Page 9 of His Lucky Paige

They were closing in on midnight and the night air had grown cold and still. She accepted the cup of coffee Mike offered knowing she’d never drink it, she was wired enough without the added caffeine, but the warmth would keep her fingers from going numb. She glanced at her watch again as the drill burrowed deeper into the ground.

“It’s been over twenty-four hours for the four and twenty-eight for the others,” Doug stated needlessly.

“I know,” she said urging the drill to dig faster.

“We’ve got the first airport through,” Jerry interrupted with squeezing her shoulder. “We’re going to start sending warm air down to them, then we can turn the water back on in case they need it.”

“Hold on,” Paige said as he made a move to get the machine started. “Check the air to make sure there aren’t any pockets down there. I don’t want to kill them or risk another cave-in with an explosion.”

“It’ll take us a bit to determine if there’s anything flammable down there,” he stated. “Their air supply is getting thinner Paige.”

“I know,” she said, “I guess we’ll have to take the chance…unless.”

“Unless what Paige?” Lenny asked with a worried expression on his face.

“Joel, it’s Paige…come on Joel I’m not going to shut up until you answer me you stupid irresponsible jer…”

“What do you want now Paige?” Joel said cutting off her stream.

“Please tell me you took a monitor with you,” she said with a grin at his annoyance.

“Air monitor?” Joel guessed. “We’ve got one.”

“Use it and tell me what it says, we’ve got a vent tube about twenty yards from you and we’re getting ready to send air down,” she explained.

“Since you asked so politely,” he grunted. “It looks clear…wait I’m picking up some hints.”

“What kind of hints?” Jerry asked.

“They’re barely registering,” Joel answered. “I’d say we’re good.”

“Alright tell everyone to get down just in case it hits enough of those hints to create a problem,” she said. “We’re going to count it down…”

“Everyone hear that?” Joel asked. “On your go Paige.”

“Three, two, go,” Paige said loudly as they fitted the mechanics together and the air began to pump down to them.

A light popping sound alerted her to the problem and she gripped the walkie tighter, “Joel? What’s the situation down there?”

“A small blip on the radar,” he said coughing. “We’re good.”

“Thank god,” she whispered accepting the light hug from Bobby.

“Drilling’s coming along guys, we’re going to have you home before you know it,” she said into the walkie. “Keep your heads up and let me know if anything changes.”

“Hey Sis, how are the families holding up?” Sam inquired.

“Kendra’s fine, I’ve had Neal keeping tabs on everyone. Most of them are at HQ until we know when your butts are getting out of there. I don’t want any issues down here to worry them more,” she answered.

“That’s my girl,” her father said and she could hear the smile of pride in his voice.

“What else would you expect from the tomboy you had running around the mines from the time she could walk?” she stated.

“You loved it Paige, so don’t even try to claim you didn’t.” Uncle Ed laughed and she could hear the chuckles of several others down with them.

“I loved it as much as I loved getting kissed by Scary Steve when I was eight,” she joked attempting to keep their spirits up. She could take anything they threw at her as long as they didn’t give up.

“Scary Steve was your first kiss?” Sam asked.

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