Page 34 of Wired Ghost

The man had collapsed on one of the ledges near the ceiling, right where he must have tied the rope onto Connor.

“Quel désastre,” Raveaux murmured. “Like a relay race gone bad.” He shook his head briefly at the ridiculousness of this deadly adventure—but at least he wore proper clothing and boots, and still had oxygen. Nine and Connor’s canisters hadn’t been full—they must have been used. And the two had been wearing nothing but martial arts robes and rubber soled sandals, the fools.

The rope dropped him onto a boulder on the floor. Raveaux hurried across the cracked stony surface, jumping over a fingerling of lava, and reached the ledges leading up the side of the cavern. He climbed rapidly to where Nine had passed out and lifted the solidly-built Thai man into his arms. He draped Nine’s arms over his shoulders and ran the rope between the man’s legs, wrapping his arms around his torso. He tugged on the rope with both hands to signal Agno to pull them up.

Unless he let go of the rope, he wouldn’t drop Nine. This modified fireman’s carry was the best he could come up with, though bound to be damned uncomfortable by the time they got to the top.

The winch began trundling up, pulling in slack rope that had sagged.

Only then did Raveaux suck a deep breath in, and cover Nine’s nose and mouth with his own plastic mask. He pinched Nine on the arm, hard. “Wake up and breathe, man. Breathe,” he entreated in French, then English. He shook and joggled Nine in his arms. The man groaned—and breathed. Raveaux quickly moved the mask over his own nose and mouth and drew a breath of the oxygen, then put it back on Nine’s face as the man’s short, thick eyelashes fluttered. “Breathe,” he said again. “Wake up, Nine!”

The rope went taut all of a sudden, lifting Raveaux and Nine off the ledge. The full weight of the other man in his arms and the rough rope running through his torn hands and between their legs hit Raveaux at once. He gave a low cry of agony and made the mistake of inhaling. The foul sulfur gas burned his lungs. He couldn’t decide what hurt worse: his hands, his chest where the rope cut in, or his abused throat and streaming eyes.

Suddenly he felt the mask over his face, and he breathed blessed fresh air as Nine held it on him, patting his back in silent thanks. Raveaux kept his eyes shut, but inhaled as deeply as he could without coughing. Seconds later, the mask disappeared as Nine used it to take a breath.

The painful ascent felt endless until they reached the lip. Agno paused the winch, came to the edge, and helped haul the two men up onto level ground. The three of them collapsed for a moment in exhaustion; then Raveaux roused himself.

Raveaux staggered to his feet with Nine in his arms. “Get us out of here!” he yelled to Agno through the plastic mask. “The lava’s coming up from below at any minute!”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Raveaux

Raveaux turnedhis head to look into the back of the chopper as they arrowed at top speed across the desolate lava plain.

Nine and Connor, still out of it, but awake and breathing, sat in the seats behind Raveaux and the pilot. Lying on the floor in the cargo area were Sophie and Jake, covered by emergency thermal blankets and both still on O2. Jake was still unconscious, and though fading, the bright red skin color caused by excessive sulfur dioxide inhalation and hypoxia were worrisome.

The man might have sustained brain damage.He might never wake up.

“Stay positive,” Connor said in Raveaux’s ear through the comm, his voice a thready rasp. Raveaux met the man’s sea-blue eyes and nodded briefly—he hadn’t realized he’d spoken his fears aloud.

He glanced behind again, and his gaze fastened on Sophie. She was lying on her side facing Jake, stroking his face, his arm. The gesture was filled with longing, with love, with fear.

Raveaux, suddenly nauseous, turned and faced forward. Agno, steady at the controls, glanced at him. “Keep your eyes on the horizon line. Looking down or backward really makes people get airsick fast.”

“Vraiment,” Raveaux murmured. “I am feeling it. Perhaps too much of that bad gas, as well.”

“It’s amazing you are all doing as well as you are.” Agno sounded downright cheerful now that they were headed for the hospital and he’d soon be rid of them. “I’ve radioed ahead that we have sulfur dioxide inhalation victims to treat. They will want to check all of you out.”

“We’re on a tight schedule,” Connor said. “I’m afraid Nine and I won’t be joining Jake and Sophie for medical care.”

Nine held up his cruel little blade alongside Agno’s sight line. The pilot groaned aloud. “You gotta be shittin’ me. Not this again. Put that pig sticker away and I’ll take you wherever you want to go—so long as I never have to see any of you again.”

Connor’s eyes crinkled with humor as he leaned forward between the seats. “Nine and I just need to return to the airport after we let our people off at the hospital. To sweeten the deal and make sure you don’t tell anyone about this little adventure, we’ll throw in something toward your retirement.” He named a figure that made the pilot’s eyes widen and his Adam’s apple bob.

“That’ll do,” the man said.

Soon, the chopper was lowering to the parking lot outside the entrance marked Emergency on a big red sign. Raveaux clutched the door’s handle, gulping down bile.

Medical personnel ran out to meet them with a gurney; Raveaux flung aside his harness and leaped out of the front seat. “We need two stretchers,” he told a nurse as he opened the side door of the helicopter. “The male victim, Jake Dunn, has never regained consciousness, though he’s breathing and on oxygen.”

The staff fired questions at Raveaux as they loaded Sophie and Jake onto gurneys and hooked up IVs. Connor and Nine stayed seated in the chopper throughout. Moments later, the helicopter was rising in the air, with its roar and blast of stinging prop wash, pushing the medical team to run into the building. Raveaux looked back, and Connor, visible in the side window, raised his hand in goodbye.

Would he ever see that enigmatic man and his Thai sidekick again? No way to tell. He hurried into the building in the wake of the team ferrying Sophie and Jake.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sophie

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