Page 95 of Doyle

“Are you saying the air ispoisonous?”

“Yes. And the smoke is going to seep in here and poison this entire tunnel.” She pulled out the secondary line of oxygen and handed it to him. “Smoke rises—we’re probably safe right now. But lithium smoke is lethal. It won’t be long before this entire chamber is filled with gas. We need to get out of here.”

“How?”

She stuck her reg back in her mouth. Turned and stared into the darkness. He shone his light into the mountain.

“No.”

She pulled out the reg. “Yes.”

“Sorry, but getting lost in the labyrinth of a volcano seems like a dumb way to die. I can’t think of a worse idea.”

She pulled on her face mask.

“What are you doing?”

She turned back. “I’ve been here for the better part of two weeks trying to figure out how to get into this fortress. I found this smugglers’ river on a map in the city archives. This tunnel goes all the way through the mountain.”

“No.”

“Yes. I swam this tunnel—went farther to see if I could get out.”

“And?”

She swallowed. “I... It’s a web. But I have a GPS. And an extra flashlight in my pack.” She dug into her pack, found a wrist GPS, and put it on. “And I loaded the map into it, just in case.”

“In case what?”

“Just in case you... were on to me.”

His mouth tightened. “You knew I was here.”

“I’ve been watching you for days.”

Of course she had.He shook his head.

“So, just... get past that and listen. We can do this.”

“These tunnels are miles long! We could get lost down here forever. It’s like getting lost in the catacombs under Paris.”

“Is that a thing?”

“Yeah, it is. There are catacomb monsters who steal your lights and your maps and leave you to die.”

“Now you’re just trying to scare me.”

“Good. Are you scared?”

Her mouth made a tight bud, maybe holding in fury. Or laughter.

He suddenly, terribly wanted laughter.

What—?He hadn’tmissedher. He’d known her for all of two days.

Two explosive, interesting, intense days.

“Why, every time I see you, does it involve running and near death? And bat-crazy ideas.”

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