Page 59 of The Search

It’s what he had been doing. Lying there and thinking about that sarcophagus of mud only yards away. Was he feeling guilt? Hell, yes. If he’d had Rudzak killed in that prison, he’d never have been free to cause this carnage. So, yes, the blame was partly his own, and he felt as if that entire mountain were lying on top of him.

As it was lying on top of that orphanage.

He had visited the orphanage many times over the years, and the nuns always had the children sing for him.

He closed his eyes.

He could almost hear them singing. . . .

Mud.

Sheets of rain.

Death.

How long had it been?

Two days? Three?

It didn’t matter.

She had to go on.

Monty had caught the cone. Maybe this one would be alive.

Not likely. She and Monty had found only five survivors. The rest had been dead.

That didn’t mean this one wouldn’t be alive. You had to keep hope alive. Otherwise the ones who waited might never be found.

She staggered on the makeshift bridge across the mud after the dog.

The man wasn’t alive. The pouring rain had freed him from the coffin of mud but not in time. His mouth was wide open in a silent scream.

Monty was whimpering. Too much. Take him down. Get him away from the death.

“Come, boy.” She put a stake in the mud beside the body and marked it with orange flagging tape, then started down. She could see Logan below, looking up at her, a shovel in his hands. He was covered in mud like all the rest of the rescue workers trying to dig out the ruins of the village. He shouldn’t be there. She had caught only brief glimpses of him in the past few days as he moved around the camp, helping in the medical tent, assisting the handlers, besides spending hours digging. He seemed driven. But she had been vaguely aware of his growing exhaustion, the gauntness of his face, and his worsening limp.

He wasn’t looking at her anymore. He was bent over, digging at the mud. But he glanced up as she and Monty passed by him. “Boyd says we’re pulling out tonight,” he told her. “The team hasn’t found a survivor in twelve hours.”

“Is the road open?”

“The army’s built a bridge over the washout. We got a shipment of food and blankets while you were up there on the search. There will be a truckload of volunteers here within a few hours. Not that it will do any good.” His shovel dug viciously into the mud. “None of it is any good. No matter how hard I try, it’s useless. I hate it that it’s so goddamn hopeless. Why can’t we find anyone? Christ, I’ll be glad to get out of here.”

So would she. It had been an even more heartbreaking search than usual. The rain stopped and started in a seemingly neverending cycle, keeping them from taking the dogs out, and there had been two other slides since they arrived. “I have to go up and try one more time. There might be someone alive out there.”

“I’m not arguing.” He didn’t look at her. “At least get some rest first. I know I can’t convince you to be easy on yourself, but Monty looks like he could use it. How’s his wound?”

“Almost entirely healed. Do you think I’d let him work if he wasn’t okay?” Not waiting for an answer, she walked away from him toward the tent the rescue team shared. Logan had no room to talk about being easy on herself when he was staggering around with that bad leg.

Only Hans Kniper was asleep on his cot with his Lab beside him when she went into the tent. She didn’t bother being quiet as she watered and fed Monty. No danger of waking Hans. They were all operating on practically no sleep and fell unconscious when they got the chance to rest.

She washed enough mud off Monty to make him a little more comfortable and then scrubbed her own face. No use doing anything else when they’d be back in the mud within a few hours. She lay down and cuddled next to Monty. It was raining again. She could hear it pounding on the canvas of the tent. God, she wished it would stop.

“Sarah.”

Logan. She came instantly awake.

Logan was kneeling beside her. He nodded at the Asian woman standing in the entrance of the tent. “This is Ming Na. She wanted me to ask one of you to find her baby.”