Free Strong and Stubborn by Kelly Eileen Hake Page A

couldn’t have gone this way.”
    He only meant one tunnel
. Relief had Cora sagging into a chair beside the bed as Braden considered his sketch.
It’s not impossible!
    â€œWe started to close off this tunnel a week before the collapse. Found a footwall, decided it was safer to make a transverse passage to the highwall and pull it out from above. Less falling debris that way.” He muttered obscure technicalities to himself, crossing out various branches. “Down here, groundwater kept rising. We made it a sump, to funnel drips from other areas.” He cocked his head to the side and marked out another passage. “We had to abandon this adit when we hit a deep fissure—highly unstable. After the collapse, I wondered if we should have stopped sooner.”
    The admission caught Cora’s attention, but Braden fell silent. Cora watched him studying the drawing but wondered what else he was sorting through in his mind.
How terrible for him, to shoulder responsibility for the tragedy. And now, when he begins to hope it wasn’t his fault, he’ll feel responsible for Lacey’s fate
.
    â€œHere.” He thrust the paper toward her. “It’s all I can do.”
    â€œThank you. We won’t be going in blindly—and with as much as you’ve crossed out, we won’t waste time.” Cora gave him an encouraging smile, not daring to reach for his hand a second time.
    â€œGo on then.” His irritable dismissal had her speeding to the door so fast she almost didn’t hear the rest. “But come back.”
    She clutched the paper to her chest, refusing to turn around and invite the tears again. “You already know I will. I always do.”

    â€œLacey!” Granger’s woman called a stop to everyone’s hard work.
    Michael halted his pickax and held his breath, praying they would hear someone answer her. He knew it wasn’t likely—every single man, woman, and even dog working against this wall of stone knew they fought fate. There were simply too many unknowns.
    Were the people they sought—Lacey and Dunstan—even alive?
    If they lived, were they awake and in condition to respond?
    And if they were so fortunate, how far back were they?
    Even given the perfect combination of circumstances, there was every chance the pair was much deeper in the twists and turns of the mines. There was no telling how many mounds of collapsed mountain they may have to get through before nearing the couple. Worse, there was no telling whether they had enough time to save them. Air might run out. A critical support might buckle.
    Despite Mike’s fervent prayers otherwise, the expedition was practically drowning in doubts. He imagined he could smell the sour scent of despair mixed amid the dust. They needed a reason to keep hoping—they needed a sign that God was working alongside them.
    â€œLacey!” The two women yelled in tandem, forcing their voices through the cracks. But nothing came back. Not so much as a moan.
    â€œOh God.” Naomi sagged against the boulder, where she’d been working alongside the hunter’s dog. She tugged the bandana—now encrusted with dirt—away from her face, and Mike could see her lips moving in soundless prayer. Dust caked her face, save where tears cut clear paths down her cheeks. Her eyes closed in supplication.
    â€œDunstan!” Granger’s woman kept on screeching. “Are you there?” When she stopped, it seemed as though the mountain swallowed all sound. Despite the impossible odds, everyone still hoped to hear—
    â€œEsh!” came a muffled female cry. “Eve wherin ear!”
    â€œYes!” Naomi clutched at the other woman. “Evie, they’re in there!” The two wrapped each other in a dancing, circling hug.
    â€œDonut drag he live on.” The man’s deeper tones came in echoes, difficult to decipher. “Sum of ewe want him down if you ax