“Let me check your phone for reception.”
He handed it to me, but no matter where I stood, there were no bars anywhere on his phone.
I dropped beside him and licked my salty lips. “You’re saying that if we both stay here, we both die—you probably much quicker than me.”
“Yes.”
“But if I crawl through the air shaft, I might be able to find help and save both of us.”
He lifted one hand to my face. “I’ll understand if you can’t, but for the record, I totally think you can do it.”
I was openly sobbing. “You think I can do that?”
“Blaire, it’s going to be so easy. You take my keys and my phone. My truck is parked on the south side of the road. Call Andrusha and 911—you might have to drive to get reception, but once you’re through, you’re safe, you know?”
I tried to quell my hysteria. “How do I know where to go when I’m in the air shaft?”
He lifted one limp hand around my neck and pulled me down close to his face. “I believe in you, okay? No matter what—you remember that.”
Oh my god. I pressed my mouth to his. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“You can do this, Blaire. I know how brave you are. Just think of our future.” And then his hand slowly fell back and his eyes drifted shut. He had lost consciousness, leaving me alone.
And this is what it will be like when he dies.
So I might as well save our asses.
With shaking hands, I found a flashlight in his bag. I also found a pair of pliers and a knife. I ripped open and pressed all the bandages to his stomach, and then I covered him with my coat and put a medium-sized rock on top of his stomach. I had no idea if the pressure would help, but it was my best effort.
My entire body trembled as I stepped over to the air shaft.
There was no grate. It was just a small, narrow carved space about chest high. It took some effort, and I scraped my chin and my knees, but I managed to lift myself into the small passageway.
The shaft was just a carved space in the mountain rock. Someone had crawled through here at one point and chipped it out by hand. The air inside was cool and dank in a choking sort of way. The space was so small, I could barely crawl. I moved two feet into the dark, unknown tunnel and screamed out loud with fear and terror. My entire body was a stiff board before I collapsed into sobs.
I fought my entire being in order to stay in that tunnel. I knew if I got out, I would never be able to get back in.
Viktor was lying there, bleeding, relying on me.
Focus on him. Focus on getting help for him.
Move forward, one knee, move forward, opposite hand. Breathe. He believes in me.
This became my mantra as I slowly crawled through the tiny space. So many dark thoughts flooded my mind. What if I got lost in there? What if I got stuck and couldn’t get back out? What if they never found my body? What if I backed out and I had to sit on the ledge and watch Viktor die—before I slowly died my own painful death?
Move forward, one knee, move forward, opposite hand. Breathe. He believes in me.
I broke down sobbing and crouched there, almost frantic with mind-numbing panic and fear.
I might have been hallucinating, but suddenly I could hear my grandfather’s voice. Blaire, you’re a tough cookie. Remember what he said.
I wiped my tears and focused on my breathing.
Remember what he said.
I was not going to be a coward. If I was going to die, I was going to die trying. That meant I kept on going. I started to inch forward. My knees felt raw, and so did my hands.
Remember what he said.
Viktor had said to me, “Think of our future.” Not his future, not my future—but our future. Think of our future.
“You’re going to take me on that damn date,” I said out loud to him. “You hear me? When I get out of this stupid, horrible tunnel, and I save your ass for once, you’re gonna man up and you’re gonna take me on my damn date.”
I imagined him showing up on my doorstep, meeting my grandmother. Driving me some place quiet where we could kiss in the shadows and whisper little things to each other.
And when we walked back to his car, he’d pull me into the shadows to kiss me right, like he had been teasing all night.
Move forward, one knee, move forward, opposite hand. Breathe. He loves me.
“And another thing,” I said out loud. “I want kids. Lots of them. Three at least—maybe even more. I’m open to any kind of family, but it has to be big. There has to be lots of us. And you need to show up. Not just when there’s danger but when I’m sad or pissed.”
I tried to imagine what that looked like and realized that Viktor would look damn hot with a baby strapped to his chest.
Move forward, one knee, move forward, opposite hand. Breathe. He believes in me.
“And I want to go back to Asia for our beachy vacation and maybe a bit of adventure.” I kept crawling and I kept talking. “You’d better recover fast. Because you’re coming with me.”
Suddenly the air tasted fresher. And then I could see light ahead of me—a dim glow. I worked harder and moved faster, and then I was pushing through cobwebs and I was at the end of the air shaft. I was at the entrance of the mine. To my right I could see the cool, rainy sky.
I tumbled out of the shaft and pulled out the phone. I had coverage.
With my shaking, bloody hands, I started to dial.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
VIKTOR
“Got that IV in yet?”
“Yes, I’ve opened it up wide.”
“Heart rate is low but steady. BP is one hundred over fifty and thready.”
I opened my eyes. Men wearing headlamps and harness gear worked around me.
One of them leaned over me, his features obscured by his headlamp. “Hang in there, buddy. We’re getting you out of here.”
“Blaire.” It took all my effort, but I managed to say her name.
“We have no idea how she fit through that air shaft, but she did, and she led us to you. This means you have to fight as hard as she did, okay?”
“Okay,” I mumbled.
“She’s waiting to see you—you need to fight for this. Stay with me.”
I was on the back of a stretcher. Neon lights glowed above me as people wearing medical scrubs ran alongside the stretcher. I was in a hospital.
“Take him to trauma room two.”
A woman in pink scrubs said, “What’s your name, sir?”
“Which way?”
“Room two is next to three, that way.”
“Which way?”
“Around that corner at the far end, room on the far right. Last door on the right.”
I felt the stretcher bump around the corner. We lost the nurse momentarily before her face reappeared. “What’s your name? Can you tell me your name?”
They wheeled me into some sort of green-tiled room with machines and big dim lights. Everyone, with their masks, caps and blue scrubs, looked the same to me.
“Okay, people, let’s bring him in. All the way.”
“And on my count, on three. One, two, three.”
I felt myself being lifted, and then I was on a higher bed. The lights on the bed were so bright, shining right in my face.