Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3) (14 page)

“God damn, woman!” Cooper replied. “Take a breath mint!”

Anna slapped him across the face. The sound of the impact echoed through the cavern.

Leaning in to mere centimeters from his face, Anna continued, “I don’t know what it is with you military men, but I really hate the attitude you guys show me. I’ve done nothing but help, and all you do is beat me down. I’m sick of it!”

“Hey!” Hicks’s voice called from above. “Sir, the trap door is closing!”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward the source of the announcement.

“Hicks!” Anna and Cooper yelled simultaneously. Anna stopped and looked at Cooper.

“Has any help arrived?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“Go find Hunter and bring help!”

“I’ll go find…”

The sound of stone hitting stone cut off Hicks’ statement.

“Oh, god!” Tomomi’s voice wavered, bordering on hysterical. “We can’t be trapped down here! What are we going to do?”

A couple of seconds of silence passed, until Cooper replied, “Hush, woman! We’re going to stay here until they can rescue us.”

“No,” Anna interrupted. “We’re going to find our own way out.”

“Like hell we will!”

“Did you hear the sound of that trap door closing? That’s heavy stone. It would take some heavy firepower or explosives to blast through that. And, old as this pyramid is, setting off a blast like that in the middle of it would bring the whole thing down. We’re not being rescued. We have to rescue ourselves.”

Anna sighed. Then, she turned back to the group.

“Jason, start checking everyone’s injuries. We prepare to move.” Anna pushed away from Anderson and looked for something with which to secure the body.

Cooper interrupted her thoughts. “You’re making a big mistake.”

“And, what would you propose?” she inquired.

“If you insist on going, leave the wounded behind, find help, and bring it back here.”

“No.” Her reply was firm and resolved. “I’m going to make sure you get out of here with the rest of us. Once we see daylight again, you can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.”

Hicks and Hunter raced toward the bivouac erected on the edge of the plaza surrounding the pyramid. Many of the soldiers and scientists turned to watch them, disrupting the various activities taking place.

The captain emerged from his tent and, spotting the approaching soldiers, stood tall and waited for them to reach him. They came to a halt before him and saluted, doing their best catch their breaths.

The captain returned the salute. “Report?”

“Captain, sir,” Hicks replied. “The rest of the expedition is trapped within the pyramid, sir.”

The surrounding officers began to comment amongst themselves, causing a rising buzz. The captain hushed them before turning back to Hicks. “How did this happen?”

Hunter answered instead. “Sir! We tried opening a door deep inside the structure and set off a trap, sir. Sergeant Cooper, Private Anderson, and the civilians all fell through a trap door in the floor, sir.”

“Do you know how the trap was set off?”

“Sir! Yes, sir!” Both soldiers responded.

The captain turned to the officer next to him. “Commander, assemble a rescue party. Make sure they have digging tools that don’t require electricity.”

* * * * *

“There.” Anna said as she tied the last of the knots on the silver thermal sheet under Cooper. “That should just about do it.”

“You’re going to make things worse by dragging me through these caves.” He had griped during the entire process and seemingly could not resist one last jab before wincing when his broken arm, now held in a sling, moved too much when he shifted.

“Cooper, I’m growing tired of your pessimism. You either say something helpful or nothing at all.”

“I can say whatever I want to…”

Anna glared at him. “And, I can gag you, too.”

With a frown, Cooper huffed and turned his face away from her.

“Anderson’s ready to go, Anna,” Jason announced from a few meters away. “I’m glad we checked him again. I’d hate to see him dead.”

Anna looked up at Jason. He had slung the trooper’s backpack over his shoulders and hefted his own rifle in his hands. The look on his face was a mix of determination and mild fear. She could not hold back her smile.

“It looks like you’re ready, too. Feel like you could take on the world?”

A smile appeared on Jason’s face, and he looked away while scratching behind his ear. Though it was hard to tell through the greenish glow from the light stick, Anna believed he was blushing.

Cary stepped into the light, showcasing the bandages securing his ribs. Tomomi followed behind him, her bandaged left arm secured in a sling.

“I think we’re ready, too,” Cary said, a hint of confidence in his statement.

Anna hefted Cooper’s backpack onto her shoulders, then looked and smiled at each of them. “All right, then. Let’s find our way out.”

“But,” asked Tomomi. “Which way do we go? You said there are two ways to go.”

Anna glanced toward the far end of the cavern. “We could go up, which is that way. Or, we could go down, which is behind me.”

“Up would make the most sense,” Jason commented.

“It does, but that’s not the way to go.”

Cary furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

“All the routes that way are dead ends.”

From his position on the makeshift stretcher, Cooper asked, “How do you know this?”

“Because, I’ve been down here before. Remember?”

“You said you went into the pyramid. You didn’t say anything about this cavern.”

“I had hoped to avoid it.” Anna was becoming impatient.

“It looks like you failed, Jane.”

“One more remark out of you,” she warned, her voice sharp. “And I’ll make sure your journey is a bumpy one.”

“So, we go down?” interrupted Cary.

Anna sighed and consciously relaxed. “Yes, we go down.”

Cary nodded. “Very well, then. Lead the way.”

Anna and Jason tied the ropes connected to the thermal blankets carrying Cooper and Anderson respectively. Anna would drag Cooper behind her, while Jason hauled the unconscious Anderson. With a nod from the scientists, they began their trek downward into the tunnels.

Several minutes passed with only the sounds of their footfalls echoing through the cave. The green light Anna held in her left hand cast odd shadows on the wall as they hiked along the damp, rocky trail. The scent of wet mud and clay mixed with the odor of their blood and sweat.

Cooper broke the thick silence. “So if you went upwards where there are only dead-ends and you didn’t go down, how did you get out?”

Without missing a beat, Anna replied, “I don’t know.”

The sergeant did a double-take. “You don’t know?”

“That’s right.”

“Then, how do you expect to lead us out of here?”

The sergeant’s skepticism threw her off guard. “I…I’m not sure.”

“You’re not giving me a lot of confidence.”

Anna’s mind was clouded with doubt, and though she sought the answers, she was not getting anywhere. She knew there had to be an exit somewhere. If one did not exist, how did she get out before?

Cary offered, “Maybe she just doesn’t remember how she got out. It was several years ago. Right?”

Several seconds passed with no answer.

“Right?” He repeated the question.

She turned on her heel to face the group. “Look, it’s true that I haven’t fully explored these caves, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that you can’t get out by going the other way. Logically, the way out has to be that way.”

“That makes sense.” Tomomi nodded before looking at the rest of the group. When she found Cary looking at her, she added, “At least, it does to me.”

“Are you kidding me?” Cooper interrupted. “We don’t have to go anywhere! As soon as Hicks and Hunter get back, they’re going to find a way to rescue us from where we landed. We can rest and gather our strength until that happens.”

“If you recall, sergeant,” reminded Anna. “The hole sealed up, and any chances of a speedy rescue got sealed up along with it. We can’t depend on them to pull us out.”

“This is a military operation.” His harsh tone forced the scientists to flinch. “As such, we need to follow military protocol.”

“Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you, but the odds of us being rescued from there are pretty slim right now. They can’t use machinery to break through the door because of the EM field. They can’t set off explosives without risking their own lives. They could set off the trap again, but they’d run the risk of trapping more people down here. If we’re going to see daylight again, we need to find our own way out.”

“What if there is no way out? What if these caves have no natural opening to the surface? And without any means of communication, we could become irrevocably lost and die without ever being found.”

Anna considered Cooper’s words for a moment, while he continued, “If we are to have any hope of being rescued, we need to stay here.”

She erupted, “We’re not getting rescued! Staying here is a death sentence!”

“Hold it!” Jason said. As Anna and Cooper turned to regard him, he added, “What if we send a couple of people to scout through the caves to see if a way out can be found, while the rest remain here? That way, somebody is bound to succeed.”

“Not an option.” Cooper dismissed the idea.

Anna shook her head at Cooper’s response. “No, it’s not a bad idea. We could still try finding our own way out. And in case they do manage to find a way to reach us through the trap door without becoming trapped themselves, then we can at least get the injured out.”

“You’re not going anywhere!”

Anna smirked, amused at his obstructionism. “You’re not in a position to stop me.”

Her expression changed when he drew his pistol and aimed it at her.

“How’s that again, Jane?”

Jason’s eyes became as wide as saucers. “Sir, is that…”

He cut his statement short, when Cooper’s aim shifted onto him.

“Necessary?” The gulp that followed was loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Come on!” Anna protested. “Would you honestly shoot me over this whole thing? That’s ridiculous!”

“No, it’s effective. Now, sit down next to the two Einsteins over there and shut up.”

With heavy sighs, Anna and Jason disengaged themselves from the two soldiers, walked over to Cary and Tomomi, and sat down, looking grimly at each other.

“Now that I have your full cooperation, we can sit here and wait for our rescuers to come.”

* * * * *

“Is this the place?” asked a lieutenant standing behind another grunt at the top of the stairs leading to the door. The cool green glow from the soldier’s light stick provided the only source of light in the middle of the pyramid.

Hicks poked his head around the corner and nodded. “This is it, ma’am. The trap door is just before the door.”

“All right, then. Break out the equipment. Let’s start digging!”

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” one of the soldiers at the rear asked.

The lieutenant removed her backpack. “Go ahead.”

“Why don’t we try to open the trap door again, send someone down on a tether, and pull them up?”

“That is not a viable option, Ramage. Hicks, explain.”

“Because,” Hicks supplied. “The trap door remains open for about three minutes. By the time one of us reaches the bottom and secures the first one to be rescued, the door would close.”

“Can’t we prop it open?”

“We tried, and it damaged my rifle.”

“Enough chatter,” interrupted the lieutenant. “Ramage, Green, grab a pick. You two will chip through the trap door in five-minute shifts. Miller, you and Hicks will hold the line while they work. Hunter, you and I will scout the rest of the floor to see if there is another way down.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The squad responded in almost perfect unison.

About half an hour passed while they worked and searched. As Hunter and the lieutenant reached the area near the stairs leading up, she heard one of the soldiers yell. “Lieutenant Kriegler!”

Kriegler stopped her examination and turned to Hunter. “Keep searching, Hunter.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As Kriegler reached the top of the stairs, she saw Ramage sitting on the top step, shirtless and sweaty. Hicks knelt next to him holding a canteen.

“Report.”

Ramage pointed down the stairs. “Green found something, ma’am.”

Green stood next to a tiny hole in the floor where they had been digging.

“What did you find?” asked Kriegler.

Green shook his head. “I’m not sure, ma’am. We discovered this after digging through about six inches of stone. It seems that a faint, blue glow is coming from the hole, and it looks like some strange machinery is on the other side. The workings under the floor appear almost organic in nature.”

Kriegler stepped past Ramage and descended to the landing. Once there, she squatted down and peered through the hole at the mysterious technology. She pulled a light stick from her pocket and poked it through the hole.

“Sir,” Green remarked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Kriegler ignored Green’s comment and jabbed deeper. “Why is this working and nothing else?”

As Kriegler prodded again, a faint, ascending whine reached everyone’s ears. She looked around, trying to locate its source. Tracing it to her sidearm, he drew the weapon and smiled on seeing it powered and fully functional.

“Sir!” Ramage exclaimed. “My equipment is working again!”

“Mine, too!” added Miller.

A sound of stone moving against stone emanated into the stairway from behind Green as Kriegler held her hands out in victory and smiled, “See? Now that we have power running again, we can…”

A bright green flash filled the room for a brief second and cut her words short.

* * * * *

Hunter’s voice echoed through the dark corridors.

“Ma’am? Lieutenant? Hicks? Miller?”

Receiving no answer, Hunter walked to the doorway and surveyed the staircase. He took note of the blue light coming from the hole in the floor, the scattered equipment and ash. He frowned. Using his own light stick, he knelt next to the pile of ash at his feet and sifted through it until he discovered a set of dog tags. They belonged to Hicks.

His eyes widened in horror, and he moved to look at the second pile at the top of the stairs. In the green light, the metal chain of Ramage’s dog tags glinted back at him. He gazed down the stairs at the three other piles and the bits of equipment scattered around them.

“Oh, god!”

Hunter jumped to his feet and bolted for the pyramid’s entrance.