Sean was on a flight back to D.C. that night. He'd discovered a lot. The only trouble was he now had more questions than before.

CHAPTER 30

WILLA STAYED CLOSE to the rock wall as she flitted along the corridor, her fingers scraping over the uneven surface. She listened for any sound, watching for any glow of light. She had her own lantern turned down so low that she could barely see. It was cold, and mists of her breath trailed the young girl down the dark path. She turned a corner and stopped.

Was that someone coming? She turned off the light and flattened herself against the rock. Five minutes later she started moving again. This time she kept the light off. Her hand grazed across wood and then hit the metal. She halted, turned the light on to its lowest level. It revealed the metal lock.

Just like the one on my door.

She found enough courage to lift her hand and tap lightly on the wood. No answer. She tapped again, a bit harder.

"Who is it?" a quavering voice said from the other side.

Willa looked around and then placed her face against the door and whispered, "Are you locked in?"

She heard footsteps and then the voice said, "Who are you?"

"My name is Willa. I was locked in too but got out. I think I can get you out too. What's your name?"

"Diane," she whispered back.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"No."

"Me either. Hold on."

Willa pulled out her pen clasp and rolled-up can top and went to work. It was more difficult than the first time because she had to keep the light turned down so low. While she concentrated on feeling for the lock pins to drop to the sheathing line, she was also listening for the sounds of someone coming.

The pins finally fell into place; Willa turned the tension tool and the door swung open. Diane Wohl looked down at her. "You're only a child."

"I'm nearly a teenager," Willa said firmly "And I managed to get out of my room. And get you out of yours. Come on."

As they headed off Diane looked around. "Where are we?"

"You really need to keep your voice down," whispered Willa. "Sound really carries in places like this."

"Places like what?" the woman said in a lower voice.

Willa touched the side of the wall. "I think we're in a tunnel or old mine."

Diane hissed, "Oh my God, if we're in an old mine it could come down on our heads at any second."

"I don't think so. The support beams look really sturdy. And the men who are keeping us here wouldn't have brought us to an unsafe place."

"Why not?"

"Because they might get hurt too."

"Do you know which way is out?"

"I'm just, you know, trying to feel some air movement."

"But if we keep going, we'll get lost. Maybe forever."

"No we won't." She shone the light on the dirt floor. "I cut up the paper labels off the canned food. I've been dropping pieces every ten feet or so. That way we'll know where we came from in case we have to turn back."

They kept going forward, around one turn and then another.

Willa checked her watch by lantern light. "We have about twenty minutes left before they come by again. But the other man might show up. He's unpredictable."

"The tall man with the white hair?"

"Yeah. He doesn't seem as bad as the others, but I'm still afraid of him."

"I'm terrified of them all."

"Where do you live?"

"In Georgia."

"I'm from Virginia. I hope my family's okay. The man said he contacted them and told them I was okay. Do you have a family?"

"No, I don't," Diane said quickly. "I mean, not of my own. But I asked him to contact my mother and tell her I was okay. But I don't know if I'm going to stay okay."

"Another good reason for us to get ourselves out of here," answered Willa.

"What was that?" Diane said sharply.

There had been a shout somewhere behind them.

"I think they found out we're not there," said Willa. At that instant she felt a bit of air current on her cheek. She grabbed Diane's hand. "This way."

They hurried down the passage.

"Look!" Willa said.

The corridor ended in a thick door.

Diane tried to turn the old door handle but it wouldn't budge.

Willa already had out her tools. While Diane held the light she inserted the instruments and worked quickly but methodically.

"How'd you learn to do this?"

"It comes in handy if your little sister keeps locking herself in the bathroom," said Willa as she pushed and prodded with her pick, praying for the pins to fall into their correct slots.

Diane looked down the passage. "They're coming. Oh my God, I think they're coming. Hurry. Hurry!"

"If I rush, it won't work, okay?" Willa said calmly.

"If you don't they'll catch us."

The last pin dropped, and Willa turned the tension tool and with Diane's help they pushed the stout wooden door open. The light bursting through caused them both to shield their eyes. They rushed out and looked around, squinting.

Then the pounding of footsteps hit them harder than the sunlight had.

"Come on," Diane yelled.

She grabbed Willa's hand and they ran toward the flat land straight ahead even as the little plane touched down.

Diane said, "Who do you think that is?"

Willa looked around, noting that the only way in or out looked to be by plane. "Not anyone we want to run into. This way, quick."

They changed direction and ducked behind a chunk of rock just as Daryl and Carlos erupted from the mineshaft and sprinted off in different directions. Willa and Diane crawled and clawed their way up the narrow, steep ridge, keeping as low as possible.

"Maybe we can get to the top and then go down the other side," gasped Willa.

Diane was breathing so hard she couldn't answer back. She grabbed hold of Willa. "I just need to catch my breath. I've never been much into exercise."

A minute later they started their ascent again. They got to the top of the ridge, crossed it, and then looked over the edge on the other side.

"God help us," said Diane. It was steep and nearly sheer. "I can't make it down there."

"Well, I'm going to try," said Willa. "Do you think you can find a place to hide? If I get away I'll bring help."

Diane looked around. "I think I can." She looked over the edge again. "Willa, you'll get killed. You can't go."

"I have to try."

She gripped the edge of a boulder, aimed her foot at a narrow ledge, and took a step down. The ledge held though a few pebbles and dirt, disrupted by her maneuver, slid off the mountain and cascaded downward where they were caught by the swirling wind.

"Please be careful," said Diane.

"I'm trying," said Willa breathlessly. "It's really hard."

She lowered herself to another ledge and was just about to attempt another movement when the rock she was standing on gave way.

"Willa!" screamed Diane.

Willa grabbed at anything she could find to halt her fall, but nothing she touched held as dirt and rock pelted her.

"Help me!"

Diane was knocked to the side as the man raced past her, his long arm reaching out and snagging Willa by the wrist a second before she would have been lost.

Willa found herself being hauled up like a fish from the sea and then plopped down on a flat rock. She glanced up.

Sam Quarry did not look happy at all.