Chapter 16 #2
“It's another tunnel,” Bella said.
“Yeah.” The outer edge was braced with weathered timber boards, gray and splintered with age, like a doorframe barely holding on. We had one shot at this. One. If we missed it, we'd shoot past into whatever hell waited downstream. “Bella, we need to grab that timber.”
“Okay, what do I do?”
I clawed at the water, kicking hard, trying to angle us closer to the wall. The current fought me every inch. “When I say go, reach over my shoulder and grab that timber.”
“Okay.”
The current pulled us faster. The light grew brighter, bouncing off the wet rock walls. Twenty feet. Fifteen.
My pulse thundered in my ears.
“Get ready,” I said, every muscle coiled tight.
Ten feet.
“Now!”
I lunged for the timber and grabbed the rough wood. My shoulder wrenched violently as Bella pushed off my back, driving me sideways.
My grip slipped.
I plunged back into the current, and water shot up my nose, choking me. I shot my hand out blindly and caught her skirt fabric. I found her ankle and squeezed.
I gripped harder, and her sneaker slipped off in my hand.
Shit! I clamped my fingers on her bare ankle, squeezing so hard I was sure I'd leave bruises.
“Declan!” Her scream cut through my desperation.
“Hang on!” I yelled, spitting water.
She screamed again, but she didn't let go of the timber. The current battered me, a relentless force trying to rip us apart, but Bella held on with a strength that shouldn't have been possible for someone her size.
I pulled myself up her leg, hand over hand, fighting for every inch. Calf. Knee. The back of her thigh. I clutched her dress, using the fabric to drag myself forward against the raging water. Finally, my hand closed around the timber beside hers.
“Go!” I shouted over the roar. “Pull yourself in!”
I braced myself, holding position against the current as she hauled herself out of the water and into the mouth of the tunnel. Once she was clear, she turned back, reaching for me. “Come on!”
I found a large rock beneath the surface and used it for leverage, launching myself into the tunnel. I crawled over the jagged rocks, resisting the urge to grab her outstretched hand.
When I reached her, she wrapped her arms around me, and as I hugged her to my chest, we gasped for air. Water streamed off both of us, dripping onto the dirt beneath us.
I groaned against her shoulder. “I'm getting sick of these adrenaline rushes.”
Bella curled her hands around my neck. Her touch was gentle, yet it shot straight to my heart.
I pulled back to look at her. She was dripping wet, and that damn dress molded to her body like a second skin, outlining her breasts and the curve of her waist. A rivulet of water dripped from her hair, ran down her neck, and disappeared into her cleavage.
I tried not to stare. I failed spectacularly.
Forcing my eyes back to her face, I ran my hand over her arm. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Her voice shook slightly. “You?”
“Still breathing.”
She smiled, and in this light, that smile stole what was left of my breath.
“Sorry about your shoe,” I said.
She frowned like she hadn't even noticed. “It's okay. They were ruined anyway.”
The tunnel stretching ahead was as narrow as hell and looked more like an air vent or drainage shaft than anything miners would've carved searching for diamonds. Light filtered from somewhere up there, though, so that was promising.
“Come on,” I said. “Let's see where this leads.”
“You go first.” She raised an eyebrow. “Don't want you peeking up my dress again.”
I huffed out a laugh. “That's no fun.”
She bit her lip, and her eyes sparkled with mischief.
Fighting the urge to kiss her again, I forced myself to turn toward the tunnel and roll onto my hands and knees.
The space was tight, and my shoulders scraped both sides as I started forward.
The rocks were rough and unforgiving under my palms. Behind me, Bella sucked in air and winced several times.
The jagged stones must be pure hell on her wounded hands. I hated that I couldn't help her.
The light grew stronger with each movement forward, and I prayed this was finally a way out.
My heart hammered against my ribs, equal parts exertion and hope. Hope that I could finally get Bella out of this hellhole. Hope that I wouldn't fail her.
The tunnel curved slightly upward, and the light grew brighter.
Finally, I reached the edge of the tunnel and pulled myself out onto solid ground.
I stood up, my legs shaking from exhaustion, and scanned the massive chasm opening before me.
We were in the Level 5 deep extraction hub.
The crown jewel of the operation. This cavern surrounded the richest diamond vein this mine had ever produced, the one that was supposed to prove to Dad that I was capable of more than juggling spreadsheets.
I turned back to the tunnel as Bella's face appeared in the opening, and the pain etched across her features ripped my heart clean out of my chest. Dirt and tears streaked her face, her jaw was clamped, and her eyes were glassy.
She was not okay.
“Come here.” I reached for her, gripped her under the arms and lifted her out of the tunnel. Instead of setting her on her feet, I lifted her into my arms. She was like a small child as I pulled her against my chest and carried her.
She didn't argue. She just melted into me, her face pressing against my neck as she sucked in wobbly breaths. Her body shook as she tried so damn hard to hold it together.
“We're nearly out of this hellhole, Bella.” My heart cracked in two, and I wanted to hug away her pain, but as I crossed the chasm to the metal cage elevator that would take us to the surface, she whimpered more.
A string of LED lights glowed along the cavern walls, casting everything in harsh, clinical white light that bleached the rock’s color and made the whole place feel wrong.
Ore carts sat frozen on metal tracks, some upright, others tipped over with dark rock and debris spilled across the floor, like someone had dumped them in anger.
Drilling equipment stood near the exposed rock face, as if the operators had just stepped away for a lunch break they never returned from.
I shouldn't have been surprised. That's exactly how this mine had been abandoned. One day, it had been business as usual; the next, it was shut down. By me.
Laying off those men had shredded me to bits.
Every single one of them had counted on me for their income to feed their families, to provide the stability their lives depended on.
I'd stood topside that final day, waiting for the cage to bring them up one crew at a time. I’d forced myself to meet their gazes as I told them the news, watching their anger, their looks of betrayal, their obvious devastation.
Some had spit at my feet. Others had just shaken their heads and walked away without a word.
As I approached the cage lift, dread built in my chest.
The cage's metal framework was buckled on one side. The corner post was bent at an unnatural angle. A deep dent warped the roof of the cage like something massive had slammed into it from above.
I slowed my steps, my heart hammering.
Bolts littered the ground around the base and were scattered across the rock floor. Some had been sheared clean in two. Bits of twisted metal and debris formed a rough circle around the cage.
My blood went cold.
The fucking cage had crashed to the bottom.
A few feet from the drop zone, I looked up the shaft.
The main cable was gone.
Son of a bitch!
My mind scrambled to make sense of it. The last time I'd seen this cage, six years ago, I'd followed standard protocol and secured it topside.
Now, it was a mangled heap at the bottom.
Someone had cut the cable from the top. The damn cage had fallen down the shaft and slammed into the bottom with enough force to buckle steel and shear bolts.
Someone had sabotaged this lift.
We’re still trapped two hundred meters underground.
With no way out.
“Son of a bitch!” The scream tore from my throat.