“What? How?”
“I don’t know for certain, but I think they used a grenade launcher and aimed it at the side of the mountain above the cave.”
He whistled low. “Were you hit with dirt?”
The odd laugh returned. “No, I was lucky. I was sprayed with dust, but that was it. So that’s how I was buried alive the first time. Obviously, I got out.”
“But how did you—”
“Nothing personal, Garrett, but I’m tired. Good night.”
He clamped down on the myriad questions buzzing through his brain. “Good night.” He lay in the inky darkness staring at nothingness, trying to fathom how the woman beside him had managed to get out of a cave with half a mountain between her and the outside world. She had to have been rescued. The Army probably found her dead unit members and followed her trail and blasted her out.
As much as he wanted that to be true, his gut said it wasn’t so easy. It didn’t take eleven days to find someone’s trail and remove enough dirt for a single woman to crawl out, especially with the military’s resources.
You don’t dig at the bottom. You dig at the top, as high up as you can go.Her words came back to him.Digging on the bottom will just cause the new earth to fall on top of you.How did she know that? Did that happen to her?That would take too much energy. We need to conserve that for digging.He swallowed hard, his dry mouth gone drier. She’d had to dig her way out of that cave!
He looked in the direction of where Riley lay, her breathing even, letting him know she really had been tired. He tried to go to sleep, but he kept imagining her inside a giant cave of blackness, huddled on the ground, and starving to death.
Luckily, his body finally conquered his mind and he drifted off.
Chapter Nine
Garrett woke. Opening his eyes, he couldn’t see a thing. Where were the stars? Were his eyes really open? He blinked twice. They were, but…that’s right, he was in the old mine, trapped inside with Riley.
Listening intently, it wasn’t hard to hear her breathing next to him. She sounded as if she’d run ten miles, the sounds almost gasping. What the hell? He rolled on his side to wake her when a scratching sounded on her other side.
“Copper?” There was no response but the scratching stopped. He raised his voice a little louder. “Copper? Come here, boy.”
Small footsteps approached from behind him. He rolled onto his back and reached out. The dog plopped down beneath his hand, nudging him in the side. “It’s okay, boy. We’re all here and accounted for.”
So, if Copper was on his left, then what was to his right on the other side of Riley? He listened, keeping his arm over the dog, who seemed happy to be with him.
The scratching sounded again then stopped. It sounded like a critter pawed at the wall of the tunnel. There’d been no evidence of any animals living in the tunnel beyond the rabbit Copper had chased in and that made Garrett cautious.
Quietly, he pulled his phone from his pocket, thankful he’d been smart enough to leave a little battery life just in case. Holding it so he hoped it would shine on the animal as soon as he turned it on, he waited for the sound to start again.
After what felt like minutes, the scratching started and he flicked on the light. “Holy shit.”
The words burst from his lips without thought. He stared in horror at Riley’s bloody fingertips as she dug at the wall in her sleep. Dropping the phone on the ground, he rolled her over to face him. “Riley, wake up.”
She moaned in her sleep, her hands reaching out to dig her fingers into his shirt. “Soldier, when I speak to you, I expect you to listen!”
Her eyelids snapped open, and she looked fearful until her gaze rested on him. “What?”
He grasped her to him, keeping her hands between them. “You were dreaming.” He held her tight as she struggled to separate, but finally she stilled.
“Dreaming? Did I say anything.”
His throat already dry from lack of water suddenly felt scratchy, and he cleared it. “No.”
The tension in her body eased. “Good. I’ve been told when I talk in my sleep, it’s not pleasant.”
He rested his cheek against her hair, his own heart still pounding as the reality of what she’d endured settled into his soul, leaving him with a strong ache in his chest. He couldn’t have let her go at that moment even if the mine was opened large enough for Cyclone to walk in. “You were breathing like you were running a race.”
She didn’t try to lift her head from his shoulder, instead speaking past him. “Did I wake you?”
He swallowed again. “Yes, but I think you scared Copper.”
