The Rescue

Maya Chen's POV

Maya Chen's eyes snapped open when she heard people shouting from above.

"Down here! We found them!"

Flashlight beams cut through the dust and darkness. Captain Rodriguez appeared at the edge of the collapsed part, followed by a dozen state police officers.

"Maya! Can you hear me?" Captain Rodriguez called.

"We're alive!" Maya shouted back. "But we need help! Jake's pinned, and Thomas Morrison is—"

She stopped, looking at Thomas's dead body. He'd saved them all one final time.

"We're coming down!" Captain Rodriguez said.

Ropes dropped from above, and cops rappelled into the chamber. They brought tools, medical supplies, and most importantly, hydraulic jacks to lift the rocks trapping Jake.

"Where's Emma?" Jake asked weakly.

"She made it to the surface," one officer answered. "She's the one who led us here. Brave kid."

Maya felt relief rush through her. Emma was safe.

Two officers began working on the rocks crushing Tommy and Danny while others worked on freeing Jake. The hydraulic jack groaned as it slowly lifted the huge boulder pinning his legs.

"Almost there," Captain Rodriguez said. "On three, we pull him out. One, two, three!"

They dragged Jake free just as the jack slipped and the boulder crashed back down.

Jake screamed in pain. His left leg was badly broken, bent at an odd angle.

"We need to move now!" an officer yelled. "The whole structure is unstable!"

Maya helped Jake to his feet, letting him lean his weight on her. Tommy and Danny were freed and could walk on their own, though both were wounded.

But they still had two bodies to bring out—Thomas Morrison and Vincent Webb.

"Leave Webb," Jake said through gritted teeth. "He's not worth dying for."

"He's evidence," Captain Rodriguez responded. "We need his body to prove everything."

Two cops grabbed Webb's corpse while two more carefully lifted Thomas Morrison.

"This way!" Captain Rodriguez led them toward a tunnel Maya hadn't noticed before. "The explosion opened up an old passage that connects to the ventilation system Emma used."

They moved as fast as Jake's injury allowed, Maya supporting him while he hopped on one leg. Behind them, the chamber they'd just left collapsed totally with a deafening roar.

"Faster!" a cop yelled.

The tunnel ahead was narrow and steep, going upward toward the top. Maya could see natural light at the top—the exit was maybe a hundred feet away.

But the mountain wasn't finished falling.

Rocks fell from the ceiling, causing them to dodge and weave. One boulder nearly crushed Danny before Tommy pulled him away.

Fifty feet from the exit.

The tunnel floor cracked beneath them, forming a gap six feet wide. The officers threw a metal ladder across it, making a makeshift bridge.

"Go! One at a time!" Captain Rodriguez ordered.

Tommy went first, then Danny, both making it across safely.

Maya started across next, but the ladder shifted under her weight. She froze, afraid it would fall.

"Keep moving!" Jake urged from behind her.

Maya forced herself forward, not looking down at the black pit below. She made it across and turned to help the next person.

The officers bringing Vincent Webb's body went next. The ladder groaned but held.

Then came the police with Thomas Morrison.

Thirty feet from the exit.

The ladder's left side slipped. The officers tried to regain balance, Thomas's body nearly sliding off.

"Steady!" Captain Rodriguez shouted.

They made it across.

Now only Jake and Captain Rodriguez remained on the far side, along with three other officers.

Twenty feet from the exit.

The tunnel behind them collapsed, sending a wall of dust and debris rolling toward them.

"Jake, go now!" Captain Rodriguez led.

Jake started across the stairs, moving slowly because of his broken leg. Maya knelt at the edge, reaching out to help him.

"Almost there," Maya urged. "Just a few more steps."

Jake was halfway across when the entire tube shook violently.

The ladder's right side broke away from its anchor point.

Jake fell, his hands grabbing madly at the rungs as the ladder swung sideways and slammed against the wall of the gap.

"Jake!" Maya screamed.

He hung there, dangling over the pit with only his hands stopping him from falling into darkness.

"I can't hold on!" Jake gasped.

Maya lay flat on the edge and reached down, but Jake was too far below. She couldn't reach him.

"Somebody help!" Maya cried.

Tommy appeared beside her, holding a rope. "Grab this!" he yelled to Jake.

Tommy threw the rope, but Jake couldn't let go of the ladder to catch it. If he dropped even one hand, he'd fall.

The mountain shook again. More rocks fell into the gap, nearly hitting Jake.

"I have to let go," Jake said, looking up at Maya with eyes full of love and sadness. "You need to run. Get everyone out before the whole mine comes down."

"I'm not leaving you!" Maya shouted.

"You have to," Jake answered. "Tell Emma I love her. Tell her I'm sorry."

"Jake, no—"

But Jake had already made his choice. He looked at Maya one last time.

"I love you," he said.

Then his hands slipped from the ladder, and he fell into the darkness below.

Maya's scream echoed through the tube as Jake disappeared into the black pit.

She tried to jump after him, but Tommy and Captain Rodriguez grabbed her, pulling her back from the edge.

"He's gone," Captain Rodriguez said quietly. "We have to go."

"No!" Maya fought against them. "Jake!"

But the tunnel was falling all around them. If they didn't leave now, everyone would die.

Tommy and Captain Rodriguez pulled Maya toward the exit while she screamed Jake's name over and over.

They burst out into sunshine just as the tunnel entrance collapsed behind them, sealing Jake Morrison inside the mountain forever.

Maya fell to her knees in the grass, crying.

Emma ran to her, her face desperate. "Where's Jake? Where's my brother?"

Maya couldn't answer. She just shook her head and cried.

Emma's scream of sadness joined Maya's.

Around them, state police and FBI officers worked to secure the scene. Ambulances waited to help the injured. News helicopters circled overhead.

They'd stopped the rot. They'd exposed the crimes. They'd saved the town.

But the cost had been terrible.

Maya looked at Thomas Morrison's body being put into an ambulance. Father and son, both heroes, both gone.

Then something caught her eye.

Movement near the collapsed tunnel opening.

"What's that?" Tommy asked, pointing.

Everyone turned to look.

A hand came from the rubble.

Then another hand.

And then, impossible, Jake Morrison pulled himself out of the rocks, covered in blood and dust but alive.

"Help," Jake whispered before falling.

Emma and Maya ran to him, crying and laughing at the same time.

"How did you survive that fall?" Captain Rodriguez asked in surprise.

Jake coughed and smiled weakly. "There was... a gap... about ten feet down. I landed on it... then climbed... through a side tunnel..."

"Don't talk," Maya said, pushing her hands against a bleeding wound on his shoulder. "Save your strength."

Paramedics rushed over with a cart.

As they put Jake into the ambulance, he grabbed Maya's hand.

"I told you... I'd come back," Jake whispered.

Maya kissed his face. "You scared me to death."

"Sorry," Jake said. Then his eyes found Emma. "Dad... he saved us. He was... a hero."

Emma took his other hand, tears running down her face. "You both were."

The ambulance doors closed, and Maya watched it drive away toward the hospital.

She'd nearly lost Jake twice tonight. She wasn't going to waste any more time claiming she didn't love him.

Captain Rodriguez walked up beside her. "Your boyfriend is either the luckiest man living or the toughest. Maybe both."

Maya smiled through her tears. "Definitely both."

Then her smile faded as she remembered something.

"Captain, where's Judge Brennan? He was in the mine with us."

Captain Rodriguez's face darkened. "We haven't found him yet. His body wasn't with the others."

Maya's blood ran cold. "You think he escaped?"

"I think," Captain Rodriguez said slowly, "that we need to search every inch of this mountain. Because if Harold Brennan is still living, this isn't over."