He kneels in front of me, glancing over my shoulder at Lindsay for a split second. “I know you’re scared. You have every right to be. But you need to be strong. For you,” he says, before tapping my belly, “for the baby. For your brother and husband and Cord . . . and for Lindsay.”
“But I’m not strong right now,” I whimper.
“You are stronger than you realize, sweetheart. I want you to dig deep and think about what I’ve said. Send your boys below some good vibes, let them know the world is praying for them and pulling for them.”
My brows pull together. “The world?”
“It’s all over the media, Elin. It’s breaking news on the major stations. They have this place locked down tight.”
“My God . . .” My head buries in my hands. “Will this make it harder for Blackwater to focus?”
“I think they’re actually getting some help from experts they wouldn’t have access to normally,” Dr. Walker says. “I think this is a good thing.” His face scrunches and he takes a deep breath. “But I think you need to prepare yourself in case this doesn’t end up the way we want it.”
“No . . .”
“Elin,” he says, his hand landing on my knee, “I’m not saying it will, but I don’t want you unprepared if bad news is delivered.”
“You think there’s a way to prepare for that?” My head buries in my hands before something pops in my mind. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure,” Dr. Walker says.
“Can you make sure someone is taking care of Yogi? It’s Cord’s dog and he’ll be pissed if we forget about his girl.”
I begin to cry again when a sound catches my attention. A knock raps on the door and it pushes open. I’m glad for the distraction, realizing it might save me from punching the doctor in the face.
Vernon is followed by Greta, Reed, and another man in a blue pinstriped suit that introduces himself to Lindsay and I as she sits beside me.
“Any news?” I ask as Dr. Walker turns to leave. I grab his hand, needing his support. He moves behind me—one hand on my shoulder and the other on Lindsay’s.
“Yes, actually.”
My heart lodges in my throat, my hand squeezed tightly by Lindsay as Reed busies himself pinning a map of some sort to the wall in front of us.
“This is a bird’s eye view of the mine,” Vernon says, motioning to the drawing. “The area in that circle is where the miners should be.”
“How far down is that?” I ask. I’m not sure why it matters, but it does.
“About three hundred to four hundred feet below the surface,” Vernon answers stiffly. “The ramp they used for ingress and egress is sealed. We’ve tried to remove the debris and reach them through that channel, but it’s too tight and we can’t guarantee more internal collapse wouldn’t happen if we disturbed the wrong area.”
“So what do we do?” Lindsay asks.
Reed clears his throat. “Right now, we’re digging an air hole into this spot.” He uses a yard stick to point to a location inside the circled area. “This is where we believe your husbands to be.”
My heart skips a beat as I stare intently at the little black dot on this dingy, white piece of paper.
“We’ve begun to drill, just a few minutes ago, a tube that will hopefully lead us to the men,” Reed says.
“That’s fantastic!” Lindsay says, sinking back in the sofa. “Oh, God, please let it find them. Please let it find them,” she chants.
“I do want to point out,” Vernon says, side-eyeing Lindsay, “that this does not come without risks.”
“What risks?” I ask, glaring at him.
“Somehow, the crew mined into what we call an ‘old works.’ That’s a mine that was dug before maps were taken of where the work was done. We didn’t know it existed. But it does and it was there and once they bored into the side of it, that’s what caused the collapse.”
I fling forward in my seat. “So can we get to them from there? Can we find the opening to that mine and go in that way?”
“No,” he says, killing the butterflies that frolicked hopefully in my stomach. “We have no idea where that mine opened and closed. Remember, we didn’t know it existed until now. And usually these things are filled with water, which poses a threat.”
“What kind of a threat?” I ask, feeling Dr. Walker’s hand squeeze my shoulders.
“If the miners have managed to find an open space and it fills with water . . . there would be nowhere for them to go.”
My hand shakes as I reach for Dr. Walker. He collapses his palms around mine.