“Or she’s on top of what’s basically a damned clog,” Miguel said. “We can’t wait too long.”
“He’s probably the equal distance down. I don’t know if he’s alive, but there is blood. I couldn’t tell if he was even moving. And he is upside down; I can see the bottom of his shoes.”
“Madison is priority,” Dom didn’t even think it had to be said.
“She is. And I am going in to get her.” K.J. said. It wasn’t a question. No one had thought it was.
Miguel nodded. “K.J’s the only one who will fit. Let’s get Madison out of there.”
125
Madison just kept looking up.As something, someone moved in front of the light. Never had a woman looked more beautiful in her life. But…why was K.J. coming without a helmet? Search and rescue didn’t do that. She just watched for a moment, almost disconnected. Weird.
She’d have to ask Shelby someday. Her friend had done search and rescue before.
Madison tried to pull in a deep breath, but she couldn’t. Then…reminded herself—short, shallow. Unless she had to. Her ribs really hurt.
Then…K.J. was there. It didn’t take her very long at all. Madison was almost convinced the other woman was like Spiderwoman or something. She just sort of appeared and perched on the ledge there. She almost knelt next to Madison’s head. Madison’s arm was a bit in the way. But not like Madison could do anything about it at the moment, though. Considering. “You are…very…good at this climbing down thing.”
“The boys above tied a rope around me. They braced it around a nice sturdy slab of limestone bigger than Rodriguez.So…huge. I have the other end here. Can you…move your left arm at all?”
K.J.’s hand poked around Madison’s armpit. She checked Madison’s neck gently. Madison was definitely sore, but her neck hadn’t been injured. Thankfully.
“Well, this one I can. But…the other…kind of stuck. I think I am just mostly…stuck,Kay. Maybe my right arm is even broken or sprained. It definitelyhurts.” Madison wasnotgoing to panic here. She just wasn’t. “Is Dom okay up there? He can be very sensitive, you know.”
“He’s good. Getting agitated. I don’t think those boys like being told they are too big for anything. It wounds their egos.”
“And that little pissant Newcomb? Please tell me he is cockroach food.” Well, she wanted him alive. She wanted him to have sit in front of a jury andhearwhat would happen to him. She then wanted him to fry. He didn’t deserve to go out of this world the easy way.
Not that…falling in a mine shaft was theeasyway or anything.
Cue Madison’s panic again. Considering.
“Don’t know. Doesn’t seem to be moving right now, Mads. He’s in a crack like this—but he’s completely upside down. I want you to save your breath, okay? You’re in a bit too tight of a squeeze for my liking.” K.J. was still kneeling above her a little. Doing something…with the rope…she had.
“I think you’ll fit in with the Major Crimes boys, Kay. You and Heather and…Lila. Is she okay? Is Miriam?” She needed to know that they’d made it. It would really give her hope here.
K.J. hesitated. “We just don’t know yet. I took off after you when I saw Newcomb had you. Trace carried Lila out. I am not sure about Miriam. I never had visual. But…let’s get you out of here and to the hospital, then we’ll find out. Can you move your foot?”
“Yes, Spiderwoman. I just can’t get the right angle with my knee wedged in like this to pull it out. Nowhere for my knee to go if I move it. I am feeling a bit like a Mads-burrito. I need lifted. I should be able to slide out after that. I just can’t get the right leverage like this.” Madison knew how movement and physics worked. She was just…in too narrow of a shaft right now. And at the incline, it wasn’t going to be easy to pull herself up with nothing to brace her feet against. Rather a catch-22 and everything. And if her foot wasbroken…it would get even harder. She couldn’t actuallyfeelher foot right now.
But if someone were to liftor pull her up, she could straighten out a little, maybe. She’d slid right in—something she wouldnotever forget—hopefully, she’d slide right out, too.
“Okay, I have the rope. I want you to lean back as far as you can. I am going to reach in and try to…get the rope to your belt. Is your belt tight? Secure?”
“Good thing I wore it today, right?” Madison checked with her jammed hand. Hopefully it would be strong enough…Madison understood what they were trying to do. “It’s as good as it is going to get, I think.”
“I also have some paracord, courtesy of Miguel’s supply. That man…perfect. He is the perfect man. So beautiful to look at too, and the way he isprepared.Beautiful. He had a thermal monocular scope in his truck, Mads. It really came in handy. I am so…I’m in love, I swear.”
“He belongs to Hope…now, so sorry. He’s hers. He’s her Major Crimes major pain. We should get together, pick one out for you, too…”
“Later. We shall discuss it.” K.J. was half-upside down now, bracing her legs on the slime-covered rock edge. Madison really didn’t want to think about it as her futuretomb,considering. And how in the world had K.J.bentlike that. It was almost inhuman how flexible she seemed to be.
Dom was up there. He wasn’t going to let her die down here. He just wouldn’t. He just…had had to send K.J. to her instead. She understood why. The last thing she would want was for him to try to get her himself and get stuck. But just knowing he was up there waiting on her…yes. It kept her from panicking here. “Dom came for me. He promised that he always would.”
“He did. And you are a very lucky woman. I mean…except for right now. But…now you have me. So you are beyond blessed. Good thing I am with the boys today, right? It so takes a woman to get things done around the TSP.” Yes, K.J. would fit in with Major Crimes just fine.
Madison felt K.J. poking around by her injured arm. The rope slipped beneath her belt. K.J. grabbed it and pulled. Until she could loop it off and knot it. Tight. Under the belt, in front of Madison’s stomach. About four or five feet coiled between her legs.
