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“They are if someone placed C4 on them,” he answered.
“Joel,” her father said taking the walkie, “did you say C4? There was an explosion down there?”
“It’s what I’d guess was used from the looks of them. At least what I saw before I started running and getting knocked to the ground.”
“Then this entire thing was sabotage?” Cord questioned.
“Looks like it, you were right Paige. Everyone up there okay?” Joel questioned.
“We’re fine,” Cord stated turning to look at Paige as everyone else did. “We’ll find a way to get you out of there.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen, Cord,” Joel told him.
“Let me speak with my daughter and then we’ll see what we can do,” he said before giving her the look he’d always worn when he knew she wasn’t telling him the whole story.
“I didn’t want to worry you all,” she tried aware that everyone was listening. “I wanted to get you up here and not have anyone sneaking off to uncover the truth.”
“So you blatantly kept your theory to yourself?” he questioned.
“Dad…I didn’t have proof, other than some photos which I’d be glad to get your opinion on, but nothing concrete that said someone started this on purpose. And I think that’s the reason the part down there was blown, so we couldn’t get it but I have to ask, who were you talking to just now so intently Gus?” she said turning to stare at the man who was slowly backing away. “Telling them they were too quick on the uptake and that there’s still someone trapped down there?”
“I think your sleep deprivation is getting to you,” Gus replied looking spooked.
“I don’t think so. See, I’ve managed to get by on less than two hours of sleep for an entire week without my mind going any so I’ll ask again,whowere you on the phone with…or better yet, why don’t I just check?” she stated taking the phone from him. He tried to retrieve it but Jesse and Craig were faster than he was and blocked his way before keeping hold of him.
“Interesting…seems the last number called belongs to Davidson Controlling, your biggest competitor right Dad?”
“Right,” he answered as he and the others began to inch towards Gus. She took advantage of the distraction, grabbed the walkie along with a set of keys to the Jeep, and quickly headed back to headquarters.
“Okay Joel, it’s just me and you,” she said as she shoved things into a bag. “From the looks of your tracker you’re not too far from the shaft over to four.”
“What good will that do? Paige, honey, I’m sorry…”
“Stop it. I don’t want to hear another apology and I’m not letting you off so easily. You got my father stuck down there and made me come back to this place when you knew it was the last thing on earth I’d ever willingly do. You’re not dying on me before I get the chance to smack you on the head and make it hurt.”
“That’s my girl, love ‘em or hate ‘em, the only way she knows…” he said with a sigh she could hear. “Paige we both know I’m not getting out of here. The road ahead is blocked the road behind is now blocked and the air is going to run out pretty soon.”
“Then the only place to go is up,” she said sternly. “So get your ass to four and start climbing, meet me in our spot…you remember it, don’t you?”
“Paige, you’re crazy. I might be able to make it, but you never will. If the north passage is gone the only way to get there…”
“Is to climb the bluff, already have the gear and the walkies, one set to you and the other for the rest to find when they realize I’m gone. But don’t hold your breath on that being anytime soon because they’re kind of busy with Gus right now, seems moments after the cave-in he called Davidson’s.”
“How do you know that?”
“I grabbed his phone. Come on Joel, we both know how to get there so just do it, if not for me then for your mother. I am not going to be the one to tell her that you gave up. I know that you don’t have the fight in you but your mom doesn’t. She still believes in you so shut the hell up and get your ass climbing.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean Paige? I don’t have the fight in me? What do you think I’ve been doing for the last fifty or so hours?”
“That was different, you had my father down there, couldn’t disappoint him or let him get hurt because you know I’d kill you myself but now…now it’s just you and when the hell did you ever fight for anything?”
“Does this have anything to do with the reason you broke up with me?”
“We were never together Joel, not really, so there was no break up, just a wising up on my part.”
“But yet you’re still determined to bring me home?” he questioned skeptically.
“I’ll bring you home; I just won’t guarantee that you’ll be in one piece by the time I’m finished kicking your ass for allowing a man with a known heart condition down in the mine to look for trapped miners.”
