The Search (40 page)

But that didn't mean Logan was alive.

Don't think about that. When they got through this pipe, they'd find Logan and he'd be alive. Repeat it like a mantra.

He is alive.

He is alive.

He is alive.

She could hardly breathe. She checked the monitor she wore around her neck. No lethal gases. It must be the concrete dust . . . and fear.

Digging her elbows into the rubble, she slowly made her way forward.

"Okay, Sarah?" It was Donner at the command post, speaking through her wire.

No, it wasn't okay. She was terrified. But she said, "No problem. There are more air pockets than I thought there'd be. And I haven't found any weak spots I wasn't able to shore up."

"That doesn't mean you won't. Don't be a hot dog. You should get out of there and let us go in."

She couldn't do that, not when she knew they'd be forced to take precautions that would eat up time. Logan's time. "No problem," she repeated.

Monty gave a low moan.

She knew that sound. Oh, God, he'd found something.

And it wasn't alive.

"I can't talk anymore, Donner. I hear Monty. . . ."

She crawled until she saw Monty standing still.

Standing next to a body crushed beneath slabs of concrete.

Dead.

Please, Jesus. Let Monty be wrong.

Let Logan have a spark of life so she could save him.

She crawled closer.

Blood. She was crawling through blood.

"Easy, boy. Move just a little. I've got to help him."

Monty whimpered and shifted to one side.

Her flashlight speared the darkness, and her stomach wrenched. Blood. So much blood.

Puddled around the head.

Oh, God, not Logan.

Rudzak.

Eyes wide open, blood on his white hair, on his face and throat.

Dead.

Not Logan.

The relief was so strong, it made her light-headed.

"Find, Monty."

He looked at her, confused. Then he started down the pipe again.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Darkness.

Dust.

Monty barked.

"Logan!"

No answer.

But she could see Monty ahead of her, and there had been eagerness in his bark.

"Logan! You answer me!"

"Sarah, what the hell are you doing down here?"

She almost fainted. She had to close her eyes for a moment before she could speak. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm rescuing you."

"Then get out of here and tell Galen to dig me out."

"Stop giving me orders. Where are you? I can't see you."

"I can't see you either, but I can hear you. I'm behind one of the collapsed columns in the lab."

"How many collapsed?"

"Two, one is still holding."

She wriggled closer to the sound of his voice. "There's a blockage."

"That's what I told you."

"But I think I can wriggle around it."

"Stay where you are."

"Shut up. Are you hurt?"

"A few cuts and bruises."

"Better than you deserve." She squeezed into the blocked passage. Monty whimpered eagerly and tried to come after her. "No, boy, you found him. Good boy. Now go tell Galen and Donner."

"You go tell Galen," Logan said.

"Go, Monty."

Monty looked at her uncertainly.

"Go."

He turned and started crawling back through the tunnel.

She spoke into her wire. "I've found Logan. I think he's okay. I've sent Monty to show you the way back." She switched off her wire, then turned the flashlight on Logan. "Now, where are these cuts and bruises that-- You liar." She crawled closer to where he was lying. "It's broken?"

"I suspect."

"Anything else?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"Yes." Her hand trembled as she took out her first aid pack and got a good look at his arm. She cut the ropes binding him and then opened her pack. "It's not a compound fracture. I'm surprised because you never do things simple, do you?"

"The pot calling the kettle black."

"It could have been your idiotic head."

"That occurred to me. I didn't expect Rudzak to set a surprise charge before he left. I thought I had everything covered. I had the blueprints changed before he stole them to make the basement lab seem the perfect target. I knew he'd choose to--"

"Shut up and grit your teeth." She splinted the arm and then bound it. "Okay. It's done."

"I'm very . . . glad."

"So am I." She sat looking at him. "But I'll break your other arm if you ever try to keep anything from me again."

"It was necessary."

"Bull. Even if you didn't know about the second charge, you had to blow that pipe, didn't you? You had to take a chance that could--"

"I couldn't let him live. Not after Kai Chi. I just hope I got him."

"You did. Monty found him before we got here."

"Thank God."

"I thought he was you. I thought you were dead." She lay down beside him, not touching him. "I don't want you ever scaring me like this again."

"I think you could call this an extraordinary circumstance."

"I don't care what you call it. It's not going to happen. I don't want you hurt or broken or dead."

"Neither do I."

"Then you should take better care of yourself. You can't expect Monty and me to come after you whenever you get into trouble."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Because we'll have to do it. We won't have a choice."

"Why not?"

She was silent a moment. "Because we . . . love you."

He stiffened. "You do?"

"Not that you deserve it. But that doesn't seem to make a difference. We're stuck with you."

"My God, what a romantic declaration. I'm not sure whether it's you or Monty who's--"

"It's me. Monty has more sense." She moistened her lips. "And I don't care how many women you've loved in the past. Because I'm going to be the best and the last. We match. We could have a great marriage. I'll work at it and make you work at it until we have something that's really special."

"Are you asking for my hand in marriage?"

"No, I'm telling you that you should marry me because you're not going to find anyone who's better for you and I'm not going to let you go for the next hundred years or so."

"You don't have to be so argumentative." He cleared his throat. "I believe I made the first confession of affection. I could wish you hadn't chosen this hole in the ground in which to reply."

"I had to get it out."

"Could you at least take my hand?"

"No, I might hurt you. You broke your damn arm."

"I'll suffer."

She reached out and carefully linked her fingers with his. She whispered, "I do love you, Logan. I never thought I could love anyone like this. I hope you know it's not going to go away."

"I'll resign myself." He leaned his head on her shoulder and his weight felt dear and solid and wonderfully right. "There's only one other thing I want to know. It's of supreme importance."

"What?"

"Do you love me as much as you do your dog?"

EPILOGUE:

They heard the wolf howl as soon as they got out of the jeep.

"Thank heavens." Eve had flung open the front door of the cabin and stared at them now in exasperation. "I never want to hear another wolf for the rest of my life. I may even cancel my subscription to NationalGeographic. I was tempted to give the animal a sedative just so we could get some sleep."

"Sorry." Sarah looked sheepish. "We'll take over. Where are Joe and Jane?"

"Out for a run. I think they wanted to get away from Maggie."

"That bad?"

"That bad." Eve glanced at Logan. "That cast on your arm may come in handy."

Maggie howled.

Monty barked joyously and disappeared into the house.

"You'd better monitor that encounter," Eve told Sarah. "She's very bad tempered. He may get his throat sliced."

"I think it will be okay," Sarah said. "She usually tolerates him. But we'll take a look."

"What are you going to do with her?"

"That's a big question," Logan said. "Do you think she'd like California?"

"No." Sarah frowned. "You can't take her out of the state. The authorities wouldn't permit it."

"I think I can guarantee that they'll cut us some slack."

"Even if you pull strings, what are we going to do? Let her roam among all those mansions on the seventeen-mile strip? She's better off here."

"And risk having your rancher friends shoot her?"

"No, of course not." She sighed. "It's just that Monty . . ."

"I know," Logan said. "He's got a problem." He tilted his head. "What's that?"

Sarah heard it too, a cross between a growl and a warble.

"Monty?" No, that wasn't Monty. She strode quickly to the back porch. "What's happen--"

Monty was on his back with his feet in the air. He gave an ecstatic woo-woo of a yodel.

Maggie growled in disgust but continued to lick Monty's face.

"I'd say that absence definitely made the heart grow fonder," Logan murmured. "That's more than toleration. Unless you want to turn Monty loose to roam with her, I believe we have to find a domestic solution. I can see a second generation on the horizon."

"Good luck," Eve said. "You'll need it."

"I'm not worried about luck." Sarah's gaze shifted from Maggie and Monty, and she smiled into Logan's eyes. "If we don't have it, we'll make it. Isn't that right, Logan?"