“I’m not going to be carried,” Zack said. “I’ll do as I’m told.”
“Then I’m keeping you with Alex because he can punch you if you’re going to do anything stupid. Right,” Wes said. “Problem one: the cave entrance is blocked by about ten foot of snow. It needs clearing.”
“Can I make a suggestion?” Alex said.
“Anytime.” Wes gave him a nod.
“The second entrance is two miles away. I know it’s going to be a rough trek to get up there, but I think we should go in that way as well. We suspect there’s a rock fall inside—we might not be able to get to them this way depending where it is,” Alex said.
“How certain are we there’s been a rock fall? I get what Alex is saying, but…” Scott said.
“The university have been monitoring movement,” Wes said. “I had a message this afternoon. The readings they got suggested that there had been a heavy rock fall, most likely caused by the heavy movement of snow around three pm. I agree with Alex. Let’s go in through the second entrance. There’s been no thaw, so there shouldn’t be any flooding, but depending where they are, you may need to cross through the river.”
“What’s the depth at the moment?” Alex said.
Zack had no idea how he was keeping his head.
“Four feet at most,” Wes said. “But cold. Take full rescue gear.” He turned back to Zack. “Are you sure you can do this?”
Zack wasn’t, but he wasn’t sure he could do nothing either. “I’ll take the second entrance.” He needed the hike.
Wes gave him a curt nod. “Alex, you, Zack, Scott, Mitch and Ludd—second entrance. We’ll carry on getting this snow off so we can get through. Keep in touch.”
And that was it.
There could be no try.
Two hours ago
Silence had often been described as golden, and now Sorrell understood why. It had been twenty minutes since she’d last heard a rock fall. She hoped that meant things above them had stabilised, although she knew that it might not be the case. There would be weight on areas where it had not been before.
She’d managed to move Lena through a narrow gap into the next chamber, one that was definitely closer to the water, so they were further away from where the roof had collapsed. This chamber had contained formations that were almost like mini-caves, meaning there was a thick layer of stone above their heads.
Lena was scared and in pain. Sorrell had noticed a nasty gash on the back of her head from where she had been hit. She was rambling at times, telling stories of her parents and the church, none of which made sense.
Sorrell had slipped into professional mode, knowing she would keep her head if she could be in the role of therapist rather than someone who was in a place she didn’t understand and was scared of.
“I’m cold,” Lena said, shivering.
The cave was cool, but not as cold as outside. Lena was likely going into shock and all Sorrell could do was to keep her as calm as she could. She started to talk to her about the hotel and the plans she had for the restaurant and the bar. And then she talked about the big cottage on the edge of the grounds.
“For you and Zack,” Lena said, when Sorrell had described her ideas for an open plan kitchen. “You and Zack and all his family. And your sister.”
“I don’t know,” Sorrell said. “It’s early days yet to be talking about having a place together.”
“When you know, you know,” she said and yawned. “I’m so stupid. I shouldn’t have come here. I should’ve told you. You always know what to do.”
Sorrell smiled even though Lena couldn’t see. She had no idea what to do right now. They were sealed in on one direction. She could leave Lena for a few minutes and see how far she could get, but the chance of it being one long path to another exit was slim. There would be other routes leading off it, that much she knew from what little she’d read.
Zack wouldn’t have heard from her for hours. Rayah was expecting her to call about tonight; they planned on sharing a bottle of wine with Keren in an attempt to find out yet again what had happened between her and Scott. They would be looking for her. Zack would miss her.
But would they know where she was? How would they find her? Questions started to buzz round her head like flies that she couldn’t swat away. She had to do something. But for all she knew, the man who had hurt Lena was still in the cave system.
“Lena,” she said. “I’m going to take a short walk, just to see where we are. I won’t be long. You’re pretty much hidden from view here.” She wriggled out from next to the girl and stood up.
There had to be a way to get help. Even if it was just to catch a phone signal.
Present time
