Shock Wave. Dana Mentink

does this lead?” Trey said.

      “I’m not sure. There are a series of tunnels that connect various storage rooms and such. Barbara said she’d send me the blueprint, but I never got anything.”

      He stepped into the dark interior, disturbing a fine layer of dust from the floor. It was quiet. Not the tiniest sound to indicate there was anyone else close by. He wondered if whoever had sent the boxes down on them hadn’t survived the quake. Trey didn’t allow himself further speculation. “Well lookee here,” he called, disappearing into the tunnel and emerging a moment later carrying a ten-foot wooden ladder. “We may not have to chance the tunnel. This might be tall enough to reach up to the set of ladder rungs up there.” He pointed to the slats that still clung, against all odds, to the side of the chamber where they had fallen.

      She grabbed the rear end of the ladder and helped him carry it to a spot where he could unfold it properly. He gingerly climbed up a rung, testing the integrity of the wood.

      “Will it hold?” she said.

      “I guess we’ll find out.” He started up.

      “What happens if you’re ten feet up when it gives out?” she called to his back.

      “Then you’re going to want to make sure you’re not standing underneath me,” he called.

      Sage rolled her eyes. Typical. If he fell down and smashed himself up, how would that change their situation for the better? And if someone bad was ready and waiting for Trey to emerge from the hole? Her breath grew short as she watched him climb higher, the wood slats creaking under his feet. Reaching the top, he stretched out his arms and grabbed hold of the other set of rungs. One snapped under his hand, sending a chunk of wood hurtling down.

      “Look out,” he shouted.

      Sage dodged the falling piece. “It’s rotten. Don’t risk it.”

      “You’re telling me not to take risks? That’s a good one.” He crept cautiously up the ladder.

      Her stomach contracted. She was back in camp, an angry Trey Black arguing with his commanding officer’s orders.

      Too risky. No place for a civilian, a woman civilian. This is a war, not a photo op. Don’t order me to do this.

      But she’d used her connections and he’d been railroaded into taking her. Too risky? She’d fought hard to show him she was not afraid, and every bit as tough as he was.

      What a joke.

      And the cost of her bravado? Her foolish pride?

      Luis’s life.

      She swallowed a sudden lump in her throat, unaware that he was speaking again.

      “What?” she called up.

      “I said did you hear that?”

      She refocused and listened hard. “No. Is it Antonia?” She wished she could risk climbing the ladder behind him, but their combined weight would collapse it for sure.

      He was silent for a moment.

      “What?” she yelled again. “What did you hear?”

      “Quiet, I’m listening,” he called down.

      She would have socked him in the shoulder if he was closer. Instead she bit back her temper and remained silent, wondering if somewhere in the massive wreck he’d heard Antonia or Fred. If she was still the praying kind, she would ask God to make it so.

      FIVE

      The dust drifted past the gap in the ruined stage floor. He felt the urgent need to make a decision, but which one? Climb farther up, find the nearest exit and hope it was unblocked? Go back down, take the unknown tunnel and hope it led to an exit? Risk assessment didn’t work too well when both options were equally bad. A faraway crack sounded somewhere. A gunshot? Or his ears fooling him? Echoes from the past, Trey.

      “Did you hear Antonia?” Sage yelled. “You’ve got to get to her.”

      “I dunno what I heard,” he said, his mind momentarily bringing up the toppled boxes that had nearly flattened them earlier. He could not escape the feeling that Antonia was not the only one hiding in the shadows, though he could not for the life of him imagine why. As the ruins shifted and packed down, there was a cacophony of tiny noises and it was impossible to tell if any were caused by human activity. No more time to chew on it. Up or down?

      Neither option held enough certainty until he got more intel. He ascended one more rung on the aged ladder to better see into the gap. His foot broke through the wood. Grabbing at the rickety structure started a domino effect as the wood pieces snapped one by one, and he began to slide.

      He heard Sage cry out from below, but he could not stop his downward momentum. He busted through several more slats before one held and he clung there, feet dangling into the black space below.

      “Hold on,” Sage yelled. “I’m moving the ladder.”

      Perspiration rolled down his temples as he hung there with clawed fingers, listening to the ominous crackle and groan of the wood as it took the punishment of his bulk. He felt a bump on his foot as Sage shoved the ladder as close as she could manage. A few wild swings of his feet nearly knocked it over.

      “Stop thrashing,” she commanded. “Straight down at your five o’clock. That’s as close as I can get it with all this junk in the way down here.”

      He almost smiled at her commanding tone as he maneuvered into position and put both feet on the ladder. In a ridiculous, awkward fashion, he managed to transfer his weight and climb down as quickly as he could.

      Wiping the sweat from his face with the back of his hand, he pulled a sliver of wood from his palm. “Thanks.”

      She stared up at the bits of tinder still clinging to the bricks. “Looks like we’re not climbing out that way.”

      “Sorry,” he said. “On to plan B, but there is some good news.”

      “I could use some right about now.”

      He walked around her and reached into a dusty alcove formed by a partially crushed piece of plaster. “I found my pack,” he said, holding it up triumphantly. “I noticed it before the ladder let me down, so to speak.”

      She licked her dry lips and it made his heart hitch up a notch. Sighing, she looked up into the darkness. “I wonder what’s going on up there, outside on the streets, I mean.”

      “It’s not pretty, I’m sure.” He thought about his brother, who was due to return to San Francisco that morning. Dallas was tough and resourceful, but he had some physical damage to work around. Trey pushed away that thought and the guilt that went along with it. He led the way back to the door they’d forced open. Cool air bathed his skin as he peered in.

      “Let’s go,” Sage said, trying to edge around him.

      “Hold up. I’m trying to think.”

      “What’s to think about? It’s our only way out, isn’t it?”

      “That’s the problem. I’m not sure it is a way out. We could find ourselves at a dead end.”

      “Or we could find an exit, or Antonia. I say we get moving.”

      She had a point, though to his way of thinking, run in first and ask questions later was a great way to get killed. He endured a flare of anger at the realization that he found himself once again responsible for the safety and survival of Sage Harrington and her friend.

      Not funny, God. I already failed that mission the first go-around. Isn’t it somebody else’s turn? Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be anyone else for him to hand over the task to.

      “Take this,” he said, opening a foil package from his pack and snapping a light stick to life. The green glow revealed her surprise.

      “I