Page 43 of What Remains

Except those guys, the ones I hit with the flare, they were out in the open, practically alongside?—

“Alongsideus.” His voice sounded almost startling to his own ears.They were coming down to the left of the aqueduct, and there wasn’t just one strike.“They were right on top of?—”

The earth shuddered. A sharpcracksplintered the darkness. A moment later, a rock the size of his fist whistled past his ear to land with a huge splash by his feet.

Close.He didn’t have a helmet. Get clocked by a big honking rock and even if the thing didn’t split his skull outright, he might be knocked out long enough to drown.Wouldn’t take long either.Already halfway up his boots, the water seemed to be coming faster, following the path of least of resistance, and lapped at the laces, trickled in through the eyeholes, around the tongue. He heard the water gurgle as the stream hit his ankles and gushed past.

Come on, Driver.Turtling his shoulders around his ears, he flung his left arm over his head for protection. Water sheeted down the sides of the tunnel, the sound punctuated by the splash of debris—and still, he waited, the seconds seeming to stretch like taffy, even though the animal portion of his brain screamed for him to run, to save himself.Come on, Driver, come on.Every muscle in his body was tensed, ready to run, but he forcedhimself to stay fast. He checked his watch, not because it told him anything but for something to do. He was startled to see that almost fifteen minutes had slipped by.We have to hurry if we’re going to make it back to Kabul in time.What should he do? Leave? He’d never be able to face himself in the mirror much less Roni.

Then, he picked up a new sound: a furious splashing coming from the tunnel and getting closer.

Oh, thank God.He aimed his light into the tunnel. “Driver?”

“Who else?” Hand shielding his eyes, Driver flinched. “Get that out of my eyes.”

“Sorry.” In more ways than one, too. Now that he was aiming his light that way, he saw that water was gushing into the tunnel’s mouth like spillage down a sluice.Flow’s definitely picking up.The air was even colder than before.

“Why…” Driver hugged himself. He was so drenched, his clothes clung. “The hell?” Driver’s hands shook as he swiped water from his eyes. “Why are you still here, Worthy?”

“Because you’re coming down from all those uppers, that’s why. No, save it,” he said as Driver opened his mouth. “That M.D. after my name isn’t just for show. Besides, I outrank you. So, stow it, soldier. Did you get through to Mac?” When Driver jerked his head in a shaky negative, he said, “No?”

“No, I didn’t. Now can we get out of here?”

“Come on.” Hooking a hand around Driver’s right arm, he tugged and got them both moving.But not fast enough.Driver was shaking from both his drugs tailing off and the cold. Slogging and sloshing uphill through ankle-deep water was tiring them both out, too. His boots were bricks tied to his ankles. Should he jettison them? No, the incline was going to get worse before it got better. Bare feet weren’t an option on rocks and even less so in icy water.

As they labored upslope, he chewed over what Driver had said about Mac. Not getting through was bad but maybe not disastrous. Mac would see the water, of course, he would…and then he thought,Oh, no.

“Why’d you stop?”

“What?” He hadn’t realized. “Sorry. Come on, that T-junction’s not far,” he said, though he wasn’t sure if he said that to encourage Driver or himself. Driver was trembling hard enough for him to feel the vibrations shiver into his own elbow.Terrific. Talk about really bad timing for a crash.He tightened his grip on the other man. “Listen, I know you’re coming down. There’s no shame in that, you popped uppers because you had to, I get that. I’ll give you something for the crash once we’re out. Right now, though, youhaveto keep moving.” He debated a half second then said, “Listen, I think we’re in big trouble here.”

“N-no k-kidding.” Driver’s breath came in sobs as he pulled air in then pushed it out. “You’re j-just now realizing that?”

He pushed past the remark. “Driver, we’re going uphill, right?”

“Yeah.” Another gulp of air and then Driver said, “So?”

“So,until the others get out, Mac isn’t going to know there’s a problem. Least resistance, man. The water’s flowing?—”

“Downhill.” Driver cursed. “Once we get to the junction, I’m going to try again.”

“No, you’re not. I haven’t felt anything shake for the last few minutes. I don’t think Mac’s going to call in any more strikes. So top priority is to get out now.”Before the water gets any higher.Hand still clamped to Driver’s wrist, he kept them both in a shuffling trot, their boots clapping water with a rhythmicsplish-splash-splish.“Once we get back to where we saw the kids, I think we’ll be fine. Let’s just keep moving.”

Not long now,he chanted in time to their struggling footfalls,not long now.But he saw nothing ahead, no wink of light—andthat was when he had a horrible thought.Oh, crap.Had he gone the wrong way? Had he missed the turn? No, no, how could he? Unless he was misremembering the tunnel’s layout. The tunnel forked, right? Or did it split into three? No, no, the junction was just further ahead than he remembered, that was all. Besides, Driver knew these tunnels a little better and he hadn’t said anything. Although if the man was coming down, would he notice?

The water surged around them, up to John’s knees before breaking into fans that wet his crotch.God, how much further?He tried to concentrate on each step. Tripping now on this incline and losing his footing, especially with the flow’s swiftness, might mean being tumbled backwards and swept downstream.

“Hey.” Driver’s breath smoked in the chill. “Look. Straight ahead.”

Beyond the halo of his light, John spotted a faraway glow. Was that coming from the entrance? Had they gone far enough to have already reached the fork? No, wait, that couldn’t be right. They still had to negotiate a tunnel back to the chamber Roni had used that morning to check out the kids and that had been at some distance from the entrance.

Which meant the corridor should be dark.

He felt a sinking in his gut. “Oh, no.”

“What? No, man, this is good,” Driver asked, as they hooked right and staggered against the current into the feeder corridor. “It means the others got word to Mac and he sent?—”

“Where have you been?” Huddled on a lip of rock about a foot above the rushing water, Roni stepped down to land with a splash. “Are you all right?”

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