The Five-Day Dig (35 page)

Jack looked at him in surprise. “Your reasoning?”

“Gut feeling.”

He let out a snort. “That’s our Dunk, a great proponent of the scientific method.”

“In any case,” Chaz said, “this room is probably the safest place down here. The vaulted ceiling should be quite strong.”

Winnie hoped so. As she checked for cracks above them, a drilling noise came from the area of the blocked tunnel. The sound grew louder; then some rubble broke away and tumbled down the slope.

Hank grabbed the camera and focused it on the tunnel just as a four-inch-wide pointed cylinder broke through.

Jack jumped up. “Contact with the outside world!”

The drill bit retreated, leaving a pipe behind. A thin beam of light shone through.

He cupped his mouth and called, “Ahoy! Can you hear us?”

Something slid out of the pipe and down the slope – a walkie-talkie, Winnie realized.

The speaker crackled, and Domenico’s anxious voice came out: “Enza,
carina
, can you hear me?”

Dunk picked it up and pressed the button. “Dom, it’s Dunk. Enza’s fine, but she’s in the next room. She’ll be right back.”

“
Grazie Dio
!” Domenico said, his tone filled with relief. “There is more than one chamber down there? Is anyone hurt?”

“There’s plenty of room. Amara injured her ankle, but the rest of us are OK – but Will isn’t with us. Did he get out?”

“We dug him out a half-hour ago. He was unconscious. He has been taken to the hospital.”

Winnie exchanged a concerned look with Chaz. Their boss may have been a jerk, but she didn’t want to see him hurt.

Frowning, Dunk pressed the button again. “How bad is his condition?”

“It’s not clear, but I assure you he will receive the best care.” A pause ensued, then the speaker crackled on again. “It may take some time before we can get you out. We’re going to send down water and food. What else do you need?”

“A bandage and a splint for Amara,” Hank said.

“Yes.” Dunk relayed the request into the mouthpiece, then looked around the room. “Batteries – a couple dozen D-cells, if possible. Toilet paper. And hand sanitizer.”

“You will have it shortly,” Domenico said. “Also, the rescue-squad captain wants me to tell you to stay clear of the area where we’re drilling. Is that possible?”

“Easily. We hear and will comply.”

The rescue team started sending bottles of water down immediately. Next came batteries.

Winnie breathed a sigh of relief and got to work restocking lanterns and flashlights. Chaz did the same. Within minutes, the room looked brighter.

Amara and Enza walked back in as the medical supplies were sliding down. The former let out a squeal of joy at the sight.

Enza still looked worried, but once Dunk put her on the walkie-talkie with her father, her face brightened, too. Unfortunately, Domenico mentioned Farber’s condition to her, and her tears flared again.

Chaz leaned close to Winnie’s ear. “I realize that Dr. Farber is in danger, but I wouldn’t think he had touched
Enza’s
heart enough to warrant her tears after such short acquaintance.”

“She’s a bundle of nerves. I hope they get us out of here soon.”

The Fates ignored her wish, but soon sandwiches and additional drinks rained down from above, and she figured food was the next best thing. While the group wolfed down their makeshift dinner, they chatted and even tossed out a few jokes.

Once the meal ended, they staved off claustrophobia and panic by keeping busy – marking labels, sketching diagrams and taking notes.

As the hours passed and the muffled sound of big machinery didn’t change, the emotional strain of the long day began to get to them. Eventually, everyone reclined next to the big pool, looking grim.

Winnie sensed Chaz’s focus on her and met his gaze. With a smile, he patted the spot in front of him on the floor.

She had spent the day trying to act platonically toward him in front of the others, but now she had lost her willpower. Scooting closer to him, she lay down on the dirty floor where he had indicated and let him spoon up behind her.

No one gave them a funny look, so she relaxed. Being able to touch him after so much denial was bliss. His body felt warm and wonderful. She began to wish they could sneak off into one of the smaller rooms and be alone, even for a few minutes, but she would never be that brazen.

How long will it take the rescuers to get us out?
she wondered, suddenly focused on getting him alone as well as being safe. She wished she had him in her room again. On this trip, they’d had so much time alone and not taken advantage of it. Now that they needed it, they were trapped here with a group.

Twisting her neck to look over her shoulder at him, she gave him a wistful look. His eyes reflected the same smoldering need she felt. Stretching to reach each other’s mouth, they kissed quietly but sensually.

“Get a
cubiculum
, you two,” Dunk said. An uncharacteristic edge to his voice made it hard to tell whether he was amused or annoyed – maybe both. “The
apodyterium
is open.”

Winnie shrank in shame, but Chaz laughed at him. “You’re just miffed because no one wants to snog
you
.”

“
Touché
. And it’s going to be a long night.” He stood up. “I think I’ll survey the library again, in case the rest of you missed something.”

“Don’t be daft.” Jack sounded tired. “A bomb went off over there. Another one could be ready to blow.”

“I’m willing to take that risk. Our work here is internationally important.” He turned to Hank. “Want to help me record a few more details?”

Lying on his back with his hands behind his head, Hank didn’t budge. “I’m about as eager to do that as snog you. We got what we could. Leave the rest for a future excavation.”

Dunk put his hands on his hips. “I can’t believe how willing you all are to give up our chance to make the find of the century.”

Jack sat up. “Hank is right, Dunk. There will be other digs here.”

“Not for us. Maybe not even in our lifetime. Look at
Herculaneum
. We’ve known about the library there for two centuries, and it’s still not completely excavated.” He spun around to Hank again. “Give me the camera. I’ll get some more footage on my own.”

A moment passed, then Hank sat up and reached for the camera. “Just let me change the memory card first. Then if you need to run out of there and you drop the camera, at least we’ll have what we recorded earlier.”

While he switched out one camera card for another from his pocket, Jack massaged his forehead as if in pain. “Dunk, please. Don’t do this.”

“I won’t leave without seeing everything down here.”

Hank closed up the camera again, and Dunk grabbed it from him. As he started walking out of the room, Enza called, “Wait!”

He stopped and looked back.

She scrambled to her feet. “I’ll go with you.”

A collective gasp sucked the air out of the room. But Dunk grinned. “That’s my girl.” He put his arm around her, and the two of them walked out.

“This is getting strange,” Amara said. “First
Enza
is a wreck. Now she’s fearless? Do they have cabin fever? Post-traumatic stress disorder?”

Jack shrugged. “I suppose she reckons we’re as good as rescued. Personally, I won’t rest until I’m on the surface.”

“But why are they always together lately? Is something going on between them? She’s one-third his age.”

Her eyes strayed to Winnie, and Winnie cringed. “I’m in not in a position to comment, since Chaz is much younger than I am.”

“Not
much
younger,” he said. “I’m almost three-quarters your age.”

An embarrassed laugh slipped out of her. “How nice to have it calculated.”

“And the fraction will increase with each year,” he added.

She grimaced. “I’ll look forward to that.”

A muffled boom interrupted the conversation. The room shook. They all jumped to their feet and ran for the arches, shielding their heads. A small avalanche of rubble slid down the slope, just missing Jack and Amara as they dove out of the way. The pipe from the tunnel loosened and rolled down, clanking on the tile at the bottom.

Everything went still. They looked around at each other. No one seemed to be, but they all looked pale and shaken.

Winnie brushed dust off her shoulders. “I’ve had about enough of this.”

“Are you all right down there?” Domenico shouted from above.

She looked up. He and a rescue worker knelt within a large opening where the original tunnel had been. Beyond them stretched a starry sky. Relief flooded her.

Jack scanned the room. “Not everyone is in the room.”

“Is Enza with you?”

“No, but I’ll find her.” He looked at the others and said in a softer tone, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I will be right down with a paramedic,” Domenico called.

Jack rushed out toward the library. Hank and Chaz hurried after him. Winnie hesitated. She had a bad feeling, too. “Be careful!” she called after them.

She and Amara moved aside as the rescue team lowered a ladder down the slope. A paramedic climbed down, and she hoped they wouldn’t need him, but her fears grew as seconds ticked by and the others didn’t return.

The rescue worker reached the bottom with Domenico following him. He looked around the main room. “Where are the rest? Can you show us?”

She nodded. Feeling numb, she hurried toward the library with them trailing her. As they got closer, the air grew thick with dust. She covered her face with the hem of her shirt. At the door to the room, she stood back, gesturing for the men to go in ahead of her.

“
Dio mio!
” Domenico rushed inside. “Enza, where are you?”

Winnie peered in to see Jack, Hank and Chaz digging through a pile of broken bricks and rubble. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, complicating their task. The newcomers began digging, too. Horrified, she did what she could by moving the closest debris into the corridor. Seeing what she was doing, Hank joined her.

“Oh, no!” Jack’s interjection drew their attention to a hole he had just exposed. A man’s hand and wrist with watch stuck out from the rubble. “Hank, Chaz, help me!”

The three of them pulled bricks off the arm, while rubble kept tumbling down on it. When the paramedic had room to get his fingers around the wrist, he checked for a pulse. His shoulders slumped. “He’s dead.”