Chapter Nine
“Janie!” Teddy cried. “Don’t leave me!”
Jane had no choice. She stared up at the faceless man. How could she trust him when she couldn’t see him? Jane had no better options, but she was still frozen with fear.
“Listen to me.” His low voice rumbled, pouring over her in the dark. “If something feels off, it is. Do you read me?”
Her lips parted.
“So you either follow me, or you don’t. That’s your decision to make. Trust your gut, Mary Poppins.”
Jane jerked away from the man, wanting to push him and his ridiculous nickname away. But he was right, and her gut instinct told her to get out of her own way. Jane placed her hand on the rubble. “Teddy, I’m coming back.” His sniffles and tears shattered her soul. “I promise.”
The man took her hand in his, and Jane gripped it with every ounce of strength she had.
He pulled her from the pile of rocks and rubble.
She couldn’t stop her tears. What if that was the last time she ever saw him?
What could she have done differently to prevent this?
They never should have gone on this trip!
Teddy was her charge. It was all her fault.
But beating herself up wouldn’t save Teddy’s life. She steeled herself and pressed on. At another intersection, her leader went right. She would’ve gone left. “Wait. What about—”
He held up a hand, silencing her.
She hesitated. “Are you sure we can get to him this way?”
He gave her a gruff nod. “It’s better than the other way.”
Something in his voice gave her pause. It wasn’t the same confident voice that told her to listen to her gut. Jane’s feet turned to stone. “I think we should go the other way.”
He silently studied her.
Jane stepped to the left. “I’ll go this way. You go that way, and we’ll meet up.”
“If we split up, you’re gonna get the three of us killed, and that’s not in my plans today.” He regarded her through the black lenses of the goggles. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she figured they were full of Fuck you, lady.
“Teddy’s my responsibility,” she continued. “We’re out here because I didn’t say something when I should have. Now I am.”
He let out a muffled curse under his breath and conceded. “We’ll go your way.” He wheeled around and took the passage she’d wanted.
“Thank you.” He didn’t seem to hear her, and she guessed it didn’t matter. Their odds were the same, either path they took. Pretty fucking dismal.
He spoke as though in a quiet conversation with someone else. Jane realized he was in communication with others. A team? The military? Someone with the know-how and weapons-power to bring them home safely?
“Who are you talking to?” Jane asked.
Once again, he ignored her, and the seconds ticked by as though they were centuries passing. Then, out of nowhere, he laughed and then grumbled, “If you call me Midas before I get on that chopper again, bro, you’re never gonna hear the end of it.”
Midas. Wasn’t Midas the king with the golden touch? She wondered if that meant he did everything right… and she’d gone and forced him to do something different.
“Hey.” She elbowed him. “Would you mind saving the small talk with your buddies for when you get us out of hell?”
He ignored her. Big surprise.
She tried to step in front of him. “Who are you talking to?”
Midas sidestepped her to take the lead again.
Enough with this bullshit. Jane grabbed his arm, trying but failing spectacularly to make him stop. The guy kept trucking.
“Hey, Midas.”
That did the trick, and he twisted. “What?”
Exasperated, she tried to keep her attitude on an even keel. “Who are you talking to?”
“My team.”
That wasn’t so hard. “And what did they say?”
For the billionth time, he didn’t answer. This time, though, she didn’t grow more irate. A heavy sense of dread swirled in her stomach, and suddenly, Jane didn’t want to know any more.
“They said to get a move on, or we’re all dead.”