Just thinking about the constant sand caving-in her progress every night had her palms sweating all over again. She’d had the nightmare of being buried in loose sand for months. If she hadn’t been able to use the trickle of water she found in the cave to wet down her own tunnel walls and ceiling to form a harder surface, she would have died. Only thirst had driven her deeper into the caves, but in the end, it had saved her in more than one way. Without that life-giving water, she would have simply disappeared from humanity.
And no one would have known. No one would have cared. Just another military statistic.
Dirt falling down the pile in front of her brought her out of her morose musings. Garrett used the spikes to pull dirt away and down the mound. Since he was in a steady spot, she moved the light toward the ceiling, over the wall behind him to the ground at her feet, letting his eyes slowly adjust. Then without warning, she turned it off.
He didn’t say a word, but the sound of rocks rolling down to lay on the mine floor continued. The sound was familiar yet different. It was odd to hear it and not be the one causing it, but it wouldn’t make sense for both of them to work. They didn’t need a wide opening, just one big enough for a single person to crawl through. When he was tired, she’d do her part.
Slipping his phone in the front pocket of her jeans, she took one spike in each hand. These would have been less helpful in Afghanistan, but still it would have saved her hands. The remembered pain caused her breathing to hitch. This was Arizona. She needed to remember that.
As something brushed against her leg, she jumped back. “What the hell?”
A low whine issued forth.
“Dog, what is it?”
He didn’t say anything else, but she felt his body against her leg as he sat on her foot.
“Really? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark. You’re the one who ran in here in the first place.”
The drizzle of dirt stopped. “So that’s why you’re in here.”
The sound of Garrett’s disembodied voice startled her. She kept thinking she was alone. “Yes. He saw fit to chase a jack rabbit in here.”
The dirt started to trickle down again. “Did he catch it?”
“No, but he wouldn’t come out. When I found him, he was halfway through an opening into a hole that had been boarded up. After I pulled him out, the wood fell. I don’t think that rabbit is going to get out of here either unless he has some secret burrow that tunnels through the mountain.
“I doubt a critter like that would run into a mine unless he had an alternate exit.”
Garrett’s voice, coming out of the blackness like it did, was soothing. It was a deep baritone with a calm cadence. Had it been like that when he’d dropped Lady off at the ranch? Funny, how she didn’t notice things like that when she had her sight, but the second she’d turned the light off, her other senses slipped into overdrive out of habit. Now if she could just keep her mind focused on her—no their—current situation, she might just make it out without losing her mind.
Yeah right.
Chapter Six
Garrett kept his motions even, hoping he’d make a bigger dent by staying focused in one area. He didn’t have an issue with the dark, but he’d never been in this absolute blackness. It was like having his eyes closed but they were wide open. He could feel himself straining to see something, anything. He couldn’t even be sure he was digging in the same area, relying mostly on the position of his arms to his body.
On one hand, he understood the need to turn off the light. On the other hand, he didn’t want to waste effort by digging wide when he could be digging deep. Now that Riley had stopped talking, he was less sure of his movements. Her voice was a directional beacon.
He stuck the spikes in front of him and paused. “I noticed when I pulled up with Guinness and Blaze that only your truck was at the ranch. Will Cole be back soon?”
“No.”
At the sound of her voice below him, he started moving dirt again.
“Cole’s gone for the weekend. The soonest anyone will be back will be Sunday night, unless Lacey and her mother-in-law get into an argument.”
There went the hope someone would be looking for them. “Damn, Wyatt is going to go off the wall. He probably has already.”
“The grandson?”
He nodded before remembering she couldn’t see him. “Yes. He was maybe an hour behind me. At least I moved the horses into their stalls before looking for you.”
“I don’t care how off the wall he goes as long as he takes care ofallthe horses. I was going to be the only one at the ranch all weekend. With me here, there’s no one else to feed them. I hope he has enough brains to do that much.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. He’ll probably take care of them and then give us a piece of his mind when we finally get back.”
“If we get back.”
