“No, there would be no signal even if we were outside. It’s no man’s land out here.”
He strode toward her. “We may be outside Phoenix, but Last Chance isn’t off the map. Wickenburg and Canterbury have doubled in size just in the last five years since I lived here.” He stopped in front of her and waited to see if his words would register.
She didn’t move for a long time, but finally she looked up at him. “The signal only reaches Cole’s house because he put in a booster. This valley is a dead zone.”
Relief combined with irritation at her know-it-all attitude. Giving up, he sat down next to her, his back against the wall. They needed a plan of attack. “You seem to know what won’t work. Any ideas on what will?”
“Turn your phone off. You’ll use up the battery.”
Swallowing a curse, he did as she suggested. The cave became absolute blackness. He lifted his hand, but couldn’t see it. It was even worse than the old days when he worked on structure fires and couldn’t see crap due to smoke. There was something absolute about the darkness that made him uncomfortable. “Now what would you suggest?”
“Take stock. What we have, what we need. Set a plan. Implement the plan. Failure means the plan needs to be reworked. Create a new plan. Repeat until there is success. There must be success.”
His unease ramped up at the monotone quality of her voice. It was like she’d been brainwashed and repeated the message as taught. “Where did you learn that? In the military?”
He sensed her movement. “My father.”
From the sound of her voice, she’d turned her head toward him. “Was he in the Army?”
“Air Force.”
When she didn’t continue, his irritation returned. The last thing he wanted to do was play twenty questions in the pitch blackness.
“Senior Master Sergeant O’Hare made sure I was well-equipped to succeed.”
He wished he could see her face because her tone didn’t give him a clue if she was happy about that. He was pretty sure his own father was more excited than even he was when he graduated with his fire science degree. “Then you’ve followed in your father’s footsteps. I bet he’s proud of you.”
Her strange laugh was back. “No, he wasn’t. I went into the Army. He never said it, but I know he felt betrayed. He died on his fifth deployment.”
He let out a low whistle. “I’m sorry. That sounds like he was gone a lot.”
“It was better than staying home, at least that’s how I looked at it.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so he waited to see if she’d reveal more. The silence stretched out to what seemed like a half hour, but he imagined it was only a few minutes before he spoke again. The total darkness was disorientating.
“I followed in my father’s footsteps as well. He was a firefighter. He—”
“Did he die in a fire?”
Surprised by her question, he answered quickly. “No. He retired. He says he’ll probably die from my mother’s cooking because he just can’t stop eating it.” He smiled into the darkness. “My mom can cook.”
When she didn’t respond to that, he had to assume that she wasn’t interested. That was fine. He just wanted to keep her in the present. “So your father said to take stock of what we have and what we need. I think all we have right now is our bare hands and that won’t get us out of here. We should explore the mine and see if there isn’t something we can use to dig with.”
“Digging with our hands will take too long. I have one lip balm, a packet of ibuprofen, mints, an SOG pocket knife, a bandana, a bottle of water, and some sandwich meat.”
His brain skidded to a halt. “You have all that?” He frowned in confusion. He hadn’t seen a purse on her.
“Yes.” She wasn’t facing him anymore. He could tell because her voice wasn’t as strong.
While it was an impressive stash for being trapped in a mine, he didn’t see any of it being relevant. “None of that will help us dig our way out of here.”
“No, but it will help us stay alive. What do you have?”
Good question. “I have the clothes on my back. No, I also have my wallet, a pack of gum, a pocket knife, and a handkerchief.”
“That’s acceptable. Our knives could come in handy for eating and the gum and mints will help us stave off thirst as long as possible.”
“You have survival experience.” He ground his teeth. Not the smartest thing to say to someone who kept drifting back in time.
