Page 23 of Protected By the Convicts
She jumped up, and he caught her legs beneath her ass. “That’s all I ask.”
A loud alarm sounded from the other room. “Fuck,” Ren said as he lowered her and ran into the common room. He grabbed his datapad and read it. “I’ve got to go,” he said as he grabbed his boots, the backpack with his tools, and a shirt.
“You owe me a kiss later, for swearing.”
He stopped at the door, still reading the datapad. Then he turned, his expression dour.
Hannah’s insides twisted. “Sersie?”
“There was an explosion in one of the mines.”
Ky’Li had first shift today.
“They’re pulling out dead.”
“Which mine?” she asked, knowing the answer before he spoke.
“Mine 33.”
With shaking hands, Hannah started dressing. “I’m going with you.”
“You’re safer here. I won’t be able to watch you.”
“I’m going. I have my spray.” She grabbed the necklace from the dresser and slipped it over her head. “I’m going, Ren. Don’t you dare try to stop me.”
* * *
KY’LI
The explosion rocked the tunnels. Men screamed. Bodies shoved into one another. Elbows, fists, and even shovels struck out as men clambered to get out of the tunnel. Ky’Li ran against the throng of men running toward the elevator shaft before more of the tunnel collapsed.
“You’re going the wrong way, Ky’Li!” someone shouted.
He ignored the man. Ky’Li knew what he was doing. The response team, if there was one, would never have time to get here if more tunnels blew. There were at least a dozen miners trapped on the lower levels. Harrison, Falco, and Winters, all from Griggs’s unit, hadn’t shown up for their shift today. Nor had their buddies in Tillvak’s unit. This collapse was no accident.
The crowd thinned. Two men, bloody and burned, supported each other as they limped toward the lift.
“Danby, get your ass back here and help these men to the lift!” Ky’Li shouted.
The stout miner raced toward the men, cursing the entire way, but he didn’t fail Ky’Li. There were some good men here on Narkos, not many, but a few.
Ky’Li reached where the support had given way. He could barely hear the shouts of the miners. He grabbed a shovel and tried digging from the top. Tightly wedged rocks refused to give way. Ky’Li pounded the rocks with the shovel until Danby appeared with a laser drill. Smart man.
They worked for what felt like hours. The ventilation units had shut down, making the air thick with dirt and smoke, and hard to breathe. Ky’Li kept pushing himself, even as the voices on the other side grew silent.
* * *
Ky’Li woke in a tent.He turned his head, his pounding head, to the side to see men laid out on the ground in two neat rows. Medical staff walked between them, calmly calling out orders. Some of the men had sheets over them.
“There was a second explosion,” an attendant explained next to him. Ky’Li turned to face the man and spotted Vaughn working on a badly burned man two people down the row. The doctor was checking the readout on the monitor on the man’s chest, while a technician wrapped the man for transport.
“I don’t remember,” Ky’Li said to the med attendant taking his vitals.
“You were knocked out. Just a concussion. I recommend you don’t leave triage until someone from your unit arrives to escort you home.”
Vaughn took the monitor off the man’s chest and flung it into a bin of medical waste. “Forget this one, Rick. On to the next.” Vaughn flung a sheet over the man’s face and moved to the next man lying on the ground.
The tent seemed to spin as Ky’Li rose. “Is there anything I can do to help, Vaughn?” he asked despite the nausea that swept over him.
