Reluctantly, Matt moved out of the way.
“Jena,” Magenta shouted into the pipe. “I need you to find a corner under a beam. Can you see down there?”
“I have a flashlight app on my phone.”
“Good. Get to a corner under a beam. Stay there. We’re going to dig through the middle of the ceiling above you. The rubble trapping you shouldn’t get too disturbed, but you might get some dust. Do you have something you can use to cover your mouth and nose?”
“Yeah,” came the trembling reply.
Matt clenched his fists. This was the last time he was ever going to let her out of his sight. Every time she was unsupervised she got injured. The woman was a magnet for accidents and mishaps. He hung his head as he tried to calm his breathing. He’d wrap her in freaking cotton wool if he had to.
“If the air gets too stuffy, breathe at this pipe,” Magenta shouted. “You aren’t that far down. It shouldn’t take long to get to you. Try to stay calm.”
Magenta signalled for him to come to the pipe. “Talk to her. Keep her calm. Make sure she’s okay. This shouldn’t take long once the equipment is here. Look, you can tell how deep she is by how much the earth has fallen on either side of her. This part of the mine is near the surface. She was lucky.” She gave him a quick hug. “I’ll go get my climbing gear. Don’t worry, Matt, we know what we’re doing.”
She ran for her car. Harry patted Matt on his shoulder. “You stay here. Talk to your woman. I’ll coordinate with the emergency crews. They should be here any minute. We’ll get the area checked out and cordon the dangerous bits off. I already sent someone over to check on Abby. She’s shaken up but fine. The mine doesn’t run under her house, so that’s good, but the mushroom farm was taken out in the blast. There’s no way to salvage her business.”
Matt ran a hand over his face.
“Frank?” he asked Harry.
“In the wind. I’ve put out the word to keep an eye out for him. His car’s still here. He can’t have gotten far.”
“How the hell did he get back here so fast? He must have just jumped another flight as soon as he got back to the States.”
“I’ll find out what happened.” Harry’s tone was grim. He nodded to the ground. “Let’s get Jena sorted first, then we’ll deal with that moron.”
“Aye.” Matt nodded.
“Matt?” Jena’s slightly panicked voice drifted up to him.
He knelt beside the pipe. “It’s okay, princess, I’m here.”
39
Jena wedged herself into the corner closest to the pipe. It wasn’t directly in front of her, but she could lean forward to shout through it. She could hear Matt, which was the most important thing. Without his voice she would be all alone in the darkness. She felt like she’d been stuck underground for hours, but it couldn’t have been that long. Could it? Matt had been talking to her, telling her tales of life with the twins and his cousins.
Telling her all about the trouble they got into as kids. His voice was the only thing stopping her from having a complete and utter meltdown.
Her broken leg was stretched out in front of her and throbbed with pain that made her want to wail. She dug her fingers into the dirt beside her every time it became too much. Her ribs didn’t ache as much as her ankle, but moving and breathing were uncomfortable. She was pretty sure she was covered in cuts and bruises. Her head still ached from the tumble in the car, and she didn’t even want to think what bugs were nested in her hair.
Sounds echoed down through the pipe. People shouting. Orders given. An engine revved. Something heavy hit the ground with a thud, making some loose dirt shake down onto her. She shuddered.
“Matt? What’s going on?”
“They’re laying down a couple of wooden beams for the hobby digger to roll across.” His voice sounded tight with tension. “You’re under a kind of an island; there have been cave-ins all around you. We’re trying to get the equipment to the right spot without causing any more damage.”
She rested her head back against the wall behind her as a shiver of fear went through her. He meant they were trying to avoid burying her alive. Yeah. It would be real good if they did everything they could to avoid that. A spasm of pain hit her, making her groan through clenched teeth. She was shivering and sweating at the same time. Adrenalin reaction. Nothing she could do about it except distract herself.
“Frank—did you get him?”
“Not yet.” The promise of pain was clear in those two words.
“I don’t understand why he’s still in town. Didn’t you send him away?”
“Harry checked. Frank didn’t make the connecting flight in London. No one thought to tell me.”
Jena closed her eyes. The thought of seeing Frank again made her shudder.