Page 48 of What Remains

“Uh-huh.” Emptying a packet of instant broth into a mug, Driver added hot water and stirred. “Back at the aqueduct, right after you hit the water, part of the wall leading to the next chamber collapsed. Later, I found out that while you torched most of those fighters with that flare, one still managed to squirt off an RPG. Lucky for Mac, the guy had rotten aim. Meeks took care of the stragglers before they could fire another.”

“An RPG took out of the wall?”

“More like the first domino. You just happened to be on the right side of the cave-in. When water came gushing out of the cave’s mouth, you were along for the ride. Washed up like a beached fish is what Flowers said.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask about Flowers and Meeks. Instead, he asked, “Your turn. Last I saw of you and Roni, you guys were headed in the wrong direction. You were going back the way we’d come.”

“Mmm.” Driver sipped broth. “Remember what I said way back at the airport about the way these aqueducts were constructed?”

“Along a series of wells, yeah.” Then something Flowers mentioned floated up from memory:rungs driven into rock.“Son of a gun. You went into an old well shaft.”

“Dumb luck. I spotted the shaft when I was climbing up the wall. That’s why I was going one way while you went the other. I ducked in right before the same collapse that sent you out on wave of displaced water. I was just lucky this well wasn’t plugged too bad. Had to use my knife to dig to the surface. Took forever. When I finally broke through, the stars were out.”

“Andafteryou were out?”

“Still had my radio, so I got Mac on the horn. By then, he was back in Kabul.”

“But the boys we rescued got out.”

“But the boys we rescued got out on that last plane.” Driver sipped more broth. “You’re dancing around what you really want to know.”

“What do I really want to know?”

“Now who’s playing stupid?” An undercurrent of something close to anger in Driver’s tone now. “Did it ever occur to you that maybeIfeel guilty, too? She was with me, after all. You were already…” He made a vague gesture.

“Dead? Out of the picture?”And isn’t that what you really wanted?

“Yes, I thought you were dead.”

“Were you happy?”

“Go screw yourself.” Although there was little heat in his voice. With the telling, Driver sounded as wrung out as John felt. “I called for her to follow. This was literally, like, ten seconds, before the wall collapsed. The last I saw, Roni was moving up to where I was.”

“So, you were already in the shaft.” Why did that sound like an accusation? “You must’ve made like Spiderman to make it that fast.”

“It was luck,” Driver said, flatly. “Get as pissy as you want, if that makes you feel better. But the wall broke open and you fell. I watched you go under. You didn’t come back up, so forgive me for assuming you croaked. Which you sort of did.”

He couldn’t argue that. “What then?”

“I told you, Worthy. I called for her to follow. She looked up, she saw me and started to move. I climbed into the shaft, hooked an arm around one rung—one!” Driver held up a finger. “Okay? I didn’t keep climbing and I wasn’t where she couldn’t see me. I was half-in and half-out, and I waited. But then the rest of the wall came down. I didn’t see her fall, but she must have because when I looked for her, she wasn’t there. All right? I waited tosee if she would surface, but she didn’t. Hate me all you want, Worthy, but I did the best I could.”

Hatred seemed pointless now. “After the wall came down, why didn’t you go out the way we’d come in?”

“Couldn’t. I was cut off. Remember I said you got washed out? The wall created a barrier that kept the water on my side.”

He thought about that. “So, Roni got washed backwards?”

“As near as I can figure. I think she got sucked back down into the tunnels.”

A reasonable hypothesis, if grisly. “And after Mac came back for you?”

“It was middle of the night before they picked me up. We made it back to the airport about noon. The last transport was gone. There were still people waiting in line to get out of the country, but no one had told those poor people there wouldn’t be any more transports.”

“So as not to spark a panic.”

Driver nodded. “Our people were already breaking down operations. Anyway, a medic checked me over and then we all got on a transport.”

“And left.”

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