Page 58 of Croatia Collateral

Thick dust enveloped her, making it hard to breathe.

“Giva,” Fearghas called out behind her.

“I’m all right,” she choked out and coughed. She pulled the collar of her shirt up over her mouth and pushed to her feet.

The lights in the passage still glowed, reflecting off the dust particles, making it impossible to see a hand in front of her face.

The explosion had to have come from the command center. Had Dax managed to destroy Maas’s setup?

Oh, God. Had he been inside the command center when it exploded?

Giva rose up on her hands and knees and pushed to her feet.

“We need to get out of here,” Fearghas’s disembodied voice sounded in the haze. He coughed and continued. “The explosion could have compromised the stability of the structure.”

“Dax could be in there,” Giva said, her voice raspy, dust clogging her nose and throat.

“If he was in there, he’s—” Peter started.

“We have to look,” Fearghas said.

The lights overhead flickered for a moment and then steadied.

“I’m going to find him.” With her hand on the wall beside her, she eased forward, sliding her feet across the rubble-littered stone.

When her feet bumped into something softer than stone, she gasped and bent to find a body lying amid the debris.

She dropped to her knees.

The body was big enough to be a man and covered in dust.

With her heart in her throat, Giva felt her way to the man’s head and turned him over enough to peer into his face.

As she wiped the dust from his skin, she released the breath she’d been holding in a whoosh.

It wasn’t Dax.

A groan sounded nearby.

“Dax!” Giva rose and stepped over the body. “Dax!”

A cough sounded from further along the passage.

“Dax?” she cried and rushed forward, stumbling over chunks of broken stone. “Dax!”

“Giva?”

“Where are you?” she cried.

“I’m here.” Dax materialized out of the haze.

Giva fell into his arms. “Oh, Dax. I thought... I thought...” Her body shook with sobs as she clung to Dax.

“I’m all right,” he said. “Are you?”

She nodded her head, her cheek pressed to his dusty chest. “I am now.”

“Giva? Dax?” Fearghas called out.

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