Page 11 of Duty Bound

“Is there another way out?”

She tried to think, then pointed to a draft she'd felt earlier. “Maybe there?”

He was quick to check it out. “You’re right. There is a narrow tunnel here. It’s pretty tight, but it could be something.”

“Can we fit?” It was very narrow, only about four feet wide by three feet tall.

“There won’t be much wriggle room, and I’ll have to leave my pack behind, but it’s our best option. We can’t get out the front without support.”

Which you sent away, she added silently.

He began rooting through his bag, tucking what he could into pockets and through belt loops. “I’m going to set a trap.” He was all business again. “Stand back.”

“What?” She blinked at him. Was he insane? “You’re going to blow up the entrance?”

“It’ll buy us some time.”

“But—what if we can’t get through the tunnel? We’ll be stuck. We won’t be able to get out.”

She saw a flash of white teeth below the head light. “Yeah, but the enemy won’t be able to get in, either.”

Fantastic. He was going to turn their escape route into a rock pile and take his chances in the narrow tunnel. The dark, narrow tunnel.

Sporadic bursts of gunfire—far too close for comfort—sounded outside as he prepped C4 like it was Play-Doh. Once the cave mouth was wired to blow, he stood back to admire his handiwork.

Lily yelped as a stray bullet ricocheted off the rock not far from where she stood, spraying sediment into her face.

“Stand back!” He lunged for her, pushed her behind him, gave her a quick once-over for injuries. Whatever he saw—or didn’t see—satisfied him, because he continued with his plan. “Get ready. It’s going to get dusty in here.”

“Are you sure?—?”

He depressed the lever, then the world shook.

She screamed, flattening herself against the back wall of the cave, tensing for a barrage of shrapnel and falling rock.

But the blast was angled outward. Apart from a storm cloud of dust, nothing happened in the cave. Then a deep rumble sounded.

“Here we go,” he said.

Hundreds of tons of mountainside tumbled over the exit.

She stared at the wall of rock and started to hyperventilate. Now they were well and truly stuck.

“Lilian, come on.”

Still, she didn’t move. Her breath came in short, rapid gasps. The cave was hazy with dust, and the lantern glowed red behind them.

“Lily,” he said more quietly.

She turned, as if in a daze. Joe had called her Lily, and his father, Pat, but no one else.

His head light danced in front of her eyes. That combined with her breathlessness made her vision swim.

Dear God, don’t let me pass out.

“Come on, Lily. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

She followed him in the direction of the tunnel. Even without his backpack he was a giant of a man, like Hercules slaying the monster, except she had no idea how he was going to get them out of this one.

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