Page 45 of Nikolai
“I’m never going to live this down.”
“If we survive,” she reminded him, and the grin disappeared.
“We’re going to survive,” Nick said.He touched her cheek.“I promise.”
It was ridiculous.Nick couldn’t promise anything of the kind.But she felt better.He was reassurance itself.Tall and broad, radiating strength, even wounded and bleeding.She carefully turned back around, not touching anything.The last thing they needed was another massive spill.
There was a hole in the dirt wall in front of her, and she stuck her hand through again.Cooler air.Air that moved.
Parker stepped back and studied the wall in the feeble light of her dying cell’s flashlight.It appeared to be all dirt.Parts of it, at least, didn’t seem to be thick.They could possibly scrabble and punch their way through it.She pushed at the borders of the hole and dirt dribbled down.
“I wish I had a pickaxe,” Parker said, hands up against the wall, moving them around, looking for weaker spots.
“Don’t have a pickaxe, but I do have this,” Nick announced, pulling something out of his cargo pants.He opened it up.A knife!Made of some weird substance that wasn’t shiny.It was black and looked like it had time-traveled from the future.
“A knife.”Parker reached out but Nick held it out of her reach.“Careful honey, it’s really sharp.”
Parker patted the wall.“We don’t need sharp, but we do need strong.Resistant.”
“It’s strong.Don’t worry about that.”
Parker frowned at him.“I thought carrying knives was illegal in Italy?”
“Knives over six centimeters.This is five centimeters ninety.And I’d have a special dispensation anyway.Where do I start?”
Parker looked at him, and studied his shoulder.“I think maybe I should start.Then when I find a good spot, you can come in.”
Nick was scowling.
“Hold up your left arm,” Parker said.
“What?”
“You heard me.”He was stalling for time.
Nick brought his left arm up slowly and stopped at chest height.The gash started bleeding.
“Nick,” Parker said quietly.“Give the knife to me.When I’ve opened something up you can use your other arm.”
He winced, but handed it to her, haft first.
Parker patted the wall in a grid.Bottom to top, right to left.The wall felt thin in a few places, but she wasn’t able to punch through.The tiny opening she’d originally felt had stones around it.
Her cell was fading fast.She desperately wanted to break through this wall before they were in the dark.She hated darkness, this kind of darkness.Complete and black.It made her think of death.
She tapped a section and felt total horror when her cell died.
“Nick!”
Before she even had time to panic, a bright light came on.Nick’s satphone, which had a flashlight like a torch.The area lit up, the light ten times stronger than the light her cell gave off.And he had a charger.They wouldn’t be in darkness again for a while.
She let out a long breath.
“Better?”he asked quietly.
“God yeah.”She huffed out a breath and said something she’d normally never say, not in a million years.“Not a fan of the dark.”
He lifted his good arm to place his hand on her shoulder.
