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‘I don’t think...’ She called back without turning her head, ‘I’m going to need a hand with this.’
It was as Jack had expected. ‘They’re coming with the doors now. I’ll be out in a minute.’
‘That’ll be lovely. Thanks.’ Her tone was much the same as if she was accepting a cup of tea, and Jack smiled. She was unstoppable. And quite magnificent.
* * *
As soon as the ladder had reached Ben, Scruffy had bolted from his perch, running across her back and over the mud to get to dry land. Cass kept her attention equally divided between not falling off the ladder and keeping Ben quiet and stopping him from trying to move. She could hear signs of activity behind her, along with general instructions from Jack about tarps and doors. Then his voice, calling over to her.
‘I’m moving off the ladder now. Watch out.’
She braced herself as the ladder moved slightly, sinking another inch into the mud. Then, as someone else applied their weight to the end of it, it steadied again. Above her head, she heard the beat of a helicopter.
‘Are they going to pull us out?’ Ben was shivering in her arms, his head nestled against her shoulder.
‘No, they can’t do that.’ Trying to drop a line and pull Ben out might tear him in half. ‘They’re probably just flying over to see what the situation is and how they can help us.’
‘And then the fire engine...?’
‘Yeah. Then the fire engine.’ If Ben hadn’t realised that there wasn’t a way for a fire engine to get to them, she wasn’t going to disillusion him. ‘But they won’t have anything to do because we’ll have you out before they get here.’
‘Okay.’ Ben sounded almost disappointed.
‘Ben...?’ Face down in the mud, Cass couldn’t see what was happening behind her, but she recognised Laura’s voice.
‘Mum!’ Ben’s high-pitched shriek was directed straight into her ear.
‘Ben, I want you to do exactly what Cass tells you. Do you hear me, darling?’
Good. Someone must be with Laura, calming her and telling her what to say. Jack, perhaps. Only she was rather hoping that Jack might be on his way towards her.
‘Yes, Mum.’
‘Tell your mum that you’re all right. That you’ll be out soon.’ Cass grinned at Ben. It would do him good to say it, and do Laura good to hear it.
‘Will I?’
‘’Course you will.’
Ben called out the words, this time managing to direct most of the volume away from Cass and towards his mother. Then someone tapped her ankle gently.
‘Can I join you...?’
Jack’s voice behind her.
‘Feel free.’ She squinted round as her kitchen door slid across the muddy ground towards her.
The door moved, and sank a little into the mud as it took his weight, and then he was there beside her. The relief was almost palpable.
‘Hey, Ben.’ He was lying on his stomach on the door, grinning broadly. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Ben puffed out a breath. ‘Are you going to pull me out?’
CHAPTER SIX
UNFORTUNATELY, P
ULLING BEN out wasn’t an option. Mud rescue was difficult and physically demanding at the best of times, and this wasn’t the best of times. The continuing rain meant that every time they moved some of the mud from around Ben’s body, mud and water trickled back into the hole.
