Faster than she’d meant to, she pulled forward until she dropped onto the pack, glad for the cushioning, though the fall sent a wave of nausea through her. She barely held in a shriek when something cold and wet touched her cheek.
It was the dog. Just the dog. “Geez, you scared me.”
For a precious second or two, she let herself sink to the cold, damp earth, leaned against the animal’s soft fur, and breathed, willing her head to clear. Up was down in this darkness. Down was up. Were her eyes even open?
The sounds behind her were muffled by distance and, she figured, tons of rock. Were they battering through the door? Had they made it in? She scrabbled for something to guide her, connected with rough stone, and pushed slowly to standing.
“Grab your pack and go! Far as you can get!” he ordered, his voice low and terse, closer now. She’d made it maybe a dozen stumbling steps when a red light infused the cave. She turned in time to see what looked like a handful of flares disappear before something slammed shut, leaving them in the dark. Then, judging from the quick, frantic sound of fabric scuffing against the ground, she guessed that he was army-crawling through that tight tunnel—fast.
Carefully, hand to the stone wall, rough even with gloves on, she felt her way forward. Something crashed so hard it resonated through her feet. The front door? Were they in?
Time’s up.
Light suddenly blinded her. She raised her hand to shield her eyes. After a few dull seconds, she realized that the man was moving toward her, wearing a forehead lamp.
“Run.” He hefted his bag. “Now.”
She moved, pushing her body as fast as it would go, and focused on the narrow illumination he provided. After they’d advanced maybe ten, twenty, or infinity feet, something, he grabbed her hand. Though she didn’t like it, she didn’t pull away. He knew where they were going, clearly, while she was running half-blind into… What was this place?
The space felt huge, though she couldn’t see enough to tell how big. Was there an echo to their steps? The dog’s glowing body was the only thing to focus on in this black hole.
Suddenly, her view narrowed and the man’s hand loosened. “Duck,” he said before nudging her slightly ahead of him. “Once you’re out, crawl up the rocks, then through the opening at the top. Follow Bo. Keep moving.” He shoved a flashlight at her. “Don’t wait for me. Just go.”
Gritting her teeth, she ignored the inner voice screamingDon’t leave me here alone!and scrabbled up a pile of boulders to a tiny, dark opening, barely big enough to fit through. Every movement hurt her body, but she used it, focused beyond the pain, and stuffed herself into the hole, wondering what fresh trick this incredibly well-prepared stranger had up his sleeve.
***
He listened to the far-off thump of metal to wood, satisfied that they’d finally breached the cabin. They’d be fighting the flames right about now.Good.He crossed the cave, focused on the headlamp’s glow, and climbed.If they made it down here, then he didn’t deserve to survive their attack anyway.
As ifmerithad anything to do with life or death. He knew for a fact that it didn’t.
No more death, he’d promised himself. Of course, that was a lot easier to uphold when you didn’t have a team hunting you down. He didn’t want them to die, dammit, even if they’d picked the wrong side. Most of them were probably contractors, here doing a job. Just like he’d been when this whole thing started.
And what about the woman, Leo? Just another contractor, doing her job? Something inside him panged at the idea of her dying, even though he truly didn’t know her at all. He wanted her to be on the right side. On his side.
At the top, he peered through the hole to see her at the end of the low passage with one hand gripping the flashlight, the other sunk into the fur on Bo’s back.
“Good girl,” he whispered, and Bo’s tail thumped once in response.
After crawling through, he turned and worked to roll a few large stones across the opening. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but if those assholes somehow managed to survive and then find their way through his first couple of blockades, this would hide their tracks for a while at least. “Gonna be harder from here on out,” he said. “Single file for now.” He emerged, pointing at the next section they’d have to maneuver.
Muttering something under her breath, she turned and followed Bo over more massive stones.
The woman had grit. Which was fortunate, because at some point, things were sure to go from dangerous to worse.
If only he knew who the hell she was.
***
The explosion made Leo drop the flashlight, hunker hard into the rock she was perched on, and cover her head.
For a few eternal heartbeats, she stayed suspended, every nerve in her body expectantly awaiting the searing burn of carbonization or the bone-breaking collapse of stone.
It didn’t come.
Aside from the dull blast and the brief shuddering of the boulder beneath her, a sprinkling of dust was the only indication that the ceiling could possibly collapse. After a few more seconds, she caught her breath, pushed herself to sitting, and turned to catch a grimace on the man’s shadowed face.
“You actually blew the place up.”
