CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX #3
Snow’s voice drifted up from beneath her.
She closed her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
No. Not even remotely.
“Yup.”
There was a short pause before he said, “You’re a terrible liar.”
Despite herself, a laugh escaped her. “Shut up and push.”
Snow chuckled and gave her one final boost, helping her slide the rest of the way into the duct.
And then she was on her own. She lay flat on her stomach and stared into the darkness ahead, forcing herself to breathe normally instead of thinking about how much metal surrounded her.
“Okay,” she whispered. “This is fine.”
It absolutely was not fine. There wasn’t enough room to get onto her hands and knees, so she dragged herself forward on her elbows, pushing with her toes.
Every movement sent an obnoxiously loud scrape through the metal enclosure, and she tried to focus on that instead of the fact that she was crawling through a glorified metal tube while smoke was apparently filling the room behind her.
Of course, telling herself not to think about getting stuck guaranteed that her brain immediately pictured exactly that happening.
She would get wedged somewhere in the middle, the fire would reach the duct, and they would eventually find her cooked inside the thing like some kind of human Hot Pocket.
Seriously? A Hot Pocket?
Apparently, impending death did terrible things to her sense of humor.
“You still moving?” Snow called from behind her.
“Unfortunately.”
His laugh echoed faintly through the duct. “That’s my girl. Keep going.”
The sound of his voice helped more than she wanted to admit. Nova focused on it as she pulled herself forward, concentrating on one movement at a time instead of how much farther she had to go. One elbow, then the other. Push with her toes. Breathe. Repeat.
She could do this. She was doing it. Then the duct turned, and she awkwardly maneuvered around the corner, twisting her body as much as the tight space allowed, when something suddenly tugged at the back of her shirt and stopped her cold.
Panic hit before common sense had a chance to intervene. “No, no, no.” She tried to move forward, but the fabric pulled tighter.
“Snow!”
“I’m right here. What happened?”
“My shirt’s caught on something.”
“Okay. Don’t yank on it.” His voice stayed calm, but Nova could hear the worry underneath it now. “Reach back if you can and see what’s holding you.”
She twisted awkwardly, stretching one arm behind herself until her fingers finally found the problem. A screw sticking out from the metal had snagged the fabric near her waist.
“Found it.”
“Good. Take your time.”
“I would really prefer to take absolutely no time.”
That earned her a quiet laugh, which was probably exactly why he had done it.
Nova worked the fabric free, and the second it released, she sucked in a relieved breath and started moving again.
“I’m free.”
“Good. Keep going, sweetheart. You’re almost there.”
A few feet later, a faint square of gray appeared ahead of her, and Nova could have cried from relief.
“I see the other vent!”
“That’s it. Keep going.”
She moved faster now, reaching the grate and immediately shoving against it with one hand. Naturally, it refused to move.
“Oh, come on. You cannot be serious.”
She hit it harder, felt it shift, then shoved again with everything she had. The grate finally gave way and clattered loudly onto the floor of the storage room.
Nova poked her head through the opening and looked down, immediately spotting a stack of boxes directly beneath her, which was good.
What wasn’t good was the distance between her and them.
It was just enough to make her stomach drop, and her instincts immediately voted against every possible way down.
“Snow?”
“Yeah?”
“If I break something, I’m blaming you.”
“You’re not going to break anything.”
“You are very confident for someone who cannot see how far down this is.”
“Nova.”
“Fine. Fine.”
She turned herself around as best she could and lowered her legs through the opening, gripping the edge with both hands until she was hanging beneath it.
For one second, she considered trying to find a more graceful solution, but graceful had left the building sometime around the moment she crawled into an air duct.
She let go.
Nova hit the stack of boxes hard enough to crush several beneath her before rolling sideways and landing on the floor with a grunt. Pain shot through her hip, and she stayed there for a few seconds, staring up at the ceiling while she took inventory.
Nothing seemed broken. Her hip was pissed, her ass wasn’t particularly happy either, and she had a feeling tomorrow morning was going to be unpleasant. Assuming they made it to tomorrow morning.
That thought got her moving.
She pushed herself upright and hurried toward the hidden door, only to stop when she saw that the shelving unit had been rolled back into place.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Nova grabbed the side of the shelving and shoved, but between its weight and everything loaded onto it, the thing didn’t even move an inch.
She tried again before realizing she was wasting time and immediately started unloading it instead.
Boxes hit the floor first, followed by containers, tools, and anything else she could grab.
Something filled with metal fittings crashed and scattered across the floor, but she didn’t even bother looking at the mess.
The smell of smoke was stronger in the storage room. Much stronger. Then an alarm began screaming somewhere outside.
Nova froze for half a second before another alarm joined it, the piercing sound echoing through the platform and sending a fresh rush of adrenaline through her.
“Come on,” she muttered, grabbing the shelving again. “Move, you bastard.”
This time, when she shoved, the wheels finally rolled. Barely, but it was enough, and Nova threw her weight against it again, pushing until she had exposed enough of the hidden door to open it.
She turned the handle, and the door flew open so fast that Nova stumbled backward, and Snow came through it almost as quickly.
Before she could say a word, his arms were around her.
He pulled her against him hard enough that her feet actually left the floor for a second, and Nova immediately wrapped her arms around his neck.
For the first time since she had crawled into that duct, she realized just how scared he had been too.
His breathing was heavier than it should’ve been, his arms were locked around her, and when he finally pulled back, his hands went straight to her face as his eyes searched hers.
“You’re okay.”
It wasn’t really a question. It sounded more like something he needed to hear himself say.
“I’m okay.”
His gaze moved quickly over her, checking for injuries. “Anything hurt?”
“My hip isn’t thrilled with me, and I’m pretty sure my ass is going to look like I lost a fight with a baseball bat tomorrow.”
Snow closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, some of the tension had finally left his face.
“So you’re okay.”