Page 48 of Protecting Kelli
Then he was gone.
Kelli couldn’t see anything, but she could just hear Flash moving quietly through the bus. She held her breath and strained to see something, any speck of light. But it was no use. Their tomb was just as dark as it had ever been.
The odd scraping sounds continued at the top of the bus, making the hairs on the back of Kelli’s neck stand up.
Whatever Heckle and Jeckle had put on top of that manhole cover sounded heavy, just as Flash had thought. She wasn’t sure why they hadn’t heard them piling whatever it was on it when they were first put in here, but she supposed it was because of the shock of the moment.
Then…the cover began to slide to the side.
The light that poured into the bus wasn’t overly bright, it wasn’t direct sunlight, but it was still more than enough to make Kelli wince as her eyes struggled to adjust.
She’d just made out Flash, pressed against the side ofthe bus beneath the hole—half the conch shell in his hand and ready to strike—when a voice called out from above.
“Flash? You in there?”
Kelli blinked in surprise. Did Heckle and Jeckle know Flash’s nickname? It wouldn’t have been on his IDs, and she couldn’t remember if she’d said it when they were in the van at the start of this nightmare.
“Flash?” a different voice called out.
Then a man’s head appeared in the hole, looking down. His gaze met Kelli’s, and they stared at each other.
“Smiley?!” Flash asked, sounding both elated and shocked at the same time.
The man’s head turned, and he smiled when he saw Flash standing under him.
“In the flesh,” the man named Smiley said.
Kelli knew that was one of Flash’s teammates. He’d told her all about his friends and their women. She felt as if she knew them now, just from Flash’s stories.
“Holy shit, am I glad to see you! Took you long enough.”
“Fuck off,” another man said, pushing Smiley out of the way and sticking his own head into the hole. “It’s been less than a day and a half.”
“That’s it?” Kelli said without thinking.
“Damn, it feels as if it’s been at least a week,” Flash said at the same time. “Who’s here?”
“We all are. Come on, let’s get you two out of there, then we can chat,” he said, before climbing to his knees. Before Kelli could blink, the man’s legs were dangling from the opening and he jumped inside the bus.
Flash dropped his makeshift weapon and gave the guy a huge hug. “Man, it’s good to see you, Kevlar!”
“You too. Although, dude, you need a shower.”
Kelli frowned at that, thinking it was a pretty inconsiderate thing to say, considering the circumstances. But since both men laughed, she assumed Flash wasn’t offended, given he hugged his friend once more.
Then he turned toward her. “Come here, Kelli.”
Suddenly self-conscious for the first time since they’d been kidnapped, Kelli hesitated. She was filthy, still had blood in her hair and down the back of her cover-up. Was wearing abathing suit, for goodness sake.
Flash didn’t wait for her to come to him. He quickly strode over to where she was standing. He blocked her from Kevlar’s view and put his hands on both sides of her head, tilting her face up.
“It’s okay. We’re safe now.”
“Aren’t you going to say ‘I told you so?’” she teased.
“No. But Iamgoing to ask you to trust me. These men, my friends and teammates? They’re good men. They understand what we’ve been through. There’s no judgement here. Okay?”
This man could read her way too easily. It was uncomfortable and kind of scary.
