Chapter 19: "You had to say it!"
"You had to say it!" Juliet muttered in between coughs. Rock dust filled the passage, stinging eyes and throats alike.
"I know: I should know better by now!" Cal replied. He took a swig of water and poured some over his dust covered face.
"Careful: we don't know how long we'll be stuck down here," Juliet reminded him. "Maggie, you still with us?"
Not even a crackle of static filled the waiting silence. Juliet looked at Cal, but he shook his head. Nothing.
"Now what?" Cal asked. "Stay here and wait for them to come get us or follow this and see if it leads us out of here?"
"If it doesn't, we can always come back," shrugged Juliet. "Come on."
"At least…"
"Don't!" Juliet snapped. "Whatever you were going to say, don't!"
XXXX
"What have you got, Maggie?" Solomon demanded, stepping up into the minivan beside her.
"I have their last position and a rough idea of the direction they were headed in," she replied, typing furiously. "Other than that, nothing. No matter what tricks I try, I can't boost their signal from this end. It's just vanished. They've just vanished."
"Their coms could have been damaged by the rockfall," suggested Nikko.
"Let us hope not," countered Vincent. "Anything that managed to hit their coms would also have managed to hit them. Maggie, how was their signal before the collapse?"
"Weak," answered Maggie. "A small tunnel collapse wouldn't have been enough to take it out, though."
"So it was a major collapse then," nodded Solomon. "Where? Show me."
"What are you thinking?" Vincent enquired, watching Solomon settle himself in the driver's seat and start the van.
"That maybe getting closer will be enough to pick up their signal again."
"I'll go see what the damage is inside," suggested Nikko. "Maybe we can dig through to them."
"What? You take a course on mining or tunnelling when I wasn't looking? No!" Solomon shot back. "We have enough to worry about with Calvin and Juliet stuck underground without adding you to the mix, Nikko. You could just bring the place down on you too!"
"I'll go with him, Solomon," offered Vincent, placing a hand on Nikko's shoulder. "We'll be careful."
Solomon's jaw tightened, but he nodded, once. Vincent and Nikko closed the van door and stepped back, Nikko raising a hand to wave as the vehicle drove off. Once it was out of sight, Nikko switched his coms off and looked at Vincent.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Vincent switched his own coms off and raised an eyebrow. "That depends, Nikko: What are you thinking?"
Nikko narrowed his eyes, scrutinising his mentor's face. He gave up. Vincent never gave anything away that he didn't want to. "I'm thinking I might have the perfect skill set for this."
"Then no, I am not thinking what you are thinking," answered Vincent. Before he could be questioned further, he turned to the tiny door and waved a hand at it. "After you."
XXXX
"You okay?" Solomon asked, glancing over at Maggie's silent frown.
"When I said we needed to give them some time alone together, this was not what I had in mind," she replied, still focussed on the laptop.
"Hey, I was going to keep Nikko with me, anyway," replied Solomon. "None of us could have predicted the tunnels would pick today to collapse, or where they'd come down. It could just as easily have been the three of us blocked off instead of Cal and Juliet."
"I know," murmured Maggie. "I know."
"Doesn't help, though?"
"Not as such, no. Not so much as finding them."
Solomon nodded and turned right, following the route Maggie had pointed out before they left. "Then let's go find them."
XXXX
6 ½ Months Ago – 7 days after the fall
Stepping from the dark, cool tunnel into the bright sun of the Syrian sky, even with the mingled white and grey of clouds veiling it, stung Juliet's eyes. The temperature was warmer, but not by much. Winter still held sway here. She looked at Cal. His dusty, bloody shirt was undoubtedly beyond repair, but its wearer seemed okay.
"Any idea where we are?"
Cal looked up from the map in his hands. "If this is the river I think it is," he replied, nodding at the white water slashing over rocks before them. "Then Grgis is about four and a half kilometers that way."
Juliet looked in the direction he pointed. "I guess we're going to Grgis then."
XXXX
"Anything?" Solomon murmured, pulling in to the first widening of the road since they started heading out into the valley. A road led up the hill to the right, the mountain, really.
"Yes, Solomon, I got their signal back ten minutes ago and decided not to tell you," snapped Maggie without looking up.
Solomon put a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll get them back, Maggie. We always do."
"Not always," muttered Maggie. The words were barely out when she felt the hand on her shoulder tighten just a little. She closed her eyes and took a breath. "I'm sorry, Solomon. That was uncalled for."
"She was your friend before she was my wife," murmured Solomon softly. "It's not like she isn't right at the front of my mind every time we have a situation like this."
"Haley's been at the front of my mind a lot recently," sighed Maggie, watching the sparse traffic roll by on the valley road.
"I know what you mean," smiled Solomon. "At least Calvin won't have to brave the disapproving parents like I did. Do you remember how much her dad hated me at first?"
"What do you mean 'at first'?" Maggie laughed back. "That old man hated you until his dying day! You were never good enough for his little angel!"
"Clearly he didn't know what his 'little angel' got up to in college with her best friend!"
"Oh, he knew: he just blamed me for all of it. I was a terrible influence, he said!"
Solomon laughed. Haley's father had been a terror far greater than all of Dorna combined, even after he had walked his daughter down the aisle and watched her marry Solomon. He had only softened towards his son-in-law when Nikko came along and, even then, not by much.
Maggie edged the laptop round to face Solomon. She pointed out a few marks on the map. "This is where we lost their signal. If we assume their tunnel ran straight, and I know we have no evidence for that, and factor a movement rate of about four kilometers per hour, this moving marker is where they would be. If the tunnel doesn't run straight, they could be anywhere within the circle."
"If you were digging a tunnel out of the town, where would you take it?" Solomon mused. "It would be somewhere this side of the river, surely."
"Most likely the mountains," shrugged Maggie, "but even then we can't be sure what side they'll come out on, or even what side of the border. It was different when those tunnels were built."
A bleep sounded from the machine on Maggie's lap, capturing their attention instantly.
"We've got them!" Maggie exclaimed, a smile breaking out on her face like sunshine through clouds.
"Calvin, Juliet, can you hear us?" Solomon called out through the coms. A crackle was his only reply. He looked at Maggie.
"Their positions are both moving," she said, in answer to his unspoken question. "It's just the coms."
"Signal could still be poor," shrugged Solomon, switching his own coms back on. "Let's give it some time. Hey Vincent, Nikko: we've picked up their signal and their moving up into the mountains. Maggie and I are going to see if we can find an exit to the tunnel at this end. If we can, we'll let you know."
"Are they okay, Dad?" Nikko's voice came back through his earpiece.
"They're moving, that's all we know," replied Solomon. "Their coms don't seem to be working, yet. Are you okay?"
"We're fine here, Solomon," Vincent answered. "Just let us know where you need us."
XXXX
"You okay?" Cal asked Juliet as they climbed another set of stairs cut into the rock.
"Mm?" Juliet looked up and missed her footing on the uneven, timeworn steps. Cal caught her. "Thanks. What did you say? I was miles away."
"I asked if you were okay," repeated Cal, turning back to the stairs. "You've been quiet."
"Just thinking," shrugged Juliet. She stopped climbing and looked up at Cal. "I'm going to call Tony once we're back at the hotel."
Calvin stopped climbing and stepped back down a few steps until he was on a level with Juliet. "Okay."
"I'm going to ask him why he came to the foundation, why he came in and how he got in without anyone letting him in," she blurted.
"He's gonna say the door was open," murmured Cal. "You know what he'll say to the rest."
"If he does, I'll know he's lying: none of us would accidentally leave the door open," Juliet pointed out. "And I'm going to end it with him. If he asks why, I'll tell him he crossed a line when he came snooping around my work."
Calvin shook his head. "Don't. Don't tell him that. If he thinks we suspect him, he might try and get the papyrus before we get back."
"He's going to want a reason, Cal," argued Juliet.
"So tell him the reason," shrugged Cal. "He hates me already and I can't say I care much what his opinion of me is. Tell him you want to be with me."
"Are you sure?" Juliet asked, trying to keep her eyes on his and her hands by her sides.
"Are you?"
Juliet felt fingertips light as feathers trace their way over the back of her hands and up her arms. She stepped into his arms, reaching up to cradle his face in her hands. After last time, she needed him to know she meant this. "I'm sure."
Cal searched Juliet's eyes. He knew they would get there eventually, but eventually didn't tell him how many times she'd break his heart first, and it had already happened once. He nodded, closing his arms around her.
"Cal, Juliet? Do you read me?" Professor Zond's voice crackled through the coms, breaking the silence that had descended around them like a curtain cutting them off from their surroundings. The curtain lifting, they broke apart.
"We're here Professor," Juliet answered, her voice only a little shaky.
XXXX
They had been back at the hotel for half an hour: long enough for Juliet to wash the last of the rock dust out of her hair and find some clean clothes. Maggie had said she'd be downstairs, out of her way, if she wanted to make any phone calls. Nobody was going to interrupt her. So why was she staring at the phone in front of her instead of dialling Tony's number? She thought back to the last time she had told Cal she would break up with Tony. Looking back, she wondered how she could have been so easily manipulated. At the time, though, she had no reason to see Anthony Blake as anyone to be afraid of, and how could he have known her reason for meeting him that day. She had chosen a quiet little coffee place, picking out a two seater table where she would be opposite him. Everything should have gone smoothly to plan. It wasn't like she had never dumped a guy before.
It hadn't gone to plan, though. He had turned up distracted and disturbed by something. When she had, naturally, asked him if he was okay, it had all come tumbling out: his mother was in hospital, maybe dying; his boss was pushing him to get his sales numbers up; he didn't know what he would do without her; he had missed her so much. He hadn't gone as far then as to say he loved her. He had saved that for the next time she had tried to end the relationship. Then there had been the fight with Cal. Maybe she had broken his heart that day, but she'd broken her own too. After that, it had just been one thing after another until she and Cal could barely be in the same room without fighting.
Juliet looked down at the phone in her hands again and dialled the number. It connected. It rang. It was answered.
"Hi Anthony," said Juliet, her voice utterly devoid of emotion. "We need to talk."