Page 30 of Wired Ghost

At least they were together.

Chapter Twenty-One

Connor

The chopper settledonto the lava, rocking slightly on the uneven stone. Connor frowned, scanning the area. “Anybody see any sign of them?” He hadn’t been able to spot Sophie or Jake using the satellite imaging, and even though the beacon told him that the craft was virtually on top of her, nothing was visible.

Raveaux was already reaching for the door. “Maybe they’re down on the ground. We should search a grid.”

“Put on the portable oxy tanks netted onto the wall,” Agno said. “I smell sulfur dioxide. It’s emitted when lava first breaks out, and it’s nasty.” He had already torn off his helmet and reached under the seat to grab a plastic breathing mask attached to an oxygen canister.

Nine, discerning what was needed, grabbed three more of the mobile units from their cradles on the wall of the chopper. He put his unit on, keeping his knife at the ready.

“Secure the pilot so he doesn’t get any ideas about flying off and leaving us here,” Connor told his second in Thai. “Raveaux and I will start searching for them on the ground.”

Nine gave a short nod. Connor opened the sliding door of the craft and hopped out.

His rubber-soled sandals didn’t seem heavy duty enough for the rugged lava, nor did his thin whitegiseem like it would withstand much contact with the brutal stone—but there was no help for it. He gestured to his tablet as he spoke to Raveaux. “I had the chopper put down six feet to the left of the beacon, but I’m beginning to wonder if the signal is very accurate. We should see Sophie and Jake already.”

Raveaux pointed to the spot Connor indicated. “Did it occur to you they could be below us? I wanted to tell you earlier. Sophie and Jake were dropped into a hole by the meth gang. A lava tube. Some of those go for miles under the surface. If you’re picking up the GPS signal here, they are probably below us.” The Frenchman scanned the ground. “Since visibility is so poor, we’re going to have to walk a grid. Use your tablet to identify the exact spot where the beacon is, and we’ll build our grid out from there.”

Connor breathed through this shock.Sophie could be buried out here!“Sophie!Sophie!Answer me!”

He sounded frantic, his voice muffled by the mask, but he didn’t care.

No reply.

Dense fog that smelled faintly but distinctively like sulfur swirled around them—this was what hell was going to smell like, most definitely.

But what Raveaux was saying made sense. Connor forced himself to take slow breaths of the oxygen from the mask—it was purer than the usual air, and he could feel it calming him, buoying him.

Embrace that. Use it. You’re in control of everything around you.

Connor walked carefully forward, holding the tablet out until he was directly on top of the signal. “This is my best guess for her exact location. But like I said, I don’t think this thing can be all that accurate.”

Raveaux darted forward suddenly, kneeling on a patch of soil to part some tough-looking grass. “I see steam coming up—Mon Dieu!There’s a crack here masked by the grass! They could be down below, in a cavern!”

Nine was getting out of the chopper as Connor swiveled back to face him. “We’re going to need the pickaxe and shovel. Quickly!”

Nine hurried to fetch the tools.

Connor knelt at the opening beside Raveaux, who was ripping at the tough grass with his bare hands, digging to widen the crack. “Sophie! Jake!”The man’s voice sounded as frantic as Connor’s had been. “We’re coming to get you out!”

Soon Nine and Raveaux were both hacking and chopping at the opening with the pickaxe and shovel. The crack, which had begun as a two-foot-long rift, widened under their rapid work.

Connor finally set the tablet aside—the beacon wasn’t moving. What did that mean? The fact that she hadn’t called out couldn’t be good . . .

This kind of thinking wasn’t helping. He needed to use his abilities. He sat down cross-legged.

Nine glanced at him with comprehension, but Connor’s apparent indolence seemed to push Raveaux over the edge. “You can move some damn dirt and make yourself useful!” Raveaux yelled at him, wild-eyed.

This man cared about Sophie and Jake. Good.

“I am being useful.” Connor shut his eyes. He centered himself, tuning into that deep knowing. He opened his inner self to “see.”

Two people were below them, one closer to the surface.

The smaller one had to be Sophie.Her energy signature was white, but it was going transparent around the edges as her life force ebbed.

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