Page 38 of Disciplining Dana

Now. No more waiting.

Dana followed the gravel walk they’d taken yesterday until she found herself back at the Sapphire Mine Gift Shop. Stepping inside, she found the store empty except for the man who ran it.

“Hey, Roman!”

He looked up from whatever he was reading on the counter in front of him, smiling. “Hey! Ms.”—he pointed, snapping his fingers several times—“Aziz, right?”

“You remembered.”

“Hard to forget what you and Mr. Ellery spoke about yesterday.” He leaned his elbows onto the counter. “Did you talk with Mr. Hawkins?”

“We did. We’re just waiting on approval from his lawyers.”

“Cool.” He glanced toward the door. “So, where is Mr. Ellery?”

“He’s back at the main building. I think he’s looking into some of the other… amenities Rawhide Ranch offers.”

Roman grinned broadly. “Well, you should be with him.”

Dana cocked her eyebrow. “Yeah… it’s not like that.”

“His loss,” he replied with a laugh.

The scrape of the door opening followed by a tinkling chime brought both their heads around. Three young women stepped inside, stopping to examine the room around them.

“Welcome to the Sapphire Mine Gift Shop and Exploration Zone!” Roman called out. Glancing at Dana, he said, “Gimme a sec, I’ll be right back.”

“If it’s okay with you,” Dana pointed to the exploration room behind her, “I’m gonna pop back there for a minute.”

Roman nodded. “Sure, no problem. I’ll come find you when I’m done here.”

She slipped past the counter and headed into the exploration room as Roman moved toward the guests. She strode past the sluicing table and the colorful buckets and gear, moving to the far wall where the steel gate closed off the mine tunnel. Glancing back toward the front of the store, she could hear conversation taking place between Roman and his three customers.

Thank you, ladies. Now do your girl a favor and keep him occupied a little while longer…

Dana reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal device. When she was out on survey she wore her Leatherman multi-tool in a pouch on her belt, but this time she’d hidden it in her pocket so as not to draw attention. She didn’t want to answer any questions why she had it on her, especially if she bumped into Kurt by accident on her way here. Now she unfolded the screwdriver blade from the knife and knelt in front of the gate lock.

As she’d told Kurt, the lock was old, and the mechanism wasn’t complicated. A little working at it so the latch came free, and suddenly she was holding the padlock in her hand.

After a final glance toward the front room, she gingerly opened the gate as narrowly as she could, then slipped behind it to the other side. It squeaked slightly as she swung it back closed, but not enough to draw anyone’s attention. Reaching through, Dana slipped the lock back through the hasp, then pulled the wad of gum from her mouth. Forming it carefully, she used the sticky glob to keep the shackle from engaging fully while still appearing closed. If anyone pulled on it or looked too closely it’d give, but she was banking no one would do that until she was long back. At that point it wouldn’t matter; she’d relock it completely and no one would be the wiser.

Well, until Kurt found out, and he would eventually, because she’d have to tell him. But, like every other time in the past, she’d deal with that the way she always had, and eventually he’d forgive her.

Until he doesn’t.

Where that thought came from, she didn’t know, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it now. Turning, she strode down the tunnel as the light and sound of the shop faded until the only noise was the shunkshunkshunk of her feet on the mine’s floor.

Fifty feet into the tunnel, Dana paused to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The tiniest trace of light filtered back from the gift shop, and by the time her eyes had acclimated, she could discern the ghostly outlines of the mine’s timbering well enough to walk further back unassisted. She didn’t want to break out her phone until necessary, because though she doubted Roman would easily detect what she’d done to the lock, there was zero doubt he’d notice a bright light source coming from beyond the gate if she turned on the flashlight too soon.

Soon even the residual light from the entrance began to dwindle until she stopped so she wouldn’t potentially walk into something dangerous. Dana pulled out her cell, tapped at the flashlight icon, and the tunnel around her became bathed in a bright white light. She had to squint to keep from being totally blinded, but soon she adjusted to the illumination around her, and resumed walking.

She made cursory glances at the walls as she continued but didn’t expect to see anything this close to the main entrance; she was confident what she was looking for would be deeper back. The tunnel continued straight for ten minutes before she encountered the first lateral. It branched to both the left and right, but Dana ignored them, keeping to the main tunnel. The more she continued, the closer she kept an eye on the walls to either side.

Thirty minutes had passed since she’d first snuck in, and she’d passed several more side passages before she came to her first obstacle.

A cave-in.

Shit. Mr. Hawkins had warned of this, and now it was obvious he hadn’t merely been trying to scare them off. From the look of the way the timbers had collapsed, a pressure fault in the rock had failed, allowing tons of materiel to cascade down. The hundred-year-old wood made a crooked V, but as she knelt, she could see on one side there was still a way to pass beyond it.

---