“Oh my God!”
“How?”
Kat heard several voices clamoring atop each other in pandemonium. She was quickly enveloped in an overpowering, and painful, hug.
Sadler’s voice spoke directly into her ear. “I thought I’d lost you, Kat.” He gave her another firm squeeze before pushing away, his strong hands still clamped to her shoulders in support. His eyes swept from her feet to her head.
A black film covered every part of her. Only the whites of her eyes and a thin line of drying blood from her right ear offered any contrast to her stygian form.
“Medic!” he screamed. Two safety officers were already rushing toward Kat with red and white medical bags. Behind the pair, she saw Daniel Lambert standing next to a man in a fine suit. It was Phillip Porter himself.
“Deke and Reece are still trapped in the spur,” Kat spluttered. “I was able to dig a path out but there’s a large boulder that will have to be moved before we can get to them.” The medics flanked her and began to push her gently to the ground. She pulled away forcefully and looked at Sadler. “We need to get down there. They’re still alive,” she insisted.
“It’s too dangerous right now. We have to make sure things have stabilized and wait for the All-Clear,” Lambert stated loudly. “You were lucky to escape with your life. You go back down there now and a second dust explosion could trigger another collapse and finish you.”
Sadler looked Kat in the eye. “I won’t let you press your luck, Kat.”
She looked away from him stubbornly. Lambert was still glaring at her. The foreman muttered to Porter, “It’s survivor’s remorse. She feels guilty because she caused the dust explosion and was lucky enough to live, but luck never gives; it only lends.”
Kat’s mind reeled at the gambler’s idiom. Her eyes widened and she tore away from Sadler’s grip to stomp toward the foreman. “It wasn’t a dust explosion!” she yelled while savagely pointing at Lambert. “You caused it!”
Lambert’s jaw dropped open but he quickly recovered. “What the hell are you talking about? Just because you failed at your job—”
Kat shifted her scowl to Porter. “I saw a man running from my spur and discovered a bomb under a conveyor frame. It was two explosive sticks with a timed detonator.”
“Bullsh—”
“What’s this all about, young lady?” Porter had cut Lambert off.
Kat took her final steps to stand near the mine’s owner. “It’s about stealing your company out from under you, sir.” She reined in some of the ferocity in her voice. “You said precisely that last week.”
Lambert stepped between the pair and placed his hands on Kat. He roughly turned her away from Porter and said, “Sadler, get this woman to the hospital. She’s obviously hysterical.”
Kat slapped at the man’s hands but it was Porter who froze Lambert in place.
“How did you know I said that?” the businessman asked with a bewildered expression.
“You said that a company named Recore is going to try to buy a controlling interest in Porter Mining and take the company from you,” Kat stated emphatically. “Now, I don’t know much about business but I figure that every accident we’ve had over the last couple weeks hasn’t exactly helped our production or your stock price.”
“It’s been a disaster,” Porter admitted. “That’s why I’ve had to increase quotas, to try to recover some of the drop.” He waved a hand at Kat. “But, mining is a dangerous business and accidents happen.”
“What if someone was making them happen?” Kat asked.
“This is nonsense, Mr. Porter,” Lambert interrupted. “This woman hasn’t even cleared her background check and she’s already caused two accidents.”
“I didn’t place that bomb,” she spat at Lambert. “You did!”
Lambert rolled his eyes and looked to Porter. “It wasn’t a bomb,” he maintained. “She has no proof.”
“Check the explosives trailer,” Sadler suggested boldly. “See what the inventory says.”
“That’s a complete waste of time!” Lambert shouted. “You have men still alive inside the mine and you want to indulge this woman’s fantasy because you’re sleeping with her? Is that why you stick up for her? Because she’s f—”
Lambert’s head recoiled as Kat landed a brutal punch. “That’s the last time you suggest I’m a whore!” she roared and rechambered her fist. She felt a pair of hands come down on her from behind. They were Sadler’s, restraining her gently. “You told me to clean the wrong spur when we were alone, knowing that it would cause a delay and nobody would believe me. That dryman from Spur Twenty-eight, exactly what caused him to fall into those spinning gears and just how often do brake lines fail on those dump trucks?” Kat shook out her throbbing hand.
“He ordered one of my crews into that robbed out area two weeks ago, too,” Sadler added.
“That was a mistake!” Lambert blurted out.
“The day shift has been having a lot of those lately, Mr. Lambert,” Porter noted coolly.
Kat took a malevolent step toward Lambert again. “And when all that wasn’t enough, you got desperate because you’re running out of time and resorted to planting a bomb that killed George and Shannon, and Deke and Reece if we don’t get to them in time.”
Lambert turned to Porter. “She has no proof and more than that,” he threw his hands into the air, “why would I risk all that anyway?”
“Because Recore is paying you,” Kat explained coldly. “They’ve paid you thousands already and ‘there’s plenty more where those credits came from,’” she quoted. “You’re not a very good Craps player, are you, Lambert? Bet big? Lose a lot?” She grinned evilly. White teeth gleamed against her coal-covered face. “And your top-heavy girlfriend seems pretty expensive too. How much have you spent on her? I bet she’ll back up my story and she won’t be hard to spot.”
Lambert’s face was stunned confusion. “There’s no way you could know this,” he muttered in shock. He looked at Porter and said, “Maybe I’ve been playing some Craps but…” He shook himself. “This is a delusional fantasy.”
“I want the inventory checked in the explosives trailer immediately. We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Porter promised. He folded his arms sternly and looked to Kat. “I’m not letting you go back into the mine, young lady, but I’ll permit Mr. Wess and a small team to go down if they wish to volunteer. If the tunnel is only blocked at one point, it might be possible to rush air hoses and medical supplies to the trapped miners while we carefully work to free them.” He gaze traveled to his assistant foreman.
Sadler nodded. “I’m on it. I’ll get it organized.” He kept his arm around Kat as he turned to walk toward the crowd of miners. A few were already standing apart from the rest. As Sadler smiled with pride at the waiting men, he whispered to Kat, “How did you know that Daniel plays Craps and that he’s been betting heavily?”
Kat stopped short and looked to him in confusion. “We saw him Saturday night. He walked up with his floozy and lost two thousand credits with a single roll at our table. When his girlfriend remarked about the wager, he told her that Recore was paying him a fortune.”
Sadler rubbed his chin as he thought back to their evening. He looked over her shoulder. Two men were running toward Porter from the direction of the explosives trailer. “Kat,” Sadler finally said, “Daniel Lambert was never at the Craps table Saturday night, at least not when we were there.”
“We’re missing two PBXs and a timed detonator!” cried one of the runners.
“Mr. Lambert,” Porter said, just a few meters away, “I think Corp-sec needs to have a talk with you and while they’re doing that, I think I need to have a chat with some dealers and ladies at The Lucky Gun.”
Lambert backed away. “This is ridiculous!” He looked around the large gathering, but his eyes quickly locked on Kat. “You bitch!” he screamed, charging toward her.
Sadler intercepted him two steps from Kat with a haymaker blow that sent Lambert to the ground in a crunching thud. The man rolled onto his stomach and groaned while pressing a hand to his flattened nose.
“Jake, Barney,” Sadler said, addressing the crowd of men behind him while standing over Lambert. “Help Mr. Lambert to his feet and keep watch over him until Corp-sec arrives.”
Two bulky laborers pushed through the other miners and rudely pulled the foreman from the ground to drag him away. The man staggered at first, then regained his senses fully and offered futile resistance. When the spectacle was over, Porter approached Sadler and said, “Mr. Wess, you’ll take over Lambert’s duties until we can clear this mess up. Right now, I want you to get that rescue party moving.”
Sadler looked in Kat’s direction for a nod she happily gave and then he moved away, calling out the list of equipment the assembled volunteers would need for the rescue attempt. Several men and women, including the waifish Tick, encircled him.
Kat watched Sadler go. She felt herself being drawn toward him but her second step was cut short by Porter’s authoritative hand and his gentle voice.
“No, young lady,” he said in a low baritone. “You’re going to the hospital for a checkup.” The man turned to another assistant foreman and ordered, “Mr. Matthews, can you fly this woman into Waytown, please? Use one of the puddle-jumpers.”
A large group assisted Kat to her trailer locker. She was handled as if made of porcelain as fellow miners helped her remove her coveralls. Once free of the heavy clothing, she grabbed her satchel and was guided to a two-seat aircar. The vehicle’s turbines were already idling and Matthews waited patiently behind the controls.