"What? What, what, what, what, what!" Rosalind was silent as she looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow. "Please?" Tony considered using the puppy-dog-eyes technique.
"Well, the People are superstitious. If they were to find a skeleton but no captives, they would probably give the basement a wide berth, if not leave the building all together. If we hide up there-"
"If there's enough room," Rosalind glared at Gibbs.
"Yeah, if there's enough room, we hide up there and leave Bones lying in plain sight. They'll scream like little girls and your people will be free to come and get us." she finished.
"Text Abby, so they know that we solved that problem." Tim said, ever the voice of reason.
hiding problem solved. give us 30 min. With that they set to work. Tony and Tim worked together to lift Rosalind to the hole. She used McGee's shirt and scooped large amounts of dirt from the lightly packed opening. She would hand the filled shirt to Gibbs, who'd dump it in a corner and then hand it back to her. When she had a substantial amount moved, she braced herself, screwed up her face and her courage, and gently lifted Bones. He wasn't really just a skeleton, but a mummy. His skin and muscle tissue was just so withered he looked and felt like just bone. The poor dead man, once six foot, two, was lighter than an eight year old child. It was awkward, but she managed to hand him off to Gibbs, who, equally as gentle as she had been, lay him by the cell door.
"Oh, ewww…" Tony muttered when Bones' foot brushed his cheek in the transfer. Tim said nothing, to busy trying not to be overly creeped out by Bones' staring eye sockets. Rosalind handed one more shirt-full of dirt to Gibbs before heaving herself into the hole.
"It'll be a tight fit, but we'll all be able to get in." she called down, her voice muffled. Before Tony and Tim could move from the position they had helped Rosalind in, Gibbs was using them as stepladders. Tony scrambled up next, somehow planting a foot on Probie's forehead along the way. Before going up, Tim went over and crossed Bones' arms over his chest. Respect for the dead and all that. He went to the corner and sent one last text message. we r ready. come get us out of here, pls. He tossed the phone up to Gibbs and grabbed Tony's hands. Working together, Tony and Gibbs were able to hoist Tim into the wall.
They were practically stacked on top of one another. With some maneuvering, they all ended up lying on their stomachs: Tony and Tim shoulder to shoulder, with Gibbs on top of Tony and Rosalind on top of McGee. It was very awkward.
All their faces were streaked with dirt, and their hair was plastered to their foreheads with sweat and questionable grime. It was strangely hot and sticky in that little hole. Tony made a comment about women, children, and the elderly being on top before Gibbs smacked him. Hard. Rosalind pillowed her head with her arms on Tim's shoulders, and tried not to move. Movement would be embarrassing and unbearably awkward. Tim was thinking the same thing. After some complaining on Tony's part, all four of them were able to settle down and wait in semi-comfortable positions.
It seemed to take forever. They tried to stay quiet, they really did, but they were bored and tense. They bickered a little while longer, but grew tired. The heat they had generated from excavating Bones' grave was dissipating. Rosalind grew cold again, and she found that she had aggravated her injuries. She rolled sideways slightly, wedging herself between McGee and the side of the hole, and drew the shirt he had given her around her like a thin blanket. This required one of her legs to be thrown over his. This position, Tim thought, was somehow more intimate than her lying on top of him. Gibbs and Tony didn't move.
"I'm bored." Tony whined, "And squished."
A sigh came from Rosalind, and it tickled McGee's neck, making him shiver. Rosalind began to sing just then, the first song that popped into her head. It was so quiet that the men had to strain to hear.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me…
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see."
Her voice was a soft, heavenly alto, and the agents couldn't help but feel as if they were going to be OK.
"T'was Grace that taught…
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear…
the hour I first believed."
Gibbs closed his eyes. He remembered his own daughter singing that song, her voice much younger, but just as beautiful. Tony tried to blink back his tears. That was his mother's favorite song. Tim's heart hammered almost painfully in his chest. This woman was so incredible, beautiful, and amazing. He was drowning in her voice.
"When we've been here ten thousand years…
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's sweet praise…
then when we've first begun.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me…"
They all jumped when yelling and gunfire erupted in the floors above them. Quietly, they all prayed that they would get out and everyone would be alright.