Page 43 of Nikolai
Parker studied it.“It’s small.”
He sighed as he got on hands and knees.“It’s what we have.”
“Wait.”Parker put a hand on his shoulder, feeling strength and determination under her hand.“I think I should try to see how far I can get.I’m smaller than you.”
“Absolutely not.”Nick scowled.“We don’t know if getting in there might not precipitate another collapse.At least here you’ll be safe.”
“Until the next aftershock.”Parker measured the opening with her hands and brought her hands to his chest.Her hands didn’t even span two thirds of his chest.No way he could make his way through.“And at any rate, if something happens to you, I’m done for.”
Without waiting for an answer, Parker dropped to her hands and knees and
disappeared.
Nick had beenin tight spots before.His whole career had been in tight spots.But he was always with fellow soldiers—well-trained men who had his back and he had theirs.He didn’t worry about them.They were men who knew what to do and how to do it.
Never with a woman he cared about.
It was hell.
He wasn’t entirely certain he could keep her safe.And alive.It ate at him.
He’d recognized an earthquake immediately and thrown himself over Parker.A ton of bricks and dirt rained down on him, and he was definitely dinged, but it would have killed Parker.
He couldn’t even go there.He’d just met her, had felt his life being turned around.He couldn’t lose her.It was absolutely unthinkable that she be in danger.
And here she was, winnowing her way through tons of dirt and rubble, trying to find perhaps a nonexistent way out of here.Being in a hole during a period of earthquakes was dangerous.He should have thought of that.But it had been pleasantly cool in the excavated room, and the frescoes that were visible were incredibly beautiful.
Not much beauty in his life these past years.And now there was Parker and a Roman villa, and the coolness factor had been off the charts.Had he been thinking with his little head?
Not really.If they were going to take a lunch break, it would have had to be in his vehicle with the AC on or sitting out in the dust and heat.Nick opted for lunch in the excavated villa.Parker had worked hard all morning, and he wanted her to relax.
And they’d been having a good time—and he’d eaten his silly head off—until Earth lashed out.He had no idea what this quake had been on the Mercalli scale, but it was much stronger than the one yesterday.
Chances were good they were going to die here.If they didn’t find a path up and out, no one was coming to save them.They would die of thirst before they died of hunger, assuming some aftershock didn’t bring a boulder down on their heads.
Dying of thirst, encased in a dark tomb, would not be a pleasant way to go.
Nick usually could game his way out of anything.Figure out a way or two to get out of a situation, but this—he was no match for tons of rubble.
He checked his watch.Parker had been gone for a quarter of an hour.It felt like a lifetime.He made a megaphone of his hands.“Parker!”he shouted.“Are you okay?”He turned his head, so his ear was at the small opening she’d wriggled through before disappearing.
“Yes!”Parker’s voice carried faintly.No way to tell how far away she was.
Nick tried hard to keep the anxiety out of his voice.He didn’t do anxiety, not even in the direst of circumstances, but there it was.He was anxious.He didn’t want Parker to die.He’d just found her.He couldn’t lose her.She’d opened a door in his head and shown him things he didn’t know could be his.She couldn’t die.Hedidn’t want to die.But he calculated their odds at fifty-fifty, if that.
“I’m ok!”
Was he hallucinating or did her voice sound closer?
He was good at echolocation, like a bat, but her voice would bounce off thousands of angles, be distorted.No way to tell where it came from or even how far away she was.All he could do was wait.If she wanted him to move, she’d tell him.
So Nick knelt in the dirt, eyes fixed on the hole Parker disappeared into.He didn’t pull out his own cell.The dark didn’t bother him.Darkness was a soldier’s friend.He recognized that Parker was afraid of the dark.Lots of people were.She’d had an unsettled childhood, and it was normal that it left her with a fear of not being able to tell what was around her.
Parker, Parker, Parkerhe thought.Come back to me.
Parker crawled through the opening,barely managing to squeeze her way forward and avoiding a jagged piece of metal.No way could Nick make his way through.He’d cut himself to ribbons.
Moving slowly, feeling her heart beat against her ribs, expecting a cascade of rocks and dirt to fall on her at every moment, she wriggled forward.Somehow, every time she came to an impasse, there was an opening, all she had to do was find it.She crawled forward in the dirt and dust, inch by inch, careful when she shifted something to make sure it didn’t precipitate a collapse of material.She moved forward, came to what must have been the third room, and the cellphone flashlight dimmed a little.Dread rushed through her.The idea of being caught here without light… It messed with her head.Finally, she reached a point where she could stand up.Sort of.Nick would be bent over but at least he wouldn’t have to be on his hands and knees.
