Chapter 18 #3
If he could get her into the bunker, he wouldn’t leave her side.
It went against everything he was, but he’d let his friends hunt Chen.
They’d make sure he and Alaska were safe.
They may not have been on missions together, may be a little bent around the edges, but they were as much a team as his SEAL teammates had been.
Brick pulled Alaska against him, surprised to realize he needed the body contact as much as she did. She clung to him, her fingers digging into his back.
“That’s it. You’re okay. I’ve got you,” Brick soothed. “I’m not leaving you,” he told her. “We’re going to get into the bunker and hang out until Tiny gets in touch with me and tells me they’ve got Chen. It’s going to be fine. I promise.”
Alaska’s body continued to tremble and Brick forced himself to give her time.
Sooner than he thought possible, she raised her head and took a deep breath. “You won’t leave me?”
“No. Never.”
“Okay. I can do this,” she said, more to herself than him.
Brick had never been prouder of anyone in his entire life. He didn’t disrespect her by asking if she was sure, he simply turned them back to the hole and walked toward it. “I’m going to send Mutt down first, then we’ll go down together,” he told her.
Alaska stared down into the hole. “Is that possible?”
Brick chuckled. “Well, you’ll go down a few rungs, then I’ll follow right behind you. I’d never send you down by yourself, and I’m not going to leave you up here by yourself either. So we’ll figure it out one step at a time. Okay?”
Alaska nodded.
“Mutt, down, check it out.”
As if the dog had done it a hundred times, Mutt lowered himself and went paw over paw down the wide rungs into the hole. There were only about six steps to the bottom. Clicking on his flashlight, Brick turned the beam so it was facing the hole. “Okay, Al, your turn.”
He could see her hands shaking as she sat on the ground and put her feet on the first step. Then she eased herself forward, turning so she was facing the edge, and began to back down into the hole.
Brick was right behind her. He faced her, even though the position was awkward. Her head was level with his belly as they made their way downward. Reaching up, Brick pulled the round lid shut behind them, the metal sound of it closing echoing in the small space.
Concerned, Brick looked into Alaska’s eyes. She seemed like she was two seconds from completely losing it. The sound of the lid closing must’ve been too much for her psyche to handle. He quickly took the last two steps and pulled her into his arms once more.
“You’re okay. You’re good. I’ve got you,” he murmured as she shook like a leaf against him. Brick went to his knees, as the bunker wasn’t tall enough for him to stand upright, taking her with him. He scooted until his back was resting against the metal wall of the bunker.
“Don’t let go!” she begged. “Oh my God, I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered.
“You can,” he countered. “You’re so brave. Alaska, you can do any-damn-thing you want. I know it.”
“Not this. What if he finds me? He’s going to hurt me. I can’t…I can’t do it!”
“He’s not going to find you. This bunker is unfindable.
” Brick was making words up, but he didn’t care.
“But the guys know where we are. I told Tiny, and he’ll tell the others.
It’s not like that Conex container, Al. We have food, water, air…
there’s an air hole in the back that we can open and close as we need it.
You think I’m going to let anything happen to you? No way in hell.”
Brick had placed the flashlight so the beam was facing upward. It illuminated the space quite well, and he hoped when she was able to think clearer, Alaska would see that the space they were in wasn’t anything like the Conex container she’d been forced to endure.
It took several minutes, but eventually Alaska stopped shaking quite so hard. She even turned her head and rested her cheek against his shoulder instead of having her face stuffed into his neck. She looked around them without letting him go.
Brick tried to see the bunker through her traumatized eyes.
It was pretty austere. Water jugs and containers of MREs were against one wall.
A sleeping bag was rolled up in an airtight container.
A composting toilet was sitting near the other supplies as well.
Brick flinched. Fuck, Alaska might not handle it well when she spotted it.
But to his surprise, he felt her relaxing against him even more.
“How you doin’?” he asked.
“I’m…I don’t like this. But…the light, the food, you being here…it all helps.”
Mutt chose that moment to nose his way between them, and he practically crawled onto Alaska’s lap as she cuddled against him.
To his surprise, a small chuckle left her lips.
“Guess he wants in on the snuggling too,” she said.
Brick had trained Mutt to recognize the signs of stress in him, and he figured the dog was pretty damn overwhelmed with those feelings at the moment, both from him and Alaska, and doing what he could to help.
With every minute that passed, Alaska relaxed further—but Brick got more and more tense. He couldn’t help but wonder what was happening outside. Had his friends found Chen? Was he still out there stalking them? Had he shot any of the guests or his buddies?
Sitting around and letting others put themselves in danger wasn’t something he was comfortable with. But he wasn’t going to move an inch while Alaska needed him.