Page 84 of Hidden Raphael
"You heard that?"
She nodded. "It's loud. Run."
"I've rubbed off on you. We're ahead. We should make it."
"Good."
They raced to the wall and his secret entrance. He scraped the metal lever back.
Kimberly heard the frantic race behind them. They had no time to lose. She swallowed. "Hurry."
Raphael's face contorted in pain and he grabbed his ribs. She winced for him. Then she came beside him and helped lift the metal. "Are you okay?" She imagined all of his ribs being broken.
"I'll need ice."
She sighed and almost smiled. Of course that would be what he said.
She stepped inside the gate just as Roger and Harry jumped at the grate. Kimberly screamed as she saw the whites of their eyes. Roger’s pungent breath and bloody nose sent a chill down her spine that signaled she should be ready to die now.
Raphael barreled between them, holding the metal gate.
Her entire body shook. Raphael yelled, "Hit the lever to your right."
She reached out blindly to the right. Her fingers locked on a lever and she tugged.
Raphael's fists met one of the men's faces through the slats.
Now what?
She stepped back. Were they in the tunnel too? Kimberly's questions spun in her head.
Then Raphael lit a candle. The small light was a beacon. She let go of the lever she still gripped and saw no one was with them. She and Raphael were inside the tunnel. Roger and Harry were in the yard. He nodded at her. "Thanks for coming for me."
She tried to take a step, but her knees locked. He reached out for her hand and she accepted it. "We made it."
His face lit up like he saw his first Christmas lights, and then he reached out to her and hugged her.
The muscles and size of him calmed her in a way nothing else would. She closed her eyes and hugged him back. Then she told him, "I'm going to need a stiff drink."
With his hands now around her waist, he led her back through the halls. "I'll take one too."
Today they’d worked as a team. The threat was still out there, but for this moment, they had won. Kimberly closed her eyes. Raphael had once again saved her, but now she had saved him too.
