“The clubhouse caved in between the dining room and the main hall,” reported Olivia. She put her phone away and carried on. “It sounds like Wes is trapped on the opposite side.”
“Nicole’s boyfriend is here too? I wonder what he did with Holden.”
“Hang on, he was the one who kidnapped Hastings?”
“Yeah. Your boss didn’t tell you that?”
“It wasn’t—”
“Part of the plan,” completed Lauren for her. “Help me through here.”
Olivia folded in on herself, reaching between her knees to take hold of Lauren’s hands and pull her through the skinny gap in the tunnel. “I just hope he’s smart enough to get out on his own,” she said. “I doubt we’ll have enough time to get through to his side after we evacuate Henry and Nicole.”
“For my sake, we’d better,” replied Lauren. She gasped as she emerged on the opposite side of the gap, bunched up against Olivia.
“What do you mean?”
“If Wes doesn’t make it, Nicole will surely kill me for rescuing her and not him.”
“Ah, feminist chivalry. How novel.”
A little farther on, the passage widened just enough for the girls to rise to a crouch. Here, the air was definitely thicker, and an acrid stench filtered in from ahead. Above them, an ominous creaking sound perforated the rock.
“That’s definitely not good,” groaned Lauren.
“Don’t think about it. We’re nearly there.”
For the remaining stretch of the passageway, they moved progressively faster. The tunnel continued to widen until Olivia and Lauren only had to duck their heads to avoid brush-ins with the low ceiling, but when they rounded the last bend, the sight at the end caused them to slow down. A cascade of jagged boulders obstructed the entry point into the clubhouse.
“Whoa,” said Lauren, skidding to a stop. “Your boss wasn’t kidding about the blockage.”
Olivia examined the wall of rocks, her hands planted on her hips. “It doesn’t seem as bad as it looks. We could move most of these on our own.”
Suddenly, the beam of an LED flashlight bounced off the tunnel walls from a small gap at the top of the wall. A deep voice resonated through to Olivia and Lauren. “Hope? Is that you?”
“Yeah!” Olivia called back. “How’s it looking from your side?”
“We cleared most of the rocks, but there’s one massive one that we can’t move on our own,” said Henry. He peered through the break between the rocks. “You must be Lauren.”
Lauren waved. “Hi, Henry. Nice to meet you.”
“Ditto. I’m glad you’re here. Nicole’s panicking—”
“I am not panicking!”
Henry ignored her, rolling his eyes, but Lauren was happy to hear Nicole’s voice, even if the circumstances were less than pleasant.
“If you two can move the smaller rocks on your side, I can lift Nicole up and over,” finished Henry. “I can get through on my own.”
Lauren and Olivia went to work, removing the largest boulders from the top of the pile and setting them down at the edges of the tunnel. Within minutes, both girls were sweating, and Lauren took off her sweater to tie around her waist as they continued on. As they widened the gap that Henry had created, a loud crack echoed from above. Olivia dropped the rock she was holding and reached out to stop Lauren from taking another one from the pile.
“The whole tunnel is going to cave in if we go much further,” she explained. “Henry, can you make it through there?”
“Going to have to, aren’t I?”
“All right. Send Nicole through.”
There was the sound of boots scraping against the wall as Henry boosted Nicole up. Her face appeared in the gap that Lauren and Olivia had cleared, covered in soot and dust from the cave-in.
“Take this first,” she said, shoving a black backpack toward Lauren. Lauren caught the bag and hoisted it onto her own back.
Nicole reached out, wriggling her upper body through the opening. Olivia and Lauren supported her weight on their shoulders and gently tugged her forward.
“Don’t drop me,” Nicole ordered as her waistline cleared the gap.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” grunted Lauren. “God, Nicole. How much do you weigh?”
“Aren’t you an athlete?” Nicole bit back. “Engage your core or whatever it is athletes do.”
With one last pull, Olivia and Lauren towed Nicole to their side of the blockage, tumbling backward at the sudden lack of resistance. Pebbles and dust rained down on top of them, but thankfully, the rock wall held firm.
Olivia brushed her hands off on the legs of her pants. “Henry? We’re ready for you.”
It took all three women to pry Henry from the gap, but in a few minutes, the foursome stood together on the same side of the passage, shaky but intact. Nicole hauled Lauren into a fierce hug.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she murmured into Lauren’s shoulder. “When Henry told me the Raptors had caught on to you, I was really worried. And your dad—”
A nauseating jolt rocked Lauren’s stomach at the reminder. She disentangled herself from Nicole’s grip and led the way down the tunnel back toward the basement. “I’m fine. I’ll figure it out.”
Nicole looked worried but didn’t push it. As they followed behind Lauren, she extended her hand toward Olivia. “I’m Nicole. Thanks for rescuing us.”
“No problem,” said Olivia, giving Nicole a firm shake. “I’m Olivia. Er, Hope. You know what? Let’s just stick with Olivia.”
Henry chuckled from the back of the group. “And what am I supposed to call you?”
“Ma’am.”
Everyone laughed, and Henry executed a mock salute in Olivia’s direction. Lauren took point as the tunnel narrowed, lowering to her hands and knees to lead the group out of immediate danger.
“Nicole, have you heard from Wes?” asked Lauren.
“Not since the cave-in,” replied Nicole, worry coloring her tone. “Do you think he made it out?”
“The tunnels that lead out to the sewer are reinforced,” said Lauren as she worked her way through the passage. “They were the first ones built, so the earlier Raptors put a little more thought into them. The other passages were added later for emergency purposes, but obviously whoever dug them out weren’t quite as
