LITMIR.BIZ

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to drill any closer. From what I know about this network of pipes, Peggy probably has some space to crawl back and forth. I can’t risk drilling into an area where she might be.”

      Bram let out a weary breath. “I know you’re right. But she’s been down there for hours now. The tunnel you’ve just now bored may not be any better than the last one.”

      The desperation in Bram’s voice matched the feelings that Jared had been dealing with from the moment he’d spotted Peggy’s little footprints. He wouldn’t rest until that child was placed safely in her mother’s arms.

      Jared lifted the hard hat from his sweaty head and shoved a weary hand through his damp hair. “Believe me, brother, I want to get her out just as badly as you do. So have a little confidence in me, will you? This time I’ll get in. I have to,” he said with steely determination. Glancing back over his shoulder, he scanned the crowd that had continued to grow throughout the evening. “Have you seen Kerry?”

      “I talked to her about ten minutes ago. I explained that you were drilling again at another angle.”

      “How was she doing?”

      Bram’s tight grimace spoke volumes. “She’s holding herself together, but it’s pretty obvious she’s not far from collapsing. Her mother tells me that no one has been able to make her eat or drink anything since we’ve been out here.”

      Just the thought of what she must be going through was enough to make Jared sick. “See what you and Gray can do with her,” Jared told him. “I’m going down. And I’m not coming up until I have Peggy with me. Even if it means I have to dig her out by hand!”

      By now Newt had removed the steel auger from the newly drilled hole. Jared hurried toward the open cavity. Bram followed to snatch a hold on Jared’s shoulder before he could lower himself into the newly bored hole.

      “Jared, you’re exhausted,” he pointed out. “You’ve already worked for hours. Let someone else go down. Let me. Or Gray.”

      Shaking his head at his older brother’s plea, Jared said, “You’re the sheriff. You need to be out here where you can make sure everyone is safe and doing what they’re supposed to be doing. This town would be in chaos if it lost you.”

      Jared’s offhand compliment put a twisted smile on Bram’s face. “This town survived a long time before I became sheriff and it’ll go on surviving once I’m no longer in office. But that’s not the issue. You’re about to fall over and Gray—”

      “Doesn’t like to get his hands dirty,” Jared joked and winked. Then before Bram could try to dissuade him any further, he lowered himself into the ground.

      Kerry was trying her best not to keep glancing at the small watch on her wrist, but each minute seemed to be crawling by as she and the rest of the hundred or more people around the excavation site waited for Jared to reappear and prayed that Peggy would be in his arms.

      “Kerry, is there anything I can get for you? A sandwich? Or cold drink?”

      Kerry looked around to see Christa, a co-worker at Liberty Bank, who’d also become a good friend. The tall, curvaceous blonde was two years younger than Kerry and had already gone through a traumatic divorce. Over the past months Kerry had been trying to help her young friend get through the trying ordeal. Now the tables were turned and Christa was here to lend Kerry what support she could.

      Trying to smile, Kerry passed trembling fingers across her forehead. “No thanks, Christa. I tried to eat earlier, but everything just stuck in my throat.”

      With a worried frown, Christa grabbed a folding portable stool that one of the local churches had distributed for the crowd. Once she was sitting next to her friend, she said, “Clarence told me that you worked through lunch. It’s nearly eight o’clock now. You have to be starving.”

      Kerry placed a reassuring hand over Christa’s. “I’m fine. Or at least I will be once they get Peggy out of there.” Closing her eyes, she swallowed at the knot of fear that had lodged in her throat and refused to go away.

      “I noticed the sheriff was talking to you a few minutes ago,” Christa remarked. “What was he saying? Does he know anything yet?”

      “He said that the phone Jared had taken with him had apparently quit working. They haven’t been able to make any contact with him in the past twenty minutes.”

      Christa shook her head. “Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that something has gone wrong. The battery could have gone dead on the phone or the signal may not be getting out.”

      Opening her eyes, Kerry focused a desperate look on her friend. “I hope you’re right, Christa. I can’t—I have to think that things are going to be okay. Otherwise—” She couldn’t go on as tears trickled onto her cheeks. Moments later, she felt Christa’s hand gently patting her back. Sniffing, she wiped at her tears and tried again, “Oh Christa—I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my daughter.”

      “You’re not going to lose her,” Christa said with firm resolution. “The Coltons will see to that. They’re a smart, diligent family. And they care about people. If Jared can’t get her out, he and his brother will call in some expert who can.”

      Kerry glanced around her to make sure her mother wasn’t within earshot. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said in a voice only Christa could hear. “Mom keeps preaching that they’re making a mess out of things and just wanting to big-shot around and take over the situation.”

      A puzzled expression came over Christa’s face. “I can’t understand that. Let’s face it, the fire and rescue people in this town mean well and they do a good job most of the time, but they’re not that highly trained. They have no idea what’s under this ground or how to get into it without tearing everything apart and endangering Peggy even more. Jared’s an engineer. He knows what he’s dealing with.”

      Kerry let out a long, shaky breath. “That’s what I was thinking, but Mom seems to have something against Jared in particular.”

      Christa shrugged. “Well, from what I’ve heard, he used to have quite a reputation with the ladies. Your mom probably holds that against him.”

      Shaking her head with weary disbelief, Kerry said, “That has nothing to do with him getting my daughter out of the ground! I don’t understand her—”

      “Kerry! Look!”

      Christa’s abrupt cry was coupled with a ripple of excitement passing through the people gathered around the site. And then Kerry saw the reason for all the commotion. It was Jared! He was climbing out of the deep ditch and Peggy was nestled safely in his arms!

      Choking back a sob of sheer relief, Kerry jumped to her feet and stumbled across the rough ground to meet them.

      “Peggy! Oh baby!” she cried, not bothering to hide the tears of joy that were beginning to stream down her face.

      Jared grinned down at her. “Your daughter is a little muddy and dirty, but other than that she seems to be okay,” he said.

      From the moment he’d reached Peggy back in the narrow cavern of pipe, she’d had a death grip on his neck. Even now, with her mother near, she was reluctant to loosen her hold and allow him to place her in Kerry’s arms.

      Gently, Jared patted the child’s back, then carefully pushed the long tangle of black hair from the side of her face. “It’s all right, Chenoa,” he murmured to the frightened little girl. “Your mommy is right here. She’s been waiting for you. Just like I promised.”

      Kerry swallowed down her tears in an effort to make her voice sound as calm and normal as possible to her daughter. “Peggy, it’s all right, honey. You can come to mama now and we’ll go get Fred.”

      Lifting her face from Jared’s wide shoulder, Peggy looked warily around her, then down at Kerry’s outstretched arms.

      “Mama,” she said

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