The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,70

here?" Jane looked like she would have yelled if she'd been able.

"Honestly, I hadn't thought about it for years until the other day after Gary left. I thought the trauma was way past. And a cave isn't a sewer."

"Was it really bad?"

"It was bad. I thought I was going to die."

"Panic attack. I've heard it's just like having a real heart attack."

"All I know, is I don't ever want to feel like that again."

The tugs on the rope surprised her.

Lucy didn't see how it was possible Mae had made it through so fast.

The tugging came again. "That's our cue. Ready?"

"As I'm going to get," Jane said and closed her eyes. "Tell me when it's over."

Lucy gave a couple of quick jerks on the rope to let Mae know she'd "heard" her and slid Jane on her makeshift stretcher into place at the mouth of the hole before repeating the signal to let Mae know she could start reeling Jane in.

The rope went taut and Jane's feet disappeared into the hole.

Jane made a small pained sound.

Lucy put her hands on Jane's shoulders. "We're in the home stretch," she said. If only she didn't still feel like something was very wrong. Well something besides the fact that they were down in this cave and Jane had a broken arm and Belle was in the hands of some crazy kidnapper.

"Good," Jane said and closed her eyes with a sigh.

As Lucy watched the crack swallow Jane inch by inch an irrational wave of fear washed over her. It was silly. The horror show before the treasure room was way worse than this. She'd gotten through this part with barely a whimper compared to the crack of doom.

A few times in her life she'd had "feelings" or premonitions about things going wrong. She'd always tried to listen to that inner voice.

Right now, her entire being vibrated with the absolute belief that if she followed Jane into that crack she was going to die.

If she didn't crawl in Jane might get stuck, Mae might run out of strength, or maybe both, and she'd be responsible for Jane going into shock and possibly dying.

Jane's head disappeared into the hole.

Lucy dropped onto her hands and knees and directed her light into the crack. The blue plastic of the space blanket moved another couple feet into the tunnel.

Ahead of her, Jane made another small sound of pain.

Shit, Jane might be in trouble already.

Heat flushed Lucy's skin and she was light-headed when she muttered, "Fuck it," and pushed her body into the crack.

She'd go as far as she could before the panic set in and hope it was enough to see Jane to safety.

The stretcher slid ahead of her in fits and starts as Lucy crawled along wishing it would move faster. No doubt, Mae was doing the best she could and it was pretty amazing she was managing to pull it alone.

For a few minutes they moved at a fairly steady pace with the sound of the blanket scraping over rock, the occasional groan from Jane and her own nervous humming keeping time.

The stretcher stopped moving. Lucy told herself it was just Mae catching her breath. She gave the stretcher a little push to make sure there wasn't a problem and it moved forward a few inches. Okay relax, breathe deep and wait for Mae to go back to work.

It got very quiet without the blanket scraping and humming.

In the deep silence there was a new sound.

"Jane?"

"Well hallelujah. I thought I'd lost you."

"Do you hear that?" Lucy said.

"What?"

"I don't know. A new noise."

"Are you sure? The damn space blanket isn't exactly stealth transportation."

"In case you hadn't noticed we're not moving."

At that moment Lucy recognized the sound. A horrible whining noise came up out of her throat.

"Oh fucking hell," Jane said. "Water. Running water and it's in here with us."

Water Water Everywhere

"Don't panic," Jane said as the sound got louder.

Lucy surged forward reflexively in an attempt to get away from the water coming into the hole behind her. Her right hand made hard contact with Jane's shoulder, jarring her injured arm.

"Ouch! Damn it, I said don't panic."

Jane's cry of pain reached the thinking part of Lucy's brain. Going forward would hurt Jane. Back. She had to go backward. She shoved one foot back the way they'd come and came in contact with her pack. She kicked at it, trying to shove it out of her way. It slid away but not far and she was forced to fight it again.