this!”
He’s backing away, wiring up the C4 with the detonator and the two men are grinning, aiming their guns at me.
