Blue-Eyed Devil (Travis Family #2)(58)

When the water had reached the bottom edge of my bra, I was tired of holding the computer up, and I let it sink. It submerged and floated to the elevator floor in water so polluted you could barely see the glowing screen before it shorted out and went dark. It was disorienting, the cold blackness all around me. Huddling in the corner, I leaned my head against the wall and breathed, and waited. I wondered what it would feel like when there was no more air left and I had to pull water into my lungs.

The sound of a sharp bang on 1the ceiling caused a start that went through me like a bullet. I turned my head from one side to the other, sightless and scared. Bang. Scraping, sliding noises, tools against metal. The ceiling creaked, and the entire elevator rocked as if it were a rowboat.

"Is someone there?" I called out, my pulse thundering.

I heard the muffled, distant sound of a human voice.

Galvanized, I pounded the elevator wall with my fist. "Help! I'm trapped down here!"

There was a reply I couldn't hear. Whoever it was kept working on the top of the elevator, wrenching and prying until a raw shriek of metal filled the air. A portion of the wood paneling was ripped back. I flattened myself against the wall as I heard cracking and splintering, debris splashing. And then the beam of a flashlight shot into the dark elevator cab, bouncing off the water.

"I'm here," I said with a sob, sloshing forward. "I'm down here. Is there any way you can get me out?"

A man leaned into the elevator cab until I could see his face and shoulders illuminated by the reflected light.

"You should probably know up front," Hardy said, widening the opening with a grunt of effort, "I charge a lot for elevator rescues."

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Hardy! Hardy — " He had come for me. I nearly lost it then. In the wild torrent of relief and gratitude, there were at least a dozen things I wanted to tell him at once. But the first thing that came out was a fervent, "I'm so sorry I didn't have sex with you."I heard his low laugh. "I am too. But honey, there are a couple of maintenance guys with me who can hear every word we're saying."

"I don't care," I said desperately. "Get me out of here and I swear I'll sleep with you."

I heard one of the maintenance guys volunteer in a Spanish accent, "I'll pull her out."

"This one's mine, amigo," Hardy said affably, and he leaned farther into the elevator cab, one long arm extended. "Can you reach my hand, Haven?"

Standing on my toes, I strained upward. Our palms met, and his fingers moved downward to close around my wrist. But I was coated with slippery stuff, and my hand slid right through Hardy's grip. I fell back against the wall. "I can't." I tried to sound calm, but my voice was shredded. I had to stifle a sob. "The water's oily."

"Okay," he said quickly. "That's okay. No, don't cry, honey, I'm coming down. Stay on the side and hold on to the rail."

"Wait, you'll get stuck down here too — " I began, but Hardy was already lowering his feet and legs. He gripped part of the ceiling frame, eased himself down and hung for a moment. As he came into the cab with a controlled drop, the floor shifted and the level of water came up. I sloshed through the heavy water, leaping on him, climbing halfway up his body before he could even move.

Hardy caught me in a firm grip, one arm sliding beneath my bottom, the other strong and solid around my back. "I've got you," he said. "My brave girl."

"Not brave." My arms were locked in a death grip around his neck. I buried my face against him, trying to comprehend that he was really there with me.

"Yes you are. Most women would be in hysterics by now."

"I was w-working up to that," I said into his shirt collar. "You just c-caught me early in the process."

He gripped me closer. "You're safe, sweetheart. It's all right now."

I tried to set my teeth against the chattering. "I can't believe you're here."

"'Course I'm here. Anytime you need me." He squinted up at the hole in the ceiling, where one of the maintenance men was angling a flashlight to help us see. "Manuel," he said, "you guys got a sump pump at the bottom of the shaft?"

"Nah," came the regretful reply. "It's an old building. Only the new ones got pumps."

Hardy's hand stroked up and down my shivering back. "Probably wouldn't make a difference anyway. Can someone shut off the main disconnect switch? I don't warn this thing to start moving while we're getting her out."

"Don't need to, it's off."

"How do you know?"

"There's an automatic shunt trip."

Hardy shook his head. "I want someone to go to the machine room and make sure the f**ker's really off."

"You got it, jefe." Manuel used a two-way radio to get in touch with the supervisor running the security office. The supervisor said he would send their only available guard to the machine room to shut off the mainline switch for all the elevators, and call back when it was done. "He says he can't get the cops," Manuel reported to us. "Nine-one-one is broke. Too many calls. But the elevator company is sending a guy."

"The water's getting higher," I told Hardy, my arms linked tightly around his neck, my legs clamped on his waist. "Let's get out now."