A Message for Julia Read Online Free PDF Page A

it off. On three they all pushed. Ryan and Mike’s young muscle added to theirs was just enough to tip over the machine.
    Casey grimaced, but he clenched his jaw as he fought crying out. His pain was palpable in the chamber with them. Looking lower, Linc realized Casey’s leg was badly mangled.
    The roar returned. Gabe waved them on as he shoved his shoulder under Casey’s armpit.
    Zach took the other side. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
    Together they half carried, half dragged the injured man up the incline. Suddenly, air whooshed over them. Turning and stumbling backward, Linc watched as the ebony shale buried the machine. Silence settled with the dust around them.
    Then, another roar… Every inch of ground and air around them trembled. There was no time to think. Ryan and Mike backpedaled from where a new slide of shale closed off the opening ahead of them.
    Then silence. Heavy silence, almost too quiet to be real, pressed on his ears. Nothing broke it for a longminute until the sound of their rasping breaths whispered through the air.
    The only light came from the lamps on each hard hat. Beams of white light bounced back at them from the black dust in the air. Linc tried not to think how much of that crap was coating the inside of his lungs as he fought to breathe.
    Linc moved first, his training kicking in. “I’ll take this side.” He checked the gas meter in his pack. No danger levels—yet. He kept the meter close.
    Removing the lamp from his hard hat, he used it like a flashlight. Ryan and Mike did the same. Gabe and Zach settled Casey on a level patch of ground, while Robert tried to activate the emergency radio from Casey’s belt.
    Each man quickly took a section of the cavern, ringing it with light, looking for any indication of a breach in the rock. Linc found nothing. When he rejoined the others, they all shook their heads.
    Even Robert. “Radio’s crushed. I can’t fix it.” He tossed the broken pieces onto the ground and cursed.
    They were well and truly trapped.
    The one encouraging thing was that there had been no more rumbles. Obviously, they’d hit something with the blade, but what? With luck, only this chamber was affected. Little good that did them. Linc knew from the schematics of the mine that at least fifty feet of solid rock separated them from any hope of escape.
    Gabe hunkered down next to Casey. They all watched his light illuminate Casey’s leg. The steel-toed boots he wore had protected his foot, but his calf and knee had beenseverely chewed up by the tread of the machine. Blood soaked both his leg and the ground around him.
    Gabe loosened Casey’s belt and carefully slipped it off. “I can’t stop the bleeding with just pressure.” In minutes, he’d wrapped the man’s leg in one of the thick flannel shirts he’d worn and tightened the belt around his upper thigh. “I trained as an EMT years back. I hoped I’d never need it,” Gabe said, pain in his voice. “We’ll have to watch him close.”
    At least Casey wasn’t going to bleed to death in front of them. Not yet anyway.
    The miners settled back, regrouping, their thoughts probably as disjointed as Linc’s.
    Trapped. They were trapped.
    Linc fought the panic that clawed at his chest and knew it was probably a losing battle. He closed his eyes, picturing the house he had left only a few hours before. Home. He just wanted to go home.
    He didn’t dare picture Julia’s face. That would be his undoing.

CHAPTER THREE
    Thursday Afternoon, 4:00 p.m.
    J ULIA REACHED OVER and turned on the car’s radio. Usually, after a day with her students, she appreciated the solace of silence. Now she needed something to drown out her thoughts.
    Tomorrow would be her and Linc’s seventh anniversary. Would he even remember? Or care? She shook her head. Linc might forget, but at one time he had cared. A lot. She