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Dex turned, cursing under his breath. “Negative. Part of the corridor collapsed in front of it.”
More silence, followed by Sloane’s quiet voice. “There’s nothing you can do. Get down here.”
Dex shook his head, tears stinging his eyes. No. That bastard was not dead. “Hobbs, if you’re in there, you better answer me, or I swear I will kick your ass.” One of the doors had been blown off its hinges and was lying like crumpled paper to one side; pieces from the corridor walls, cement blocks, bricks, and clusters of wires blocked the only way into what was left of the classroom. Live wires sparked, sizzled, and popped from somewhere to his right. Dex limped over to the debris. “Hobbs, answer me!”
“Dex….” Sloane began.
“He’s a tough bastard. He’s not dead,” Dex ground out angrily. “Hobbs, you answer me right fucking now!” He grabbed a piece of cement block and tossed it to one side, shoving and moving bricks. “Hobbs!” Through the silence, there was a low groan. “Hobbs?”
The softest gasp met Dex’s ears, followed by what Dex could have sworn was his name.
“I’m coming, buddy. You hang in there.”
“Negative. Dex get out of there,” Sloane ordered. “We don’t know how stable the building is.”
Dex shoved at a small pile of debris and thanked whoever was watching out for him. There was a tunnel large enough to get Hobbs through. “I found an opening. I can get him out.”
“That structure is unstable. You go in there, and you might not come out. Wait for backup,” Sloane ground out, his frustration becoming evident.
“There’s no time.” Dex pushed tentatively against the makeshift tunnel walls. “It’s stable.” For the most part.
“You don’t know that. Fall back, Agent, Daley. That’s an order!”
“I can’t leave him in there to die.” Dex got down on his stomach and crawled through the tunnel with caution, ignoring Sloane’s curses in his ear. His partner was going to tear him a new one, but Hobbs was alive, and if his friend was going to make it out of this, Dex would have to get him out now. He didn’t know how he was going to get the nearly three-hundred-pound agent out of there, but he’d worry about that later. For now, he worked on controlling his breathing and refused to think about the throbbing in his bloodied leg. God, he sure as hell hoped the other end of this wasn’t blocked. It was dark and cramped, leaving enough room for him to maneuver Hobbs through once he did get his fellow agent in here. It was going to be a tight fit, but he’d get it done.
Something crumbled above him, knocking against his helmet before rolling off. Dex stilled, sweat dripping down the side of his face as he listened for any indication the tunnel was about to collapse on him. Sloane would really be pissed at him, then.
After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the end. It was dark and he pushed out ahead of him with his hand, letting out a sigh of relief when it gave way. Crawling out into the smoke-filled room, Dex could only be grateful the bomb had been small scale, taking out half the classroom and not the whole thing. He searched through the mounds of debris and thick fog, spotting a bloodied hand poking out from behind the teacher’s desk, which had toppled over, the heavy metal taking the brunt of the explosion judging by its dented and blackened surface.
Dex limped over, sucking in a sharp breath as he knelt down beside Hobbs. He checked his friend’s vitals before running his hands over and under Hobbs, checking for any broken bones, embedded objects, or bleeding. Hobbs was covered in scratches, dirt, dust, and blood, but he was in one piece, on the outside at least.
“It’s okay, buddy, I’m here.” Dex unclasped his backpack, removing his coil of rappelling rope, and hurried to secure the rope around Hobbs, looping it through straps on his tac vest, around his chest area, until he got a firm hold. Testing the rope and feeling confident it wouldn’t come undone, Dex slipped his arms under Hobbs. He dragged his friend toward the tunnel and stopped twice to catch his breath. It was hard enough to breathe as it was in here, but Hobbs’s massive frame didn’t help. “Why are you Therians so goddamn heavy?” With some serious teeth gritting and determination, Dex managed to get Hobbs over to the tunnel entrance. He patted Hobbs’s arm and took hold of the ropes.
“I’m getting you out of here, okay? You think about Calvin. How pissed will he be if you leave him hanging? Where would Calvin be without his best bud Hobbs, huh?” He tied the rope securely around his waist and lay down on his stomach, crawling back through the tunnel. At one point, he had to pause long enough to reach in under his visor and wipe the sweat from his face so it wouldn’t fall into his eyes. It was so damn hot and his equipment was weighing him down, but he kept going. He had to get Hobbs out of there.
Once on the other side, Dex unfastened the rope from his waist and braced his feet to either side of the tunnel before he started to pull. Calvin’s voice came over his earpiece. “The EMTs will be with you any minute, Dex. We’ve managed to clear a way up the stairs.”
“Copy that,” Dex replied through his teeth, every muscle in his body straining while he pulled and dragged Hobbs closer. It felt like a lifetime had gone past, although it was only a few minutes. As Hobbs’s helmet came into view, Dex heard the calls of the EMTs not far behind. “Over here!” He gave another pull, relieved when Calvin dropped to his knees alongside Dex and snatched the rope to help him. They both moved out of the way as the half a dozen EMTs grabbed Hobbs and carefully pulled him out from the tunnel and onto a stretcher.
“Ethan….” Calvin put a gloved hand to his partner’s shoulder and leaned in. “Ethan, can you hear me? It’s Cal.” There was no reply from Hobbs. Calvin’s bottom lip trembled, and his eyes grew glassy, but he pulled himself together.
“He’ll be okay,” Dex said, putting a hand on Calvin’s shoulder. “You’ll see.”
Calvin nodded, though Dex wasn’t sure how much Calvin had heard, much less believed. He took his partner’s hand in his, talking to him in soothing tones as the EMTs got to work. When it was time to take Hobbs away, Calvin stepped up to Dex, trying his best to remain composed. “I know I already said this, but thank you. You saved his life.”
“He saved mine first.”
“Yeah, but if you hadn’t persisted in going back for him….” Calvin shook his head.
“Don’t mention it.” He threw an arm around Calvin, limping along, and shooed away the EMT that started buzzing around his leg. “This can wait. It’s only a scratch. Go help someone else who needs it more.” The woman ran off, and Dex gave Calvin a broad grin. “There is one thing you can do for me.”
“Anything.”
“When your partner wakes up, talk to him about going on a diet. Seriously, I think I pulled something.”
Calvin blinked at him before letting out a laugh. “I’ll do that.”
As Calvin helped him to the stairs, Dex braced himself. “So on a scale of one to diva, how pissed off is Sloane at me right now?”
