“Hold it right there. I want to see where he’s got the explosives.”
“Is it that stuff? Looks likemodeling clay.”
The large blocks of claylike substance sat on and around the caskets. Shit, there was a lot. The detonators sat on top, shoved into the material. A slight glow showed the timer.
“I can’t see the time on it. Can you?” His vision was getting used to the darker room and Heather was becoming clearer.
Shaking her head, she said, “No. It’s facingthe back wall.”
“Shine the light near me again. On the walland the floor.”
The light bounced around and every now and then he’d ask her to hold it someplace so he could check something out. It never ended up being anything useful. Not that he could reach anything near him anyway.
“Stop, right there. To the right of my foot.What is that?”
Heather held the beam still and Scott squinted to make out a small piece of metal a few feet away. Could he do the acrobatics like she’d done? Doubtful, but he still might beable to get it.
“Keep holding it there. That’s something metal, and I might be able to use it to get these cuffs off.”
Sliding his feet away from the wall, he took little steps until he had them on both sides of the object. Pushing his feet closer together he clasped it and attempted to lift it, like Heather had done with the flashlight. It was thin and it took several tries before he could get it stuck between his boots. Grabbing hold of the bolt above his head, he raised his legs. Clink. It fell backto the ground.
“Damn.” He tried again and again and his frustration level grew. Heather had remained quiet this whole time, holding the beam steady on the floor and the object he wastrying to lift.
After what seemed like the four hundredth time, he let out a growl. “The treads of these boots are too thick. Fuck.” Sweat trickled down his back andover his face.
Holding tight to the metal above him, he lifted and lowered his legs, needing to get some movement somehow so he didn’t explode. There was a reason he liked to swing a hammer throughout the day.
The light switched off. Shit, had it died?
“I’ll save the batteries for when we need them again. Are you all right?” Her concern flooded warmth back into him. But it brought back his determination to get them out of here.
His sigh echoed in the small chamber. “I promised to get you out of here. I’m not doing avery good job.”
“Why don’t you rest for a few minutes? You’ve been at this for a while.”
Glancing at his watch, he saw it was almost noon. “Are you kidding me? How did that much timepass already?”
“You were busy.”
“Busy accomplishing nothing.” God, what a hero he was, getting them in this jam and not being prepared with a backup plan. Hadn’t he learned anything in the military? He hadn’t even mentioned where he was going to Jack. Stupid.
“Hey, princess, did you happen to tell anyone where you were going or what you were doing?”
“No,” she wailed. “I told my secretary I was taking some time and Charlotte…well, she was more interested in how I was going to win you back. She thinks you’re freakin’ hot. Her words.”
Chuckling, he said, “Whatdo you think?”
“I think it’s hot in here. How much air do you think we have left? Oh, my God, I never even thought of that. We could die from asphyxiation instead of blowing up. Hmm, that might be preferable. I hear it feels like you’re sleepy. Asphyxiation, not getting blown up.”
“Enough. We aren’t going to die. I won’t let us. How are you feeling?”
“I’m hungry.” Her stomach took that moment to rumble. “See, right on cue. I only had a cup of coffeethis morning.”
He could use something to eat also but obviously that wasn’t going to happen. He needed to pick up that damned metal strip on the floor. Could he get it with his toes? But that meant he’d have to take his boots off. No way he could kick them off. Not with how he usuallytied them. But…
Grabbing hold of the bolt again, he reverse-crunched then frogged his legs so one boot came to his mouth. Grabbing the knot of the lace with his teeth, he tugged. His legs dropped but he’d felt it shift. Why the hell did he have to double knot them?
“Tell me what colors you want to paint each of the rooms in your new house.”
