Gage wanted to ask Abby if she was injured, but just the vibration of her voice might be enough to bring the whole rubble pile down on top of her.
“That stubby tree on the right looks solid,” Gage said.
“That’ll work.” Edge and Mateo went to work securing the floor, checking to find the best place to tie the rope, while Gage worked out the safest way to get a line to Abby.
“I am small,” Carlos said, looking up at Gage with dark worried eyes. “I could go in through the hole and help her.”
Gage rested a hand on the little boy’s head, his dark hair now clean and shiny. “That’s very brave of you, Carlos. Let’s try it this way first.”
But it didn’t take long to see that the boy was right. The loop Gage made and tossed toward the hole only managed to send more debris raining down on her. He studied the situation from several different angles, but there was no way he could get any closer without the rest of the floor caving in.
Edge and Mateo managed to tie the rope around a big enough chunk of floor to keep it stable, but nothing they did was going to be completely foolproof.
“Hang on, baby,” Gage said. “We’ve got to get the floor secured before we can pull you out.”
“I’m okay,” she called back to him. “I can see another room down here.”
He didn’t answer. All he could think of was the floor collapsing, heavy beams crushing her, iron nails sinking into her soft pale flesh.
“Please stay still,” he said and hoped she couldn’t hear the tremor in his voice.
“We’ve got it tied as tight as we can get it,” Edge called out.
Gage took the loop of rope and tossed it toward the hole, but the debris around the edge continued to prevent it from dropping through.
“I can do it,” Carlos said.
Gage turned to him. The kid couldn’t weigh more than forty pounds. Gage moved to get a better look at the opening. If Carlos inched out on his belly on the far side of the hole, he could get close enough to hand the rope to Abby.
It was dangerous. But the entire situation was dangerous. He looked at Edge, who stood a few feet away.
“We’ll cut off a piece of line and tie it around him,” Edge said. “Haul him up if something goes wrong.”
Gage didn’t want to do it. He thought of Cassandra, could still hear her piercing screams as she plunged to her death. He didn’t want to put Carlos at risk as well as Abby.
He felt his brother’s hand on his shoulder. “Make the call, bro. You know it’s the right one.”
Gage glanced back at the hole. With a deep, calming breath, he nodded.
Carlos stood still as Mateo tied a length of rope around his skinny waist and pulled the knot snug.
“You ready for this?” Gage asked.
“I can do it,” the kid repeated, thumping his narrow chest.
“All right, we’ll give it a try.” Gage returned his gaze to the opening. “Carlos is bringing you the rope. Just stay still!”
They walked around to the other side of the hole. Carlos got down on his hands and knees, dropped to his belly, and crawled very slowly out toward the opening. The floor was more stable here, but it dipped and swayed beneath his weight. A couple of false starts, a couple of direction changes, and Carlos reached the opening.
“It will not work!” the boy called out. “I need to take it down to her.”
Gage softly cursed, his body vibrating with tension.
Edge was already feeding out the line, giving the boy enough slack to drop through the opening.
“We’ll haul him out as soon as you have the loop tightened around you!” Gage shouted to Abby.
“Okay!” Abby called back, trusting him as she always did.
