“No, the beer. It’s what I drink when I’m in the Caribbean.”
This was new. “And how often have you been there?” She hadn’t mentioned being stationed there.
“Not enough. Just a few times. You should go. It makes for a perfect vacation.”
He had never had the urge to go to the Caribbean. The people he knew either went north to the mountains in the summer or to Rocky Point, Mexico in the winter for vacation.
“Hey, is this dirt getting heavier or am I just getting weaker from a lack of food?”
Though her question was said half in jest, it confirmed what he’d been thinking. “I noticed that, too. Let’s take a look.” He brushed his hands off on his jeans and pulled out the phone. Half-covering it with his hand, he turned on the light. “What the hell?”
“What?” She crawled forward, squeezing in next to him.
“It looks wet. Hold this.” Handing her the light, he picked up a clump with his hand. “Itiswet.” He brought it close and sniffed. “Rain.”
“Rain? As in outside? As in it rained outside and we are near to breaking through?” She pushed past him, crawling forward a foot, the excitement in her voice concerning him.
They hadn’t even dug as far as they had the day before. How could they be close to the outside of the mine? “I don’t think that’s it.”
“What else could it be?” She put her palm to the end of the hole he’d been digging. “I don’t feel any air.” She examined the darker earth with the light, following its color where it met the dry dirt. “It can’t be an underground spring. This is coming from above.”
“Monsoon.” Fuck. They really couldn’t catch a break.
She looked back at him. “What do you mean monsoon? That while we were in here last night, a monsoon came through?” Her tone had risen, her deeper almost raspy voice sounding more like an eight-year-old girl now.
Shit, he needed to keep her calm. “Yes, I think that’s what happened. That could be good. It may have washed a lot of loose dirt away.”
Her widening eyes suddenly narrowed. “Or it could have caused a mud slide and buried us deeper.”
Her anger made it clear she didn’t like being coddled. Fine, that was exactly what probably happened. “It may have, but it also would make the dirt more stable.”
She crawled backward, shaking her head until she’d left the pile of dirt they’d been working on and stood on the tunnel floor. “I’m not staying in here for another eleven days.”
Shit, this wasn’t good.
He scrambled backward, his gaze riveted to her shaking head. “You won’t have to. We’ll be out of here in two days or less. I’m sure Wyatt has already called Cole and he’s returned to start searching for us.”
“Don’t you see? They won’t find us. Domino would know enough to go home with a monsoon coming. You said survival would overcome training. With the monsoon, any tracks we left are gone, and if she went back to the ranch, there’s no way for them to know where we are.”
Her voice was rising in volume now as well. He had to keep her calm. “They don’t have tracks, but they do know they have two loose horses with saddles which means we are in the area somewhere. How many places can there be to look? From what I saw, except for the hill Cole’s house sits on, this valley is flat and easily reviewed. That leaves the surrounding mountains and this mine.”
Her shaking head had slowed. “But that could take days.”
Slowly, he slid off the pile and stood. He could feel how much she wanted to hope. He had to find something for her to cling to. “Didn’t you say Cole was supposed to take Cyclone and pull the loose beams at the entrance to this mine back to his house?”
Her head stopped. “Yes, so?”
He relaxed. “So, that means he knows the mine isn’t safe and what the mine looked like just days ago. All he has to do is check this place, see the cave-in and know we’re here.”
She remained silent, her mind obviously processing what he said. When her head started to shake again, he tensed. “With the mudslide, he won’t know we were trapped in here before that occurred. Or he might think we were buried alive under it. We’re never fucking getting out of here!”
Even as she threw the phone to the ground, light snapped across the tunnel like lightning and he leapt across the space between them. He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Riley, listen to me. Wearegetting out of here.”
“No! No. No. No, no.”
His chest tightened at the hopelessness in her voice, and he pressed her to him, holding her tight, despite her struggles to get away. “Shh, I promise, we will get out of here. I won’t stop until we’re free. It’s okay. You’re not alone.”
She stopped struggling and the tension left her, but he didn’t let her go. Instead, he held her, soothing her, putting his conviction into his words, silently willing her to hang on.
