Page 79 of No Man's Land

“What?”

He forced back his panic and said, “I, uh, think your eyes have adapted better than mine. You’re going to have to guide me.”

Alex was silent for a moment, then said, “Can you see the door? Tell me the truth.”

“No,” Josef admitted. “That is, perhaps something but… No, Alex, I can’t see a bloody thing.”

Another silence. Then Alex said, with painful bravado, “In that case, it appears my night vision is rather improved.”

“I might not mean—”

“It obviouslydoes,” Alex cut in. “But no point looking a gift horse in the mouth, is there? Here, take my hand.”

Alex clasped Josef's hand, and he was pathetically relieved to have that lifeline restored.

“Looks like we don’t need the torch,” Alex said lightly. “I’ll be your guide for now.”

For now.

Josef straightened his shoulders. “We’d better get going, then.” Because God only knew how much time Alex had left.

They moved through the darkness quickly, too fast for Josef’s comfort, but Alex seemed certain. And with every step, the air grew colder and danker, the silence broken now and then by a distant rattle of an underground train. And the constant dripping of water.

“It’s probably just condensation,” Alex said, when Josef mentioned it, “rather than the Thames breaking through.”

“Probably?” Josef muttered. Still, Alex’s patrician tones lent authority to everything he said, and, on this occasion, Josef chose to believe him.

“We’re at the side of the tunnel,” Alex said after a few more moments. “Reach out with your right hand and you’ll touch it.”

Gingerly, Josef did so, his fingers scratching across the damp, icy surface of the cast-iron tunnel wall. “How much further to the door?”

“We’re close,” Alex whispered, slowing them to a halt. He shifted, letting go of Josef’s hand, leaving him adrift in the dark. “Stay here. I’m going to open it.”

“What? Wait! They could be right behind it!”

Alex made a sound of impatience. “They’re not.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Apparently, I do.”

Josef swallowed. “Are you...? As Lottie said, are you feeling drawn to them?”

“No,” he said crisply. “Not drawn, exactly. More a certain... impatience to find them.”

“Well, I feel that too,” Josef said, forcing a laugh.

Alex didn’t reciprocate. “I suspect this is rather different.”

There came the sound of a door handle turning, and Josef held his breath. With a rusty squeal, the door opened, dim light blooming into the tunnel. Alex hissed, taking a step back.

The relief Josef felt at the light was squashed by the sight of Alex shading his eyes as if someone had shoved a lamp in his face. “All right?” he asked.

“In a moment,” Alex said stiffly, peering out from behind his hand. “Christ.”

The light, wherever it came from, wasn’t behind the door but somewhere further along the passage beyond. By no definition was it bright. “Your eyes are sensitive,” Josef said worriedly.

“Obviously.” Alex lowered his hand, blinking and squinting. “It’s getting better.”

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